Really misguided view, there's a lot more that needs to be changed. I'm really optimistic about the future and glad that more people are aware of the issues in our world thanks to the internet but there's a ton to improve in terms of our current system.
You always, ALWAYS lose to China when it comes to unskilled labor, unless you want to reduce minimum wage, which is always a bad idea.
But from the point of view of a capitalist it's not a bad idea. It's actually really beneficial to them which is why there's
hundreds of millions of children working in sweatshops around the world.
The market demands the competitiveness which drives employers to squeeze productivity out of workers for the sake of profit.
It seems "fair" because it's a two sided agreement between the employer and employee but that is assuming both parties have an equal amount of power and
rational thought, which is rarely actually true. The people who end up on the shitty wageslave side of the deal suffer from it, and it
doesn't just stop there. The enforcement of property rights as well as the constant perpetuation of "if you work hard you'll be rich too!" is what keeps the process going everywhere.
The problem with capitalism is more than just increasing
wealth inequality, the system is based on pitting people against each other since it's productive but by the same method it also promotes narcissism and encourages
sociopathic traits.
All of these things are capitalism by itself, regardless of government. Of course when it does
mix with government, the issues become a lot more dangerous. It puts a price tag on things such as the environment and societal health, and makes it much harder for most citizens to
influence their government.
Capitalism endorses meritocracy like it's the absolute truth even though higher pay is actually
not always correlated with better performance but we still act like it's fair to give a CEO
hundreds of times more pay than average workers, as if they actually work that much harder.
I think that part of the reason capitalism is so popular is because of the rise of existentialist thought and the emphasis on individualism in western culture. It seems that it's the most "efficient" way to gain the things you want in a world where everyone around wants something different, not to mention that increased individualism weakens unions and public action which are both big pluses for employers.
There's a big emphasis on being the result of your choices instead of your circumstances and that if you work hard enough you will be successful too, but that's literally being ignorant to the fact that we do not exist in a vacuum.
There's no system that is ideal but
some are easily better than others at providing a healthy and educated lives for
most people while still maintaining a good amount of personal freedom.
I don't think that all of capitalism needs to be scrapped, but the current connotation of more money always being desirable is nonsense and
lots can be done to make what we have currently work better.
Changing our system doesn't just mean putting more restrictive tax laws for that "hurt your freedom" for the sake of making poor people rich, it actually requires changes to our fundamental ideas of self worth, merit, progress and success