You got to remember, most of the wealth is still in very few hands. So telling yourself “the stock market also benefits the people who are retiring” makes it sound like there’s a good side to this when really it’s only a silver lining to an otherwise meaningless and arguably downright hurtful event.
The economy is as bad as it is, we’re seeing fascism rise as much as we are, partially because our major economic systems aren’t designed to actually benefit the people they’re built on sucking value out of.
So no, I don’t care that everyone currently cashing out of the system just got a little bit more money or more time out of the recent layoffs and the recent COVID profitteering and the recent inshitification. I think we have to be careful defending bad systems even minorly, despite that being rational and logical, because it feels like we’re coming to a tipping point and minor defenses like that make it seem as if we can extend the shelf life of these systems a few more decades, a few more unnecessary deaths, a few more degrees of warming, etc. Idk, only politics is weird. At least you’re participating, so thanks for that.
I’m all for dismantling capitalism, but until we come up with a better system, i’m not about to liquidate my accounts just to stick it to the man. Thats cutting your nose off to spite your face
Pensions arent a thing anymore. Retirement savings accounts and lottery tickets are the only two options if you dont want to work until you’re dead…
It’s not about capitalism vs something-other-than-capitalism, it’s about all the small systems that make up our way of life. As a simple example, housing shouldn’t be a vehicle for profit seeking. It should be illegal or so greatly discouraged that owning an unhealthy amount of properties is non-viable because if house prices must always go up and everyone needs a place to live - the cost of living must always go up. A subsystem of capitalism that needs fixing, not “a new system that isn’t capitalism”.
And I’m not suggesting people not have 401k’s or not invest or not save money, I’ve got my retirement fund too. But we have to realize that that system isn’t doing it’s job and it’s harmful to society and the more we participate the more incentivized to keep it harmful, to keep it around. So participate like an intelligent person and then leverage your power and position to better the systems for everyone - eventually at an expense to yourself.
