218
votes
What is capitalism's answer to constant economic growth hitting the limit of the planet's finite resources?
Why would capitalism have an answer?
Your question presumes that economic systems should be fully planned out into perpetuity, but that's just a false premise. You might as well ask what democracy's ...
- 4,820
188
votes
Accepted
Why is there a need to prevent a racist, sexist, or otherwise bigoted vendor from discriminating who they sell to?
TL;DR: You question rests in the supposition that, next to the business that refuses to sell to me, there will be another similar business that will be willing to sell to me. That supposition is, to ...
- 31.2k
153
votes
What is the capitalist answer to automation?
In 1800, more than 90% of everyone were farmers. Modernly in the United States, which is a net exporter of food, less than 5% of everyone are employed on farms. That's a reduction of 85%, much ...
- 89.3k
136
votes
Accepted
What reasons are there for a Capitalist to oppose a 100% inheritance tax?
Philosophical reason - why do some people in the government have a greater right to decide what to do with the assets than the person that owned them (through their will, by giving it to heirs/...
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118
votes
What is the capitalist answer to rail passenger transportation being non financially profitable?
Japan is a counter-example. Rail is profitable there, not least because the rail companies don't just run the trains. Train stations become hubs, often with a shopping centre built around them (owned ...
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117
votes
Accepted
What is the capitalist answer to rail passenger transportation being non financially profitable?
The idea that "trains are unprofitable" is quite a bit more complex.
First of all it's necessary to look at the main "problem" with trains: They tend to lead to natural monopolies. Setting up a rail ...
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105
votes
What is the capitalist answer to rail passenger transportation being non financially profitable?
The answer is to stop subsidizing its rival: roads. You say that passenger rail stopped being profitable around the 50's or so: look up when the Dwight Eisenhower freeway project really hit its stride....
- 1,221
101
votes
Accepted
Can socialism and capitalism coexist in the same country?
Yes.
You have set up a false dichotomy: that either a country is "socialist" or "capitalist". Nearly all countries have aspects of both.
In socialism, the ownership of property and the "means of ...
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92
votes
Accepted
What is capitalism's answer to constant economic growth hitting the limit of the planet's finite resources?
Not all parts of the economy consume finite resources equally. In fact, only a minor portion of it is related to the manufacturing of goods in the industrialized countries. Most of the economy there ...
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89
votes
Accepted
"Communism in the Soviet Union, China, etc., wasn't real communism" - is that true?
Its mostly a matter of definition.
Communism was supposed to bring about a better, more rational world in both Russia and China. Marx theorised that once the dead hand of capitalist exploitation was ...
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78
votes
What is the capitalist answer to rail passenger transportation being non financially profitable?
What is the capitalist answer to rail passenger transportation being non financially profitable?
The same as a capitalist answer to anything that is being non financially profitable; such as horse ...
- 91.8k
68
votes
What reasons are there for a Capitalist to oppose a 100% inheritance tax?
What you seem to be missing is that the foundation of capitalism is voluntary exchange. The rich do not inherently "deserve" their money; a capitalist philosophy rejects the idea that we have the ...
- 712
65
votes
Accepted
Why do some (North Americans) consider Europe socialist?
The Word Has Become Political Shorthand
The Pew Research Center examined how people in the United States were using the word and what they meant by it. Regardless of the term's academic definition, ...
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64
votes
What is capitalism's answer to constant economic growth hitting the limit of the planet's finite resources?
The claim that constant economic growth within a planet of finite resources is impossible is false. Natural resources can be physically finite while being economically infinite. That is, regardless of ...
- 15.6k
64
votes
Why is there a need to prevent a racist, sexist, or otherwise bigoted vendor from discriminating who they sell to?
Other people already pointed out how restrictions in supply of goods will damage the targeted groups no matter what, but in addition to that, the supposition that discrimination is harmful to the ...
- 5,437
58
votes
Under Chicago School economics, will monopolies naturally go away?
There is not an invisible market force that makes monopolies go away. In fact, the longer that a monopoly operates unabated, the more reserve cash it accumulates, the more it refines its ...
- 4,899
57
votes
Accepted
Is it possible to be a socialist and a capitalist?
What you are describing is a Mixed Economy. Essentially the state takes over certain markets either through direct control or regulation while letting others be more free-market.
Numerous ...
- 712
57
votes
Accepted
Confused about the term 'Bourgeoisie'!
The Wikipedia page for Bourgeoisie is informative, and worth the read.
Strictly speaking, there was no equivalent of middle, upper, or lower classes (in the modern usage of the terms) prior to perhaps ...
- 67.7k
52
votes
Accepted
Why do few/no countries claim capitalism as their ideology?
There's two kinds of antonyms: opposites (left and right) and present/absent (light and dark, where dark describes the absence of light).
Capitalism is basically the default economic system. It has ...
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49
votes
Accepted
Why free-market capitalism has became more associated to the right than to the left, to which it originally belonged?
At the height of the Classical Liberal era (16th to 17th centuries), the main sociopolitical conflict was between the propertied middle/upper class commoners (wealthy producers, traders, and ...
- 67.7k
48
votes
Why aren't nationalizations in Russia described as socialist?
Because nationalization is not necessarily socialist
Nationalization is the government taking ownership of private property. Socialism is "social ownership" of the means of production. ...
- 15.6k
42
votes
What reasons are there for a Capitalist to oppose a 100% inheritance tax?
According to Merriam Webster, capitalism is...
an economic system characterized by private or corporate ownership of
capital goods, by investments that are determined by private decision,
and ...
- 499
38
votes
Why do some (North Americans) consider Europe socialist?
Americans have been fed a constant diet of propaganda about how evil Socialism is, especially seeing it as a "gateway to Communism". The definition of Socialism is so loose that almost ...
- 15.2k
37
votes
What is the capitalist answer to rail passenger transportation being non financially profitable?
What is the capitalist solution to make rail passenger transportation economically profitable again, like it used to be before road transport was a thing?
There is no capitalist solution.
All extant ...
- 47.7k
36
votes
Accepted
Under Chicago School economics, will monopolies naturally go away?
As requested in comments, converting my own comments to a brief answer:
First of all, there's no generic concept of "monopoly" and thus libertarian views on such will vary. The following ...
- 91.8k
36
votes
What reasons are there for a Capitalist to oppose a 100% inheritance tax?
Private property is a core characteristic of capitalism.
Hence, under the capitalist system, it’s my money (and that's all the reason I need).
A country that doesn’t respect ownership is, by default, ...
- 477
35
votes
Can socialism and capitalism coexist in the same country?
There are over 40 definitions of socialism. However a common-enough one (SEP) is that:
The bulk of the means of production is under social, democratic control.
And in contrast the corresponding ...
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Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible