this post was submitted on 17 Sep 2025
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Late Stage Capitalism

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[–] sunzu2@thebrainbin.org 4 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Adam Smith didn't conflate capitalism and free market which are two separate mechanisms

Capitalism is priavte ownership of key sectors of economy

Free makret is right to contract freely.

Idiots in america and westpid regimes will generally conflaw the two due to heavy regime propaganda that justifies the oligarchy which uses "free market" as justification for their status.

[–] TubularTittyFrog@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

Yep. And idiots love to repeat the false and flawed interpretation of Smith. And ignore his critiques and analysis.

[–] humanspiral@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 days ago

ROI exists/dominates investment decisions under private or social/communal ownership. Let's say your country imposes a fixed price to pay you per bushel of wheat. The decision to buy a tractor is completely independent of how equal the ownership in the farm(s) is.

Adam Smith's justification for capitalism relied on an imaginary "perfect information" mechanism. He did see some centralized governance need to prevent the market corruption of monopoly/cartels, but was relatively silent on need for regulation (say health inspections of restaurants) as a way to avoid food poisoning, or everyone magically knowing that a food poisoning victim was poisoned at a specific restaurant. Though, its possible to theorize that restaurant inspection can be done by multiple private/social organizations. none of the options are immune to corruption if there is a "free market" for politicians/bribery.