Fuck China, and fuck the United States I live in. The nations of the Nordic region and a few other developed nations have my respect because they respect and value their citizenry. Their economy is a tool that is used to benefit their society and their citizens.
China/The US/Russia are the world leaders in exporting the notion that their citizens should be exploited to stoke the growth of the economy for the benefit of their respective elites. Whoever wins, their people lose.
Why should I go rah rah America when most stakeholders in our society are not meaningful institutional shareholders in the value society produces?
I’m someone still recovering from republican/libertarian capitalist brainwashing. Would you know of a good book or two on this subject? It’s fascinating to me.
I would recommend David Graeber or however it’s spelled writing. Any time you read anyone’s opinion take it with a grain of salt but Debt and Bullshit Jobs address many things, some of which can be taken as criticism of capitalism.
James C Scott is another anthropolgist and his most accessible book is probably seeing like a state. It’s relatively even handed in it’s critques of capitalism as it focuses on states including the USSR. It highlights quite well how markets and states can crush humanity because they have wildly different goals to people.
You probably don’t want to jump right into hardcore theory so this might be a gentler intro into asking why society is the way it is and how it might be different without expressly pushing a particular political theory.
To me, the definition of a 3rd world country is about how the poor are living there.
You can live a nice life in literally any country, if you have enough money. But how do those live, who don’t have anything? That’s what differentiates between a decent country and a 3rd world country.
Fuck China, and fuck the United States I live in. The nations of the Nordic region and a few other developed nations have my respect because they respect and value their citizenry. Their economy is a tool that is used to benefit their society and their citizens.
China/The US/Russia are the world leaders in exporting the notion that their citizens should be exploited to stoke the growth of the economy for the benefit of their respective elites. Whoever wins, their people lose.
Why should I go rah rah America when most stakeholders in our society are not meaningful institutional shareholders in the value society produces?
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/18/the-wealthiest-10percent-of-americans-own-a-record-89percent-of-all-us-stocks.html
Those nordic countries are suported by a global network of unequal exchange
I’m someone still recovering from republican/libertarian capitalist brainwashing. Would you know of a good book or two on this subject? It’s fascinating to me.
Books:
Texts:
Videos:
Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/watch?v=vyl2DeKT-Vs
https://piped.video/watch?v=oYodY6o172A
https://piped.video/watch?v=fpKsygbNLT4
https://piped.video/watch?v=hactcmhVS1w
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
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Thanks! I’m currently unemployed so I’ll be looking at all this over the next couple days.
Like on which topic? Capitalist critiques, options for a better society, inequality?
I would recommend David Graeber or however it’s spelled writing. Any time you read anyone’s opinion take it with a grain of salt but Debt and Bullshit Jobs address many things, some of which can be taken as criticism of capitalism.
James C Scott is another anthropolgist and his most accessible book is probably seeing like a state. It’s relatively even handed in it’s critques of capitalism as it focuses on states including the USSR. It highlights quite well how markets and states can crush humanity because they have wildly different goals to people.
You probably don’t want to jump right into hardcore theory so this might be a gentler intro into asking why society is the way it is and how it might be different without expressly pushing a particular political theory.
Capitalist critiques mainly.
The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein (easy) A Brief History of Neoliberalism by David Harvey (medium)
Thank you! I’ll read one of these next.
Edited my comment again.
To me, the definition of a 3rd world country is about how the poor are living there.
You can live a nice life in literally any country, if you have enough money. But how do those live, who don’t have anything? That’s what differentiates between a decent country and a 3rd world country.