Matt Bruenig — Tired of capitalism? There could be a better way.

Capitalism is a coercive economic system that creates persistent patterns of economic deprivation.

Governments have typically dealt with capitalism’s more misery-inducing tendencies by creating institutions of labor protection — such as the right to organize unions — and by building out modern welfare states. Although these policy programs have been fairly successful, especially in the countries that have pushed them the furthest, they have not fully eliminated coercion and deprivation. To secure freedom and prosperity for all, it may ultimately be necessary to supplement the welfare state with a universal basic income — a program that would provide all citizens with a basic level of financial support, regardless of whether they’re employed.

By now, it is well established that capitalism is fundamentally built upon threats of force. As libertarian philosophers Robert Nozick and Matt Zwolinski have explained, the only way to turn unowned natural resources (such as land, minerals and other goods) into privately owned property is by violently preventing all others from using them. This one-sided exclusion destroys freedom of movement and cuts many people off from the things that they need to survive.

When the physical resources necessary for production are privately held in the hands of very few, as in the United States, the majority of the population is forced to submit itself to well-financed employers in order to live. The precarious position of most workers in this position — desperate for employment but aware that they could lose their jobs at any time — is coercive on its face and susceptible to exploitation and abuse.…

Pretty good analysis of enclosure of the commons and its maintain through "force of law"with emphasis on "force." But more weak suggestions for limiting excesses instead of addressing the issue of capitalism.

The only way to address capitalism effectively is through liberal democracy as government of the people, by the people and for the people based on universal human and civil rights that knock property rights off their pedestal.

Nothing short of the will do it because the choice is between first US Chief Justice JohnJay's, "Those who own the country should govern it," and President Abraham Lincoln's "government of the people, by the people, for the people."

The Washington Post
Tired of capitalism? There could be a better way.

Matt Bruenig