I think one of the inherent truths about capitalism is that people canāt provide for themselves. Thatās why every functioning capitalist society has social welfare programs. Name one that doesnāt.
Discussion
America, before they introduced these programs.
You mean like the America that created the Great Depression?
Yes, free market capitalism created the great depression... š¤£
It literally did. Laissez faire government, stock market speculation, unregulated financial industry and income inequality and over-production all contributed to the collapse of the economy. Thatās why programs like these exist, and itās why we havenāt seen anything nearly as severe ever since.
Figured you would cite Rothbard! Iāll have a look at this. As a guy who majored in this stuff, though, what Iāll say is that there is little evidence that the principles of Austrian economics can work (at least better than the status quo) in a large, late-stage capitalist society like the US, but it is fun to think about how it might look.
Ha don't cite a major. That does the opposite of what you think.
"I've been professionally brainwashed by Keynesian propagandists, trust me"
Never said you should trust me, just saying Iām not surprised you cited a controversial fringe economist with little empirical data to support his theories š
Likewise, I am not surprised you cited a degree. Have a good one, man!
š¤
Btw Iām not dismissing your argument at all. After all, I, too am a bitcoiner, so at the very least I take interest in commodity-backed currency. Itās just hard for me to accept Austrian economics and anarcho-capitalism at face value without a healthy dose of skepticism, since we havenāt really seen those things work in modern history. Still, Iāll read the paper you shared
š¤ same goal, different understandings.
Correct. When there is too much malinvestment you need recessions or even depressions to clear out shit businesses. The alternative is bailouts, central planning and inflation. Pick your poison
Alright but likeā¦ on one side, poverty and death, and on the other, inflation and bureaucracy. I know what Iām choosing.
Inflation and bureaucracy cause poverty and death. Literally look around.
Inflation pushes the most vulnerable further into poverty. Social welfare might keep some alive, but itās akin to starving a patient but keeping them on life support.
Nah, inflation does erode un-invested wealth over the years, but it doesnāt evaporate the $30 in a poor personās pocket faster than they can spend it. Poor people donāt earn enough to accumulate any wealth therefore inflation doesnāt make them poor. The issue is that too many jobs donāt pay living wages or provide adequate benefits.
Yes, inflation does increase the cost of living over time so in that way itās part of the problem. But imo the real problem is a distorted labor market.
Examine that first statement again with anyone living in a high to hyper-inflating economy.
The second statement makes no sense to me. If you have no wealth, inflation hits you the hardest. This is undeniable. Rising costs of goods and services means you have less.
A surefire way to distort labor markets is fiat currency and expanding government interventionism.
One of the inherent truths about capitalism is that people CAN provide for themselves.
A bit of a logical fallacy in the second statement. Every functioning capitalist society also has corruption, this doesnāt prove that corruption is essential for capitalism.
I think the issue is that not enough people can provide enough for themselves to live. We see this today with the number of people living below the poverty line. The wealth gap is too high and, without government intervention, the jobs that people have access to donāt pay well enough for these people to be able to provide food for their families, let alone medical care, let alone a secure retirement. If free market capitalism was working so well, why are we seeing this?
āFree marketā fiat capitalism certainly doesnāt help things. People cannot provide for themselves if their money is continually debased.
Itās an unsustainable path and a painful road to serfdom to continually expand the government and the currency in the hopes that doing so leads to prosperity.