There are different kinds of capitalism, just like there are different types of socialism.
Authoritarian socialism or communism is the worst, and crony capitalism is what we currently have, and is pretty bad too. But there are things like democratic socialism and stakeholder capitalism which attempt to balance competing interests.
For example, stakeholder capitalism is where all of the stakeholders benefit from their contributions, including labor. Workers get a share of the profits of the company, and are paid well as stakeholders in the company. The workers often own part or all of the company. There are also cooperatives, where the customers own the enterprise. Cooperatives work great for healthcare and necessities like groceries.
People tend to pick the worst examples of capitalism and socialism, but those are not the only flavors.
…okay? that wasn’t the question being asked. did you get confused at some point?
like, i agree with what you said, just…what does it have to do with the current state of affairs?
the entire comment chain talks about the past and how capitalism has (supposedly) improved conditions. (since that “improvement” is implied to have already happened by the past tense, we’re talking about the current system. without specifying anything about exactly “who” those conditions have improved for…conveniently)
so i fail to see the connection to (largely) theoretical improvements to capitalism…
We actually used to have some form of stakeholder capitalism, at least practiced at a large number of companies. This is before the greedy corporate raiders ruined it, where they made investors the priority. It only existed for a short period, between the abuses of the past, and the abuses of now. But it was long enough where some people enjoyed an entire career.
At these companies, employees used to have jobs for life, pensions, and generous benefits. But then the corporate raiders took that all away. That is also about the time that employee’s wages stopped growing and started to stagnate or worse.
Was it perfect? No. But it was better than communism, and better than laissez-faire capitalism, and better than crony capitalism, which we have now.
The good news is that some people are trying to bring stakeholder capitalism back. Many states now have something called a “public benefit corporation” which is legally required to consider all of the stakeholders, not just the investors. These laws would prevent corporate raiders and investors from gutting these companies at the expense of the workers and consumers.
Plus, cooperatives and employee-owned companies have been around for a long time. Both employees and consumers are treated much better at these enterprises than they are at their investor-owned counterparts.
There are different kinds of capitalism, just like there are different types of socialism.
Authoritarian socialism or communism is the worst, and crony capitalism is what we currently have, and is pretty bad too. But there are things like democratic socialism and stakeholder capitalism which attempt to balance competing interests.
For example, stakeholder capitalism is where all of the stakeholders benefit from their contributions, including labor. Workers get a share of the profits of the company, and are paid well as stakeholders in the company. The workers often own part or all of the company. There are also cooperatives, where the customers own the enterprise. Cooperatives work great for healthcare and necessities like groceries.
People tend to pick the worst examples of capitalism and socialism, but those are not the only flavors.
…okay? that wasn’t the question being asked. did you get confused at some point?
like, i agree with what you said, just…what does it have to do with the current state of affairs?
the entire comment chain talks about the past and how capitalism has (supposedly) improved conditions. (since that “improvement” is implied to have already happened by the past tense, we’re talking about the current system. without specifying anything about exactly “who” those conditions have improved for…conveniently)
so i fail to see the connection to (largely) theoretical improvements to capitalism…
We actually used to have some form of stakeholder capitalism, at least practiced at a large number of companies. This is before the greedy corporate raiders ruined it, where they made investors the priority. It only existed for a short period, between the abuses of the past, and the abuses of now. But it was long enough where some people enjoyed an entire career.
At these companies, employees used to have jobs for life, pensions, and generous benefits. But then the corporate raiders took that all away. That is also about the time that employee’s wages stopped growing and started to stagnate or worse.
Was it perfect? No. But it was better than communism, and better than laissez-faire capitalism, and better than crony capitalism, which we have now.
The good news is that some people are trying to bring stakeholder capitalism back. Many states now have something called a “public benefit corporation” which is legally required to consider all of the stakeholders, not just the investors. These laws would prevent corporate raiders and investors from gutting these companies at the expense of the workers and consumers.
Plus, cooperatives and employee-owned companies have been around for a long time. Both employees and consumers are treated much better at these enterprises than they are at their investor-owned counterparts.
It is a model that works, and must be protected.