Stephen Yearwood
1 min readSep 24, 2022

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I agree with the sentiment expressed in this article, but capitalism is not an ideology. It is a mode of production: mass production for sales in geographically extended markets.

It existed in ancient empires, using bondage slavery (plantations and mining/quarrying) and it exists today using wage slavery (paying people to be used as machines/draft animals). It could exist in an economy devoid of exploitation: as Marx pointed out, it is necessary to provide enough for all.

Marx thought that public ownership of all property was the way to maintain mass production without exploitation. I have found another way to get to that place: through a democratically distributed income. The 'growth economy' would become a 'steady-state' economy in which output would be passively but effectively governed by demographics, assuring sustainability.

Everyone employed in any business or government would be paid the same income. That would not be accomplished through taxes and redistribution. Rather, the money for the income would be created as needed. The total of all people's incomes would be the supply of money (as currency) for the economy. The economy would be completely self-regulating, with built-in protections against inflation. People who were neither the employee nor the employer of any other person(s) could still make whatever money they could, selling whatever product or service they had to offer.

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Stephen Yearwood
Stephen Yearwood

Written by Stephen Yearwood

M.A. in political economy (money/distributive justice) "Please don't confront me with my failures/ I'm aware of them" from "These Days," as sung by Gregg Allman

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