this post was submitted on 18 Jun 2025
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You call out Capitalism correctly for causing these very conditions due to the profit motive, but still cling onto the illusion that capitalism can somehow be "regulated". The very point of capitalism is to maximize profits while eliminating costs, it takes no account of the conditions or quality of life of workers since that is literally not the goal. Even just from a logisitcal analysis its obvious, since any social reforms cut into profits by their very nature, and will never be taken on by a capitalist org unless forced to. And when Capitalists have much more political power through lobbying groups and legalized bribery, we don't regulate capitalism, capitalism regulates us.
i don't know where you are, but it sounds like you are extrapolating. capitalism can work, as long as it is controlled. capitalist system in a socialist state can produce quite good results. neither china nor usa do that in a healthy way.
if you want working examples, i suggest looking into different european countries. obviously no system is perfect - but there are systems which do work.
Capitalism is an economic method based on ensuring shareholder weath above all else. By its nature it demands that rate of profit increase year after year, but rate of profit naturally declines over time, so to ensure line keeps going up, austerity measures are implemented to cut costs such as layoffs and cuts to social support systems (even corporate ones). The point of capitalism is to extract value to the capitalists away from the workers, at as high a rate as possible. And unless you own a factory or some capital others work to earn you profit, you're a worker not a capitalist.
Capitalism is all about direct profits of long term gains, its goal is not something that "can work as long as it is controlled". It will always reach a point of cannibalization in the pursuit of ever increasing profits where it creates crisis it can no longer control as conditions have deteriorated so dramatically, at which point it will try and consolidate power to maintain it. Thats why so many European countries are in similar right-wing crises as the U.S. The AfD in germany, brexit and the right wing ship of Brittan, the rise of right wing in Australia, many Latin Ametican country issues such as Lula abanndoning progressive policies, and Modi in India; and these are just some choice examples. And no, I don't think China's "red capitalism" is the answer either, but the implication that capitalism can somehow be regulated is a dangerous psudeo-intellectual neoliberalist illusion. It's like letting a rabid bear in your bed and claiming you'll be fine as you don't make eye contact, all while you're slathered in honey. The goal is for profit maximization, which comes at the cost of quality of life of the people, since that is expensive.
I think a good start to being on the same page would be if you defined what you think Capitalism is as an explicit definition, because I suspect there may be a disconnect there.