Can Capitalism be Fixed?

I had the privilege of participating in a panel titled "Making Capitalism Great Again"   My first thought was - when was it ever great. Do people not remember slavery?

I was on this panel with a Nobel Prize Winning Economist!  I not only held my own - others on the panel started using my lensing. So I was clearly qualified to discuss this with a Nobel Prize winner. And yes - now that you know how awesome I am - you should totally take at least ONE of my courses. (https://humanistlearning.com/jennifer-hancock/)

First off - let me say - I do like capitalism. I just don't have any delusions that it's ever been all that great. Being better than the alternatives - does not making something great. It just makes it better than the alternative. 

Second, we have never ever ever ever gotten anywhere close to the ideal of how capitalism should work as laid out by Hayuk in his book The Road to Serfdom. Hayuk makes the case for capitalism (as opposed to socialism) by explaining the ideal - which is that free markets provide for the best distribution of goods and services and wealth by allowing people to compete for resources. Those with the most need - end up with the needed resources through the process of fair competition.

Obviously - this is NOT how our system has ever worked. Mostly because - we actively and intentionally exclude people from being able to compete in the system.  And yes - I am once again - talking about slavery. We've always allowed for criminal exploitation in our capitalism. Exploitation handicaps the system  and distorts the market and creates unfair advantages. Allowing exploitation (whether of people, or of resources) prevents the full promise of what capitalism can deliver. 

Third - exploited people - don't like being exploited. So it should NOT surprise anyone who wants to advocate for capitalism that some people equate capitalism with exploitation - and don't like it.  Want to fix capitalism and make it great?  Acknowledging how we have collectively failed to deliver on that ideal - is necessary first step. 

Finally - I am optimistic.  Given how badly we've totally and completely failed to create the necessary conditions (an even playing field) which is required for capitalism to function - it's astonishing how much we have accomplished. We live in the safest time to be alive. We have gone the moon and explored the starts. We have made deadly diseases a thing of the past. I can now search the internet from my phone - oh and we have phones and can talk to anyone on earth whenever we want!  How awesome is that.  And we've accomplished all that - while handicapped and with one arm tied behind our back. Imagine what could accomplish if we actually allowed EVERYONE to participate in the system!  And I mean EVERYONE! 

What follows are the notes I made for myself about - how to fix capitalism and make it "great." 

• False dichotomies  - we tend to think in terms of false dichotomies and we need to stop. Seriously - it's preventing us from seeing the obvious solution right in front of us.  Examples of false dichotomies?
• Competition vs. Cooperation. Many pro-capitalist people focus on the competitive nature of capitalism. The reality is the best way to compete - is through cooperation. The most effective teams - collaborate. We must do both - compete and cooperate. If we focus on one or the other we fail.
• Capitalism vs. socialism is another false dichotomy. We actually can do both at the same time. And we should be doing both. Crazy I know.
• Politicians like to tell us - we either do capitalism or we do socialism. We can do both. They rightly point out - the problems of socialism. But they always seem to fail to mention the problems with capitalism. For a list of these - read Marx's Das Kapital. 
• Both capitalism and socialism have pros and cons. We should be figuring  out how to maximize the benefits of both (competition and cooperation) and we should work to minimize the harm caused by both capitalism and socialism. 
• To do this - we need to not be afraid of either capitalism or socialism and instead understand that we need to compete cooperatively and seek balance and avoid extremes. 

Hayuk teaches us - capitalism only works if there is an even playing field. This is a requirement. If this condition is not met capitalism does not work and it’s NOT a free market. (distorted) 

• Our current problem? 
• We practice and reward exploitative capitalism instead of humanistic capitalism 
• Exploitation is a criminal enterprise masquerading as business. 
• Again, Hayuk tell us the role of government is to create - an even playing field. Instead - we have allowed criminals to use government to distory the playing field for their advantage. 
• Reality - We have ALWAYS subsidized exploitation and put barriers in the way of humanistic businesses. 
• Examples: 
•  Local to me - In my community - we had both slavery and cooperatively owned fishing ranchos. The government sided with the slave owners, and ran off the cooperatively owned business. Why? Because the existence of a cooperatively run business meant - the slaver - had trouble keeping his labor as they would run away to freedom and the right to work for themselves.  Did out government based on freedom support these freedom loving laborers? No - we used the military to force them to keep working for a person they didn't want to work for. This is what I mean by distorting the playing field and giving advantage to bad actors at the expense of good ones. 
• Currently - this is still a problem. Our government still some businesses over others. For instance - it's illegal to run a business to benefit the community.  If you do this - your shareholders can sue you. So people who want to run good community businesses - legally can't.  We prohibit employees from unionizing and maximizing their bargaining power - privileging employers over employees.
  Our tax codes - privilege ownership over actual work. 
• An even playing field - must treat EVERYONE equally. Everyone. Otherwise - we distort the system and the result is not good. For anyone except those who are legally privileged and protected. Everyone else - is prevented from competing and - the result is not capitalism as outlined by Hayuk. 

• 3) Solution? 
• Recognize Exploitation for what it is 
• b. Promote cooperation and humanistic businesses 
• c. Even the darned playing field – for everyone 
• i. Employers, employees, environment, etc.
• Create a Social safety net. 
• We can and should harness competition for this - but  must exist and be robust – otherwise – distortions will continue. If people are too poor to participate in the economy, then capitalism can't work it's magic.