0 sats \ 6 replies \ @kepford OP 19h \ parent \ on: The Whipping Boy of Modern Culture - CAPITALISM bitcoin
That's not socialism. That's the problem.
Fiat money is not a free market- it is rigged.
And allowing unlimited corporate sponsorship of politicians is not democracy it is cleptocracy.
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I don't disagree. But socialism is even worse. The true deep issue is the state. Centralization of control. The greatest monopoly of all. The solution is freedom, bitcoin and the death of the state. Bitcoin could take away one of the biggest tools of the state/banks.
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I agree however there is still the question of whether nation states that still operate fiat monetary systems will have greater short term ability to focus capital upon warfare and thereby take over any Bitcoin Standard jurisdiction. The bankers are not going to surrender their power willingly.
And if the state is so decimated as you seek who prevents anti competitive market rigging cartels, monopolies, oligopolies etc?
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I don't think much would prevent them other than what prevents them today. The majority of people have no clue who is pulling the strings. This is the problem with the state. The state uses its military to do the work for these cartels under the mask of national pride, peace, and other lies.
The problem with what you are saying is that you are describing the status quo and saying it might happen if things were different. Pretty hard to argue against something set up like that.
Point is, socialism is the biggest rigging/picking winners system ever invented. I don't have all the answers but socialism is for sure not the answer. We have been able to watch how it works. Even crony capitalism as bad as it is doesn't compare to socialism.
This is my point. Socialism isn't the answer. Freedom isn't the problem. Centralized control over money and other monopolies the state maintains are the deep issues. Not free trade. And yes, there is free trade in the US and many other countries. Not as free as it should be much more free than it would under a stronger more centrally managed economy.
I would rather seem more decentralized entities competing vs.what we have now. Socialism will reduce choice. Reduce freedom. Reduce prosperity. Its poison. The knowledge problem is the key flaw. Central planners cannot know, even with AI what decisions need to be made. The mass market is a powerful machine that is usually taken for granted.
Crony capitalism is central planning but not as heavy handed as socialism. This is why it has not led to as much destruction.
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The only thing that prevents 'merchants colluding' ie rigging of the market is a strong and firm regulatory institutional framework. It has been proven to work in the past before the politicians were bought by the corporates.
What we have now is certain to fail- it is failing- it is seeing the west incapable of competing with China where market rigging inefficiency IS NOT TOLERATED.
An example of this is Jack Mas sidelining when he challenged the CCPs plans for digital payments via his Alipay platform...but he is far from alone- it is well known to Chinese citizens and businesses that the state WILL respond to and prevent any individual coming to dominate any market to the extent of preventing competition.
Something Libertarians might find surprising but the CCP politburo simply do not tolerate any cartels or monopolies because they know such structure reduce your competitive advantage relative to the nation states you are competing with.
Thus China now has the lowest cost manufacturing and pays the highest price for commodities- thus it controls global markets...just like the US once did when it still regulated markets via its anti trust laws- before its political structures and regulatory structures were captured by rentseeking corporate lobbyists.
It requires good governance and focused governance to prevent market rigging and the 'socialist' government of China is demonstrably doing a far better job than the crony capitalist west.
Strong economies require a strong and principled government- there is no example in history of a strong productive and competitive economy existing without the oversight and strategic guidance of the nation state. None.
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strong and principled government
That's funny. Humans are very flawed. I don't trust power being as centralized as it currently is even in the US. Making it more like China sounds even worse. There is no way the Chinese government isn't corrupt. The fact you are pointing to them as an example is pretty eye opening. I don't have that much faith in humans. At least capitalists are primarily driven by profit.
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