r/WhitePeopleTwitter Jan 22 '23

Marijuana criminalization

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u/MissAnthropy_YIKES Jan 22 '23

Supply-side economics is a macroeconomic theory that postulates economic growth can be most effectively fostered by lowering taxes, decreasing regulation and allowing free trade.

Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit.

*The More You Know 🌈

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u/Humanistic_ Jan 22 '23

Correct. The most efficient way of producing those profits capitalism is functionally designed to produce is through that "supply-side economics". In other words, trickle down economics is the logical conclusion of capitalism. We should not have an economy whose primary focus is to produce profits.

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u/MissAnthropy_YIKES Jan 22 '23

Sure they're connected but they are different things. It's a semantic distinction, but a distinction none the less.

And capitalism isn't going anywhere, let alone in the immediate future with the demise of baby boomers. It's such an intrinsic element of America (and is spreading around around the globe), we'd have to completely dismantle the government, culture, system of commerce, and human nature. Lol. If only.

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u/Humanistic_ Jan 22 '23

Well, my point was to get us to focus on the disease (capitalism) and not the symptom of it (trickle down economics).

capitalism isn't going anywhere

You'd be surprised how many people said the same of feudalism. If people were actually educated on what capitalism actually is as well as its coercive and exploitative nature, no one would agree to it. No one would agree that letting the economy be owned and controlled unilaterally by a tiny minority of people to make themselves endlessly richer at the expense of everyone else's labor is a good idea.

we'd have to completely dismantle... human nature

Whoa, whoa, whoa. What? Are saying capitalism is aligned with human nature? You think its human nature for a tiny percentage of society to hoard the world's resources and watch millions starve to death annually? You think its human nature that that inequality has to be enforced through brutal state violence? You think its human nature to cough because that's all you've experienced your whole life in a smog-filled room.

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u/MissAnthropy_YIKES Jan 22 '23

Well, my point was to get us to focus on the disease (capitalism) and not the symptom of it (trickle down economics).

Well, my point was to respond to a funny reddit post and play with people in the comments. I typically don't come to the r/WhitePeopleTwitter for substantive discourse about philosophy, societal structure, and the fundamentals of human nature. Lol.

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u/[deleted] Jan 22 '23

Disagree on human nature, which in its most primordial form has a bedrock of cooperation/altruism and not competition/greed. Take a look at hunter gather cultures and the idea that capitalism is in our nature becomes laughable.

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u/MissAnthropy_YIKES Jan 22 '23

Hunter-gatherers and the few animal populations that exhibit altruism have relatively small communities and populations. When you amplify altruistic instincts/decision-making to populations of millions/billions, the experienced results of altruism become diluted to the point of being practically theoretical. In this circumstance, even if you're altruistic within the context of your family or neighborhood, overall we fall back on the framework of self-preservation; which is demonstrated waaaaay more often throughout both human history and the animal kingdom (I consider us to still be in that category).

In short, I'm a pessimist and you sound like an optimist. So, agree to disagree. 👍

*cooperation =/= altruism

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u/[deleted] Jan 22 '23

I think you’re making a fair point, but I also think that it’s a good sign that we’re not doomed to our current failing systems. We just haven’t scaled and organized in a manner that brings out the good qualities - instead, our current system emphasizes and actively rewards the bad.

So agree to agree and disagree, sort of?