And can you imagine what a John Rockefeller or a JP Morgan would pay in 1900 for the equivalent of a “smart phone”?
This is all because of Capitalism. Not Socialism or a “third way.” Capitalism. Capitalism pulled more people out of poverty than any economic system in human history. Capitalism gave smart phones to the poor. Capitalism gave what would have been cutting edge medical treatments from 20 years ago to the poor today. The only “problem” with Capitalism is that what is new is expensive. If you want a cutting edge medical treatment today, you pay for it. And many people can’t afford it. But if you are willing to live with what was cutting edge 10 or 15 years ago, you can get it cheaply and easily.
Capitalism gave people REGULAR phones too.
And to add to that, capitalism makes it expensive only at the outset, as you pointed out in your “10 to 15 years ago” comment. And sometimes it makes it, in the end, practically free. Thanks to the internet, I have very little need to see a General practitioner. I can heal myself (and have) with some savvy internet surfing. I actually correctly diagnosed a problem I had, using the internet, that a GP had misdiagnosed. It cost $6 to fix my problem...
I’ve heard lefties say all this we have today occurred after the income tax and redistribution/welfare/government programs started...
Looking at things from today, the choice seems obvious, but keep in mind, if you lived back then you would not KNOW what was to be invented In the future. Surely if I lived in 1916 knowing what exists today I’d never consider choosing to live without what we take for granted today. But those folks didn’t know about any of this.
Sure. And at the same time Capitalism has reshaped society in several levels. Less poverty means less ‘need’ for men for women and other distortions we are seeing now. The 60’s revolution only happened because of capitalism.