Reimagining Capitalism
Marc Fischer, in Capitalist Realism, exposes us the quote,"it is easier to imagine an end to the world than an end to capitalism.” If Capitalism is to be the economic system that will define humanity going forward, we must acknowledge what it is, the pros and cons, and how to make it more equitable.
Capitalism robs us of our time, exhausting our bodies and minds, while pollution, stress, and shifting media patterns shorten our attention spans, and other mediums offer effortless modes of escapism. The gutting of public education was geared toward the prevention of an “educated proletariat”—as a Reagan adviser once put it
The question is not whether we can shape the universe but what kind of reality we wish to create. Will we build lives—and a world—defined by fear and limitation, or will we embrace the immense potential of our collective consciousness to shape a future worthy of our dreams?
poverty increases by about 8 percent in places where a Walmart opens relative to places without one even when factoring in the most optimistic cost-savings scenarios.
Recent history shows the political danger in threatening low consumer prices. The public's reaction to the inflation of the past few years suggests that many Americans would rather be slightly poorer but have price stability than be richer but with more inflation. That will tempt policy makers to prioritize low prices above all else and embrace the
... See moreWhen Walmart comes to town, it uses its low prices to undercut competitors and become the dominant player in a given area, forcing local mom-and-pop grocers and regional chains to slash their costs or go out of business altogether. As a result, the local farmers, bakers, and manufacturers that once sold their goods to those now-vanished retailers a
... See moreWiltshire arrives at similar results: Workers in counties where a Walmart opened experienced a greater decline in earnings than they made up for with cost savings, leaving them worse off overall. Even more interesting, he finds that the losses weren't limited to workers in the retail industry; they affected basically every sector from manufacturing
... See moreit’s worth noting that as much as the current forms of attention capitalism exist to take our attention, there is some very deep part of us that wants it taken.
We need to move from competitive ideation, trying to push our individual ideas, to collective ideation, collaborative ideation. It isn’t about having the number one best idea, but having ideas that come from, and work for, more people.
what’s between capitalism and socialism?46