#totalitariancapitalism

@aj@gts.sadauskas.id.au In the 1980s, I worked in Australia's Commonwealth Employment Service (CES). Businesspeople in my regional city still speak wistfully of the days when they could ask the local CES office for people and would be provided - free of charge - with suitable applicants. These days, finding workers is far more costly (and fraught).

I came to the conclusion that, with few exceptions, people want to feel that they're contributing to their community. The “Dole Bludger” is mythical.

Totalitarian Capitalism does not serve the nation well. Australia is rich enough to afford every resident the necessities of life and opportunities to do something that's meaningful to them.

Coordinated:

• education;
• training;
• careers/occupational guidance;
• employment/job matching would be invaluable, to both to our economy and society. @InsurgoFormica@aus.social #AusPol #inequality #TotalitarianCapitalism #BringBackTheCES

@InsurgoFormica@aus.social The rational starting point would be to de-privatise everything, then cautiously allow the private sector to play a limited role if things aren't going well. @anne_twain@theblower.au @aj@gts.sadauskas.id.au #AusPol #inequality #TotalitarianCapitalism #BringBackTheCES

I struggle to find a privatisation which proved to be in the public interest @ocratato@discuss.systems Market Capitalism fails, reliably and consistently. My favourite take is from this blog post: https://david.boxall.id.au/201604/default.html "The private sector cherry-picks profitable markets, then demands public sector subsidies to cover the rest." That post hasn't been updated for years, but it's still cogent. Australia's telecommunications are the poster-child of failed privatisation. There are good reasons why such natural-monopoly infrastructure has historically been the province of the public sector. Where infrastructure is involved, I favour de-privatisation with maximum prejudice. The cost to those who profited from the privatisation should be so extreme that only the brave or foolish will participate in any proposed future privatisation. I picture gobbets of Capitalist gore, clinging to walls & ceilings. @InsurgoFormica@aus.social @anne_twain@theblower.au @aj@gts.sadauskas.id.au #AusPol #inequality #TotalitarianCapitalism

Market mechanisms have a role to play @ocratato@discuss.systems but how much of a role? We've gone too close to Hayek's ideal of the holy, inviolate market in all things. Democracies must decide what is best left to the public sector. I suspect that the answer is; "most of what has been privatised" (and probably more). @InsurgoFormica@aus.social @anne_twain@theblower.au @aj@gts.sadauskas.id.au #AusPol #inequality #TotalitarianCapitalism

@InsurgoFormica@aus.social Decades of indoctrination have led to many of us believing that:

• Capitalist markets are infallible;
• the public sector is ineffective/inefficient;
• the private sector is effective/efficient;
• government is bad;
• taxes are bad. So yes, we probably will fall for it again. @ocratato@discuss.systems @anne_twain@theblower.au @aj@gts.sadauskas.id.au #AusPol #inequality #TotalitarianCapitalism