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Comment by boringg | Hacker News Reader

America is a crony capitalist state at this point. We need to get the cronyism out so we can get capitalism working again.

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Some would say that crony capitalism is the inevitable end state of capitalism, and I'm not entirely inclined to disagree with them--if we do succeed in getting the cronyism out, how do we then stop it from returning?

I'd say to force anyone speaking in public to have a graph showing who gives them money and who they donate to.

Similar to the Nascar idea, but with that we'd see larger podiums used to hide the more embarrassing fundings.

It's a swinging pendulum for sure. Crony capitalism is at one end. Is it end state, that's another question. Can you swing it back the other way? Certainly but you need some kind of counter force.

I think a lot of societal dysfunction eventually gets cleared up as they eventually lose a war.

China’s history for example is arguably that cycle on repeat.

Yes - normally some kind of major shock to the system is responsible - war, revolution etc.

A lot of the democratic institutions of the US were built after the war to prevent the prior issues. Sadly those memories are fading and the institutions are eroding as a result - leading back to the cycle you speak of.

Stop the government from giving these cronies power, money, and a right to exist.

"Why do my plants keep dying???" said man who waters his plants 24/7/365.

What would "again" look like? It's not clear to me that it has ever been otherwise, when adjusted for technology and social structures of the past.

It's always been like that honestly

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