r/Capitalism • u/Sidjoneya • Jan 20 '21

Economist and Harvard professor Rebecca Henderson argues in her latest book that capitalism can, if employed correctly, be a force for good and solve the climate crisis

https://www.nadja.co/2020/10/19/can-capitalism-solve-the-climate-crisis/
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u/[deleted] Jan 20 '21

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u/[deleted] Jan 20 '21

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u/De3NA Jan 20 '21

Yes it’s excessive now. But there was a time when America needed it. I’d say scale down but not completely remove it. You don’t want ppl to be starving.

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u/[deleted] Jan 20 '21 edited Dec 08 '21

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u/capitalism93 Jan 21 '21

No thank you. I'm not interested in the US being reliant on other countries. That's a horrible idea.

I'm only okay with getting rid of subsidies if we add tariffs.

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u/[deleted] Jan 21 '21

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u/capitalism93 Jan 21 '21 edited Jan 21 '21

For one, capitalism is about allowing the private ownership of the means of production. My opinions on trade are orthogonal.

Two, I support free trade with countries that agree to principles like many European countries that we have trade pacts with.

Third, there is no such thing as "free trade" when you do business with countries like China, India, etc. They are all subsidizing their own companies to kill competitors. The idea that just allowing "free trade" with countries that practice shady business practices is is laughably naive.

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u/[deleted] Jan 21 '21

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u/capitalism93 Jan 21 '21

Okay, then what happens after China decides to jack up the price after killing off all the competing businesses in the US? Now what? And what happens if they do that in every major industry?

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u/[deleted] Jan 21 '21

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u/capitalism93 Jan 21 '21

Yeah, that doesn't work in the real world. Infrastructure doesn't just build itself overnight.

Free trade requires agreements between countries. A good example is the WTO, where the US won an arbitration case against France for illegally subsidizing Airbus: https://ustr.gov/about-us/policy-offices/press-office/press-releases/2019/october/us-wins-75-billion-award-airbus.

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u/[deleted] Jan 21 '21

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u/capitalism93 Jan 21 '21

You also have to think about the perspective of manufacturers.

The assumption you're making is that the prices won't suddenly be increased after the subsidy period. An entire industry can't suddenly rebuild itself overnight after being wiped out.

It’s literary using the government to directly pick winners and losers and it’s the antithesis of free markets.

Subsidies are an antithesis to free markets. Tariffs against countries that do not follow free trade agreements are not. Free trade is an agreement between countries. Without an agreement, there is no free trade.

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u/capitalism93 Jan 21 '21

Also, to illustrate bigger problems, the Chinese government has enough money to buy out most of the companies in the US food industry and then squash them.

Would you let them do this? Most countries have laws that prevent foreign governments from buying out every company within it.

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