Right, capitalists could still be rich, but the problem is that they have political capture of the government and lack the awareness to realize that robbing the country blind will not be in their own long term interest.
For sure, there are ultimately selection pressures at play here. Capitalism actively selects for ruthless psychopaths who are focused on short term competition.
I mean, I’m a rando on the internet, so please correct me if I’m wrong here, if they collapse all Western currencies, they would have to move to BRICS currencies, or develop their own, and I don’t see anyone doing business with them but each other and desperately poor, basically reinventing company script?
Basically, their wealth depends on a stable society, and the continued undermining of the social contract will eventually lead to the system collapsing. There could be civil unrest, or even revolutionary changes going forward. If the government that represents the rich ends up collapsing, then all bets are off because their assets could just be seized at that point. The smart ones will likely try to move money out of western countries and divest from their assets there before that happens.
They would have lots of options since a lot of countries would take their investments, but I imagine a lot of them aren’t aware enough to act in time. It’s worth remembering that these people are very much insulated from the problems regular people experience. And a lot of them are very complacent. Every time we’ve seen a revolution in the past, the ruling class was largely caught by surprise when it happened.
Fair enough, but even reverting to US style 1950s tax rates, they could be capitalist and the ultrawealthy and megacorps could still be filthy rich.
Right, capitalists could still be rich, but the problem is that they have political capture of the government and lack the awareness to realize that robbing the country blind will not be in their own long term interest.
They may have awareness, but short term gains allows them to gain more power and outcompete those who think long term.
For sure, there are ultimately selection pressures at play here. Capitalism actively selects for ruthless psychopaths who are focused on short term competition.
I mean, I’m a rando on the internet, so please correct me if I’m wrong here, if they collapse all Western currencies, they would have to move to BRICS currencies, or develop their own, and I don’t see anyone doing business with them but each other and desperately poor, basically reinventing company script?
Basically, their wealth depends on a stable society, and the continued undermining of the social contract will eventually lead to the system collapsing. There could be civil unrest, or even revolutionary changes going forward. If the government that represents the rich ends up collapsing, then all bets are off because their assets could just be seized at that point. The smart ones will likely try to move money out of western countries and divest from their assets there before that happens.
They would have lots of options since a lot of countries would take their investments, but I imagine a lot of them aren’t aware enough to act in time. It’s worth remembering that these people are very much insulated from the problems regular people experience. And a lot of them are very complacent. Every time we’ve seen a revolution in the past, the ruling class was largely caught by surprise when it happened.
A people that has nothing to lose and something to gain can be fierce. We’ll see what we’re made of!