Posted on 11/21/2025 5:04:36 AM PST by Sir_Humphrey
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It’s not Capitalism, it’s Free Enterprise.
There is always Capital, it’s a question of how Capital is distributed, in the hands of the few, or amongst the general population.
“I wish this was discussed more, typically it is quickly dismissed. I can’t quite put my finger on it but sometime around the 1970’s we really transformed into some sort of state-capitalism/communism-lite economic system where the 12 federal reserve banks are the state.”
It began with the progressives in the earliest of the 1900s. By the 1970s, Woodrow Wilson and both Roosevelts(along with the Congresses) had done their deceitful works to put an end to capitalism and it had been effectively finished for decades.
Q: What were the real annual wage growth rates under Trump’s first presidency, Biden, and Trump’s second presidency so far?
Grok:
Trump: 1.7%
Biden: -0.4%
Trump: 1.5%
Massive difference.
LBJ deserves some credit also ...
Sure LBJ made things worse and so did Nixon and Carter and even Kennedy.
But by the time of LBJ it was too late. Government completely usurped the markets and replaced it with regulations.
There was no free market anymore. Pretty much coming out of the New Deal (and Wickard v. Filburn plays a major part in this) the U.S. has an entirely government-centric economy and what the government wants, the government gets.
In a scenario where you can say that what the government wants the government gets, it can’t be said this is a capitalist scenario. It just doesn’t work. Reagan was talking about this very thing in (arguably) his most important speech, A Time for Choosing.
That speech was in 1964. It, capitalism, was already well dead and buried and replaced by 1964.
And how much of housing prices traces directly back to government mandates, the government spending inflating the currency, flooding in 20 million people the last few years, drying up jobs in smaller towns by moving production out of the country etc?
When a single man buys health insurance, why he is required to have coverage for mental health, counseling, OB/GYN, and pregnancy services, etc? You shouldn’t have to buy insurance for things you’re willing to opt out of.
Student loans? The government making them non-dischargeable in bankruptcy proceedings short circuits the market. Universities can now freely jack up tuition to anything they want, and they face no accountability if students cannot find jobs with the crappy education they get. Lenders face zero risk for making these crappy loans for lesbian basket weaving studies. Kids that get stem degrees are passed over for jobs in favor of H1B immigrants.
Every problem facing American consumers today, traces directly back to government intervention and putting their thumb on the scale, and horribly misguided political policies. and if you say the slightest thing against all those things, you’re considered anti-capitalist. We’re gonna wind up being a socialist country because the government is convincing people that the DC managed, highly regulated, crony capitalism of today has the slightest relationship to actual capitalism.
Trump is only the most recent example. He’ll tell you how wonderful the economy is right now. He asked every billionaire in the ballroom last week what they thought and they all agreed.
That is slightly misleading on two important ways. Wages growth includes wages and compensation of the high flying elites and’s spreads them across the labor pool. Blue collar wages are not up.
And second, that chart needs to be juxtaposed against inflation.
Most workers are early far less in buying power today than 10 years ago. Go further back and wages are ridiculously low compared to increases in productivity.
So what you’re basically saying is that people have the choice not to consume. You actually can minimalize and you don’t need the government for that. We as individuals still have that power to do so. Don’t expect the government to change, because it won’t.
Like Insurance, from those who can to those who take from it.
Libertarians?
TMPS for oneWhy it's important: Driving on underinflated tires can lead to poor fuel efficiency, uneven tire wear, and unsafe driving conditions.
No thanks, I have eyes and a tire pressure gauge. One example out of thousands
The usual statistical way of eliminating the effects you correctly point out is to use the Median Wage, the amount the middle worker in America made.
The story for annual real median wage growth is much the same:
Trump 1: +4.9%
Biden: -1.7%
Trump 2: +2.5%
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