Exposing the Big “Free Market” Myth with Author Naomi Oreskes

[@ritornelloandrefrain]

Great talk to help us try to escape from the ideology/paradigm of neoliberalism.

[@johnsmith5139]

absolutely love skipping the lengthy introductions lol. also, great talk.

[@MrMarinus18]

I think the biology analogy is good because there is a name for when cells stop obeying the regulations of the body and it's cancer. It's when a single cell starts multiplying itself and starts to hoard all the resources of the body to multiply itself as much as possible at the expense of every other cell.

[@topherdean1024]

@@MrMarinus18 Good analogy. Timely, as a dear friend of mine begins Hospice.

[@zygmuntb]

"Representative democracy" that's oligarchy. For the Greek, ruling in his name, it was parody of democracy, not democracy... Democracy and capitalism, are contradictory... On the issue of the government: The core of the issue is that government is the problem, when it's actions benefit the corporations and themself, instead the people.

[@johngage5391]

Many of these problems are market failures. Yes!!! For climate change, Carbon Fee and Dividend is a great way to internalize the external costs of pollution from fossil fuels to address the market's failure to do so itself.

[@MrMarinus18]

I think we should also play in on the anti government things by emphasizing the danger in letting powerful people do whatever they want. The liberalist democracy is designed specifically to prevent that with it's division of powers and checks and balances.

[@MrMarinus18]

There is also the fact that whenever a true free market was tried it was a dismal failure like in Chile, Russia and Iraq. It was always imposed top down by force and usually massive amounts of violence just like full on Stalinist communism and it worked just as poorly if not even worse. I think the lesson to take away is that imposing an extremist ideology with no nuance by force upon a people is a bad thing. (Shocking, I know.)

[@understandingthenews8147]

@@MrMarinus18 The problem is that capitalism is about dominance of markets, and the people who become powerful try to influence governments and markets in ways that benefit them. As such, it is essentially authoritarian. This is also clear from that capitalism worked perfectly in pre-WWI authoritarian royal and military led systems, and it is perfectly fine now in authoritarian China.

[@quinnjin2]

Von hayek never heard of a waiting list.

[@achinthmurali5207]

I don’t get it. Explain please

[@quinnjin2]

Another metaphor for regulation is like in a vehicle. If capitalism is an engine, regulation is the air and fuel mix, steering wheel, the drivetrain and brakes etc.

[@kockorzo]

It’s reality or not, the comparison is certainly telling of a lack in understanding.

[@achinthmurali5207]

The problem is, regulation doesn’t determine the direction an economy goes but the areas it can’t. Also, regulation comes with unintended consequences that can’t be ignored.

[@quinnjin2]

Utter BS. Let me mke his clear, we create the f*cking market, it is a construct, and we will regulate it as we see fit. It serves us, we do not serve it, and that is the end of the debate. I live in NZ, we have grown up with this neoliberal BS, I'm 45 years old, and we have seen in 40 years that free market privatise everything ideology is an utter failure. this is not a matter of debate. Now I don't believe in centralised command and control economies, BUT, I do believe in regulation and a guidung hand. Now, what YOU believe in is a f*cking fantasy, lord market, the Ayn Rand and the Invisible hand. FAILED IDIOCY.. @@kockorzo

[@quinnjin2]

Untrue, and regardless, regulate the market we will. This is not up for debate. In fact, no market has ever been free without regulation. Taking your hands of the steering wheel is not an option, so, best learn how to f*cking drive, and drop this bizzare fantasy about lord market and the invisible hand magically fixing everything with unicorn market theory fairy dust. That has been tried and it failed. Back to the drawing board. So wtf are you going to do? @@achinthmurali5207

[@quinnjin2]

​@@achinthmurali5207 Only a deranged worshipper of chaos and concentrated wealth would repeal anti trust laws, or the glass steagal act for starters... but thanks to #kochnetwork sponsored free market greenspan idiocy the US did just that and it f'ing crashed the world economy. That's just one example. We outlawed child labour there is another. The list is endless, to say we should leave everything up to the market as actually a form of psychopathy. It's a psychotic delusion. It's never been the case and to the extent that it has it has been an abject failure.