Capitalism is good. No, really...

[Retro]

Sabine normally makes very well presented science videos, but here she takes a little detour and talks politics instead, explaining why capitalism is a good thing, enabling freedom and modern life as we know it in the West. Oh and it allows science to flourish, too. If you really don't like capitalism, fancy living in totalitarian regimes like North Korea, China, or Russia? Oh, that last one invaded Ukraine, didn't it?

Now, no system is perfect and the major problem with capitalism is that it tends to be exploitative. Taken to the extreme, think of the abomination that was slavery in the 1800s, also survival of the fittest and the rest be damned. Hence, it does need to be tempered with a bit of socialism to reign this in, something which Sabine doesn't touch on for some reason. Note that too much socialism leads to communisim which is even worse, so the proper balance between the two is critical for giving the largest number of people in a country a good life. Unfortunately, that balance is seldom correct, so ordinary people suffer, but it's much better than nothing.

Watch the video and let us know what you think.

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[Crims]

Not going into any personal views, though capitalism itself has always been synonymous with trade, and naturally provided a way to trade larger quantities with varying regions. I suppose the real depthy talk is about the nature of trade and whether it works on all scales

 

[Tiffany]

Capitalism only works when you have honest people at the top in my humble opinion.

 

[Retro]

Thing is, corruption is everywhere and capitalism - with those crucial checks and balances* - are what allow us to live a relatively free life here in the West. Otherwise you're looking at an authoritarian regime such as in places like Russia, China, North Korea and Iran.

*Without them, of course you just get slavery, hence crucial.

 

[Tiffany]

Thing is, corruption is everywhere and capitalism - with those crucial checks and balances* - are what allow us to live a relatively free life here in the West. Otherwise you're looking at an authoritarian regime such as in places like Russia, China, North Korea and Iran.

*Without them, of course you just get slavery, hence crucial.

Well said!

 

[Crims]

Capitalism is great. Especially for music and creativity. Without Harvey you wouldn't have Titian, and wouldn't have a ton of great cultural artifacts. Without valuing, nothing is worth trading. I notice that the video doesn't touch on late stage capitalism though, but whatever. Capitalism itself isn't wrong

 

[Tiffany]

Capitalism is great. Especially for music and creativity. Without Harvey you wouldn't have Titian, and wouldn't have a ton of great cultural artifacts. Without valuing, nothing is worth trading. I notice that the video doesn't touch on late stage capitalism though, but whatever. Capitalism itself isn't wrong

Agreed....Capitalism allows creativity and out of the box thinking when one is motivated to solve a problem or create a new invention. Without it, we would still be lacking in a lot of technologies. The problem is regulation (at least in the US) that prevents sometimes the complete fruition of a thought to a product or service.

 

[Retro]

Capitalism is great.

No it's not. Communism is where it's at as we're all equal, where our Lords and Masters are even more equal! <frothing gently at mouth>