American capitalism has always had no chill.
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American capitalism has always had no chill. No sense of reflection, no moral floor. But, that was supposed to be the point. A feature, not a bug.
Like a hurricane or a wildfire only the tallest and most healthy trees would survive. And this would make companies efficient, prices low, trade networks rational.
If you ask Democrats what they think about capitalism and socialism at this moment polls show that Democrats like BOTH. Capitalism has grown less popular, socialism has made gains.
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American capitalism has always had no chill. No sense of reflection, no moral floor. But, that was supposed to be the point. A feature, not a bug.
Like a hurricane or a wildfire only the tallest and most healthy trees would survive. And this would make companies efficient, prices low, trade networks rational.
If you ask Democrats what they think about capitalism and socialism at this moment polls show that Democrats like BOTH. Capitalism has grown less popular, socialism has made gains.
1/But I kind of hate the words "capitalism" and "socialism" --I'm using them here in their American vernacular sense. Political scientists, historians and other nerds will find this very obnoxious. But the technical definitions don't help anyone to describe the world around them with precision.
Something a close friend said to me has been coming back to my mind over and over. She said "capitalism has gotten mean, it's just so bad right now"
2/
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But I kind of hate the words "capitalism" and "socialism" --I'm using them here in their American vernacular sense. Political scientists, historians and other nerds will find this very obnoxious. But the technical definitions don't help anyone to describe the world around them with precision.
Something a close friend said to me has been coming back to my mind over and over. She said "capitalism has gotten mean, it's just so bad right now"
2/
And "it's so bad right now" is kind of a red flag for me when reasoning about the world. When I find myself thinking "it's so bad right now" I pull the breaks on my thinking because every era of history has been a crisis if you can only ask the right person.
But at the same time I really do wonder if it has gotten ... worse. We could talk about wealth gaps, we could talk about corruption.
3/
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And "it's so bad right now" is kind of a red flag for me when reasoning about the world. When I find myself thinking "it's so bad right now" I pull the breaks on my thinking because every era of history has been a crisis if you can only ask the right person.
But at the same time I really do wonder if it has gotten ... worse. We could talk about wealth gaps, we could talk about corruption.
3/
It hasn't gotten worse exactly (obviously things before the Civil Rights Act were worse) but it's gotten more meaningless. Why are you supposed to be striving to work in the usual way when giant institutions stand ready to take whatever you make past living expenses and when our society as a whole is failing every civilizational challenge we have?
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And "it's so bad right now" is kind of a red flag for me when reasoning about the world. When I find myself thinking "it's so bad right now" I pull the breaks on my thinking because every era of history has been a crisis if you can only ask the right person.
But at the same time I really do wonder if it has gotten ... worse. We could talk about wealth gaps, we could talk about corruption.
3/
But I keep thinking about the company that wants to make nurses bid against each other driving their wages lower and lower just to have a shift.
It feels like a fire to me, in a shirtwaist factory.
At some point the creative innovations of the market sound like rolling back civilization rather than creating it.
4/
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But I keep thinking about the company that wants to make nurses bid against each other driving their wages lower and lower just to have a shift.
It feels like a fire to me, in a shirtwaist factory.
At some point the creative innovations of the market sound like rolling back civilization rather than creating it.
4/
Another idea that has been sticking with me comes from a more conservative friend. (Maybe my conservative friends aren't all that conservative... but play along)
He was talking about the 1950s and the dream of having a family and a house and how that was all gone. And I was pointing out that for most people it was never here.
"but that's when more people had it than do now, more people were middle class, you could start your life."
I think he has a point.
5/5
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But I keep thinking about the company that wants to make nurses bid against each other driving their wages lower and lower just to have a shift.
It feels like a fire to me, in a shirtwaist factory.
At some point the creative innovations of the market sound like rolling back civilization rather than creating it.
4/
@futurebird
Let the (con)tributed humans start the “Hunger games”.
May the best person win!
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But I keep thinking about the company that wants to make nurses bid against each other driving their wages lower and lower just to have a shift.
It feels like a fire to me, in a shirtwaist factory.
At some point the creative innovations of the market sound like rolling back civilization rather than creating it.
4/
@futurebird "company that wants to make nurses bid against each other" while skimming off the top for offering this "service". This last part feels the most cynical. If a government made such a system it would be bad. But that a private entity would profit off of it feels utterly callous. -
Another idea that has been sticking with me comes from a more conservative friend. (Maybe my conservative friends aren't all that conservative... but play along)
He was talking about the 1950s and the dream of having a family and a house and how that was all gone. And I was pointing out that for most people it was never here.
"but that's when more people had it than do now, more people were middle class, you could start your life."
I think he has a point.
5/5
@futurebird I think in my reflections on this, where I’ve currently landed is that wealth (and thus power) have gotten so much more concentrated than really ever before, and this means people lack autonomy. Most people hold so little power over their lives because decisions are made by the few.
So I remember to be grateful that in the sweep of human history, I am incredibly materially lucky. But I also remember that autonomy and dignity are fundamental needs, and our current social structure is stealing those from us.
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Another idea that has been sticking with me comes from a more conservative friend. (Maybe my conservative friends aren't all that conservative... but play along)
He was talking about the 1950s and the dream of having a family and a house and how that was all gone. And I was pointing out that for most people it was never here.
"but that's when more people had it than do now, more people were middle class, you could start your life."
I think he has a point.
5/5
@futurebird Yes. Sure, it was available for white families only for the most part, but it was possible.
My grandfather was an illiterate sharecropper when he moved his family to Savannah, started as a day laborer, and eventually had his own construction crew.
My dad paid for my mom to go to college when I was 8-9 (she got scholarships, too) and my brother and I grew up solidly middle class. He also ran a construction company, and later designed homes.
I can't imagine trying to do that today make the money he did
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