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6 votes
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What to watch for at the 20th Party Congress
3 votes -
Are billionaires a market failure? And if not market, are they social failure?
I was reading this text from the Washington Post (sorry for the maybe paywall): https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/10/06/xi-jinping-crackdown-china-economy-change/ The opinion asserts...
I was reading this text from the Washington Post (sorry for the maybe paywall):
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/10/06/xi-jinping-crackdown-china-economy-change/
The opinion asserts that in response to liberalization of Chinese life, driven by capitalistic economic growth, is the reason that Xi Pinjing "cracked down in every sphere imaginable — attacking the private sector, humiliating billionaires, reviving Communist ideology, purging the party of corrupt officials and ramping up nationalism (mostly anti-Western) in both word and deed."
My conspiratorial brain latched on to the humiliating billionaires line, and started thinking about a between the lines message along the lines that billionaires are good and should not be humiliated, a subtle warning-response to the progressive grumblings here in the U.S. that a failure to support capitalism will result in totalitarianism.
Then I started thinking about the questions, are billionaires good for society? I had always held the position that a billionaire is a market failure (in my econ 101 understanding of the term), much like pollution. It is improper hoarding and unfair leveraging of capital into disproportionate and un-earned degree of pesonal privilege.
It is certainly a by-product of euro-american capitalism, whereby the desires and welfare of the many are trodden on by those with the ability to fight and to shape the regulatory machine meant to protect the interests of the common-wealth.
I see a few possibilities. One, is that my understanding of economics is wrong, and producing as many billionaires as possible is the ultimate goal of capitalism and in fact good for everyone, even in theory.
Two, it is indeed as I suspect, a market failure. And the failure here is one of degree, it is not, in fact problematic to have some individuals with significantly greater wealth among us, and is, in fact, beneficial overall, but to have some with so much more than the rest of us (wealth inequaility) is a result of getting in the way of a clean functioning marketplace.
Three, economic theory is working as described, and economic theory/activity is an insufficient foundation for the maintenance and success of a whole society, and we need to find a way to constrain it to its own sphere, so that it provides us with what we need to be healthy and happy, but no more.
I turn to the bright minds of tildes: am I looking at this right?
16 votes -
Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of October 3
This thread is posted weekly - please try to post all relevant US political content in here, such as news, updates, opinion articles, etc. Extremely significant events may warrant a separate...
This thread is posted weekly - please try to post all relevant US political content in here, such as news, updates, opinion articles, etc. Extremely significant events may warrant a separate topic, but almost all should be posted in here.
This is an inherently political thread; please try to avoid antagonistic arguments and bickering matches. Comment threads that devolve into unproductive arguments may be removed so that the overall topic is able to continue.
8 votes -
As part of a new series that looks abroad for inspiration on how to fix flaws in the US political system – we ask whether Norway's young MPs have the answer
5 votes -
Kotka, in southeastern Finland, removed the country's last publicly displayed statue of Russian revolutionary leader Vladimir Lenin
5 votes -
Danish general election called after PM faces mink cull ultimatum – Mette Frederiksen bypasses vote of no confidence by calling 1 November ballot
3 votes -
Taiwan vows to respond to China’s military flight incursions
6 votes -
UK scraps tax cut for wealthy that sparked market turmoil
11 votes -
Australia to set aside at least 30% of its land mass to protect endangered species
11 votes -
Jair Bolsonaro, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva headed to runoff after tight Brazil election
11 votes -
What the Securing Open Source Software Act does and what it misses
6 votes -
Liz Truss's UK growth plan is nothing but a magic potion
11 votes -
Assessing Vladimir Putin’s most recent nuclear threats
15 votes -
UK in turmoil as government's gamble to solve economic woes fuels crisis, instead
9 votes -
Copaganda: Blue Bloods is the worst TV show
4 votes -
Vladimir Putin grants citizenship to Edward Snowden
16 votes -
Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of September 26
This thread is posted weekly - please try to post all relevant US political content in here, such as news, updates, opinion articles, etc. Extremely significant events may warrant a separate...
This thread is posted weekly - please try to post all relevant US political content in here, such as news, updates, opinion articles, etc. Extremely significant events may warrant a separate topic, but almost all should be posted in here.
This is an inherently political thread; please try to avoid antagonistic arguments and bickering matches. Comment threads that devolve into unproductive arguments may be removed so that the overall topic is able to continue.
6 votes -
Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of September 19
This thread is posted weekly - please try to post all relevant US political content in here, such as news, updates, opinion articles, etc. Extremely significant events may warrant a separate...
This thread is posted weekly - please try to post all relevant US political content in here, such as news, updates, opinion articles, etc. Extremely significant events may warrant a separate topic, but almost all should be posted in here.
This is an inherently political thread; please try to avoid antagonistic arguments and bickering matches. Comment threads that devolve into unproductive arguments may be removed so that the overall topic is able to continue.
9 votes -
Doel 3: Shutdown confirmed for Friday despite politicians' pleas
7 votes -
Chartbook #153: The South Asian Polycrisis
3 votes -
Ebrahim Raisi cancels CNN interview after Christiane Amanpour refuses to wear hijab
14 votes -
Søren Pape Poulsen, leading challenger to Mette Frederiksen, is hemorrhaging support after false claims about the origins of his soon-to-be ex-husband
3 votes -
Denmark became the first central government of a developed country to propose ‘loss and damage’ funding to poorer countries for climate breakdown
8 votes -
Russian parliament introduces mobilisation into law
20 votes -
Denmark's former foreign intelligence chief has been formally charged with leaking highly classified information
8 votes -
Former President Trump suggested to his aides that the United States could trade Puerto Rico to Denmark for Greenland while he was president, according to a new book
9 votes -
Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of September 12
This thread is posted weekly - please try to post all relevant US political content in here, such as news, updates, opinion articles, etc. Extremely significant events may warrant a separate...
This thread is posted weekly - please try to post all relevant US political content in here, such as news, updates, opinion articles, etc. Extremely significant events may warrant a separate topic, but almost all should be posted in here.
This is an inherently political thread; please try to avoid antagonistic arguments and bickering matches. Comment threads that devolve into unproductive arguments may be removed so that the overall topic is able to continue.
7 votes -
Far right's triumph in my country reveals a very Swedish brand of intolerance – political parties proved that our supposed liberalism is only skin deep
8 votes -
Swedish rightwing on verge of narrow election win but waits on final tally – bloc including far-right Sverigedemokraterna on course for one-seat majority
11 votes -
Norway says ‘no’ to a gas price cap – Oslo's gas payday is equivalent to about £350 for each Norwegian man, woman and child
7 votes -
New recommendation to ban Muslim headscarves in Danish elementary schools has been met with a backlash in Denmark
5 votes -
The baffling world of MAGA rap
4 votes -
The real reason Egypt is moving its capital away from Cairo
6 votes -
The three longest days of February. The beginning of the great war which no one thought would come
15 votes -
CBS News poll: Of 2,085 adults polled, majority favor maximum age limits for elected US officials
13 votes -
Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of September 5
This thread is posted weekly - please try to post all relevant US political content in here, such as news, updates, opinion articles, etc. Extremely significant events may warrant a separate...
This thread is posted weekly - please try to post all relevant US political content in here, such as news, updates, opinion articles, etc. Extremely significant events may warrant a separate topic, but almost all should be posted in here.
This is an inherently political thread; please try to avoid antagonistic arguments and bickering matches. Comment threads that devolve into unproductive arguments may be removed so that the overall topic is able to continue.
7 votes -
What is the European Union really doing in Africa?
3 votes -
Liz Truss to be next UK Prime Minister
12 votes -
Vote on world’s most progressive constitution begins in Chile
9 votes -
Last Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev dies aged 91
21 votes -
Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson tackles crime and energy fears on the campaign trail a week before the national election
4 votes -
People don't want to hear about it – how the pandemic shaped Sweden's politics and left many feeling hopeless and disenfranchised
5 votes -
Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of August 29
This thread is posted weekly - please try to post all relevant US political content in here, such as news, updates, opinion articles, etc. Extremely significant events may warrant a separate...
This thread is posted weekly - please try to post all relevant US political content in here, such as news, updates, opinion articles, etc. Extremely significant events may warrant a separate topic, but almost all should be posted in here.
This is an inherently political thread; please try to avoid antagonistic arguments and bickering matches. Comment threads that devolve into unproductive arguments may be removed so that the overall topic is able to continue.
8 votes -
Argentina's VP Cristina Fernández de Kirchner unharmed in point-blank attempted shooting
6 votes -
How are things in your country right now?
It's a very broad question, but seeing the latest extremely worrying news from where I am made me wonder: how's everyone else getting on? Now that we're moving past the lockdowns and furloughs, do...
It's a very broad question, but seeing the latest extremely worrying news from where I am made me wonder: how's everyone else getting on? Now that we're moving past the lockdowns and furloughs, do things look hopeful where you are?
Things in the UK are pretty bad right now - huge inflation, energy prices hitting points that will seriously harm people's financial stability just to stay warm in winter, unending political scandal, increasing pollution, and little real sign of a light at the end of the tunnel. I'm fortunate enough to be able to handle it at least for now, but I'm genuinely worried for those around me and for the country as a whole.
The pandemic hit us all hard, but it's difficult to gauge how hard. Obviously Brexit is an extra anchor around the UK's neck, but then the US has the legacy of Trump and mainland Europe has a war on the doorstep, so we're far from the only ones with problems. Are we in a uniquely bad position, or is this how everyone's feeling right now?
21 votes -
UK looks to Sweden for a solution to nuclear waste – repeated attempts to find a suitable location have been stymied by political intransigence and environmentalists
4 votes -
The Biden-Harris administration's US student debt relief plan
35 votes -
'You are more powerful than you think.' Why one man says it's too soon to write off democracy in America
9 votes -
The new US Income-Driven Repayment system could cause some big problems
7 votes