I’ve seen at least a dozen people post to the effect of “now that you’ve had a taste of socialism (restricted movement, curfews, long lines for food) how do you like it?”
Putting aside the part where anyone posting this is fully showing their ass and demonstrating how little they actually know about socialism, let’s talk about the role CAPITALISM is playing in our country’s present dire straits!
In the middle of a pandemic where (absent any viable alternatives) experts have recommended shutdowns and social distancing to slow the spread, the United States is faced with:
People losing their jobs and, along with them, access to healthcare (a uniquely American problem). In the middle of a pandemic. That our lawmakers even have to discuss if COVID-19 testing and treatment will be covered is a purely capitalist and American scenario.
Companies that had *billion* dollar profits suddenly demanding (and receiving) multi billion dollar government bailouts while also laying off workers, and those bailouts being justified as “without these companies, no one will have jobs to go back to.”
Workers at risk of losing their homes because rent/mortgage freezes aren’t happening like they are in other countries.
Lawmakers actually debating how much individuals should receive for the stimulus and for unemployment because if we give them too much money, they won’t have an incentive to go back to work. Instead of figuring out how much money people actually need to survive, they chose the absolute bare minimum ($1,200 is the equivalent of 1 month’s pay at $7.50/hour for 40 hours). The priority is not making sure people survive, it’s making sure they’re still broke enough to be willing to go back to work when this is over…. because those companies mentioned in #2 are nothing without their workforce, even if their pay, benefits, and treatment of the same don’t even begin to reflect that.
While we hotly debate “how will we pay for it???” every time there’s a discussion of helping small businesses and individual workers, our government injects *over a trillion dollars* into the stock market to keep it afloat.
If workers are in such dire straits after only a few weeks, then clearly they should manage and save their money better! No. Those billion dollar companies who pay workers the absolute bare minimum and suddenly need bailouts despite a) massive profits in previous quarters and b) had enormous tax windfalls last year which they squandered on stock buybacks – THEY should be managing their money better. And paying more taxes.
The same people who screech about socialism being deadly and oppressive are unironically demanding the right to return to work. They’re rejecting a society where (particularly in a crisis) we take care of each other like the social animals we are, and instead are *begging* for the right to return to work because they believe in the system where if you’re not working, you deserve nothing. They shout that “even during a pandemic, we can’t kill the economy” without realizing that WE DON’T HAVE TO BUT CAPITALISM DEMANDS IT. Under capitalism, you can either have a thriving economy OR you can weather a pandemic like this with minimal casualties.
Only under capitalism are farmers throwing away food and milk while food banks are desperate for food to provide to those in need. We are literally letting crops rot and people starve because profit is paramount. This has been going on for a long time, but the fact that it continues during a crisis like this is about as American and capitalist as you can get.
We are in the middle of a crisis, and we’re debating who *deserves* help and *how much* instead of acting like a society and just helping everyone until the crisis is over. But that’s socialism, and the same people who reject that are marching in the streets and demanding the right to return to work, and they can’t even begin to see the irony.
People don’t HAVE to starve, lose their homes, lose their jobs, lose their businesses, and lose their healthcare, even while we get through COVID-19. We as a society can choose to reject profit as the top priority, and instead prioritize people. We as a nation can make changes – some temporary to get us through the crisis, others permanent to prevent this from happening again – but Americans are too quick to reject anything that resembles socialism (read: anything that helps someone who hasn’t labored to earn it), and instead cling to not only capitalism, but to its cruelest manifestation.
The point here is not to suggest that socialism is the perfect way to go or that it never goes awry for the working class. The point is that in all our kneejerk Red Scare responses to anything that even *smells* like socialism, we’ve created a society in which people will literally march to demand the right to put themselves at risk in order to work for the wealthy capitalists who feed them scraps and expect them to be grateful for it.
We don’t have to live like this. The answer is not 100% socialism, but Americans have got to acknowledge that the answer is not 100% capitalism either. The answer in fact lies somewhere in the middle, where people have their basic needs met, workers are properly compensated, healthcare is not a privilege, and no one suffers at the bottom while a handful hoard wealth at the top.
We CAN have better wages, better healthcare, better living conditions.
But first we have to let go of our fear of socialism.
We have to let go of our infatuation with capitalism.
We have to let go of the idea that America is somehow unique and that those systems that work in other nations won’t work here (American exceptionalism is pure unadulterated nonsense).
We have to find an answer that prioritizes people over profit.
Hi, I just found an amazing tiktok series of a guy explaining the basics of capitalism, socialism, and communism and I just thought I’d share it because I thought it was a great simple summary.
One of the things that I was confused about once I started being interested in politics were the terms “liberal” and “leftist”.
There was obviously a right and left wing. What I knew was that a liberal was a tolerant individual that constantly promoted human rights, and since they were considered to belong to the left, I logically concluded that these two word were synonymous.
It turns out there is a difference, and I thought I’d try to explain it in a relatively simple way for whoever needs it. Let’s start with defining each term:
Liberalism:
A political and social philosophy that promotes individual rights, civil liberties, democracy, and free enterprise. -Oxford Languages
Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on liberty, consent of the governed and equality before the law. […] Liberalism became a distinct movement in the Age of Enlightenment, when it became popular among Western philosophers and economists. - Wikipedia
Liberalism is a belief in gradual social progress by changing laws, rather than by revolution. -Collin
Leftism:
The political views or policies of the left. -Oxford Languages
Leftism refers to the beliefs and behaviour of people who support socialist ideas. - Collin
An economic posisistion favouring more collectivity/cooperation in making resource using decisions. This can either be done by state planning or using communes. -Urban Dictionnary
The major difference between these two ideologies is the preffered economic system of each. Basically, liberals have nothing against capitalism but believe in law changing and reforming in order to achieve equality. While leftists believe that the only way to atteign true equity would be overthrowing capitalism and adapting an entirely new economic system such as communism or socialism, generally accompanied by a revolution.
“Liberals are not leftists, and there are a few keypoints in understanding the differences betwen the two. Liberalism is an ideology that has a wide array of views but in general it’s in support of universal human rights, democratic governance and market based capitalist economics.
While there is some overlap, this last part is largely what seperates the two. Well meaning liberals do generally want to protect human rights and promote social equality but believe the problems stemmed from our capitalist system can be tweaked and reformed.
Leftists, on the other hand, are fundamentally opposed to capitalism, [they believe] that the problems created by the system are actually not problems at all, rather, they are a sign that the system is working as intended. Crony capitalism* doesn’t exist, ideologically pure free market capitalism* doesn’t exist either, there is only capitalism, and it must be abolished. Liberalism as an ideology believes that there is nothing fundamentally wrong with capitalism, that the problems that exist within a society are the result of bad actors and policies within the system that must be rooted out so the system can function properly. Leftist ideologies understand that the system itself is the cause of the suffering. No amount of reforming can fix the problems in our society. It’s not a matter of bad actors and policies but one of the relations we keep to keep society running.
Perhaps the most succint quote that hilights the differences comes from brazilian Archbishop Hélder Câmara: ” When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why they are poor, they call me a communist.“ -"Why liberals are not leftists” by Leaflets via Youtube
“An economic system in which individuals and businesses with political connections and influence are favored (as through tax breaks, grants, and other forms of government assistance) in ways seen as suppressing open competition in a free market.” -Merriam Webster
“In its worst form, crony capitalism can devolve into simple corruption where any pretense of a free market is dispensed with. Bribes to government officials are considered de rigueur and tax evasion is common. […] Corrupt governments may favor one set of business owners who have close ties to the government over others.” -Wikipedia
*What is ideologically pure free market society?
“In a capitalistic society, the production and pricing of goods and services are determined by the free market, or supply and demand, however, some government regulation may occur. […] A free market system is an economic system based solely on demand and supply, and there is little or no government regulation.” -Investopedia
Is Free Market the Same as Capitalism?
“A capitalist system and a free market system are both economic environments that are based on the law of supply and demand.
They both are involved in determining the price and production of goods and services. On one hand, capitalism is focused on the creation of wealth and ownership of capital and factors of production, whereas a free market system is focused on the exchange of wealth, or goods and services.” - By Steven Nickolas for Investopedia
“Voters need to understand the fundamental differences between liberalism and leftism. It’s the difference between a candidate who believes capitalism, with just a little refereeing, will eventually provide what working people need, versus a candidate who believes serious intervention in the capitalist economy is necessary.” -The Conversation
That’s about it, I hope I was able to properly explain everything. This is obviously an overview of leftism and liberalism and in no way an in depth analysis of each ideology, though I later probably will dive in deeper.
As I have previously specified, I am a leftist, and I do not think that we can achieve any true change as long as we are under a capitalist system since every “problem” we’ve had is each deeply rooted in capitalism. I would also love to make a post listing some arguments that justify my beliefs, but that’ll be for another time.
Thank you for reading, also, I’ve never really asked you if you had any suggestions but I’d like to see if you guys had any questions about politics, and if I happen to have an understanding in the subject, I’ll try to answer it with a similar kind of post. Okay thanks, bye.
Mickey Mouse when I ask him why he’s increasing my house rent by $100 dollars every month (he’s my landlord)
The underpaid disney employees on their way to evict me and my family
disney literally tried to do this ages ago. please watch defunctland explain it. im losing my mind. why
I would like to let people know that is a reality for many of the underpaid Disney employees as they can’t afford housing on their salaries
So Disney has apartment buildings it buys to rent cheaply to their employees
And I’m sure you can imagine the level of control Disney has over you when they control your employment and your housing
Originally it was just for the college program employees (like me) but got expanded to being available to all employees
Now I don’t know how it is with the full time employees, but if you were a college employee and you got “termed?” (Disney loves alternative language to control their employees, see being a ‘cast member on stage’ vs an employee at work). After being termed you had 24 hours to move out
Now, guess how well that worked for 19 year olds from Ohio who have nowhere to sleep and no way to get home
I knew a guy who had two “strikes” against him (calling out of work gets points against you, 3 points get you a strike) that had been waved as he had good reasons to miss those days. He then made a comment his supervisor didn’t like so she reversed the strikes being waved and gave him the third one for his comment. He then had to call his parents at 2 am to tell them he was now homeless in Orlando. Imagine if your boss could evict you for talking back
Now imagine you’re one of the many semi retired employees trying to stay afloat through their 70s, or the many employees who are recent immigrants, or who are parents of kids, or anyone else without a lot of work or housing options
Think of the shit they’d be able to do to you if losing your job meant immediately losing housing because your boss owns your home
Think of how much leverage that gives against the unions when your workers aren’t even secure from their employer in their home, where union dues paying for you to not work can’t save you from eviction because your boss decides if you get to live there
Any fucked up thing Disney does is almost always worse for their employees, and likely tested on them first
