I get the impression that a lot of people in the west fundamentally fail to understand what the purpose of an economy actually is.
So, I'll do a short 🧵 on the topic.
An economy is a model for allocating labour and resources in a way that meets the needs of the people in the country.
The original argument for capitalism was that market economy with private ownership is the most effective way to allocate labour and resources in a way that benefits everyone.
Yogthos
in reply to Yogthos • • •Measures such as the stock market and GDP were meant to act as proxies for measuring how well the economy was accomplishing its stated purpose, which is to improve the standard of living for everyone.
Understanding that these metrics are simply proxies has been lost today, and they've been turned into goals of themselves.
People have started treating the stock market and GDP as *the economy*.
uoou
in reply to Yogthos • • •Worth noting that this only worked as well as it did for a while because labour was organised. There was a countervailing pressure forcing them to share.
Since the decimation of organised labour we're just left with system optimised around abstract metrics which works for virtually no one. Doesn't even work very well for most capitalists.
Yogthos
in reply to uoou • • •Yogthos
in reply to Yogthos • • •This is why we're seeing an increasing disconnect between the economy that people are experiencing in their daily lives and news reporting on how the economy is doing.
And that's why we see absurd articles like this one arguing that the recession people are experiencing isn't real.
wsj.com/economy/it-wont-be-a-r…
Fou
in reply to Yogthos • • •Yogthos
in reply to Fou • • •We all live in a country called Capitalism
Verso Books (Verso)rndeon
in reply to Yogthos • • •Yogthos
Unknown parent • • •chris huf
Unknown parent • • •I give no system a longterm chance if it is not actively and constantly fightng corruption, lobbyism and nepotism.
For me thats a must.
More wealth equality surely helps, but it would be naive to think that this alone would workout in the longterm. Yoii also need equality in power, access and information. At Marx times this was not feaseable, but today it is
You do not see paralells between the last 15 years of the su and todays "free market" ? Becasue I do
Yogthos
Unknown parent • • •Yogthos
Unknown parent • • •chris huf
Unknown parent • • •Corrupotion is the problem. Either in socialist or in capitalistic systems,
through corruption a system looses its agility to adapt...and will fail.
What we are now experiencing is that capitalism in crisis is exactly like communism in cirsis.
Find a way to keep corruption at low level constantly and you got the perfect system
Yogthos
Unknown parent • • •