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  • A lot of people think capitalism exploits the masses,

  • for the benefit of small minority.

  • Now,one interesting question we could ask about that claim is

  • is it true? But another just as important, but neglected question is

  • even if it is true, what is the alternative to captalism

  • The usual suggestion is political regulation and control.

  • But if our concern is to minimize exploitation, we need to ask whether this alternative really

  • makes sense. After all, citizens are in a position of tremendous vulnerability relative

  • to the state, and lobbyists, bureaucrats, and elected officials will often be tempted

  • to exploit that vulnerability for their own private gain.

  • Think of the way in which our political institutions subsidize large agro businesses, bail out

  • auto companies, cartelize the banking industry through the Federal Reserve System, and so

  • on. All of these policies benefit the interests of the economically powerful and politically

  • well connected at the expense of ordinary citizens. That's not a free market at work;

  • that's big government. And politics is unlike markets in that political exchanges aren't

  • voluntary. When the government wants to use your money to bail out GM, you don't have

  • the right to say no. And this means there's no guarantee that the exchange will be mutually

  • beneficial. When politics is involved, one party's gain usually comes at someone else's

  • expense. Politicians gain from the contributions they receive from big business, and big business

  • gains from the favors they receive from government. Sure those favors have a cost, but because

  • government has the power of coercion, it can force third parties to pay that cost. Those

  • who can afford political influence get the benefits, and those who cannot afford it suffer

  • the consequences. This is how politics works. And it's not because we have bad people

  • in office and need to get nicer people in. It's because of the structural nature of

  • politics, because the state has the power to impose its decisions by force on the public.

  • Just hoping that the state will use its power on behalf of the vulnerable isn't enough.

  • We need to ask ourselves, if we really want to reduce the amount of exploitation in the

  • world, is increasing the power of the state really the best way to do it?

A lot of people think capitalism exploits the masses,

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誰更剝削你。資本家還是親信? (Who Exploits You More: Capitalists or Cronies?)

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    Eating 發佈於 2021 年 01 月 14 日
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