hyper-capitalism would mean hyper-growth and not a nightmare, at least that is what the historical data would suggest for the effect of capitalism on human quality of life. if you’ve been told otherwise then you’ve been lied to.
Lied to by whom? My life experience? Growth for who? I’m myself capitalist, that doesn’t make me blind from externalities resulting from that system, and the way it is poised to degenerate if not regulated.
If you think capitalism means growth with no externalities you’re not ready to discuss that topic
non-capitalist systems have even worse externalities historically. democracy to introduce regulations is healthy. state participation is unhealthy and destructive. I fully understand and you can read my sibling reply for more context.
FWIW, I also think we should have sensible regulations, because the externalities are very real and damaging, etc.
That said, I find a concerning and increasing number of people are fully focused on the negative externalities, and blind to the benefits. Ironically, most of those people are very wealthy beneficiaries of capitalism, from a global and historical perspective. I doubt that the billions of people who have been lifted out of abject poverty in the last few decades would fail to see that capitalism is a net benefit to humanity. But I suspect this comment will be heavily downvoted by those rich folks here on HN just because I mentioned something positive about capitalism, and that's gauche now. It's pretty perplexing, are people really so blind about the incredibly privileged place in history we occupy? It seems so.
Now, if we exterminate ourselves with AI or climate change ends up putting humanity as a whole in a worse position than we were in pre-Industrial Revolution (both of which I doubt tbh), I'd change my view on whether capitalism is a net benefit.
East Germany emitted 10x West Germany’s SO2 per km2, USSR drained the Aral Sea for cotton quotas and Mao wrecked forests and harvests. central planning hid the costs but capitalism generates the wealth. with democracy the public forces that wealth into cleaner air and water. That pairing, not central planning is what works in history. The anti-capitalist comments on HN reflect deep failure of the education systems experienced by those with such views. Capitalism is the single greatest force for good in human history. Don’t confuse oligarchy and cronyism for capitalism, those are just different failure states of The State which is the greatest force of evil in human history, most death most destruction most suffering originated from governments. capitalists make lives better, by definition, it’s why you part with your money voluntarily and pay them!
