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0 pointsmacintux3y ago0 comments

Pollution is an example of an externality which unregulated <anything>ism fails to address, but since capitalism is the dominant economic model and many capitalists advocate for less regulation, it’s not a dramatic leap of logic to say capitalism is the problem.

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luckylion3y ago

Again, we've had something very not capitalist to compare it to (which those people tend to love) and boy, was that worse.

But the past tends to be forgotten and on the internet nobody knows that the Soviet Union existed, so why not claim that it didn't. Or that it does, but is being attacked by NATO. Or, my favorite, that Russia doesn't exist, but is just a mirage used by NATO countries to pretend there's an external enemy so their population will follow orders more easily. "It's just an opinion" after all.

noahtallen3y ago

This is just a classic straw man, because people don’t typically believe that. Or a red herring, because that’s not really the point.

No one here is suggesting that the Soviet Union has a good track record on pollution. People are suggesting that capitalism doesn’t. “Capitalism is the problem” does not imply that the Soviet Union is the solution.

When people say “capitalism is the problem,” they’re often looking towards an ideal — which sometimes exists and sometimes doesn’t — of a better world. That’s not a bad thing. Practically no one would suggest that an authoritarian flavor of communism (ala USSR) is that ideal.

hunterb1233y ago

The US was the only country to decrease emissions over the decades while growing our energy output, all countries in the Paris Climate Accord failed to do so.

We did it because of fracking nat. gas replacing coal due to innovation. Capitalism brings a lot of innovation including advancements in green energy too.

Tesla was able to economically compete and take a huge segment away from the automobile giants through capitalism, forcing them to compete and develop EV cars.

I don't see many socialist countries actually doing much, hell Germany still wanted Russian gas so much someone (wonder who) had to blow up the pipeline!

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