The Revolutionary Socialist Network, Workers
AT: Impact AT: Impacts
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AT: ImpactAT: Impacts2AC -- AT: Root CauseThe pessimistic approach of the K is the true reason for their impacts – the shortcomings of capitalism stem from doubt in the systemMckenzie and Clark, 19 [Catalyst Editor William Mckenzie and Bush Institute-Smu Economic Growth Initiative Director Cullum Clark, in conversation with the American Enterprise Institute's Ryan Streeter and Brookings Institution's Richard Reeves, 2019, "Capitalism vs. Socialism is the Wrong Way to Frame Today's Economic Debate," Capitalism vs. Socialism is the Wrong Way to Frame Today's Economic Debate | Bush Center, https://www.bushcenter.org/catalyst/capitalism/streeter-reeves-capitalism-vs-socialism.html, SMarx, JTong] The term “socialism” is meaningful in the sense of what it is trying to express, but it is a horrible framing of the debate. No one in this debate seriously thinks the government should be taking command of the modes of production. Sometimes labels become unhelpful. Streeter: I agree. The debate we are really having, but is overshadowed by the media’s attention on socialism v. capitalism, is about the institutions and structures of capitalism itself. That’s precisely why Denmark and the other Nordic countries don’t necessarily want to be called socialist. They view themselves as a hybrid between a highly-capitalist society and an economy that has very generous welfare systems. That’s not the same thing as socialism. The debate we should be having is about what a free-market capitalist society looks like when it is struggling with certain inequities and injustices and trying to remedy those problems. Reeves: I want to underline what Ryan said: Confidence in capitalism is really the issue, but it is a difficult problem. The psychological scars of the recession and sense of disappointment are greater than perhaps the economic loss. The real enemy of capitalism is not socialism; it is pessimism. If you start to lose the sense that the future is going to be better largely as a result of your own effort and investment, then you don’t do the things to make it better. You don’t invest in your education, you don’t move, and you don’t risk starting a business. You become more fatalistic and pessimistic. That is really what we are talking about here. I also want to underscore Ryan’s point about the growing geographical inequality. We used to have a more centrifugal capitalism. The opportunity to expand was quite well dispersed spatially because you moved to where it was cheaper to do business. Today, we are seeing the opposite, a centripetal capitalism. More power is being concentrated in specific companies and areas. That’s why you get this sense of people who are being left behind. Instead of thinking about the distributional aspects of capitalism across income, the more important distributions today are across firms and communities. Are the lives of young adults all that different from what went before? High student debt and high housing prices are two objective measurements. But what is different about the world that is shaping these attitudes in new ways? Streeter: First, I do think some of the reporting about the pessimism among young adults about America’s future is a bit exaggerated. In our survey research, young adults — Millennials, Gen Xers, and Gen Zers — are a little more bullish on whether or not they are going to achieve the American Dream, however they define it, than has been recorded. Having said that, people entering the workforce after the Great Recession suffered a collective psychological trauma. That has reduced confidence in institutions that typically support things like entrepreneurship and playing by the rules and working hard so you will have a better life than your parents. A pervasive timidity exists. Capitalism is used as a scapegoat for the root of all the world’s problems because of flawed logic and emotional ignorance.Download 2.09 Mb. Share with your friends:
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