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42 sats \ 16 replies \ @kepford 20h \ parent \ on: The socialist housing plan for New York City econ
I fear our descendants will have to learn the hard way about how amazing capitalism actually is by losing it.
Its weird how something responsible for so much good can be denegrated when government education and entertainment demonize it for 50+ years.
My hope is that we can learn the lesson vicariously by watching Europe go over the cliff.
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Hasn't worked yet. We saw the USSR.
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I think Europe is pretty entrenched in our minds as a peer culture. It might seem less like it's happening to some alien culture.
What are they?
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The short version. The victors (US) didn't believe that socialism was the primary reason the Soviet Union failed. They believe it was the USA. They don't actually believe socialism is completely rotten.
I say this because I have seen very little actual mainstream discussion of the failures of socialism. It was mostly about the US spending them into the ground. Not the failures of central planning. Many in government are socialists they just don't admit it.
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They did spend a decent amount of time focusing on some of the incentive issues in socialism: i.e. "Who will take out the trash?" or "Why work harder if you don't get paid more?".
Those are worth noting, but they miss the fundamental problem of central planning.
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Indeed. One thing I forgot to mention was that when I realized that even in a society with moral men at the top, if it were centrally planned people would be driven into poverty because of the inability to 'know", it killed any illusion of the tempting idea of socialism.
Socialism sounds good to many people. Its important to know why before you talk to them about it.
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I think the incentive arguments are actually on the weaker side because they imply that everyone is financially motivated, and thus reinforces the socialist's belief that capitalists are just greedy pigs, and it also reinforces their belief that moral re-education is necessary.
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I agree. I just mean that they're worth noting because they aren't incorrect.
From a theory standpoint, the knowledge problems are far more fundamental.
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If NYC collapses they'll just find something else to blame
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Obviously they'll blame all the greedy capitalists who live there.
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Yeah... I do think you are right.
Its quite interesting to watch this character in NYC and how he obviously a demagogue telling people what they want to hear. Its a tough situation that was created by the very same ideas that this guy is pushing.
There's a fundamental flaw in humans in that we have a really hard time putting ourselves in the shoes of others. My dad never had wealth. He was born poor. Literally a cabin at home. His family was the poorest in the small town in Oklahoma. He never finished High School. But he worked hard and taught me to work and one thing he said to me that has stuck with me was that "you don't have to be rich to be greedy". He said, "Some of the greediest people I have ever met were poor".
We all want more for less. Its not just the business man. I want to be paid more. My boss wants to increase profits. We are all competing. We are all greedy to some extent. I'm not a Randian. I don't think greed is good. But I do think it is in every man.
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