Capitalism on its own is very anti-democratic. Given enough time, most industries would become a monopoly.
A strong Democracy should have sufficient guard rails for the population to counteract the influence of capitalism: strong unions, solid worker protections, limitation of money in politics, higher tax rates on wealth, and so on. The Nordic countries are a good example of this.
Ok, I think we’re miscommunicating. Either my question was’t formulated very clearly, or I misunderstood what you said in the first place. I took what you said (“democracy needs capitalism”) to mean “if you want democracy, you need capitalism”, or alternatively “if you don’t have capitalism, you cannot have democracy”. My question is why you believe this (if you do, that is; I may have misunderstood).
Your answer I completely agree with, but it just argues that capitalism is harmful to democracy and that at best democracy is like a guard rail for capitalism. If anything it shows that capitalism and democracy are kind of incompatible.
And it’s a side track, but the Nordic countries are not a good example of democracy counteracting the excesses of capitalism. They’ve just outsourced the worst of the misery to the global South. And domestically the situation for workers gets worse year by year (although they’re a long way from dropping to American levels).
It does if you want people to afford to buy your stuff. Or to have your stuff on the shelves. Happy tariff day. I heard another boat returned to China with no toys dropped off.
Democracy needs capitalism.
Capitalism does not need Democracy.
Edit: some context because this triggered a few people: it’s a quote from Robert Reich.
Could you walk me through why you think democracy necessitates capitalism?
Capitalism on its own is very anti-democratic. Given enough time, most industries would become a monopoly.
A strong Democracy should have sufficient guard rails for the population to counteract the influence of capitalism: strong unions, solid worker protections, limitation of money in politics, higher tax rates on wealth, and so on. The Nordic countries are a good example of this.
Ok, I think we’re miscommunicating. Either my question was’t formulated very clearly, or I misunderstood what you said in the first place. I took what you said (“democracy needs capitalism”) to mean “if you want democracy, you need capitalism”, or alternatively “if you don’t have capitalism, you cannot have democracy”. My question is why you believe this (if you do, that is; I may have misunderstood).
Your answer I completely agree with, but it just argues that capitalism is harmful to democracy and that at best democracy is like a guard rail for capitalism. If anything it shows that capitalism and democracy are kind of incompatible.
And it’s a side track, but the Nordic countries are not a good example of democracy counteracting the excesses of capitalism. They’ve just outsourced the worst of the misery to the global South. And domestically the situation for workers gets worse year by year (although they’re a long way from dropping to American levels).
Without democracy, capitalism just becomes fascism.
Agreed that capitalism can morph into a hideous beast if not controlled, but would you consider China fascist?
No.
It does if you want people to afford to buy your stuff. Or to have your stuff on the shelves. Happy tariff day. I heard another boat returned to China with no toys dropped off.