Hey dumb fucks the US economy isn’t even capitalism at this point, it’s a fucked up breed of corporatism.
All existent and historic forms of capitalism have been entangled with the state, and capture by self-serving business interests goes right back to the beginning as well.
I’d fucken kill for Smithian capitalism at this point
You’ve got it already. As Adam Smith described the situation in his time: “People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the publick, or in some contrivance to raise prices.”
If you mean the system Smith advocated, that has always been aspirational. And there are two commonly-promoted attributes of free trade: freedom to compete (no barriers to entry), and freedom from regulation. But without regulation, self-dealing oligopolies inevitably form, creating barriers to entry as they find ways to stitch up their captive markets. And even with regulation, the oligopolists’ strategy of regulatory capture is a constant problem.
I’m referring to the aspirational side of things and venting irritation meaning practicality didn’t quite factor in. My point was moreso that the system is so fucken corrupted that it barely even resembles most historical forms of capitalism with basically the sole exception of the gilded age, but even then I think we’ve managed to surpass that on the inequality side of things.
All existent and historic forms of capitalism have been entangled with the state, and capture by self-serving business interests goes right back to the beginning as well.
You’ve got it already. As Adam Smith described the situation in his time: “People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the publick, or in some contrivance to raise prices.”
If you mean the system Smith advocated, that has always been aspirational. And there are two commonly-promoted attributes of free trade: freedom to compete (no barriers to entry), and freedom from regulation. But without regulation, self-dealing oligopolies inevitably form, creating barriers to entry as they find ways to stitch up their captive markets. And even with regulation, the oligopolists’ strategy of regulatory capture is a constant problem.
I’m referring to the aspirational side of things and venting irritation meaning practicality didn’t quite factor in. My point was moreso that the system is so fucken corrupted that it barely even resembles most historical forms of capitalism with basically the sole exception of the gilded age, but even then I think we’ve managed to surpass that on the inequality side of things.