08-29-2017, 02:29 PM
Personally, I think there are advantages to capitalism in the big picture - particularly global capitalism - which aren't discussed too often. (And problems in the small scale can often be mitigated through regulation, consumer protection, and social safety nets.) The more closely tied-together countries' economies are, the less likely they are to go to war because it would simply be too unprofitable.
I mean, as a simple example, look at the US and China. Fearmongers love to push the idea of the two going to war, but realistically, that's incredibly unlikely to happen. Why? Because each is the other's best trade partner. (Unless you count the EU as a single entity, in which they're both each other's second-bestie.) The economic devastation which would come from an actual shooting war would be almost unimaginable, since that would mean a near-overnight cessation of trade and supply lines. It would be so bad that it's hard to imagine ANY scenario where going to war would actually be seen as worthwhile.
And speaking of the EU, it's the same basic thing. The history of Europe up until 1945 was roughly two thousand years of war, with occasional outbreaks of peace when everyone was too poor or too depopulated to fight. Then, virtually overnight, major wars in Europe STOPPED. And in the meantime, they've knitted together trade agreements which bind them together far more closely than any medieval arranged marriage ever could. The idea of Germany or France or England or Spain actually going to war against each other again is practically unimaginable, even if Brexit does happen. You'd need a full-on economic collapse first for it to even be a possibility, and there are a lot of safeguards in place against that.
For all its problems at a philosophical level, mixed-market capitalism with a dash of socialism is turning into a pretty good global stabilizer and peacemaker. That's worth something, given how violent humanity has been in the past. It creates the possibility of having a foundation upon which a true global society can be built in a way that didn't exist even fifty years ago.
I mean, as a simple example, look at the US and China. Fearmongers love to push the idea of the two going to war, but realistically, that's incredibly unlikely to happen. Why? Because each is the other's best trade partner. (Unless you count the EU as a single entity, in which they're both each other's second-bestie.) The economic devastation which would come from an actual shooting war would be almost unimaginable, since that would mean a near-overnight cessation of trade and supply lines. It would be so bad that it's hard to imagine ANY scenario where going to war would actually be seen as worthwhile.
And speaking of the EU, it's the same basic thing. The history of Europe up until 1945 was roughly two thousand years of war, with occasional outbreaks of peace when everyone was too poor or too depopulated to fight. Then, virtually overnight, major wars in Europe STOPPED. And in the meantime, they've knitted together trade agreements which bind them together far more closely than any medieval arranged marriage ever could. The idea of Germany or France or England or Spain actually going to war against each other again is practically unimaginable, even if Brexit does happen. You'd need a full-on economic collapse first for it to even be a possibility, and there are a lot of safeguards in place against that.
For all its problems at a philosophical level, mixed-market capitalism with a dash of socialism is turning into a pretty good global stabilizer and peacemaker. That's worth something, given how violent humanity has been in the past. It creates the possibility of having a foundation upon which a true global society can be built in a way that didn't exist even fifty years ago.