Millennials are bucking trends, becoming an increasingly progressive voting bloc and rewriting the long-held rules of politics, writes Isabella Higgins.

Millennials are bucking trends, becoming an increasingly progressive voting bloc and rewriting the long-held rules of politics, writes Isabella Higgins.

    • shalafi@lemmy.worldEnglish
      81·
      13 days ago

      If you’re American, what you are experiencing is oligarchy. (And now kakistocracy. 🙄) You’re making the same mistake as conservatives who point to the Soviet Union saying, “See! Socialism doesn’t work!”

      This horseshit is not what Adam Smith was talking about. In fact he warned that capitalism would be utterly broken were monopolies allowed. And here we are.

      Look at our media, news, social media, entertainment, banking; all monopolies owned and controlled by oligarchs. We’ve let them slide into these mergers because of our overstrict definition of a monopoly, one company in control of a sector. We basically have two phone types to choose from. That’s a monopoly.

      Lina Khan, Biden’s FTC Chair, was our last, best hope of walking this back. But be of good cheer! Mamdani has hired her, so she’s still in the game!

      EDIT: Forgot to go off about union busting and their near-total lack of power. Unions are perhaps the most powerful tool for healthy capitalism.

      • eureka@aussie.zoneEnglish
        1·
        12 days ago

        It’s strange to treat oligarchy and the trend of capital towards consolidation (monopolisation) as if they’re distinct from capitalism and not mechanically promoted by captialism itself.

        To do what Adam Smith demands, putting a leach on capital under capitalism, is a contradiction that is difficult or impossible to maintain, as we’ve seen. When a company has enough money to punch above the rest, they have the power to buy stakes in mass media news and other propaganda, they can bribe politicians or use their power to promote and empower the ones they can bribe, and they can do the same with institutional anti-corruption systems like lawmakers, judges, police. To inoculate a society against this power of the rich basically requires a departure from liberalism/capitalism itself, revoking the “freedom” of private capital owners to exclude others and abuse their position.