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Comment by gcc_programmer | Hacker News Reader

Please, could you suggest an alternative to capitalism? How would you implement it? Are you also likening people in extreme poverty to cows? Is that not extremely vile? I would like to have a discussion with you, but I fear I can't really hear you from your moral high ground: could you please come down to my basic level and try to explain? English is also not my first language, so lets keep the phraseology simple.

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Some suggestions:

1. If you need healthcare you get it for free or almost free.

2. If you make billions of dollars, you pay a lot more taxes.

3. Workers have as much power as their employers.

4. Everyone has access to food, water, and basic shelter.

5. Everyone is treated with dignity and respect.

This seems like a good start.

The problem is that every system is doomed to fail if it is based on pure ideology, be it capitalism or communism. The reality is that you need something in between. One which rewards effort but ensures a safety net, and provides the means and opportunity. Where one draws the line in balancing the good of capitalism and communism is the spot where wisdom lies. Communism obviously failed. Capitalism of the kind you have in the US also appears unsustainable as does the socialist underpinnings of countries such as India - just too much ideology involved. Of course countries ridden with extreme corruption have no hope whatsoever until the corruption can be reduced.

I present the alternative known as:

Capitalism (with some changes)

Criticizing an economic system doesn't require me to create and name an alternative. I can present issues, we can solve those issues, and then we'll have a new economic system that is quite close to capitalism.

Once it's significantly different we can figure out how to name it. But that's not important right now.

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