Are you a capitalist? Are you open to leaving the philosophy of the capitalism economic system behind?

Question

I was a capitalist but today I'm abandoning the capitalist economic system for good and embracing socialism.

The capitalist system is truly trash and inherently built on greed and exploitation of the less fortunate without mercy.

Unless you're rich, come from a rich family the capitalist system is designed to keep you working like a slave for the rest of your life to barely just survive going homeless with monopolized companies and super overpriced goods and services. Screw that.

Are you a capitalist? Are you open to leaving the philosophy of the capitalism economic system behind?

nightdrot · Accepted Answer

The problem with the question is that it defines capitalism as a philosophy. In point of fact, it was a model of how economies work that was born of the Enlightenment. That era postulated the idea that as there are laws of nature, so there are laws of human conduct and that when laws are made in conformance with these natural laws, the result will be peace, prosperity and harmony.

Pure capitalism has already been left behind. Even the most capitalistic economies - defined here as private ownership of the means of production - have developed welfare states.

Indeed, contrary to popular belief, the welfare state was founded by two conservatives - Disraeli in Britain and Bismarck in Germany - to reconcile the masses to the dynamics of a free market economy by alleviating the worst effects of old age, illness and temporary unemployment. Please note, that they did not abolish the free market nor - most importantly - did they abolish private ownership. Rather, they used the state to offset the unintended consequences of a free market system.

Conservatives recognized that humans were incapable of perfection and that the "natural laws" on which capitalism - and democracy (see also principles enunciated in the American Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights) - were based were real. However, as Edmund Burke said, "Their abstract perfection was their practical defect."

Thus Burke argued that history, tradition and within limits the state, would be the guideposts that would define - and in some sense limit - capitalism. It being said that Burke also said that Adam Smith was the greatest "economic" philosopher in history. Please note the modifier.

Burke did not suggest that capitalism defined man or democracy. Rather that it was an instrument and outgrowth of a broader philosophical and historical understanding.

Leaving capitalism behind, then, is leaving behind an abstraction. That said, to prefer socialism to capitalism is to prefer an obvious historical failure. Further, here again, the understanding of what socialism means appears to be somewhat in error.

Please note, socialism, properly understood, is government ownership of the means of production and the abolition of private property. The further paradox being that as government controls everything in the economy, socialist states typically had no welfare state as that term is understood in the West.

In the socialist system everyone was assured a job, even if that job had no productive outlet. The employed then earned money but, as many of the jobs had no market, they then had nothing to buy. Hence the bare store shelves in much of the socialist world. It being further added that if there was nothing to buy, the worker did not eat.

Bottom line, the linking of socialism to the welfare state is an historical error. In truth in places like Sweden, Germany, etc. a pure free market capitalist economy was modified by a welfare state that was founded to reconcile the masses to the dynamics of a free market. Sometimes socialist parties introduced this welfare state - though again, historically, two conservatives (Burke and Disraeli) founded the first European welfare states - but in the end they accepted the fundamentals and foundations of a capitalist economy.

hahahmm · Accepted Answer

You describe capitalism as: "Unless you're rich, come from a rich family the capitalist system is designed to keep you working like a slave for the rest of your life to barely just survive going homeless with monopolized companies and super overpriced goods and services."

The only real difference between capitalism and socialism is who has opportunity and whether you, as a nobody, can become rich or not. In socialist countries there is an upper class of people who are rich in fact even if their bank account says they have nothing. They have exclusive access to luxury resorts, yachts, and are allowed to travel freely all over the world. If you are born into a family like that you inherit these privileges. If you weren't in that group then even if you save up all of your hard earned money you couldn't buy anything that would make you "rich". If you went to the store you wouldn't see any luxury items. If you wanted to buy even a nicer but mediocre car you have to get on a waiting list. This is to avoid people feeling jealous of others and to prevent someone from becoming 'rich'.

When people praise socialism they always want to tell us not to pay attention to all the failed/corrupt examples of socialism out there. But that is how socialism is implemented in reality not in daydreams. I knew a guy who was a hardcore socialist and member of a commune in the US but he quit that life. Why? He said there were too many lazy people and the few hard workers end up doing all of the work for everybody else.

Guacamole409 · Accepted Answer

Venezuelan was one of the most successful countries, until the socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro took over.

Now people are eating their pets and zoo animals.

Trump airlifted 100 million dollars in food and humanitarian aid to Venezuela, but Nick the Prick wouldn't allow the cargo into the country.

You aren't looking for socialism, you're looking for a utopia that is 300 years into the future.

itsannalee · Accepted Answer

Tbh i am more into communist, like tired about corruptor. But my country is ban communism. Even if you wear clothes with communist symbol, you will be arrested.

Snakeyes7 · Answer

I am a capitalist and no I refuse to leave it behind. The reason we are having so much economic trouble is because no one is asking why suddenly everything is going to crap and are instead are going after the practice that got us to good times in the first place when they should be attacking the policies that came about just before all the economic trouble.

You want lower inflation? Stop government spending. Stop funding the wars, stop with the welfare programs, stop the money printer. End the fed.

You want cheaper things? Stop allowing the government to fuck around with the oil industry. Not because the industry is run by saints, but because it is still our primary source for transportation. Electric cars still have a long way to go before they can compete with gas cars properly and if you outright make gas cars illegal then you are forcing people to comply with an inferior product.

Once travel becomes cheaper, everything will become slightly cheaper because shipping costs will go down.

You want cheaper housing? Stop the zoning laws, the property taxes and stop interfering with the cost of the production of raw materials.

You want cheaper healthcare? Stop voting for the chumps who fall for lobbying for big pharma.

You want cheaper college? Get rid of student loan and the colleges won't have a choice but to make it cheaper.

I am so tired of people pretending that the law of supply and demand is some sort of right wing conspiracy.

Lliam · Answer

I do support capitalism. But there are different kinds of capitalism.

I'm in favor of people earning money and spending it as they wish, with limits on the accumulation of personal wealth.

I am opposed to corporate capitalism (fascism). "Fascism is Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power” ― Benito Mussolini. It is socialism for the wealthy and dog eat dog market-economy capitalism for everyone else.

And I an extremely opposed to Stakeholder Capitalism, as proposed by Klaus Schwab of the WEF.
How much do you know about "Stakeholder Capitalism" (The Great Reset)?

MisterWack · Answer

I’m a Capitalist in which I believe we can better the system to uplift employees with better wages, safer working conditions, and premium benefits.

I’m not a Communist or Marxist or what have you, I’m a Capitalist wanting the system to have checks & balances to it so all can get the fruits of their labor.

FreyaRed · Answer

People want others work for them. Even name "Robot" comes from Czech word "Robota" [Work]. The more an individual collect resources (money) due exploitation of others or use of machines, the smarter, more beautiful, better, like a god an individual feels for themselves. This is the part of human psychology, exploiting others is part of human nature. That's why capitalism destroyed socialism, because core ideas of socialism are against human nature.
Capitalism can be less predatory but it needs an competing value system that currently doesn't exist. China is capitalist dictatorship, so it's just another shape of turbo-capitalist disease.

Maybe_Maybe_not · Answer

I sympathize  with your cause entirely, but engaging a US user base on this topic is extremely difficult, they have built an entire nation on the grounds of individualism and tax rejection, so they are really not inclined to solidarity in the sense we see it in EU, this plus the shadow of the cold war, the communist dictatorships etc. Being European myself, when you say socialism, its a misleading word applied to the country you designated,  using this word will scare your audience for nothing  lol ! What really happens in these countries is a combination of free market and social policies:  .

RingOfFire · Answer

Leave the most successful system of economics that has created more prosperity and more liberty for more people than any other economic system ever devised?

Why would ANY sane person choose socialism or communism over capitalism? You would have to have some kind of mental problem.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/ObMXiMQqYoE https://www.youtube.com/embed/FOMI0ORGH44

Anonymous · Answer

Poverty is the default state of the world when anyone makes poor judgements.

Capitalism doesn't keep anyone poor, their lack of good judgement in their labor and investment is what keeps most people poor.
Successful individuals including entire successful cultures of indiviual are wealthy only because they have learned to make good judgements from those "rich" who figured it out before them.

European welfare states are relevantly recent phenomenon and have served to greatly impoverish and kill off Europe which was once not soo long ago the greatest beacon of civilization on earth.

It's tiny regions were soo dominant they ran most of the world. Their welfare state destroyed all of that, and has since destroyed their people who can't even sustain their numbers.

Unit1 · Answer

As a regular and broke homo sapiens I enjoy the higher quality of life and living in a modern and well maintained building, that i can call home under capitalism than holding up in a khrushevka gutter under communism or fake capitalism.

I'm picking the side, that offers comforts* and higher quality of life for the regulars.

*except under the condition, that i will sacrifice privacy or my autonomy in exchange

Jersey2 · Answer

The US media is very Left oriented so it doesn’t match up with your media brainwashes people hypothesis.

The government and many people are corrupt. What works in Europe will not work here. And are you willing to do without a car? Denmark is an example people on the Left like to point to in such discussions. Well I have been there, 13 times actually. A decent car costs $150,000 and the price of fuel is ridiculous so they ride bikes and take busses in the snow. they also cannot afford a house and before you say it, it is worse than here. They look for their parents to die and leave them one if they are lucky. people in the US need to invest and pick better leaders.

Capitalism has made our people well off compared to the rest of the world. But lazy and impatient people want to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.

exitseven · Answer

Yes, Capitalism is not perfect but it is the most successful system so far. A much larger percentage of Americans live a comfortable middle class life than you see in Cuba or Venezuela.

I think that term limits in congress would go a long way to get money out of politics and create a much fairer government.

strateguy632 · Answer

1, yes. 2 for what? What is better?

3, socialism was just a way to steal from the rich, to make the socialist leaders rich like xi xinping and putin.

People tried it n failed N people starved and had no motivation to work.

Learn from the past.

AviatorTom · Answer

I believe in a system that allows people to advance themselves, and rewards them for doing that. Socialism discourages that. Capitalism, though not perfect, encourages people to do better, and that's the system I prefer.

purplepoppy · Answer

Socialism isn't about free stuff like many think. It's about not exploiting people and treating them fairly so they can progress. Society benefits by you helping people up more than kicking them down.

shortster · Answer

Hate to break it to you, but America operates more as a socialist country than a capitalist one. Google, Amazon, and Facebook would have been broken up under antitrust legislation if we were capitalist. The banks and the auto makers wouldn't have been bailed out if we were. People would laugh at the idea of government partnering with media and social media companies to target mis, dis, and mal information if we weren't socialist.

Account · Answer

"Are you a capitalist?" Nope "Are you open to leaving the philosophy of the capitalism economic system behind?"  Yes. I ain't gonna elaborate on that because I want to protect my chi.

Anonymous · Answer

Dude--all of the Western European countries including Germany, Finland, Denmark, Norway and Sweden are very much capitalist countries. What is your specific beef? Because "capitalism" is clearly far to vague a term to convey your meaning.

NathanDavis · Answer

does that mean you are actually living to a socialist country? or... are you going to be a socialist abroad, from a capitalist country...

paledreams · Answer

I'm a leftie socialist 😋🫢 who likes the monarchy 👑

DextroShade · Answer

So you support the loss of private property and mass starvation, then. Why don't you fuck off to Venezuela or North Korea?

Anonymous · Answer

aren't you usually big on personal responsibility? why are you turning your back on capitalism?

lightbulb27 · Answer

I'm open to other ideas. Everything has it's flaws.

gatixek710 · Answer

You don’t think socialists are greedy? What a dumb understanding of the world.

Anonymous · Answer

Yes and no I've talking to enough survivors of the communist block to say fuck that

noohair · Answer

Please identify a socialist system, operating today, that would allow a person with an idea to develop that idea and become successful?

soe11 · Answer

The capitalism is not suitable for current society.

beefcakebradybatson · Answer

Nope and H**L YEAH, to be replaced by Democratic Socialism.

Inthelines · Answer

No I am not a capitalist or a communist. I just believe in God.

Anonymous · Answer

When I was poor yeah. But now that I'm doing well financially, not really.😆

imfreeze95 · Answer

I am and always will be a capitalist.

Are you a capitalist? Are you open to leaving the philosophy of the capitalism economic system behind?

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