Does American Capitalism Still Work?

Рет қаралды 18,531

Күн бұрын

In a time of growing wealth disparity and evolving societal values, can capitalism adapt to sustain the American Dream?
Now in its 20th year, the Aspen Ideas Festival is the Aspen Institute’s signature summer public event. From June 23-June 29, 2024 more than 300 leaders and innovators gather in the Rocky Mountains to engage in deep and inquisitive discussion of the issues that shape our lives and challenge our times, spanning politics, business, science, the arts, education, and more. #AspenIdeas
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@freeheeler09 3 ай бұрын

Why are we letting hedge funds and corporations and foreign investors buy all of our single family homes?

@camerond 3 ай бұрын

Because they pay for political campaigns

@袁大陸 3 ай бұрын

If they don’t buy, no one to build.

@kaceykelly7222 3 ай бұрын

It is not allowed in other capitalistic countries. We should have 75 percent tax on income from SFR that is non owner occupied!

@gjv001 3 ай бұрын

They haven't bought my home.

@jelef001 3 ай бұрын

@@gjv001well in that case!

@MrsSpitfire65 3 ай бұрын

Kay Bailey Hutchison is disconnected from reality and lives in a dream world.

@s2snider 3 ай бұрын

I think she's trying not to bash her own political party while expressing her own views. I guess she thinks she owes them some kind of loyalty, so yeah, that would only occur to someone living in a dream world.

@gfscfinance8866 3 ай бұрын

Amen to that. She continues to live in her bubble, paid for my powerfully and rich lobbyists. Eliminate soft pac, ban corporations funding politicians, beef up the SEC, EPA, commerce, ftc, cfpb to control or really regulate private enterprise. Healthcare for all. Slightly increase the taxes on top 1%.

@patrickdaly3628 2 ай бұрын

Well put OP that temporary period she spoke about at 18 mins has been going on 40 plus years now

@elizabethleung8168 2 ай бұрын

I agreed with you just based on her first comment. If you leave your house at 6:30 in the morning and don't get home until 6 at night and the only cheap food sources surrounding your work in fast food, you eat fast food. Our need for our jobs is an economic requirement. I didn't choose my job based on its geographic location to healthy eateries.

@pattywest1 3 ай бұрын

Senator Hutchinson was a waste of time having on. All others were really great.

@JohnChampagne 3 ай бұрын

It is an indication of how thoroughly dysfunctional our political discourse is that we can have a conversation about problems of capitalism but hear no mention of the problem of externalities and no mention of the idea that natural wealth belongs to all. If a person--especially if a policy-maker--believes that workers should have a normal amount of bargaining power, they should call for equal sharing of natural wealth. UBI is a general idea. It can be made into a principled policy (not just another demand on government for handouts) by basing it on the idea that air and water and other natural resources belong to all. IF we charge fees proportional to how much industries take natural resources, emit pollution or destroy wildlife habitat, the money collected would represent the value to society of the resources and services made by natural processes, not human effort. The money should be shared equally. Abject poverty would be eliminated. (This should be a global policy.) Industries would feel an economic incentive to *reduce* harm to the environment. Profit would align with sustainability.

@KW-qd9vq 3 ай бұрын

Price gouging is rampant everywhere. Not sure that has anything to do with inflation. Seems to me that corporate profits aren’t hurting one bit.

@kimgeor 2 ай бұрын

I think that as everything! Spot on!

@angelaasadi9283 3 ай бұрын

What is free trade, allowing our corporations to do anything that makes them the most profitable at the expense of others. Polluting our environment, creating slave trades in less advantaged countries. Shouldn’t our corporation be practicing fair trade as opposed to free trade? The term free trade is thrown out there without thinking about the consequences it causes.

@bigfriendlyben 3 ай бұрын

That's because the entire corpus of our establishment political ideology is a marketing fiction for whatever produces the highest shareholder value. Even things that seem nice like welfare are payed for with dollar denominated debt which causes asset inflation (tried to buy a house lately?) and are infact a subsidy to keep the consumer economy running without having to actually provide real jobs / income for the poor.

@Maliceless100 3 ай бұрын

*Unbridled* capitalism has become a problem in that money increasingly owns politicians and the masses.

@toddhansen3131 2 ай бұрын

Vote smarter.

@PhilipWong55 3 ай бұрын

Politics determines how wealth is distributed within a country, while wars and diplomacy determine how wealth is distributed between countries. The citizens of the world's richest country with the most expensive military are enjoying these benefits of Capitalism: Economic inequality, inflation, stagnant real wages for the last fifty years, costly healthcare, an expensive education system, student loan debt totaling $1.7 trillion with an average balance of $38,000, poor public transportation systems, racial inequality, mass incarceration, the militarization of police, deteriorating infrastructure, housing affordability, homelessness, the opioid epidemic, and gun violence. Instead of prioritizing the welfare of its people, the US meddles in other countries to spread its version of democracy. The question is whether the USA can continue to survive with its version of democracy, not whether it can have any leadership role in the global order.

@esp200165 3 ай бұрын

@talk3194 3 ай бұрын

It seems democracy has already died. We the people no longer get to pick our political candidates. Those higher up in the echelon decide who they will let run and then they give the majority of donations to their number 1 pick. The republic died when SCOTUS further tilted political influence toward wealthy donors and corporations. Citizens United. So basically America is an Aristocracy. If Trump wins this next election America will be a Plutocratic Theocracy.

@jelef001 3 ай бұрын

accurate!

@btgan3838 2 ай бұрын

Bingo! 👍👌🙂

@emmma326 3 ай бұрын

Why is Kay Bailey Hutchison part of this conversation?! Maybe to show how clueless people like her are! Why don't we get candidates like Katie Porter for president?!

@daveg9000 3 ай бұрын

How come no political, religious, and world leaders ever talk about people who should not be having children, should not have children. If you can't afford to have kids, don't have them. It's a problem all over the world.

@voices_vary 3 ай бұрын

Capitalism can work very well if corporations continue to reinvest in workers, in their benefits, and in expanding their opportunities.

@robgronsky4466 3 ай бұрын

continue? Layoffs are not reinvestment, they are disinvestment in workers.

@voices_vary 2 ай бұрын

@@robgronsky4466 That's true, but sometimes layoffs are necessary.. That is why our unemployment benefits are worthwhile. A recession is a different thing. In some cases, layoffs signal a change in the environment. For example, when COVID ended, the "gig economy" also ended. That brought necessary layoffs, but those people--if skilled--would be rehired.

@terrydillon9323 3 ай бұрын

Do men care more about power then honesty and taking care of the common good. ? Ego and Power seems to be all I see.

@robgronsky4466 3 ай бұрын

What decade are you in, thats gender agnostic now.

@helengarrett6378 3 ай бұрын

The basic premise of capitalism is wrong. That's a bold statement, especially in relation to this particular forum. But think. The purpose is to make something people need or want as cheaply as possible and then to sell it for as much as possible for the benefitbof as few as possible. It's true, that if you can harness wealth to bring an underdeveloped nation to a developed condition you can do it fastest under capitalism. China is the sterling example of this. But to do this under Capitalism the worker class simply has to be exploited for profit and that wealth must, one way or another, be reinvested in more growth. Once a country is developed the situation changes. In the process of developing a country workers have to work for low wages and what's produced has to be sold for as much as possible. The downward pressure on wages and working conditions often leads to unsafe processes and products. The worst part of capitalism is that the capitalist system inevitably causes a division between the wealthy and everyone else. The more mature capitalism becomes the more divergence there is between the haves and have nots. It's the same in every single capitalist country. Some few people have excess capital to invest and so grow richer and others have no excess to invest. Right now in our advanced capitalist society affordable shelter is extremely hard to come by. It takes two salaries to pay for what one wage once paid for. Food, and particularly healthy food is becoming unaffordable for a wide population. It gets worse the longer capitalism is allowed to operate with few restraints. Unions and regulations can modify the situation. But inevitably those who have accumulated great wealth also accumulate great power. They set about to destroy unions and regulations. They allow chemicals in agriculture and and additives in food. They assure that politicians allow pharmaceutical companies to refuse to produce vital drugs that cure or manage lethal sicknesses. They work to produce what makes money, not what helps people. That's because everything is done for profit and not for good policy and humane reasons. The system is faulty. The basic premise of produce what is needed or wanted as cheap as possible, to sell for as much as possible is not working across class and race lines. It isn't keeping our people healthy. Maternal mortality rates are miserable here because health care is not equal. Child survival statistics are not as good for poor people as for rich people. Your zip code is a predictor of your likely longevity. That's the result of capitalism. Regulation is helpful but those of the investment class work very hard to undo any regulation that hampers the accumulation of profit. Under Capitalism individualism and competition is encouraged but cooperation is not unless that cooperation can be translated into private wealth and power. It's reasonable and sensible to say that unions and reform will always be temporary because the wealth and power is in the hands of just a few families and individuals. I think capitalism sucks as a system for organizing a society. Socialism may be slower but it's fairer if the people own the profit from whatever they produce. Think about it!

@Optimistic_Fool 3 ай бұрын

This is not capitalism. Capitalism is an economic theory. Once it captures the regulators and the state it's a Corporatocracy. International and national interests are the business interest of its largest corporations often counter to the interest of the people. Hard to have a debate when you're pretending nothing has changed since the time of Smith and Locke. America currently has such an internalized perspective and has been just ignoring its effect on the world. It scares me how that changes again.

@Therealmitch5511 3 ай бұрын

If people botch up this election, we will never recover. Everyone MUST VOTE for Biden no matter what! If people split the vote, Twitler will win then we will be paying a very harsh price!

@lesleepetersen87 3 ай бұрын

The turning point in the 80’s took us from demand side economics to supply side economics. President Biden has turned that ship back to Demand Side economics. Demand side economics created the middle class. Supply side economics created the small moneyed class. By that I mean multi Billionaires. Which side should we be on?

@BrianDarcy-1331 3 ай бұрын

Too big to fail is real, monopolies are real = problems with capitalism

@hetoako 3 ай бұрын

18:23 US govt has been very lax with the way they regulate pesticides particulsrly Monsanto's vs the EU.

@craftywamama 2 ай бұрын

Thank you Katie!!! Can we all please talk more about affordable home ownership, not just affordable housing!? Households that owned their home had a median wealth about 44 times larger than those who rented (The Wealth of Households: 2021 from US Census Bureau). When the value of the home is excluded these households wealth was still 30.7 times greater than households who rented. Watch Scott Galloway’s Ted Talk please. Working class Americans need to put down phones, turn off streaming services, and realize what is happening to our future, especially for those already marginalized. As a single mother who has also struggled, I appreciate the work Katie Porter and Bernie Sanders and others in politics are doing to bring light to these issues of economic injustice. They need everyday citizens like us to raise our voices just as loudly!

@ywtcc 2 ай бұрын

I'm not so sure what we're looking at is Capitalism. The economy has a small essential workforce, and the bulk of it is luxury and bureaucracy. Markets do not appear to be functioning as under Capitalism - the amount of debt that can be handled, and the resistance to large scale market crashes appears to be formidable. It appears to be a Liberalized Socialism, and we have to talk about this vast, exploding bureaucracy we've hidden in the private sector. The problem I have with calling this system Capitalism is it inspires people to think that sitting around waiting for, or trying to inspire market crashes is a productive way forward. Would you rather a market crash put the freeloaders out of business, and create economic disruption an order of magnitude greater than the great depression? No? Then we're waiting for agents in the public and private sector to address the issues. This economy is not efficient in a common sense way, in many industries. Any avenues to addressing the economic issues should be investigated. There's immense potential here for making the economy work in some very effective ways.

@Therealmitch5511 3 ай бұрын

I have researched this ideology for years and my conclusion is the term "free market" is just a myth promoted by Republicans. One of the most deceptive ideas continuously sounded by the Right (and its fathomless think tanks and media outlets) is that the “free market” is natural and inevitable, existing outside and beyond government. So whatever inequality or insecurity it generates is beyond our control. And whatever ways we might seek to reduce inequality or insecurity - to make the economy work for us - are unwarranted constraints on the market’s freedom, and will inevitably go wrong. By this view, if some people aren’t paid enough to live on, the market has determined they aren’t worth enough. If others rake in billions, they must be worth it. If millions of Americans remain unemployed or their paychecks are shrinking or they work two or three part-time jobs with no idea what they’ll earn next month or next week, that’s too bad; it’s just the outcome of the market. According to this logic, government shouldn’t intrude through minimum wages, high taxes on top earners, public spending to get people back to work, regulations on business, or anything else, because the “free market” knows best. In reality, the “free market” is a bunch of rules about (1) what can be owned and traded (the genome? slaves? nuclear materials? babies? votes?); (2) on what terms (equal access to the internet? the right to organize unions? corporate monopolies? the length of patent protections? ); (3) under what conditions (poisonous drugs? unsafe foods? deceptive Ponzi schemes? uninsured derivatives? dangerous workplaces?) (4) what’s private and what’s public (police? roads? clean air and clean water? healthcare? good schools? parks and playgrounds?); (5) how to pay for what (taxes, user fees, individual pricing?). And so on. These rules don’t exist in nature; they are human creations. Governments don’t “intrude” on free markets; governments organize and maintain them. Markets aren’t “free” of rules; the rules define them. The interesting question is what the rules should seek to achieve. They can be designed to maximize efficiency (given the current distribution of resources), or growth (depending on what we’re willing to sacrifice to obtain that growth), or fairness (depending on our ideas about a decent society). Or some combination of all three - which aren’t necessarily in competition with one another. Evidence suggests, for example, that if prosperity were more widely shared, we’d have faster growth. The rules can even be designed to entrench and enhance the wealth of a few at the top, and keep almost everyone else comparatively poor and economically insecure. Which brings us to the central political question: Who should decide on the rules, and their major purpose? If our democracy was working as it should, presumably our elected representatives, agency heads, and courts would be making the rules roughly according to what most of us want the rules to be. The economy would be working for us. Instead, the rules are being made mainly by those with the power and resources to buy the politicians, regulatory heads, and even the courts (and the lawyers who appear before them). As income and wealth have concentrated at the top, so has political clout. And the most important clout is determining the rules of the game. Not incidentally, these are the same people who want you and most others to believe in the fiction of an immutable “free market.” If we want to reduce the savage inequalities and insecurities that are now undermining our economy and democracy, we shouldn’t be deterred by the myth of the “free market.” We can make the economy work for us, rather than for only a few at the top. But in order to change the rules, we must exert the power that is supposed to be ours.

@liezelkarsten173 3 ай бұрын

I have a question. I have come to a realisation - when the majority are suffering economically they turn to right wing political ideology in the hope that a strong man can solve the problem. When they have a social injustice problem they turn to left wing political ideology hoping for a strong man to solve the problem. This creates a problem of strong men who lean towards being autocrats. Why is this? And more importantly how is it solved?

@terrydillon9323 3 ай бұрын

Put a woman in charge.

@sassysaint3096 2 ай бұрын

I apologize I don't remember the Black gentleman's name, but that guy is extremely intelligent and he really gets the whole picture!! Very impressive!

@AlbertGuilmont 2 ай бұрын

What American capitalism means = no standards, no regulations, price gouging, maximum profits. What American capitalist society gives to its people = lowest income, high expenses, no rights.

@brandonbogart7195 2 ай бұрын

Subsidizing and subsidies are not a free market

@jelef001 3 ай бұрын

work for WHOM? for whom did it “work” in the past? what past are we worried might have ended?

@katielunn9665 3 ай бұрын

Pepole eat fast food regularly because they either don’t want to cook or don’t know how (of course, it is also very addictive and a big dopamine hit every time).

@robgronsky4466 3 ай бұрын

or hunt, fish, or garden. They also dont have time or know how to use my fitness pal and exercise with smart watches. Takes a bit of money investment and a lot of time unfortunately but its what everyone should have the privledge to do.

@AntonDev-cw3kc 3 ай бұрын

If you are an economist, you can answer very clearly: American capitalism no longer works. Why? To answer, you just need to learn about the Wellbeing economy and take a closer look at the Nordic economies. According to Gallup, the US, Canada and Australia have fallen badly in Wellbeing rankings, and American youth is the unhappiest youth of the OECD countries. In addition, labor productivity in all Nordic countries (with high happiness scores) is higher than or equal to the American one. High competition works when you have a lot of “lazy” (i.e., unconscientious people) and you have to pull them into a modern, highly productive economy. When the entire population works in a modern economy, high levels of competition (which means high levels of cortisol) only lead to poor health, lower levels of Happiness, lower Trust, increased use of psychostimulants and exhaustion from work. And the initial negative effects from high competition, in the form of high corruption and excessive conspicuous consumption, also remains.

@carolinestechschulte167 3 ай бұрын

There are plenty of canned vegetables in Europe !!! And bad foods in supermarkets

@waitaminute2015 2 ай бұрын

We have choices on what to eat, and the information to make those choices. The reason there are food deserts in some communities is because fresh fruit and veggies don't sell in some places. Ask the store owners why they don't have bananas. Stop assuming everything is someone else's fault.

@kellygros804 3 ай бұрын

Hutchison is rich and does not live in the world that we di.

@DaneSouthard 3 ай бұрын

11:02 not a fan of these talking points. people live well above their means

@DaneSouthard 3 ай бұрын

credit to her though

@ISpitHotFiyaa 3 ай бұрын

This conversation didn't have a whole lot to do with the current state of American capitalism. The guy in the middle just wanted to keep ranting about stuff from many decades ago.

@eanerickson8915 3 ай бұрын

She is using Belgium as a benchmark for Europe?

@DaneSouthard 3 ай бұрын

54:45 Very comprehensive.

@DaneSouthard 3 ай бұрын

7:51 American Democracy does not exist without capitalism. Capital will always influence policy making. So…make better decisions with your money, and good hearted people will use their new money well

@leannesmith3480 3 ай бұрын

No, because capitalism needs socialism to survive.

@sassysaint3096 2 ай бұрын

People buy and eat what they can AFFORD. I bet that old lady has never had to budget for groceries in her life!

@dpdystro2227 2 ай бұрын

Of course capitalism works for them. That’s why they do it.

@creativepunter 2 ай бұрын

We buy those awful processed food because we can’t afford the fresh foods!!!!!!!!

@waitaminute2015 2 ай бұрын

Beans and lentils are the cheapest food on the shelf. If you buy real unpackaged whole foods, it's actually cheaper. Tofu can be seasoned to taste like anything and it's cheap. Plant based whole foods.

@wowvillage 3 ай бұрын

We don’t want country takes over by oldie n seniors

@harveyheinrich 2 ай бұрын

any anti-capitalist hypocrite commenting here..... Just a reminder... you're most likely watching this video on your phone or a laptop...aka Capitalism 😅

@deliberatedmind Ай бұрын

Wow…apparently the Senator doesn’t know that industrialized food is the brain child of American capitalism. Go back to school.

@tipupakoro5729 3 ай бұрын

You must eat da bugs.

@alexrisca 2 ай бұрын

Tell the republican you can not compete economically if we do not educate our next generations

@dadsonworldwide3238 2 ай бұрын

None of us are old enough to know American capitalism .we know globalism giv dictate who what when where how. I haven't witnessed American anti trust capitalism set by international free trade since my grandfather 1st Korean war vet cried as his hero placed us under this hybridization of global socialism finance capitalism. Then I witnessed my schools Prussian reform model which is roots of the cog in the wheel wokism nilhisms. 1900s- 1945s Smith_mundt act European solutions in call to arms my great grandparents for greater good loaned out liberal individual power and responsibility to the state & higher education to have to deterministic simplicity and unification pushing the infinite sums of complexity upon many different diciplines 20 year old cannon fodder necessary evils. Erased the soul agency individual turned into personal actors dictated by frame of reference. Then it was rebuild Europe ,while transfer wealth right wrongs adopt the European political scale prayer logic whataboutism conservatism vs cursed rationalism progressive interventionism while censorship of all common sense pragmatic works. This deterministic measure of textualism methodology objectivism = technological development in concert with free flow of information education was flipped and carved up like Europe and abroad they put physicalism first pushed complexity upon our likeminded word. Farming out patents and loan to south Korea titans all that has been successful but costly Stopped maximizing benefits of atoms we must interpret radically differently ( customers always right) This wss for our current technological generation now when physicalism is subjective to change without further notice on par with idealism. Material sciences abilities to manipulate molecular bonds in elements and biology. Let's be clear metamorphosis is that shining capital on the hill it's 3 lines of measure = eqaulibrium balance true known standard fundamental feature of textualism methodology objectivism = to become kings of our own castles master of our domain to sense the universe in all its glory. Or you can continue to play musical chairs of super position to get whatever answer you want evolutionary to and from while the forest is on far with earphones on anylitically studying the trees.

@robgronsky4466 3 ай бұрын

Does she know nothing about the supreme courts power grabs. Never say never, he could.

@steernkieker 2 ай бұрын

Free market? really?

@alexrisca 2 ай бұрын

Who create process foods, Daaa

@GuzzarAwan 3 ай бұрын

American capitalism do work. Thats why all investment shifted to most efficient region and that is china.

@josephdelgiorgio3382 3 ай бұрын

hahah buddy Chinese are smart, hard working people. However there has been a net outflow of capital this year from china. China is panicking, all sovereign wealth has been parked in USA that's why our stock market roars to ATHs

@josephdelgiorgio3382 3 ай бұрын

USA will not have this luxury forever, but it could very well have it for another 50 years because we have no reserve currency rivals other than crypto currency...the Chinese economy is a closed loop economy. BRICS should be successful, but it will take decades to get network effect achieved by the dollar

@PatriciaPerano 3 ай бұрын

Lonely island & Michael Bolton

@shaunmc013 3 ай бұрын

It costs much less to go to a market or a grocery store to buy fresh vegetables and fresh food as opposed to purchasing processed foods. Most people are buying door dash and fast food, because it’s more convenient not because it’s more affordable. Fast food cost about $15 dollars up. I can go by ten to fifteen different items from a grocery store. So sometime it’s a financial literacy issue and it’s a problem of American convenience. I tell people all of the time, it’s the new currency it’s much more valuable than cash..

@creativepunter 2 ай бұрын

You obviously don’t do the grocery shopping!!!!! Fresh foods cost much more than canned/preserved/processed foods! Taco Bell is cheaper than trying to put a meal on the table!