No. Neo-liberal Capitalism whether based on a gold standard or fiat currency, is way past its use-by date. Global ecological stresses resulting from business as usual are reaching breaking point. The costs of a 100% recycling industry and a global green economy with fair access to resources can only be accomplished with global public oversight and co-operation, to intervene in "invisible hand" private sector markets. Back to the drawing board. That's what this thread is about. National economies in the developing world are collapsing all around the world, the US shows soaring inequality with entrenched poverty causing increasing hyper-partisanship, while "socialism with Chinese characteristics" is performing well enough to increasingly threaten US global hegemony.....which is what the US confrontation with China is all about...the US couldn't give a damn about conditions in China up until recently...... https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/go...-us-china-catastrophe-on-scale-of-world-war-i [WASHINGTON] Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said the incoming Biden administration should move quickly to restore lines of communication with China that frayed during the Trump years or risk a crisis that could escalate into military conflict. "Unless there is some basis for some cooperative action, the world will slide into a catastrophe comparable to World War I," Dr Kissinger said during the opening session of the Bloomberg New Economy Forum. He said military technologies available today would make such a crisis "even more difficult to control" than those of earlier eras.
No, you are missing the point. Your non-Capitalism system you were advocating seemed to be based off monetary theory. It's like you changed the topic, and then when we argued with you about that, then you turn around and claim that is off-topic and irrelevant. If you want to discuss Capitalism vs non-Capitalism (economic systems), rather than monetary theory, we can do that.
(Sigh) MMT is a description of financial arrangements based on the capitalist system, as the antidote to the unsustainable capitalism based on neoliberalism funded by private banksters. How hard is that to understand? I hope you now understand your error; even "socialism with Chinese characteristics" - with which the US will have to co-operate (as Kissinger has noted) - is based on capitalism these days.
If you shutdown the economy in response to a pandemic, will any system "work" ? We might want to address that before we talk about tossing out capitalism.
Firstly, I for one am not talking about tossing out capitalism. Even China has adapted capitalism, resulting in an increasing number of billionaires; but China also subsidizes housing and healthcare costs for ALL its citizens, and has officially eradicated poverty this year, on its way to achieving 1st world per capita GDP levels by 2049, a century after the founding of the CCP. Secondly, the claim that entrenched poverty and soaring inequality in the US can be fixed by simply reverting to the gold standard, without increasing tax rates on the wealthy, is obvious nonsense as already point outed, given the massive international trade flows in the present global economy. Thirdly, to your point about a life-saving lock-down of the economy as a response to the pandemic: any system that was functioning before the pandemic, can be adapted to ensure the provision of the essentials during the pandemic, by means of a government takeover of the free market economy. Food production, manufacture and delivery can mostly be carried out with social distancing (though some meat processing works might need to be closed); and vital utilities can like-wise remain operational. The funding model available to the national currency-issuing government during such a lock-down is obvious...with essential workers being rewarded with their usual wages, while the remainder of the population (non-essential workers) 'treads water' financially, but with all bills/expenses paid by the government during the compulsory lock-down 'holiday'.
That doesn't sound like it will improve the economy, it sounds like you are talking about reallocation of scarce resources.
Where is the wealth going to come from to pay the non-essential workers? I am not talking about money, I am talking about wealth, purchasing power.
{sigh} it's not meant to "improve the economy", it's meant to save lives.... The Left? Anyway, the UN has said that ecologically sustainable food production and good health are best achieved by a reduction in meat consumption. Why do you need "purchasing power" during a pandemic, when the government is enabling you to purchase food, internet access, and paying your rent, mortgages and utilities (power, water etc)
But capitalism is driven by self-interested profit-seeking competition among individuals and companies in free markets. aka 'greed'.....or human nature...
Um... How is government doing that? I'm not sure you understand economics. Your mentality here seems very similar to one of Communism.
By utilizing its sovereign currency issuing capacity (via the national treasury and reserve bank) while the economy is in lock-down, the government is supplying you with all the "purchasing power" you need, without you having to risk your life by trying to earn an income in your tattoo parlour.... I'm explaining how a government can maintain an economy in 'hibernation' during a pandemic lock-down, in order to save lives. Guess what: the free market is inappropriate, in this scenario dedicated to saving lives in the pandemic.
Don't really see anything in your list that can be considered a problem with our 'economic system'?? Everything you mention above is the responsibility of people...voters...governments, etc.
- Wants to more deeply politicize every aspect of everyone's life and subject to the whims of unaccountable central planners with unlimited authority. - Can't figure out why people are so divided over who ought to be in power.
Of course; and you can't even begin to say why... But while the Pope insists that Jesus is God, he is prepared to say that that particular doctrine (the Trinity) is a matter of belief, not science. Whereas you are claiming your economic dogma is science, when it too is nothing more than false belief. Hint: in a world of plenty, there is no need for systemic generational poverty.
Everyone's economic circumstances under a system of governance (ie rule of law) is already "deeply politicized" UNTIL a fair and free system is created. "It's the economy, stupid". Hint: neoliberal economic orthodoxy is THE problem. That's THE problem with 'blind-leading-the blind', adversarial, two party democracies, in which the average citizen knows nothing about money creation, or reserve bank/treasury operation. Hence the current hyper-partisanship seen in eg the US will only worsen, as poverty and soaring inequality grow.
No, I'm not. Society does not inherently aggravate the problems I listed; in fact, it usually ameliorates them. Capitalism does aggravate them.
What does capitalism have to do with these? Inadequate healthcare Global warming Reluctance to work for alternative energy A minimum wage that should have been incremented with inflation The highest prison population in the world per 100,000 population Systemic racism which acts as a buffer to keep the worst economic oppression off whites Extreme wealth and income disparity causing increasing poverty Citizens United and other barriers to fair elections Campaign financing laws favor the rich who then buy policies they want Denial of women's right to control their own reproductivity Gambling in the economy that contributes nothing to society, like hedge funds and derivatives No solution available for companies that are "too big to fail" Failing education with pockets of superior ed. for some who can afford it College education becoming more and more for only the rich The insanity of more guns in circulation among civilians than the total population Continuing growth of a severely bloated defense budget Inability to secure Social Security Manipulation of tax cuts vs. program cuts to eliminate an increasing number of socially-beneficial programs, harming the people while benefitting the rich Crumbling infrastructure "Fake News" is killing us Clean water crisis All of these are society's responsibilities...
Especially in the USA, monopoly privileges have made health care 5-10 times as expensive as it would be in a free market for the unearned profit of the capitalist medico-rentier complex. These are BS. CO2 emissions from fossil fuels do not cause significant warming and are a net benefit to humanity through their fertilization effect. Minimum wages are only needed because capitalist privilege, especially landowning, deprives the least productive workers of access to opportunity and increases both the cost of employing them and their cost of living. In a free market there would be no need for minimum wages. That is for the profit of the private prison industry and capitalist corporations that thus get access to slave labor. Again, if not for capitalist landowner privilege, racial economic disparities would be far smaller. The extreme disparities are caused by massive, systematic, institutionalized injustice, which is caused by capitalist privileges like private landowning, private commercial banks' money issuance, and IP monopolies. Capitalists use the profits of capitalist privilege to corrupt politicians and get even more privilege. I agree that has nothing to do with capitalism. That is an inevitable result of modern finance capitalism and its debt money system, which force the economy into ever-expanding coils of debt. Capitalist privilege favors bigness by making returns depend on how much you own, not how much you produce. An educated populace capable of critical thinking is the greatest threat to capitalist privilege and parasitism. Agree, nothing to do with capitalism. OTC, capitalists would be interested in disarming the civilian population to make sure they can't rebel. Who do you think is getting the money?? Non-issue. SS is fine. Obviously for the benefit of capitalists. Capitalist landowner privilege stops governments from recovering the value that investments in infrastructure create, forcing them to give it away to landowners. Six companies control all information media via capitalist IP monopoly privilege. Because under capitalism, public watersheds are treated as private property. Nope. See above.