Inequality and the unfree market

[socialist_n_TN]

1. Well, I know which side of this question I come down on........

What a lot of people don't realize or don't even think about is that most Marxists, including Marx and Engels themselves, did not claim capitalism was all bad. From an historical perspective, capitalism was a step up from feudalism because it DID more effectively harness the productive power of society into making "things", including, most especially, the things that people need to live, the necessities. Capitalism had it's place in history, but the problem comes when capitalism outlives it's place. That's when the exploitation inherent in the system becomes an hindrance to the advance of society rather than a help.

That's actually been the case for a long time, but because the system is so insidious and now has it's tentacles into every corner of society, it's now hard to get rid of even though it HAS outlived it's usefulness for most of us. Most people don't necessarily want to be wealthy beyond belief, they just want to be comfortable and not have to worry about the necessities. The "wealthy beyond belief" part is a fantasy. Capitalism encourages this fantasy of course, because otherwise, the famous "99%" would realize that the current inequality inherent in the system would not have to be. It's a punishment/reward mechanism. And the more the capitalist model cleaves to it's original "winner take all and to hell with the rest" basis, the more the punishment part of the equation tears society apart. IOW, now days you HAVE to try to gain that fantasy just to prevent yourself from starving. It's true social Darwinism.

Even if everything WAS equal under capitalism and there were no social restrictions on super oppressed minorities and unrestricted class mobility, most people under capitalism would fail in the fantasy. Socialism is the better way to take care of most of the people, the failures under capitalism. Under a socialist system, you'd still have the inequality, that's inevitable until you have true communism, but at least EVERYBODY could be taken care of as far as basic needs go.