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Capitalism is not going anywhere and it would not have mattered if Sanders were our president, no one was trying to dismantle capitalism.
The extent of "socialism" that was ever proposed by even the most extreme actual leaders or candidates, was a matter of adjusting things that already exist. "Free college education"...sounds extreme? Well, why are child labor laws and the K-12 public education that American citizens can access, not also considered "extreme?" It is just a question of whether we're satisfied stopping there, and I would ask the question of how the education and intelligence of Americans stacks up against what citizen-students of other countries get from their societies. But I think that certain elements of American leadership and American citizenry sees a value in a lack of education. The former because it keeps us biddable and the latter because of some illusory "virtue in ignorance" values.
The things that were talked about were never going to deconstruct capitalism. Trade will always go on because a civilization requires it to function, and there will always be relative winners and losers in that game.
I've had my utopian pipe dreams about a state of humanity where every individual can be guaranteed the most basic of basics for survival...a safe but very modest home to dwell in, nutritious but basic food to eat, clean air and water and a chance to become educated. I don't think that we really need to be held at gunpoint in order to be productive citizens. I know that I'd probably be MORE productive if I felt more free to pursue work that I was passionate about, rather than working a "whatever it's a job" just to survive. I think that a lot of human potential is wasted under the present system.
But my dreams are not realistic. Because I believe that in order to affect such a state of affairs, where the lowest can rise up closer to the middle... The most extreme wealthy would have to be hobbled or capped at some point as well. And more significantly, it would have to be a GLOBAL thing so that they could not simply take their wealth and power offshore. That won't happen in my lifetime and I think we're more likely to see humanity extinct, than we are to see people agree that the most wealthy and powerful should be expected to give up a damn thing for the betterment of humanity or society. We worship that Pharaoh, we'll never sacrifice him. We just cannot bring ourselves to question his Mandate, to question whether he earned any of it, or deserves to have more than he or many generations of his descendants could ever use for anything...and if millions must suffer and starve to prop him up and carry him on their backs, well that is the order of the world, isn't it? So the extremes remain. And the pipe dreams continue to exist only in science fiction.
Capitalism is a pretty decent system for creating wealth, but it's not so good at distributing it.
As we've seen, over the past 40 years, our system has been tweaked to shift more resources to the already wealthy, while leaving most behind in the doldrums. Those tweaks can be seen as socialism for the wealthy, and they certainly aren't complaining.
With some adjusting capitalism will continue to be the norm. But the rewards will need to be more equitably apportioned.
America has to address this basic question: "Does an economy exist to serve people or do people exist to serve an economy?"
It won't work anywhere. In fact a smaller country will fail even faster as there are less workers available to enslave for the state. Socialism is a construct that doesn't work anywhere it is tried. The shortest book ever published was, "The Complete List of Successful Socialist Nations". It had a front and back cover and no pages!
Socialism only appeals to two types of people. The ones that see themselves on top stealing and those who have nothing to steal and see themselves getting something for nothing.
And that's kind of why Marx cited Hegel. One contains the seeds for the other's destruction. Capitalism has pushed people into extremes of wealth inequality. So, you have those who don't have anything on one side, and those who have everything on the other. It isn't that the rich won't rule anymore, if the revolution takes place. They just won't be called rich.
Man fights these herculean battles with himself. It doesn't seem to be in his nature to compromise. He swings back and forth. Inside of socialism do lie the seeds of its own destruction, simply because it doesn't actually work. It has no true process of discovery. Capitalism has the markets. Those even go local, even though they don't appear to on the surface. They always have to keep people in their places, make them feel free, but not have much to show for it.
Capitalism is what is driving the race to find a cure. Socialism would fail utterly at the task, but is better at providing a safety net for those displaced by the need for social isolation. You need a mix to deal with a crisis like we are experiencing.
a socialism society is a failing society..
Who are these volunteers that would work hard for the benefit of the ones who don't?
Yeah, I’d sure like to know that too. So I should give up an enormous portion of my income and forego things I enjoy doing, a nice house, nice vacations, and my own dreams that cost money so a bunch of lazy morons can sit home all day and not work?! I’m sorry, huh?? Why is it always the people who want handouts who call everyone else “greedy” and “selfish”?! Isn’t it THE definition of greed and selfishness to expect other people to give you their money and the results of their hard work for nothing in return?!
Yes, I would like to know who these "volunteers" are. Is the OP smoking crack? Where do these people come up with this stuff? I hate to profile but the OP is obviously under 30 years old.
I agree with JonathanLB. I worked hard for 40+ years to get where I'm at which is NOT rich but stable enough to not need a government handout.
And I don't believe in depriving someone who IS rich, people who have worked hard to build up a private business or make it to the top of a promotional ladder or save their money rather than squandering it. During those 40+ years, I wasn't sitting on my couch all day watching TV and smoking weed. I was getting up at 4:30 AM, driving an hour to work, putting in a 10 hour work day, and driving an hour home. I wasn't sitting on my couch catching up on Jeopardy, The View, yadda yadda and cracking open a few beers and smoking weed and getting laid all day.
We should still have capitalism with a few changes. Universal Basic Income and Universal Healthcare are surely needed in the United States. Bring those two programs on board and the issues caused by any pandemic or civil unrest will be minimized.
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Lets wait and see how recoveries go in non capital driven countries
