I brought common arguments into the discussion because it is, as with so many things, almost as much a debate about perceptions as it is about substantive facts. The number of people who subscribe to wild conspiracy theories, buy fully into the value of the status quo, or maintain more nuanced views, has a big impact on how our societies will develop.
Anyway, it seems to me that we largely agree on the appropriate means to desirable ends - nothing too dramatic.
Thanks for the discussion!
That referred to the post which started this thread.
In both cases I was speaking about the opinions I encounter in this debate more generally.
Ok, I'm not sure there's much point in debating general opinion; it makes it very confusing if you attempt to debate interlocutors of your own invention.
I'm still wary of the notion that we should pretend that no one has an interest in concentrating power and wealth, and maintain the status quo. My reading of history, and the present, is that people do have such interests
Everyone has this interest, whether they have power and wealth presently or not, and whether they admit it or not, and I don't see it as culpable, merely something to be managed. It can even be healthy in small doses, in encouraging competition rather than resignation. I'm not sure many would claim that all progress comes via capitalism, but recent globalisation has resulted in a shift in wealth to countries which are developing due to trade, and I do find the question of how much regulated capitalism has contributed to global levelling an interesting one.