Communism vs Capitalism vs Corporatism | Cenk Uygur and Lex Fridman

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*GUEST BIO:*
Cenk Uygur is a progressive political commentator and host of The Young Turks.

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[LexClips]

See below for guest bio, links, and to give feedback, submit questions, contact Lex, etc.

*GUEST BIO:*
Cenk Uygur is a progressive political commentator and host of The Young Turks.

*CONTACT LEX:*

*EPISODE LINKS:*

*SPONSORS:*
To support this podcast, check out our sponsors & get discounts:
*Saily:* An eSIM for international travel.
*Policygenius:* Life insurance.
*AG1:* All-in-one daily nutrition drinks.
*MasterClass:* Online classes from world-class experts.
*LMNT:* Zero-sugar electrolyte drink mix.
*NetSuite:* Business management software.

*PODCAST LINKS:*

*SOCIAL LINKS:*

[hjqwpe]

What Cenk describes as "Communism vs Capitalism vs Corporatism" is basically *State Capitalism vs Private Capitalism vs Shareholder Capitalism*
He's right that the economy is a spectrum, but he's wrong that the 3 different types of capitalism are the entire spectrum. They are only on the right side of the spectrum.

On the left side of the economic spectrum is where you have socialism and communism. Socialism is worker ownership and control, if a business is owned and controlled by the workers and they have *workplace democracy* like *worker cooperatives* then it's a socialist business, if most of the economy is owned and controlled by workers and there is economic democracy then it's a socialist economy. If a society is stateless, classless, and moneyless then it's a communist society.

[rikwithsilentp]

Not a fan of Cenk but he makes a good point here

[maxmoser]

Don't have to always agree with Cenk, but he pretty much nailed it on this topic. The vast majority of Americans are staunchly anti-communism AND anti-corporatism, pro-capitalism.

[tremontefr]

He has a point. US capitalism has made the country a plutocracy if not an oligarchy.

[yotambronsky]

I didn't think I like Cenk but I love Cenk on economics!

[mapleblues]

"communism for corporations" YUP!

[edpowers]

There’s a huge bias (and I used to hold the same bias) by proponents of capitalism that all is fine and dandy in America with respect to markets. You almost have been programmed to justify the inequality and the massive amount of wealth that gets funneled to the top. But one has to begin asking whether this is good for society. Ask yourself what it’s like to be at the 50th percentile of income and below in America today compared to decades ago. Countries which funnel wealth to the top through monopoly protection and self-centered policies sabotage their own country because this almost always inevitably leads to civil war or conflict.

[drlovejoystation]

Look at that, even Cenk is correct sometimes and sounding reasonable

[MattKinMI]

What he's saying is that unregulated capitalism leads to oligopolies and monopolies, which reduce competition and consolidation wealth and power into the hands of a few. It's like having only two main politics parties. You see a loss of competition, choices, and increasingly crappier consumer outcomes. What Gov did in the 20th century was check this power...until the 70s and 80s.

[冥王星来客]

Socialist revolution is not against a specific group of people, a special class, or even a special system. Socialist revolution, in the final analysis, is against the privatization and proliferation of circulating capital. Capitalism has abolished the blood inheritance of power, but has given capital the privilege of power. Under the capitalist system, a person has no privileges; but capital does have privileges; and people can possess capital, thereby inheriting the social sovereignty attached to capital. The fundamental purpose of socialist revolution is to abolish the social sovereignty of capital, thereby abolishing the rights granted to a person by capital.

[Sr]

This is spot on. Most people that criticize capitalism are actually thinking of corporatism and then recommend euro big government as the only alternative. But European looks less and less like a good model every day. One US company is worth as much as Germany’s entire stock market

[Runconna]

Lex is clearly still very naive when it comes to politicians.

[rjhayward]

I am reading "The Quiet Coup" by Baradaran which explains how we ended up with Citizens United and gave enormous financial power to Corporations. It starts with a Supreme Court Justice Powell.

[deanjohnson]

The very heart of the capitalism is the banking system and the Federal Reserve circumvents free markets by regulating interest rates and providing liquidity to financial markets. The FED is a huge windfall for Capital and unaccountable to government or the taxpayer.

[alcontv]

Having been born and raised in Cuba, and now as an adult seeing what United States is becoming, I am almost tempted to say I prefer communism. One thing that stands out to me, is that you will never, almost ever see the manager of a company that gets paid $200k a year hang out at the same bar or party as the clerk working the cash register. They just live in two different worlds. But then in Cuba is the complete opposite, yes that manager still has certain benefits that the cashier can't have, I mean it only makes sense, but because the gap in salary is not that great you both feel somewhat equal and in a way is what makes cubans more social type of human being in general. We are just happier people overall even with less material things. Of course, we all know how bad things end up when you are at very extreme end of things, that being communism, socialism, or capitalism.

[adamkatolik]

The problem is that corporatism seems to be a natural conclusion of capitalism So you need to really fight against human nature here as well.

[AMRC]

People need to learn the difference between corporatism and corporatocracy

Corporatism can be in a socialist state or in a fascist state.

You do not live under corporatism you could however argue america is a corporatocracy

[darthmorbous]

This is refreshing. An US-American explaining to mu'hricahns, what the rest of the world has always known and it is taught in schools on the 6th grade here in the EU.

[warriorkid]

Unfortunately Cenk has got terminology wrong here. He's actually referring to Corpratocracy, not Corporatism.