You are viewing a single comment's thread from:
RE: Competitive Spirit - A World Threat?
The negative externalities created by unhealthy competition is staggering. The is also pleanty of deadweight loss. Capitalism has been the best system for eliminating the deadweight loss caused by an imbalance in supply and demand but it is the worst system for creating negative externalities. I think we need to limit exorbitant salaries but people need to be rewarded for their efforts. A more progressive tax system which taxes unproductive capital and land would be best but we live in a world where labour is taxed the most because the labourers aren't the ones making the rules.
What is a dead-weight? This biased valuation model is created by capitalism only. To me, nothing & no one is a dead weight. Everyone has some intrinsic value which is very subjective and absolutely non-quantifiable.
All these talk of unproductive capital and land comes from capitalist mindset. Nothing is unproductive and everything is valuable. To put things in perspective, we need to change our valuation system to make it inclusive as well as variable
Dead-weight loss is an economic concept. When supply doesn't match demand there is either excess capacity or not enough. This creates dead-weight loss, it's a huge problem in a command economy and best solved by free market economics. Basically you have too much of a product and it goes to waste, such as grain rotting in a silo. Or too little such as not enough skilled workers so jobs go unfilled and production falls. I was not referring to just 'dead weight'. Everyone can find a place in society with time and supply and demand is brought into equilibrium.
Unproductive land and capital isn't just a capitalist mindset, it's a problem in all types of economies. I was referring to the fact that capital gains and dividends often get favourable taxation over labour, it's unfair and regressive to poor people who only have their labour. Corporate welfare is just as common in a socialist country were the government often grants monopolies to the capital and land owners favoring the establishment, often land isn't used to it's full potential either and pollution is rampant because the companies are owned by the state. Only in an ideal model are these problems solved but there aren't any real world examples. Humans are greedy, that's why I prefer cats.