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comment by eks
eks  ·  4516 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Simon Johnson: The Market Has Spoken, and It Is Rigged
I've been saying this for a while, but we need "a new Marx". (Not a new communism, but someone that things and elaborates a new system).

It doesn't need to diverge so much from capitalism as communism did. Capitalism is great, it just needs some more polishing. (And the polisher is not called free market).





ecib  ·  4516 days ago  ·  link  ·  
At the rate our radical, polarized electorate is going, I have to wonder how we get from here to increased socialism-ish ideas.

The right is extreme, and the left is to the right of were Reagan was on many issues.

>Capitalism is great, it just needs some more polishing.

I've always thought so. I'm progressive, and it shocks me the distortions the Right make about the views of people like me when the word 'regulation' is even whispered. I think capitalism is the best system on Earth because it is the only one that takes into account human nature (greed). It just can't be completely unregulated because it actually isn't the most efficient at creating prosperity for the majority of people if left unchecked. Monopolies cannot be avoided in some markets due to the structural barriers to enter, giving the monopolistic leaders the ability to crush or buy off any newcomers that make the attempt. It's not rocket science. I also think that our nations utilities and infrastructure should be subject to scrutiny and regulation, along with sectors that have to ability to destroy the life savings of our citizens through fraudulent gambling (I'm looking at you Wall Street). But on the whole, the free market should be mostly free, and we don't need to have the state owning the means of production as the Socialism calls for (most Tea Partiers have zero idea what socialism is).

mk  ·  4516 days ago  ·  link  ·  
I agree with this sentiment.

It seems that in some cases technology can offer more to us by fragmenting financial services. For example, there could be ways that people could loan to each other in P2P networks that could be more dynamic and have far less overhead than banks.

But I suspect it can go much further than that. We might be better off creating economic alternatives to money itself. Rather than a place keeper for value, maybe we can exchange something that has different characteristics.

thenewgreen  ·  4516 days ago  ·  link  ·  
    maybe we can exchange something that has different characteristics.
an interesting thought. Any suggestions on what that would look like?
mk  ·  4516 days ago  ·  link  ·  
I've thought on it quite a bit. The closest thing that I can think of looks something like Cory Doctorow's "Whuffie" in Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom.

It's basically digital karma. Sentiment replaces money.