Current Events > Is the collapse of capitalism a mathematical inevitability?

(+) Yeah! (+)

with the growing population constantly competing for the finite resources, will the middle class eventually disappear and cause our economic system to revert to feudalism or something similar?

nope
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On_The_Edge posted...

nope

Oh okay thanks. I was unsure but you cleared everything up for me.

No

Capitalism is just a term given to the basic economic habits of humans.

Yes given that life itself will end eventually.
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RoboLaserGandhi posted...

No

Capitalism is just a term given to the basic economic habits of humans.

But why does that mean it cant collapse?

Ic3Bullet posted...

RoboLaserGandhi posted...

No

Capitalism is just a term given to the basic economic habits of humans.

But why does that mean it cant collapse?

Because it's the lack of regulation.

Lack of regulation doesn't really "collapse". It's not the right angle.

Ic3Bullet posted...

RoboLaserGandhi posted...

No

Capitalism is just a term given to the basic economic habits of humans.

But why does that mean it cant collapse?

Soo, back when the 'whoever was in charge decided what everyone did and how much they got payed' system was around, that was still capitalism?
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No prediction of dystopian futures can ever account for change and adaptability of political/economic systems from the current state. Such predictions always assume we are going to head into the future at the current trajectory were in now, but human societies evolve and trajectories diverge.
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Everything collapses eventually.
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The immediate challenge facing Capitalism is that nobody seems to agree on what it is. To the left of the political spectrum, people conflate Capitalism with Corporatism and Crony Capitalism. On the right end of the spectrum, people conflate Capitalism with Laissez-faire Capitalism and Minarchism.

In order to have a Capitalist system, your markets must be free and competitive, and consumers must be well informed. These three conditions often don't occur naturally and the government must regulate the markets to some degree in order to ensure their ability to function efficiently. Otherwise, economies of scale kick in, natural monopolies arise, externalities (e.g. environmental costs) are ignored, consumers don't know what's in their food, and you have out-of-control wealth disparity.

The problem of finite resources isn't unique to Capitalism. If priced correctly, supply and demand should sort out the issue... but you need government to price them correctly to avoid a "tragedy of the commons" scenario. People are irrational, don't account for long term costs and will completely screw future generations if left to their own devices.

The real long term threat to Capitalism is the next Industrial Revolution based on AI. Once 90% of the population has near-zero value as workers, we're going to need a new economic system.
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