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Originally Posted by 1991 Canadian
I agree. No system has done more to add value to the human experience and lift people out of poverty than capitalism. But it needs to be saved from itself.
We are in an era where consolidation and lack of competition is killing this historical uplifting benefit.
In certain industries, particularly low barrier to entry industries, we are still benefiting from capitalistic innovation and competition. Local restaurants are my favourite example. We’ve never had better options for food in Calgary.
Now start thinking of any industry with more complexity and startup costs. Is there is single one that has bucked this consolidation and degraded benefit trend?
I work in power. We are down to 3 companies that sell gas turbines in Canada. GE(USA), Siemens(Germany) and Mitsubishi (Japan). Guess what this does to prices? I literally have no recourse to buy elsewhere. And these companies know it.
So when I hear right wing political parties talk about lowering taxes and red tape regulations as a solution I roll my eyes. Taxes and regulations could be literally zero, and I would still not be starting “1991 Canadians gas turbine company”.
Capitalism with competition is the best system out there. That’s not what we have. I don’t see the solution coming from any side of the aisle, but we’ve got to do something different.
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Great points. As you point out free markets aren't zero maintenance things.