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265 points ctoth | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0.212s | source
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aylmao ◴[] No.43746419[source]
> I've always been a staunch defender of capitalism and free markets, even though that's historically been an unpopular opinion in my particular social circle. Watching the LLM market, I can't help but feel extremely vindicated.

> The brutal and bruising competition between the tech giants has left nothing but riches for the average consumer.

Capitalism has always been great at this: creating markets, growing them, producing new goods. It's widely acknowledged amongst people who actually seek to gain an understanding of Marxism, and don't just stay in the surface-level black-and-white "socialism and capitalism are opposites" discourse that's very common in the West, especially the USA, especially after the McCarthy's Red Scare.

The problem is what comes once the market is grown and the only way for owners keep profits growing is: 1. consolidating into monopolies or cartels, so competition doesn't get in the way of profits, 2. squeezing the working class, looking to pay less for more work, and/or 3. abusing the natural world, to extract more materials or energy for less money. This is evident in plenty of developed industries: from health care, to broadcasting, telecommunications, fashion, etc.

If we view Socialism for what it is, namely a system built to replace Capitalism's bad parts but keep its good parts, China's system, for example, starts to make more sense. Capitalism in a similar way was an evolution from Feudalism that replaced it's bad parts, to achieve greater liberty for everyone— liberty is very much lost as Feudalism matures, but great for society as a whole. Socialism is meant to be the similar, aiming to achieve greater equity, which it views as very much better for society as a whole.

replies(1): >>43746778 #
arrosenberg ◴[] No.43746778[source]
Agree with most of what you wrote, but China isn’t capitalist, they’re mercantilist with socialist policies. Capital is heavily constrained under Xi.
replies(1): >>43748771 #
aylmao ◴[] No.43748771[source]
China is socialist.
replies(1): >>43759540 #
1. arrosenberg ◴[] No.43759540[source]
Very convincing argument, but no. They have socialist policies, but their economics are mercantile.