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What is capitalist about the government handing out wealth as privilege?

It seems like you just don't like our society. And then label our society as capitalist so whatever you don't like about our society is therefor a failure of capitalism. I mean sure, given those definitions I'd agree with you. The problem is that "whatever the US does" is not the definition of capitalism.

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If a certain state of affairs ("crony capitalism" or "socialistic handing out wealth") is a natural consequence of capitalism, as the other commenters are arguing, then does it matter what you call it? If your position is that the current state of affairs (the co-opting of the government by the ultra-wealthy class) is not the natural consequence of capitalism then you should argue that rather than no-true-scotsman-ing whether or not it is truly capitalism.

Its capitalist if the government handouts are only available to people with a considerable amount of capital, which is the case in the article.

Is it a failure though? I'm amazed I need to say this on HN, but that depends on the KPIs you choose to use to evaluate the capitalist aspect of this particular tax policy. If the goal is that the rich get richer, its a capitalism success. If the goal is that everyone in society gets more leisure time and increased quality of life, it looks like a failure to me.

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