Indeed, the post asks more questions than giving answers, however in general I think we can agree that the model of capitalism has unleashed a ton of innovation and energy that led to the high living standards that we know today. The awesome rewards from manufacturing and selling ever improving goods has been a very effective harness in giving entrepreneurs incentive for taking the risks needed to start up businesses. Up until now, we've mostly seen the positive impacts of capitalism and the extreme weaknesses of other systems.
However, I think we can also agree that most things are not black and white, and capitalism has its flaws. While some level of income inequality is needed for capitalism to work, at some point those who have become super wealthy may find that manipulation of politics and crushing potential competition provides greater returns than in trying to produce and sell ever improving products. I think that these greedier aspects of capitalism are its weakness and may come back to bite us and in some ways already has. Worldwide pollution is getting worse, extreme income inequality is rising and at some point we have to ask if these additional prices which lead to additional human suffering are worth paying. I guess so far that fishermen can't pay the right amount of money to clean up the oceans; even though healthy oceans help us all.
But what to do about it? Hard to say but to start with I think healthy conversations that don't degrade into name calling is a start, but in some places even that's hard to do... Or even agreement that these are problems worth addressing...
"extreme income inequality is rising " you are wrong. Money is causing inflation so even having more money is less powerful than it used to be. Since the cost of experiences are going down because the cost of production is going down and the cost of experiences are becoming cheaper. The world has never been a more fair place. Inequality will always rise with the rise of complexity in a society. This is nature and will always work that way. You are also wrong that greed provides greater return. Since it creates chaos and ruins long term growth. So it's bad business.
Really, really good comment. Thank you for it.
I know I asked way more questions than I provided answers. I fear that the inherent greed in the system might alter it significantly. The part I'm really worried about is the capital raised with out a product. Pure money manipulation and speculation. They provide no tangible product, and if a market really goes upside down (Housing in the US 7 years ago) the drain on the capitalized product is stupefying. It is where governance comes into play, and the reaction to it. It is really hard for me to perceive a solid answer to.
Thanks for a marvelous and thoughtful comment. I appreciate it!
Thank you for the compliment! Yes, that's also a worrisome part of capitalism - a lot of creative energy is being poured into manipulation of currency, and people get massively rewarded for it, even though there's no useful good or service provided by them... Maybe if it was somehow connected to say a universal basic income program, where people's cunning can reward themselves and the wider public, but I don't know how the math pans out on that and I imagine the type of person who pursues this kind of living wouldn't be interested