Read theory, comrades. Or if you're stupid like me, just listen to audiobooks. 😎😎😎
Not my pic otherwise I'd give a link.
Obligatory vaush posting copypasta, but yeah vaush bad. I don't watch his videos but his views of socialism seem incoherent and it seems to be spreading to his audience. He has said he has read plenty of theory but I'm not sure what he stands for aside from vague unachievable notions of socialism. It would be great if he put out a video manifesto going indepth on what he believes and how to achieve it, but that would open him up to be criticized and probably get less views than platforming nazis so he'll never do it. Icing on the cake is that he's too afraid to debate Hakim again, the cope on him getting blow out by a principled ML was delicious
Socialism is when the government does stuff. Even your great red-fash tankie Supreme biggus-dickus wolffus says so.
It's important to remember that Marx's critique of capitalism features a number of contradictions in capitalism. Owners vs Workers is the contradiction most focused on because it's inherent to capitalism, but the Anarchy of the Market and the problem of infinite growth are both problems that would persist in a market-socialism model. It's pretty telling because Vaush's solution to global warming is "I hope people become less greedy" because market socialism doesn't address how markets drive pollution and energy expenditures.
the problem of infinite growth are both problems that would persist in a market-socialism model
This point is particularly important in the context of climate change mitigation; modern communism needs to integrate degrowth if it hopes to deal with climate change in any serious manner. Which also involves massive wealth redistribution, including from rich countries to the global south.
To the surprise of no one, vaushites dont read theory and just take whatever vaush says along with skimming cia fact pages about actually existing socialist states. You would actually be more developed in terms of your political education if you didnt know anything compared to the bad-education va/*sh gives, lol.
For one, every economy is planned. The only difference is if its planned by bourgeois oligarchs in control of major corporations, if its planned by democratic principles in a decentralized way or in a more centralized way.
This is also why you have to read Marx at some point and can't just rely on other peoples interpretations or later theoreticians. Marx was around right at the start of industrial capitalism, he wasnt handed down as much propaganda or mystification his entire life about capitalism. If you really want to understand capitalism and socialism you have to read Marx at some point.
I just want everyone to know that if it weren't for this website I would have no idea who v* is. Nor any other YouTube personality. YouTube is bad medium. If there was anything worth learning on YouTube it would be removed by Google.
YouTube is bad medium.
Without YouTube, how do I get to see the slideshow part of "Well, There's Your Problem"?
"supply and demand aren't theories but laws" laws are also not real either, they only exist through the use of force
The only thing keeping me from being doctor strange is fear that I'll get a ticket
Holy shit, I mean it’s one thing to appreciate socialist market economies but it’s another entirely to be a self proclaimed “socialist” and also be literally incapable of imagining a society without markets
Taking "Light travels at at a certain speed in a vaccum" and "More competition means low prices and freedom" and calling them both laws to own the commies.
Vaush is what happens when you don't read theory, stay in school kiddos :cool-dad:
More people should read The People's Republic of Walmart. It's such a great book on this topic, and it completely destroyed any ideas I had that markets might be more efficient than planning. I do think there needs to be a well thought out pathway from markets to planning in order to ensure a smooth transition, but that's an entirely different discussion.
EDIT: This essay by Sam Gindin also does a pretty good job (in my opinion) of laying out what economic planning in a modern socialist system might look like, including the pathway to a layered planning system from a market system.
Appropriate distribution data and infrastructure from Amazon, Walmart, etc, then centerly plan distribution based on need. Might need something else for particularly scarce goods.
Amazon and Walmart are common fun examples because supply warehouses and national supply chains are easy ways for people to understand what a planned economy might look like, but there are a ton of logistics companies whose data and infrastructure would be more useful, particularly ones who own large amounts of shipping containers or cargo planes.
Planned economies would be much more viable and robust nowadays. The internet and big data have been such game changers in that area that even decentralized planned economies are potentially viable (these would amount to something similar to markets, but optimized for something other than infinite growth of increasingly untethered numbers)
I said this in another comment, but The People's Republic of Walmart is an excellent book that covers this exact topic. Paul Cockshott also covers this in depth, but I haven't yet read any of his books on the topic.
This isn't prescriptive, but reading Debt and toward an anthropological theory of value will show you how varied human economies have been, including concrete examples of decentralized planned economies (the Iroquois), economies with institutionalized theft (some Maori) and economies centered around competitive gift giving (the Kawakawakw)
My main takeaway was that real economies are always way weirder than the academic categories they fall into.
Towards an anthropological theory of value by Graeber has more examples, Debt is a more fun read and articulates the existence of alternatives more explicitly.
Oh, and the audible narration is a pretentious Englishman, just a warning.
I, personally, can't imagine anything better. So, capitalism is natural and good. I am a good socialist!
