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by awgneo 3156 days ago
I still have faith in our ability to escape the ill effects of capitalism that are slowly destroying our industry. See Bitcoin & Ethereum.
4 comments

What do Bitcoin and Ethereum have to do with escaping capitalism? Capitalism is an economic system oriented around private ownership[0]. If anything, they epitomize the libertarian/capitalist ideal by providing an alternative to fiat currency, the latter being a statist construct.

[0]: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/capitalism

I always wonder what a better solution than capitalism is. It's not perfect, and it's pretty broken when politics and corporate interests are in bed together. However, we're seeing the ill effects of socialism (Venezuela) like starvation and I prefer the former. Furthermore, the crypto economy might be the closest example we have to "Free Market" capitalism.
I was always intrigued by Georgism (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgism) but idk if it would really work in 21st century.
Georgism is a very interesting idea -- however, in its purest form, what is the incentive to invest in land? E.g. to build tall buildings, factories, invest in better farming practices/technology, etc.

Would it not be better to have full property rights, except with externalities captured?

Capitalism and regulatory capture aren’t the same thing. Hell, even Adam Smith sternly warned against an environment with too much power imbalance.

The latter is just good old corruption, and it pays no respect to the form of your economy.

Maybe, as part of an overall, integrated strategy.

Cryptocurrencies needs pervasive/critical mass deployment and price/scarcity stability in order to be everyday useful.

I think the greater issue is the "Russian roulette," billionaire-media-legislative corruption complex that has infected many countries to the point of gross inequality (which may lead to a similar repeat of the French Revolution) and ecological collapse (eg Holocene extinction).

Wait, you think bitcoin etc is going to reduce the harmful effects of capitalism?