RE: Housing Industry Association Says Housing Supply Stuck, Boost Mass Immigration!
capitalism requires someone to be on the low end of the totem pole and who cannot have the same level of lifestyle of those on the top. In other words we cannot do what you are asking and maintain the type of lifestyle we have.
You are correct on both counts. I often see resource wealth as being a bit like energy. The Earth doesn't have any more than it already has so in order for some to have more than they need, then others must go without and in order for the top one's to have WAY more than they need millions have to go without. Such is the concentration of wealth in one direction.
However, I also believe that the world population could all live in relative comfort if the balance wasn't so extremely one sided and there would still be those who could have their bit more than others. One of the biggest problems with capitalism is when there is loss of empathy.
While I'm more in favour of capitalism than socialism, I do think that a balance of the two works out better than one method alone. A central path, so to say.
@minismallholding. Thank you for your comments and I agree that there is enough and it is disproportionately aimed at one group. But my comments are that capitalism in facts needs this imbalance in order to thrive. Think about it, people in the west are not sold on having enough to be comfortable, we are constantly benig pushed to have more than enough. We already have enough but instead are pushed a new iphone every 9 months and a new car ever 3 to 4 years. This is what drives growth. In order to maintain this agenda, there has to be an imbalance. This amount of consumption by the world is impossible.
Capitalism has this built into itself and it is self-perpetuating. In a business, you can only remain successful if you both increase revenues and reduce your own spending. There is no such scenario in capitalism. As a result it only pushes increasing revenues and increasing spending. Look at the governments and how they operate. No one ever talks about slowing down even though we have too much crap already.
So yes a balance is needed, but also a different mindset because all we currently do is create bubbles and then create bad solutions that push the ball down the road but never solve anything. This cannot go on indefinitely. And in the meantime, the lowest in the western countries get less and less. All in the name of unabated consumption.
There are no easy answers but the answers must include some sort of shifts in policies and thinking by those who have so much. Historically, these types of situations cause revolutions followed by periods of extreme chaos. Let's hope it does not come to that. Thanks again.
Yes, we do seem to go in cycles. Lets hope that we also evolve and learn from each one, although I don't see it happening in my life time.