The Financial Times says capitalism has outgrown democracy.

[The Self]

This way of thinking leads to socioeconomic disaster. It will lead to a mass revitalization of Marxism if enacted. And capitalism isn't five thousand years old.

[parochial boy]

Why is it dangerous? It seems pretty self-evident that if capitalism can't reform itself, then the inability of capitalism to provide an at least dignified life for most people then it will start to endanger democratic institutions and people's attachment to them.

In the middle of the last century, capitalism was able to survive and thrive by embracing social-democratic type reforms. Whereas, the contemporary neoliberal form of capitalism unwillingness to embrace any sort of redistribution or limitation is increasingly leading to major social disruption and more radical strands of political thought.

[mvd10]

Link to complete article?

[The Self]

Link to complete article?

https://www.ft.com/content/d0a5c460-5044-11e7-a1f2-db19572361bb?mhq5j=e2

[Gustaf]

I wish people would stop talking about capitalism as if it's a shadowy dude we're negotiating with. You can't convince capitalism to embrace democracy because it's not some actor with an agenda.

[vanguard96]

Link to complete article?

https://www.ft.com/content/d0a5c460-5044-11e7-a1f2-db19572361bb?mhq5j=e2

There's a pay wall to see it.

[Antonio the Sixth]

It's not wrong.

The question is, which of the two will humanity choose?

[136or142]

I don't agree with this, but for those interested, Noam Chomsky argued this back in 2014

2014 "Noam Chomsky": Why you can not have a Capitalist Democracy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mxp_wgFWQo

I personally regard Noam Chomsky as a brilliant linguist who is much less brilliant when discussing other things such as foreign policy or economics.

A bit off topic, but it's the reason why I thought Chomsky deserved credit for this Financial Times editorial.

In regards to his linguistic ideas I note Chomsky was the first person to come up with the idea that, at any given point in time, only a narrow section of ideas was 'allowed' to be taken seriously (in the media, maybe in academia) through his book Manufacturing Consent.

I believe conservatives at the time (and probably still now) dismissed this idea (though I'm sure the John Birch Society might have agreed with him) but when Professor Overton came out with 'his' concept of the "Overton Window", which was the exact same idea that Chomsky introduced in Manufacturing Consent suddenly all sorts of mainstream conservatives embraced the concept.

[136or142]

I wish people would stop talking about capitalism as if it's a shadowy dude we're negotiating with. You can't convince capitalism to embrace democracy because it's not some actor with an agenda.

It is true that there are more or less De Facto agents of capitalism like the head of the U.S Chamber of Commerce, but by and large I agree with you.  This is one of the main problems with Chomsky.  He makes it sound as if all the major capitalists have the same interests and all act in concert.  There probably are a handful of issues over which all the wealthy capitalists will unite to defend each other, but most of the time they have competing interests just like every other group.  Elon Musk does not defend fossil fuel companies for instance.

This belief that there is a cabal of people behind the scenes who all conspire with each other and against the masses is common to all loony conspiracy theorists (I would include Chomsky as a loony conspiracy theorist even though he is a brilliant linguist) of both the left and the right.

In the idiotic book "None Dare Call It Conspiracy" the author(s) quote the famous historian/political scientist and mentor to Bill Clinton, Carroll Quiqley as saying that this cabal exists, and Quigley responded by saying he had been misquoted and made the exact same point I made above.

Of course, my main problem with that stupid book is that the title is inaccurate because I dare call it conspiracy. So at the very least, the title of the book should have been "One Dare Call It Conspiracy."

[136or142]

As long as it's explained to people that Marxism/Communism can't work because centralized planning can never work, I wouldn't worry about a return of communism. 

This is a brilliant explanation from Milton Friedman that shows the nonsense of central planning
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ERbC7JyCfU

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

I don't agree with this, but for those interested, Noam Chomsky argued this back in 2014

2014 "Noam Chomsky": Why you can not have a Capitalist Democracy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mxp_wgFWQo

I personally regard Noam Chomsky as a brilliant linguist who is much less brilliant when discussing other things such as foreign policy or economics.

A bit off topic, but it's the reason why I thought Chomsky deserved credit for this Financial Times editorial.

In regards to his linguistic ideas I note Chomsky was the first person to come up with the idea that, at any given point in time, only a narrow section of ideas was 'allowed' to be taken seriously (in the media, maybe in academia) through his book Manufacturing Consent.

I believe conservatives at the time (and probably still now) dismissed this idea (though I'm sure the John Birch Society might have agreed with him) but when Professor Overton came out with 'his' concept of the "Overton Window", which was the exact same idea that Chomsky introduced in Manufacturing Consent suddenly all sorts of mainstream conservatives embraced the concept.

Someone forgot to tell the Piraha people that language is supposed to follow the Chomsky grammar rules.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirah%C3%A3_language

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I wish people would stop talking about capitalism as if it's a shadowy dude we're negotiating with. You can't convince capitalism to embrace democracy because it's not some actor with an agenda.

I could have sworn we were slipping it unmarked notes under the door of the men's room.

[publicunofficial]

Link to complete article?

https://www.ft.com/content/d0a5c460-5044-11e7-a1f2-db19572361bb?mhq5j=e2

There's a pay wall to see it.

Oh so you want a hand-out, you freeloader?

Also: I've been a big fan of the "We need socialism to save capitalism from itself" argument for a while now.