alt Hacker NewsSame. I remember growing up in the 90s, after the fall of communism, hearing that capitalism beat communism because in capitalism you can own things.
MFW I now live in capitalism and can't afford to own anything.
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ReptileMan • last Tuesday at 6:09 PM
One of the things communism did right was housing - in the Eastern Bloc home ownership was above 90%. The quality was not great, not terrible. But bad shelter is infinitely better than no shelter. I also think that it also excelled in K12 education. Whether because the german style system that was common in europe pre WWII was just left alone - I don't know. But until the mid 90s we really didn't had the school reformers to fuck it up. Right now we are as good as producing illiteracy as the rest of the west.
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The only reason capitalism works is because it turns everything into a struggle for existence, which is the best motivator. Every company is forced to compete (assuming there is no moat created by politics eg. Intellectual Property or contract law) or the company will go under.
But it also means that the people who can’t compete in this type of Darwinism only survive because of the empathy of others who do (whether that be family/friends, politics, or charities).
I’m worried about the breadth of industries that PE has infected in the US.