If capitalism is so great, how come everything sucks?
That’s what more and more people are wondering. A recent Gallup survey found that the number of people in the US who view capitalism favorably has dropped from 60% to 54% since 2021. It’s not exactly a puzzle why that is.
Groceries have gotten 29% more expensive since the pandemic and prices are still skyrocketing. Most Americans don’t have enough money in the bank to cover a $1,000 emergency expense. For the bottom 50% of families, the median retirement savings is zero. And, well, it’s been vividly confirmed that succeeding under capitalism isn’t about how smart you are, because Elon Musk is the world’s richest man.
The bad news is there’s basically zero chance that this situation gets better for us as long as capitalism remains in place. Major economists warn we’re on the brink of another recession. The official unemployment rate of 4% doesn’t give us a full picture of how dire things are getting. Once you factor in “functionally unemployed workers,” which the Ludwig Institute for Shared Economic Prosperity defines as those who do not have a full-time job but want one, have no job, or earn less than $25,000, what they consider the “true unemployment rate” looks more like 24%—well over 79 million Americans.
In just the last four months, Black unemployment has gone from 6% to 7.5%, historically an indication of bigger economic downturns as, under capitalism, oppressed minorities are always the first, and hardest, hit. But these crises aren’t isolated to the US, leading young people all over the world to revolt against gross displays of inequality, from Nepal to Morocco to Peru.
Capitalism is an economic system that, long ago, had progressive features. For the first time in human history, it gave us the ability to produce enough to meet the whole world’s human needs. But capitalism will never actually distribute these resources to those who need them, because it is not profitable to do so. This system has long since outlived its usefulness as a way to organize society. Fundamentally, it is a system that values profit-making above everything else—even over human life (or any other kind of life).
Capitalism has so many built-in contradictions that it is even forced to sacrifice its own stability as a system for the sake of ever-growing profits. Climate change is a perfect example of this: we face an existential threat to human life on Earth, including the capitalists, but what’s necessary to stop deadly climate catastrophe are simply not as profitable as drilling oil and gas. If no one stops the ruling class, they’ll be drilling until the end of the world.
Imperialism is the highest stage of capitalism, because the drive for ever-greater profits forces the most powerful nations into life-or-death competition for domination of the world economy. Today, the US and China aren’t only fighting a trade war: they’re fighting proxy battles across the globe and preparing for all-out war that could quickly spiral into a global disaster. The ruling class is ready to send workers to fight and die for their profits and territorial control, and the only thing that can stop the meat grinder of war for good is a mass working-class movement fighting for an egalitarian socialist world.
It’s increasingly clear to millions of people that we have no choice but to take the world economy, our workplaces, and our communities into our own hands and make them work for us, not for a tiny minority of billionaires. If you agree, reach out to talk to one of our members more about joining Socialist Alternative to fight for an end to this decrepit system.