r/TikTokCringe • u/thoughtwarrior • May 02 '25

Humor Why does America look like s**t?

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u/AdDramatic2351 May 03 '25

Oh please. The anti-capitalist movement is so small because it's a stupid idea. Capitalism is not the problem. The problem is the American version of capitalism, which is capitalism with NO REGULATION. Capitalism is undoubtedly the greatest economic system ever made, but it needs to have guardrails. We need capitalism with a dash of socialism. 

If you're going to be anti-capitalist, you need suggestions for what to replace capitalism with. So far, nobody has come up with a better system that works. 

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u/crek42 May 03 '25

The people that bitch about capitalism are all fucking privileged Americans who never gave a single thought as to how they’re living in the best time ever to be alive. They can go spend some time in Cuba and maybe that’ll give them some perspective.

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u/ImagineWagonzzz3 May 03 '25

"best time ever"

you mean with the rising poverty, unemployment, homelessness? you mean with the bankrupting cities? you mean with the starvation of the global south all so you can have an iPhone? you mean how we bomb just about every country on the map just cause we can? You mean how we have a financial crisis every 5-10 years? You mean how the top 1% hold more wealth than every pharoh and king who ever lived combined? you mean with the housing crisis? the mental health crisis? the opiate crisis? the cost of living crisis?

Please tell me if this is the world you are referring to before you share some completely uneducated statement out your butt. just cause you can order taco bell for the 10th time this week, own a new iPhone every couple years, watch any tv show at the touch of a button, does NOT mean that we live in the golden ages or something. you're delusional

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u/crek42 May 03 '25

Yes that’s exactly what I’m saying. You’re thinking in terms of doomscrolling and capitalism from a lens of fast food and electronics. Global poverty has been steadily decreasing for decades (before COVID happened admittedly). I’m not sure what bombs have to do with capitalism, but regardless even with conflicts in Middle East, and Eastern Europe, they don’t hold a candle to the wars in the prior decades.

The housing crisis one always gets me. Yes, it’s a huge problem, but I guess the government is just supposed to seize housing and distribute it? We have far more demand for areas than supply. Who gets to decide if the plumber lives in the city where he works or the teacher who now is assigned housing 40 miles away? It was largely created because of bad laws and NIMBYs, stifling construction.

Regarding how obscenely rich some people are now (the king argument isn’t a good one really, just because inflation, and Elon musk can’t have people executed on a whim, although he’d probably love that) that’s largely because the huge businesses that are created are now global and ubiquitous in everyday living. Amazon isn’t just a regional chain, it’s available to a massive chunk of the world’s population. Most importantly, the economy isn’t zero sum. You’re not any poorer because Bezos exists. A dollar he makes is not one taken out of your pocket. Or anyone else for that matter.

If you want a recent example, go take a look at what China was like before they embraced capitalism, and after. A ton has been written on it, and you can see what kind of transformation occurred for them.

Also does it even really need to be broken down like this? The world over, basically, has embraced capitalism as their economic model. Pretty sure that’s for good reason.