Comments by "Wandering Existence" (@WanderingExistence) on "Why Every Country Ends up Capitalist" video.

Yes, land taxes and negative externality taxes! Let's make taxes directly change society for the better.
25
Yes! Tax the land! Georgism makes sense economically and ethically.
25
Capitalism is about the growth of capital at all costs. The prioritization of material Capital above human needs tears communities apart. E: to people saying "actually no"... Remember that the largest corporation, Apple, uses Chinese reeducation through labor camps for cheap workers.
19
You can't reasonably say "it's the only system that has positively impacted society." Massive innovations occurred in other systems and capitalism has also had massive negative social and environmental consequences. You can't just say it's the only one that is positively impacted society and then forget that it's admitting massive amounts of pollution that make people sick. Norfolk Southern literally did a $10 BILLION stock buyback program instead of improving their rail safety and properly staffing their over worked employees...10 months later we all saw the toxic smoke cloud of Ohio. That's capitalism maximizing shareholders wealth over the health and well being of their workers and community.
6
Um, humans aren't rational actors... We have behavioral economics now. Welcome to the 21st century, economics has come a long way in the past 247 years. Speaking of long ago History, you should also read Debt: The First 5000 Years by David Graeber so you can see that capitalism anthropologically developed with governments.
4
@algardaus And feudalism helped decrease tribal riffs... Doesn't mean it's the best system.
3
@DarkArcticTV The efficient market hypothesis was based on assumptions that have been disproven by studies in behavioral economics. People are not rational actors and quite often choose suboptimal choices, Rational Choice Theory is a made up over simplification. Daniel Kahneman's "Thinking Fast and Slow" describes many of these mental biases. Behavioral economics is a way of applying our knowledge of neuropsychology and evolutionary biology to how humans make choices. Science and economics have come a long way in the 248 years since Of Wealth of Nations, it would be shortsighted to neglect our new knowledge.
2
@arspsychologia4401 I sorta see your point, but on LVT specifically, it can be taxed near 100%. Due to the fact that there is no dead weight loss on production, because nobody made natural resources, so taxing people doesn't stop their creation. LVT is also one of the few taxes that can't be shifted, being fully born by the landowner. LVT can decrease housing costs by encouraging the development of higher density housing and development of idle land to better meet housing demands.
2
@adamperdue3178 Land has an inelastic supply curve and a land tax doesn't tax improvement value. The community would own the land, because land values are largely derivative of natural resources/ beauty and improvements made by the wider community.
2
You might be interested in the Cleveland model/ Preston model of cooperative economics.
2
So basically "Capitalism is the best because it relies on making greed the priority"... Can't imagine anything going wrong with that. Norfolk Southern giving themselves 10 billion of stock buybacks instead of caring about the health and safety of their workers and community... 👍
1
@leggeman2132 I'm sorry, does the currently largest corporation, Apple, not use Chinese slave labor? Not to mention the past 300 years of capitalist colonialism for cheap land and labor.
1
@Nonplussed Meanwhile the top ten richest people own $1.5T in wealth. Capitalist inequality is not out of date, it's very current.
1
@leggeman2132 Does Apple not use slave labor?
1
@leggeman2132 Norfolk Southern did a $10 BILLION stock buyback program instead of improving their rail safety and properly staffing their over worked employees...10 months later we all saw the toxic smoke cloud over Ohio. That's capitalism maximizing shareholder Capital over the health and well being of their workers and community.
1
@leggeman2132 Norfolk Southern did a 10 BILLION dollar stock buyback program instead of improving their rail safety and properly staffing their over worked employees...10 months later we all saw the smoke cloud over Ohio. That's capitalism maximizing shareholders wealth over the health and well being of their workers and community.
1
@arspsychologia4401 That's the thing, is that everyone in the community owns the land and the community collects land rents through the LVT or a community land trust. No one worked to make natural resources, so why should one individual be able to exclude others... And in fact, the land values are largely based on the location of amenities in the community. As in a family house sells for more when there are schools, parks, and stores nearby. When a landlord charges rent, that added value has nothing to do with the house or what the landlord put into the property but rather just privately capturing the value others created. Land developers often hold ground vacant for decades as a city builds up around their property, then they sell it vastly more as other people have increased land values by adding value to the community. People would still own their homes and buildings, it's just that all land rents would go to the community. A landlord is free to rent out a house and earn money off of the building, but the ground rents should be taxed.
1
@adamperdue3178 Funny, you don't hear argument when landlords are charging 100% of land rents... It literally just changes who gets the land rent not how much is being charged.
1
You love incorporations do stock buybacks and then treat their workers terribly. Capitalism 😎👍
1
I'd really like to pick your brain on how you think capitalism was developed... 160 acre land grants from the US Homestead Act of 1862 was not peacefully claimed. It was a massively violent government redistribution plan. Hilarious how you guys just forget that stuff...
1