But it's all good, right? As long as the KKR billionaires are getting richer.
One of the aspects of the capitalism conversation I find interesting, is that the critical are slow to apply their logic to themselves. Rich people and corporations are an easy target, and we can all diss them and high-five, but the internal logic is the same for most of us, just on a smaller scale.
Selfish people are always
someone else, somewhere else, someone richer with more money, never
me.
So how do you build a sustainable world that works for the collective when human nature is basically such that individuals
always prioritize themselves over the collective? How do you build a world with minimal inequality, when there is natural inequality in how well people are able to exploit the environment, and inherent power disparities?
You are preaching to the choir if you think you're rebutting my sentiments.
Many million of people are greedy. I do not want to change human nature, even if that were possible. (I think there are also millions of people with some charity and altruism and who are greedy but not excessively so. However these are generally not the sort of people that become billionaires.)
The way to reduce the excesses of capitalism is through government coercion. That is, taxes, subsidies and regulations.
During the Rational Era, there were laws preventing one billionaire or one corporation from owning an over-concentration of media. Now? In GOP-dominated Amerika, monopolies are not regarded as a problem. "If a billionaire wants to buy Twitter or one of the top newspapers then Why Not? It's his money to spend."
During the Rational Era, billionaires were taxed at a higher rate than the common people. Now? In GOP-dominated Amerika, Buffett pays a lower tax rate than his secretary. And Ayn Randists like Rand Paul think Buffett's tax rate is still too high.
During the Rational Era, we wanted healthy citizens. Now sick people are useful pawns to enrich the stockholders of Pfizer, etc.
During the Rational Era, education was a priority. Now the QOPAnon leader "loves the uneducated people." Educated people tend to vote against QOPAnon.
We don't need the masses to become more good-spiritied and charitable: Most of them already are.
We need them to vote more rationally.