8 Ways Capitalism Kills and What We Can Do About It

[@nowtopia]

Looking to join a community interested in postcapitalism? Sign up for the free Nowtopia Patreon here, where we will explore postcapitalism and economic alternatives together: www.patreon.com/Nowtopia

[@alfonsorafael007]

what would 'post-capitalism' look like? its starting to look like communism again, ya donkey

[@inspirednamehere6166]

Hey!, nice work with this channel. You have successfully attracted lots of sudden pro-capitalism commenters with blank profile images, and 2 word 4 letter usernames. This is disheartening, but it means you are getting visible and possibly attracting astroturfers or people who genuinely hate your ideology. Either way, they are giving you engagement metrics and helping your channel grow! its a sign not to give up!

[@nowtopia]

@@inspirednamehere6166Thanks for calling by and commenting! I agree -- it is all a bit suspicious isn't it :) But I don't mind -- I just put forward my view and try to remain respectful. Hopefully there is learning that comes out of that.

[@sofiaamadora3579]

We forget that something more important than a good health system is to live in a healthy environment. It is not about improving strategies to fight disease, but about creating quality living environments that prevent disease. Excellent video! Keep up the great work 😊🎉

[@TRWnan]

Both.

[@nowtopia]

Great comment! I'm always struck by the fact that most of the great advances in lifespan and wellbeing have been from simple developments like basic sanitation and learning about the germ theory of disease etc. All the other possibilities we have developed have been cancelled out by inequality and the creation of toxic environments.

[@alfonsorafael007]

more empty sloganeering

[@goldenealgefromdutchbros6834]

This video delves into the detrimental effects of capitalism on human health, outlining eight distinct ways in which it contributes to harm. The Glasgow effect and the social determinants of health are discussed, highlighting the life expectancy gap between Glasgow and the rest of the UK, as well as the concept of capitalogenic diseases. The definition and hallmarks of capitalism are explored, emphasizing its undemocratic, profit-oriented nature that cheapens both labor and nature. The roots of capitalism, emerging during the long 16th century, are also touched upon. The video then details the eight ways capitalism negatively impacts health: 1. Corporate promotion of harmful products 2. Patent regimens that delay access to medicines 3. Neglected tropical diseases affecting the poor 4. Hunger and malnutrition due to the commodification of food 5. Poverty-related mortality resulting from a lack of public services 6. Diseases linked to work and extended working hours 7. Health disparities in race and gender due to super exploitation 8. Health impacts of climate change resulting from the externalization of costs Towards the end, the possibility of a post-capitalist system is explored, envisioning a more democratic, equitable structure focused on human needs. The example of Cuba is cited to illustrate a system that guarantees nutrition and healthcare. [^1^]: [00:00:00] - [^2^]: [00:08:41] [^3^]: [00:00:00] - The Glasgow effect and the social determinants of health, life expectancy gap, concept of capitalogenic diseases [^4^]: [00:01:21] - Definition and hallmarks of capitalism, undemocratic, profit-oriented, arising during the long 16th century [^5^]: [00:02:10] - Eight ways capitalism harms health, corporate promotion, patent regimens, neglected tropical diseases, hunger and malnutrition, poverty-related mortality, diseases related to work, health disparities, health impacts of climate change [^6^]: [00:07:29] - Possibility of a post-capitalist system, more democratic, equitable, focused on human needs, Cuba as an example of guaranteeing nutrition and health care.

[@nowtopia]

An AI summary? Did a pretty good job

[@goldenealgefromdutchbros6834]

@@nowtopia thank you bbg

[@kennethmorrison7689]

This neoliberal nightmare we're all condemed to endure is without remidy. It's tits up. This summers heat will prove this clame. People will be falling in the streets from heat related effects.

[@nowtopia]

I think there are many remedies, but yes, the visible effects are ever more obvious!

[@yt.damian]

You are stark raving bonkers. The world is in far better shape than whatever it is you have been reading.

[@FrankThun]

Ultimately, capital is nature transformed into money and stored in a bank. There is no capital without nature. while there is Nature without Capital. I think that this is the essence of what Jason W. More book „Capitalism in the web of life“ writes. what we own as capital and invest is transforming ever more nature into capital. Personally, I find this insight painful, because financial independence, which i have achieved somewhere in my 40‘s, means that I have taken part in the looting of the biosphere. But there are alternatives. Alternatives like Participatory Economics (Albert Hahnel et al), a Pluralist Commonwealth (Gar Alperovitz) and my personal favorite David Schweikarts Social Investment model, which he detailed in his 2011 book „After Capitalism“. BTW Whats your, favorite economic model?

[@nowtopia]

Good to hear from you! A wise comment and thank you for these names and books. I would like to do a reading club or discussion group about Schweikart's book sometime! What do you think? Parecon was definitely influential on me early on, though I find elements of it unrealistic. I would like to go back and re-read sometime. The idea of a pluralist commonwealth is definitely close to where my thinking is now, or also something like the not-for-profit economy advocated for in the last couple of years by Jennifer Hinton. Ultimately, I'm not a big fan of singular 'models', but prefer to first step back and acknowledge that there are lots of mutualistic forms of economy already going on around us, in diverse cultures, and then look at how we bolster those in an appropriate way. There are ideas around distributism and the supersedure state, as discussed by someone like Chris Smaje, which are also important. A big topic, which could turn into a ridiculously huge comment...

[@FrankThun]

An online discussion about Schweikarts ideas sounds good :) Regarding Hintons Not-for profit companies: I agree that new forms of companies, less driven by the profit motive, are an extrememly undervalued part of the solution. There is big diversity in that, and there will be diversity in national and regional economic models too, I think.

[@nowtopia]

@@FrankThun Agreed. Great, I'll note that for when the time comes -- would send out information via the mailing list!

[@waxon2]

Very well done video. Wow :) Thank you for your articulate, compassionate voice. Wouldn't it be great if we could have a "Nowtopia" eDemocracy practice format for the transition to ecosocialism? Like how people vote on their phones for singers and such -- something like Proposal, Debate, Vote, Action (if possible). We can create the structure of this "meta-nation" that transcends existing boundaries as we go. We desperately need democratic practice, presuming of course that we all have an equal voice in the new paradigm; if not, then repressive totalitarian history will likely just repeat itself.

[@nowtopia]

Thanks for the kind comment! If you have a look at the Cybersyn video I did, they had an idea for a domestic/household opinion system, which didn't end up going anywhere. I think the Parecon (participatory economics) guys have been very vocal on using modern tech for this, though I'm not sure of practical applications. I'll keep an eye out!

[@waxon2]

@@nowtopia Thank you so much for the heads up on your Cybersyn video -- how very eye opening. I will check out the rest of them. The idea of providing real-time feedback is inspirational. The tech is probably just an app now. We could really develop a system where no one is left behind, left out, forgotten. Real-time human needs, divorced from the constraints of "market forces", could easily and quickly be responded to. There are numerous products and services that are very important to livability but which are not "profitable". For example, our local hospital actually got rid of its maternity/nursery department because it always lost money. Mothers now have to travel over 25 miles to the nearest OB/Gyn or to give birth. It would be hard to argue that human birth is not important to humanity.

[@alfonsorafael007]

compassionate voice? He's fighting against the system that creates most prosperity for the poor, and Wokeism is the new totalitarian system destroying fairness and merit and creativity.. the lack of awareness is astounding

[@alfonsorafael007]

god no

[@waxon2]

​@@nowtopia A practical application example: coordinated direct action all over the world -- simultaneously. We are all connected by 6 degrees of supply line separation. We are the workers of the world. We are in all facets of society. We can promote what we find to be regenerative and Life-affirming and literally shut down what we find to be abusive to rights and habitat. Our opportunity lasts until they fully automate everything We can control almost everything depending on the size and cooperation level of our international body. But before that practical application, it might be prudent to practice on less controversial matters so as to practice governing ourselves. Eventually, we can essentially replace the existing governments or make them impotent unless we, as a single body, give our consent. Given that the ends ARE the means, process is everything -- and creativity is paramount. To grow the world we want we must have an ethic. A respect for all Life. Heal the anger/trauma/damage of having lived in this capitalist system for so long. We must heal, or it will metastasize and destroy everything we build. Ultimately, we must actually care about everyone and all life. Love, if you will. Love heals, though you're really just loving your (larger) self. All is one. Well, that's the proposal I would make. Then we would have to debate and vote :) We can see the world we want and reverse engineer it, then reassemble it, one step at a time, together.

[@beastbike4570]

Great video!

[@nowtopia]

Thanks for being here :)

[@al_parlam]

good video, thank you for your work! lots of growth to your channel ❤ Please consider adding subtitles, as to no native speaker it would be a great gift 😄

[@nowtopia]

Thanks for your comment and support! If you click CC you should have english subtitles? I will upgrade my microphone at some point and try to speak slower too :)

[@catalindeluxus8545]

I think the paper hits the nail on the head. One thing it got me wondering is does it correlate those negative outcomes to capitalism, or does it also establish a causal relation?

[@jamesedwards.1069]

Unless you define "Capitalism" it's all drivel and nonsense. "Capital" itself is the means of production. You might as well call it "Productionism." What you're describing is Corporatism, not productionism. Corporatism is a hybrid system where the lower classes are the chattel property of the ruling class. Are you on the side of the farmers or the EU? Which side is "Capitalist?" It doesn't sort out that simply, does it.

[@nowtopia]

The understanding of capitalism used in this particular paper is defined at the beginning of the video. We could call it corporatism, I suppose, but -- even if you don't like it -- there is a fairly widespread understanding of what is meant here... There is also an ideology of 'productivism' which is linked, but I'm with the authors on this one...

[@yt.damian]

Such amazing myopia! People in China and the Soviet Union smoked at rates equal to or higher than in the west. Those life saving drugs would never have been made in the first place without a financially healthy company behind them. Covid vaccines (apart from probably being a net negative for healthy people) were limited in distribution because you cannot just produce 16 billion doses that quickly. Drugs are not researched in poor countries for diseases that primarily affect poor countries because they cant afford it. If they were less communist and more capitalist they might be able to afford to do the research and solve their own problems. Im glad you keep referencing Cuba and ignoring all the other failed and failing socialist countries. The best way to protect the environment is for people to get rich enough and be safe enough that they can care for it.

[@nowtopia]

The point on China and Soviet Union are a distraction: nobody is saying they are good examples, the video in that respect is about the behaviour of capitalist corporations. "Those life saving drugs would never have been made in the first place without a financially healthy company behind them." A great fallacy -- so many innovations (including covid vaccines, smart phones, the internet etc.) would not have been developed had it not been for state funding and guarantees. "If they were less communist and more capitalist they might be able to afford to do the research" Most are not even nominally communist. Have you ever thought about why they are kept poor? Have you ever looked into inequalities in global trade and policies from the West which have intentionally kept those inequalities? Happy to provide you some readings if you'll be open to it.

[@yt.damian]

@@nowtopia Im always open. The countries that adopted western practices did much better than those that didnt. Capitalism and democracy are not perfect but are way better than everything else we have ever tried.

[@seanlynch8079]

​@@nowtopiaunder capitalism the state is just another company with a monopoly on violence, so when equipping it's military it is in competition with private defense firms around the world

[@thomashazlewood4658]

I have watched as, decade after decade, human life expectancy has increased, just since 1950. The average life span has increased from 68 to 73 years. Rapid advances in Science and Medicine occurred. The impetus for both was supercharged by Capitalism, the economic process. The fact is that without Capitalism, achieving such advances would have been left to the device of random geniuses dribbling out breakthroughs every couple centuries, as it was in our Dark Ages. Capitalism isn't democratic, no. Neither is intelligence or athletic ability. Both individuals and societies are appreciated, or depreciated, by their ability to adopt and utilize capitalism. Indeed, there IS no other economic system. What would be the alternative? Barter? To regress millennia to that era when mankind was limited by simple tools and the vagaries of weather for their sustenance? I defy one to identify the system other than Capitalism that creates wealth in abundance and is not a political mechanism built simply to steal it from others. Capitalism protects and advances the kernel of human genius that normal human social systems have always tried to yoke, for the benefit of, and maintenance of, those most powerful people who create nothing but have learned to harness their political systems. When Capitalists succeeds, humanity advances. When the Politicals succeed, humanity grows stagnant and then regresses. When Politicals succeed, Capitalists are leeched for the excess in wealth that their endeavors create. When Capitalism is strangled, that excess disappears because there is no other ECONOMIC system that rewards the endeavor of individuals. Hence, the truism that socialism fails when it runs out of other people's money to steal. Again I say, Capitalism, like intelligence or athletic ability, isn't democratic. Pretending that it should be is merely an intellectual gaffe.

[@inspirednamehere6166]

You are aware that quality of life and life expectancy is falling in developed nations? - that there is plastics in the human pancreas, suicide rates are at their highest since the 1990s, poverty has reached a point where millions of white capitalists are going hungry, cant feed their children, pay for school, clothes, shelter. You are also that capitalism is designed entirely on resource extraction : economic growth is dependant not on keeping the same transactions, but on increasing the amount of sale and increasing the money gained each time - It relies on there being more people able to buy, and having the money to spend that you can put your prices up. When you have cut down and sold the last tree, depleted your land with fertilisers and eroded the soil, you will find out that you cannot eat your money. It is also very ironic to suggest that socialism, based on sharing resources and productive capacity, is reliant on the accumulation of others wealth, when the richest people on our planet mostly get paid through factories they have bought out, companies they acquired, and adverts they host - They are paid for all of this, yet are not responsible for any of the production that happens under them that improves peoples lives. That money does not go anywhere, it does not make anyone richer. It simply makes everyone else have to pay through passively existing alongside services that are so common that they have no ability to avoid them. The strangest claim, is to suggest that capitalism, emerging out of the wealthy merchant and slums of industrial European empires, is the drive of technological advancement and abundance - when it was exactly a system that formed out of technological advancement allowing a few individuals to act as production bottlenecks, claiming responsibility for the work others did in the supply chain, and getting all the payment. A system that seeks to promote industrialisation and destroy what came before it, to make people dependant on those few owners that understand and control the system they are trapped in. A system that, in its reliance of new resources and continued expansion, caused the Columbian exchange. The eradication of the Mesoamericans through war and enslavement, the subsequent destruction and enslavement of Africa to replace the Mesoamericans, the settlement and destruction of the people of north America, the mass movement of slaves into North America. The destruction of the indigenous people in Australia, the use of drugs and conquest to cripple India and China, and the exploitation of their people. There is a reason, that despite the global reach of capitalism, the only countries that benefit are those where its owners reside - the countries where the people have to be convinced that this is a good thing - told to fear and despise the conditions of the rest of the world, despite being the sole beneficiaries of the war and poverty outside.

[@thomashazlewood4658]

@@inspirednamehere6166 "socialism, based on sharing resources and productive capacity, "... So very like slavery, as you describe it. You would share the resources out to whom you wish while Capitalists do all the production for you. How is that NOT slavery? Every problem you describe is the result of POLITICS. The failings of Capitalism such as monopoly and fraudulence of product, are arguably restrained by Law. When Law fails, it is because of corrupted politics. As for the rest of your whiny complaints, I lost a brother in the 1960's due to an enlarged heart. That was decades before heart transports were possible. Today, our doctors operate on babies still in the womb and can transplant vital organs. It has become a mundane operation. Such advanced Science and Medicine are the products Capitalism. The plagues of yesteryear are, again, being exiled to the past because of successful Capitalist nations. Just how many hundreds of years must the other nations see success before they emulate it? Well, we can't say yet because they still have not done so. But we do know that they'll happily take the proceeds of the successful nations, don't we? Like lamprey eels on a salmon, they attach themselves and and will suck it dry rather than exert the effort to swim on their own. The last Great War was the dreamwork of Socialism, National Socialism, and its victors were the Capitalists that provided the materials that freed millions while putting down the Socialists who were "sharing resources and productive capacity" stolen from others. "the only countries that benefit are those where its owners reside"... I see that despite the trillions that have been spent on failed nations, by Capitalists, those nations still fail to feed their own, yet they insist upon buying weapons. That's politics. Those controlling the politics are doing very well, their subject peoples, not so well. So, stop beating the oxen who pulled your cart because it doesn't also pull the carts of all the others. Instead, tell the others to get their own oxen.

[@inspirednamehere6166]

​@@thomashazlewood4658 You are so right, and have seen straight through my guise. It is indeed slavery to share what you have and ensure those around you are healthy and happy. Corruption in politics will always happen, people will always be paid off, especailly when money is no longer the most important factor in someones life and worth breaking all principles to obtain. Your brothers enlarged heart was because communists put steroids in the cows to make them grow faster! Medicine never existed before capitalism : woke propoganda will tell you that in ancient Rome invasive surgery, c-sections, medicinal pills, and catheters were used. Similarly they will tell you that the ancient chinese had discovered a way of innoculating against smallpox, a deadly disease that caused people to go red - the colour of communism. Meanwhile Capitalists carry our modern medicine, providing all the aid and organisation needed to eradicate smallpox when the USSR announced their intention to do so and started producing vaccines, and successfully distributing medicine to third world countries, of course after doing Gods will and after a hard won battle over a few years, making sure they all knew who legally owned the rights to said medicine - then vaccinating millions without delay. The other nations of the world will surely never reach such a developed state as the first world. Truly, the idea that other civilisations have flourished and fallen is propoganda, and the great expansion of the european empires had nothing to do with the state of the world as it is now - woke moralists are too stuck in the past to realise that nations can easily fix themselves if they simply allow capitalism to use their land and resources without resistance, just as god intended. its very true that the congolese cobalt pit miners benefit so much from capitalism, taking them out of the savage jungle where they suffered so much and giving them stable lifetime employment in skilled industry. They are so greedy to ask for freedom, for their land and health. So ignorant to want to return to their traditional ways and communities. These backward nations will never grow - surely, the feats of ingenuity in the african green belt, the development of amman to house refugees, the democratic republic of syria are all fake propoganda to convince people that other systems are available and feasible. Its so stupid that these people will buy weapons from us and willingly keep killing themselves over control of resources that we just want to peacefully buy. If they were civilised people, they would just put down their weapons and seek employment in the jobs we have created - but instead they are greedy and flawed and want to have cruel control and stop the freedom of jobs and trade of resources that we bring to their filthy deserts. Also, you realise the US did not destroy the USSR in world war 2 right? and that originally many of the western nations instead were going to ally with the nazis against the soviets, since the soviets were a much bigger ideological threat and the crimes of the nazis were not a big deal. Many european politicians were great admirers of the nazis. In turn, Hitler himself was a great admirer of the enslavement of black people in america, and the total eradication achieved of the 17 million native population. Truly, it was a war about providing resources and wealth to people against the scary communists who seek to take everyone elses wealth and keep it for themselves. The Americans were even kind enough to deploy the Marshall plan to rebuild europe - to keep the nations indebted to them for years and reliant on their market, and prevent the widespread poverty and destruction of the pre - war class system to encourage the people of europe from building an egalitarian society based on helping each other and mutual cooperation, to prevent the ideals of nationalism, inequality and supremacy that lead to such destruction. That would be such a scary and terrible thing. You also repeat several times that communism - the distribution of wealth and resources so that no one goes needy and everyone is happy and productive, benefitting each other and living lives where they do not need to do any excess work to produce meaningless waste, is apparently the accumulation and hording of wealth by a few people from the work of others. And that capitalism is when many people work together and then distribute the wealth in charity to help people who cant help themselves. Do you see that in current capitalist america? Do Elon musk, Goldman Sachs, Bezos, and all the others give their wealth for the development of critical infrastructure. Do they feed the millions of hungry american children, fund the failing american schools, provide clean water to polluted cities and provide shelter for the ever increasing homeless population. Or do they keep the wealth to themselves, for mansions and affairs. Is this a failure of "politics", that when money is all that matters, people who have money dont give it out, knowing they will never get anything in return ? How do you seriously believe that the current capitalist system is one of equality and charity, and that the socialist ideas of equality and charity are in fact fundamentally greedy and lead to wealth inequality. How do you actually reconcile that world view with the fact that we live in such unequal times, where poverty is spreading through the west like a rot.

[@martinsingfield]

Neither inequality nor changes to the environment resulting from the production process are unique to capitalism. Capitalism does not seek to minimise wages, but rather to maximise efficiency. This is why wages in capitalist economies are substantially higher than in socialist economies.

[@nowtopia]

Aside from the utter stagnation of recent decades, the question of poverty and wages in capitalism is an interesting one: www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X22002169 You're right that inequality and changes to the environment are not unique to capitalism -- but that is the topic of this video

[@martinsingfield]

@@nowtopia by not mentioning that other systems also result in inequality and environmental degradation, the video implies that there capitalism is uniquely responsible for them both.

[@martinsingfield]

@@nowtopia whilst I agree that the business cycle (alternating periods of fast and slow growth) are a feature of capitalist economies, I think other factors have also led to slower economic growth in recent decades. These include the demographic transaction, the lack of truly transformative technological change on par with electrification and the internal combustion engine, and a massive increase in regulation. I don't believe that alternative economic systems would have dealt with these changes any better. It is true that the industrial revolution initially had a huge disruptive affect on the quality of life for many, but so did previous revolutions, such as the transition to agricultural societies. However, in the long run, society benefited from both.

[@nowtopia]

@@martinsingfield After the decline of state socialism, capitalism and its urge for growth is really the prime contemporary driver of ecological destruction.

[@martinsingfield]

@@nowtopia it is a fallacy to suggest that capitalism seeks economic growth but socialism does not. Both systems aim to increase consumption, but capitalism is better at achieving it.

[@davidwestwater2219]

There's no other system except capitalism

[@nowtopia]

Oh yes there is :) There are many www.exploring-economics.org/de/studieren/buecher/pluriverse-1/

[@arofhoof]

Is it a bit silly to blame all that on capitalism when communist society have even been worst when it comes to pollution?

[@nowtopia]

Nobody is saying there was not pollution/public health crises/etc. under state socialism (though I think it is hard to argue a net better/worse -- both have been disastrous). Rather, this is a video specifically about capitalism and what the real impacts of it are.

[@arofhoof]

communism countries polluted for the same reason capitalism does; there is no fundamental difference @@nowtopia

[@alfonsorafael007]

another young guy who doesnt realise capitalism is the best system we have and has brought millions out of poverty.. jumping on the anti-capitalist bandwagon but cant even define capitalism which is the freemarket , not consumerism or greed.. such a basic and incorrect take bro

[@nowtopia]

Oh to be young! I think you may need to revise your narrative: www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X22002169

[@alfonsorafael007]

u dont even know what capitalism is yet youve made a video on it hahaha GTFOH boy@@nowtopiadont understand economics or politics, ya plank

[@alfonsorafael007]

lol the world has come out of poverty at an insane pace, due to capitalism, it drives innovation, everyones got richer, and we live in a world of abundance, yet you still here complaining.. true privileged class@@nowtopia

[@waxon2]

@@alfonsorafael007 Hey Jebediah, I've noticed most of your comments are negative, derogatory, and come with no supporting evidence. Isn't there a nice anti-socialist channel you can go to where you would be among friends, or perhaps you're an IDF bot. Please advise.

[@RayRay-dv9xg]

the free market is awesome as long as everyone agrees to be nice to each other and not to exploit nature or other human beings. But thats the same as saying "having a tiger in your garden is awesome, as long as he doesnt eat you". We all know how it will end.