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Let's take an analogy, currency. Currency is an extremely important tool and system at making economic activity practical. If we didn't have currency, we'd have hugely less wealth and could get very little done. There would be enormous suffering because of it.
But if currency were given total power, not controlled, that too would be disastrous.
Imagine if currency was allowed to pay for murder. If a leader could just sell his country. If any unsafe product could be sold. If a person could forcefully 'purchase' someone else's home, wife, family with currency just because they could afford to. Currency given that sort of power would be tyrannical.
Basic capitalism is like that, on a smaller level giving people the power and freedom to spend how they like to meet their needs, rewarding people who provide goods and services. It's the best system that's been invented.
But that same capitalism given too much power is hugely damaging.
The human race has critical needs - to prevent war, for people to have the power to choose their government and its policies, to protect the planet's environment and climate, to invest in the infrastructure to benefit the public, to ensure healthcare for everyone, not to indulge in the destruction of the planet for profit.
Uncontrolled capitalism takes those societal needs out of the hands of the public, and places them in the hands of the more powerful capitalists. It tells the people who profit from destroying natural environments, you decide whether to destroy them or give up profits. It tells people who profit from not spending on the public, you decide whether to give your money away to help the public or not.
It's insane to expect corporations who profit from destructive activities to be in charge of whether to act in the public interest, when their whole purpose is not to do so.
When we're looking at global needs to not do harmful things, uncontrolled capitalism is essentially guaranteed to do them.
Just as we restrict how currency can be used while it performs its critical role, we need to restrict how capital is used while it performs its critical role. We need an effective political system to put the public good as a limiting power over the use of capital, something we now do not have because of allowing capital to take control of our political system.
Policies are set by what powerful industries want short-term without much concern for the long-term effects, for sustainability, for future generations. And that is insanity, the human race deciding to allow the destruction of the planet and other harms by choosing an under-controlled capitalist system for governance. We are creating future crises and disasters, ignoring science.
Even democracy isn't exactly the answer. Democracy has proven itself to be too easily manipulated by powerful interests launching propaganda campaigns in modern media to manipulate public opinion. You can't count on such a manipulated public to make the right policy choices.
We need to revisit our political systems, to determine a way to prevent the corruption of the system to serve capitalistic short-term interests, and to serve the public good.
We've seen how even the best of intentions at good government can fail when the oversight is corrupted - a Department of Energy to set good policy corrupted, run by Rick Perry. An Environmental Protection Agency corrupted, run by polluters. Even a CDC made unreliable run by appointees serving a denier of a pandemic.
Continuing this will continue to see the public good betrayed, and coming disasters from inequality, destruction of the environment, extreme climate change, wars for profit and power and many other preventable harms to billions of people, who are a powerless 'underclass', expendable, and tyranny simply to protect the power of those who have it from those victims.
But if currency were given total power, not controlled, that too would be disastrous.
Imagine if currency was allowed to pay for murder. If a leader could just sell his country. If any unsafe product could be sold. If a person could forcefully 'purchase' someone else's home, wife, family with currency just because they could afford to. Currency given that sort of power would be tyrannical.
Basic capitalism is like that, on a smaller level giving people the power and freedom to spend how they like to meet their needs, rewarding people who provide goods and services. It's the best system that's been invented.
But that same capitalism given too much power is hugely damaging.
The human race has critical needs - to prevent war, for people to have the power to choose their government and its policies, to protect the planet's environment and climate, to invest in the infrastructure to benefit the public, to ensure healthcare for everyone, not to indulge in the destruction of the planet for profit.
Uncontrolled capitalism takes those societal needs out of the hands of the public, and places them in the hands of the more powerful capitalists. It tells the people who profit from destroying natural environments, you decide whether to destroy them or give up profits. It tells people who profit from not spending on the public, you decide whether to give your money away to help the public or not.
It's insane to expect corporations who profit from destructive activities to be in charge of whether to act in the public interest, when their whole purpose is not to do so.
When we're looking at global needs to not do harmful things, uncontrolled capitalism is essentially guaranteed to do them.
Just as we restrict how currency can be used while it performs its critical role, we need to restrict how capital is used while it performs its critical role. We need an effective political system to put the public good as a limiting power over the use of capital, something we now do not have because of allowing capital to take control of our political system.
Policies are set by what powerful industries want short-term without much concern for the long-term effects, for sustainability, for future generations. And that is insanity, the human race deciding to allow the destruction of the planet and other harms by choosing an under-controlled capitalist system for governance. We are creating future crises and disasters, ignoring science.
Even democracy isn't exactly the answer. Democracy has proven itself to be too easily manipulated by powerful interests launching propaganda campaigns in modern media to manipulate public opinion. You can't count on such a manipulated public to make the right policy choices.
We need to revisit our political systems, to determine a way to prevent the corruption of the system to serve capitalistic short-term interests, and to serve the public good.
We've seen how even the best of intentions at good government can fail when the oversight is corrupted - a Department of Energy to set good policy corrupted, run by Rick Perry. An Environmental Protection Agency corrupted, run by polluters. Even a CDC made unreliable run by appointees serving a denier of a pandemic.
Continuing this will continue to see the public good betrayed, and coming disasters from inequality, destruction of the environment, extreme climate change, wars for profit and power and many other preventable harms to billions of people, who are a powerless 'underclass', expendable, and tyranny simply to protect the power of those who have it from those victims.