/leftypol/ - Leftist Politically Incorrect

In defense of the free market.

When we deal with matters of the economy, it’s important to stay grounded in very real world terms and not fall for the abstractions the wealthy propagandize people with. These are systems of metabolizing the labor of everyone in society and then proportioning goods accordingly. Everyday there is work that has to get done to maintain civilization, and “the economy” describes how we incentivize (or more crudely, reward) doing that work. The control and production of everything takes labor, and the biggest issues with society stem from our considering property or ownership of stock as a means of financial gain in of itself over labor. In a preferable society with equal access to education and healthcare and equal rights for all, those capable of doing work should still be made to. There simply is no society without that economic work incentive, and ours is now being destroyed because the incentive is switching to trading stocks and speculating on others businesses instead of putting effort in to produce or maintain anything. I think these best ways to distribute these goods is for a wage system that distributes a currency exchangeable for goods and services at a market rate. Its a fundamentally democratizing force that should be regulated and limited in certain aspects, but that should not be abolished in favor of anything else, as the rich are trying to do now. I support some economic inequality enough to maintain a petit bourgeoisie, I would even say I’m against a UBI.

The reason i don’t identify as a communist is because I see them as abandoning this distributive system in favor of a more hierarchical approach. In a world without currency, you would either have to rigidly control distribution or provide a civilization so materially liberal I don’t think human beings could uncorruptibly function without abusing the systems of social benefit to an unsustainable degree. This is a monopoly of the state and even a state that is democratically controlled should not wield such power in my opinion.
The difference between capitalism and socialism is that capitalism doesn’t just have a free market, but as our current neoliberal system extols, has businesses controlled by centralized power and authority rested in bourgeois, old money families. These people are given the reigns of power over their own little fiefdoms, given essentially no oversight or real threat of punishment, and even those that work their way into that position wield that power as an authoritarian in an authoritarian system. Even in a system where they were adequately policed, single individuals with power over others occupations and livelihoods should not wield such power in my opinion.
Socialism is turning these authoritarian systems inward and forcing major companies to become worker cooperatives. I support some direct state intervention in the economy, if certain industries prove necessary, but government operation of businesses should not be the rule but the exception. The rest of the economy should either consist of local businesses with minimum employees, or of large, internationally functioning worker cooperatives where every employee has a share in the leadership of their company.

I’m much more of a history nerd than a theory buff, so excuse inaccuracies, but this is my worldview about as best I can write it, I hope it’s worth the short read.
And death to all those who stand in the way of freedom for the working people.