If Republicans are losing faith in capitalism, it is only because they want monarchic feudalism or a theocracy.
this post was submitted on 23 Jul 2026
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Capitalism in the US worked if and when the system was kept in check by outside forces. Like when the US had to appear to be a civilized country during the Cold War.
After that, it became a free-for-all where each politician, Republicans most of all but Democrats not excluded, made sure that their guys could loot the till. And they all did.
Corruption and grift ensued, and regular folks were left holding the bag. Then they invented the scapegoat to blame it all on. Minorities, immigrants, or whatever the sad pick of the day happens to be.
Now they’re selling off what’s left of public goods, including the US’ international reputation, natural reserves and the government itself. The military has become a tool to fleece the markets.
That’s capitalism folks. If private greed is allowed to run amok, then this is what you get. Don’t act so surprised.
Eh, it works during the period it's intended to work. When competition is high and not optimized. Optimization results in a need to convert to non-profit public utility status, which is where we fail.
Capitalism can work fine when subject to the pressures that keep things reasonable.
The pressures were removed. The system broke.
Republicans now believe capitalism is the problem, completely ignoring the fact that THEY FUCKING BROKE IT.
Capitalism isn’t perfect. It’s not even great. But it can work if you fucking let it.
Capitalism's fundamental flaw is that it exploits and feeds people's greed. It requires an external system of regulation to ensure that the vast majority of people aren't left with so little that murdering the people responsible for their suffering doesn't seem like a better option than continuing in the system.
One could envision a system that uses mutually aligned incentives to ensure that when you succeed, we all do better, and when I succeed, we all do better. What does that system look like? It looks like a flattened hierarchy, where it is practically impossible for one person to accumulate enough wealth to influence national politics. I think it likely looks like state that guarantees healthcare, education, food, privacy, housing, and a job if you want it. Why does it look like that, because all of those things are neccesary to a happy, fulfilled, and productive life. If you have more people optimally outputting, your economy has strength and resiliency. With a modicome of smart public investment, you can fiscally guarentee that in perpetuity. In order to achieve it you need a government worth trusting, we don't have one, but we can build one.
If nothing else, the modern era of capital accumulation demonstrates that there are so many more resources in the world than people to use them. What if we just let them? Since the war on Iran started the US has spent more than 1/3 of what the UN estimates it would cost to end world hunger (37B/97B).
The problem is the capitalists become the government officials that should be the check.
This is true in other systems too btw, the only real check has ever been the power of the people to stand up and reset the corruption.
It’s a cycle that’s incredibly old, we’re just at the elite looting stage before the revolution.
Whether we end up with capitalism again or something doesn’t matter, what we really need is something new that encourages civic participation to hold elites accountable. I have no idea what this is, but I know blaming capitalism alone is only a convenient scapegoat, it’s not a true root cause.
Holy shit. It wasn't the fact that you've worked your entire life and can barely afford a home, food, and medical care...
Fucking idiots
The problem with socialism is the high taxes needed to pay for socialistic programs. The key is to adopt some socialistic programs but not so much that taxes are too high.