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Both. It's kind of like asking if monarchy is the problem or if the problem is just evil kings. Theoretically even a dictatorship can work out well for the people given a benevolent dictator. The issue is with the vulnerabilities inherent in the system. For capitalism, it's that those with more money have more influence and thus it creates a feedback loop where those with more money have more power to get themselves more money and therefore more power and so on.
Is it the same though? Monarchy are built around the idea that there will be kings. Is nepotism enshrined in the capitalist idea?
Unofficially. People start business for their benefit. Hiring family members is a good way to keep most of the money in the family. Similar with making deals with close freinds; like hiring your plumber buddy at the apartment you own and trying to pass the bill to the tenants or something. The thing is that nepotism just makes sense in a lot of places.
Right, only in the same way meritocracy manifests itself in a capitalist system. In this way a 1 to 1 comparison to a monarchy can't be made.
King also needs a few competent officers, but the highest management needs to be loyal. A corporation works similarly. When is the last time a CEO reported their own pollution or other wrong doing as a company?
Capitalism isn't about establishing monolithic corporations. We've made it that and maybe that's a result but it's not built into the system.
I mean we can talk about what it is or is not by some definition, but that is similar to tankies saying this or that is not real communism. The reality is that that is what we observe. A big part of capitalism is personal economic gain and nepotism, monopoly, and other un competitive practices are conducive to those goals; further it is powerless to stop them.
If we were to have an honest discussion we would certainly have to agree on a shared definition of capitalism. So I don't really care what tankies do or don't do.
The point of asking the question wasn't to troubleshoot capitalism ad hoc. It was to develop discussion around these ideas and inspire critical thinking. Unfortunately, most would rather stroke their ego then explore alternative ways of thinking.
I mean there are some pretty fair criticisms of capitalism in the sub. You also did not provide your own definition of capitalism up top either, so we can only speculate what you think it is and we can only answer what we observe it to be.
I think I made my case on why I think the way I think.
Well, what I assertain from your posts is you think a monarchy and capitalism are interchangable and that capitalism is about establishing corporations to run them like dictatorships. This is what I observe. If I were to assess if that's objectively correct I would think,"I might disagree."
I wouldn't say interchangeable, but they are not far removed. I agree with the dictionary definition that it is a system of private property with trade in a free market. I would personally add that it is motivated by greed as that is what I observe. A company that is successful will eventually want to grow. Perhaps it might turn to sabotaging the free and open market as it helps it secure its own profits. In that case it will resemble feudalism somewhat. This is based on what I have read on history and what I see on current events around me today.
But to your title. Capitalism does not say anything about cronyism being bad, nor to discourage it. I think you just really like capitalism and need to rationalize the negative stuff away because you are aware it is a bad look. I understand the mindset. I had it growing up conservative and being a member of the church.