Comment on How does capitalism differ from crony capitalism?
Archangel1313@lemmy.ca 1 week ago
Capitalism by itself, doesn’t necessarily involve direct government coordination. You have shareholders who invest capital in a business, and collect dividends from that investment, and the government has almost nothing to do with it, aside from having passive (systemic) protections in place that legitimize the exploitation of the working class.
Crony Capitalism is when Capitalists are directly coordinating with government officials in order to maximize their exploitation of the working class. It’s less passively “systemic” and more actively aggressive.
IAmNorRealTakeYourMeds@lemmy.world 1 week ago
the big question. is capitalism without crony capitalism possible and sustainable? given that rich people always will have more power to affect policies than poor people
Archangel1313@lemmy.ca 1 week ago
Short answer…no. Capitalism is never sustainable. It’s the equivalent of economic cancer.
As wealth is accumulated into fewer and fewer hands, monopolies will always emerge, effectively undermining anything resembling a “free market”. And once all that capital is concentrated into the hands of a few ultra wealthy oligarchs, they will have all the power they need to effectively capture the state…and all the rest of us with it.
The only way to prevent that system from inevitably emerging, is to prevent the accumulation of wealth in the first place. It’s fine to make money. It’s even fine to make a lot of money. But no one needs so much money, that they can effectively buy the entire government.