Quote Originally Posted by MadMojoMonkey View Post
I think you posted using the wrong account. This is the "All hail our lord and savior Free Market Capitalism. Amen." account.


I'm not sure I can get behind the assertion that charlatans gain disproportionate power in free market economies than in other economies.
It's more likely that in a free market, the charlatans have equal opportunity with the honest folks. In more totalitarian economic systems, the amount of charlatanism tends to be extremely high or low to match whatever is the current ruling authority.
An irony might be that it could be that the successes of free market capitalism could usher in sustainable totalitarianism. Without the successes of capitalism, there would be a lot of suffering but also the human world would be mostly decentralized and primitive. But with capitalism, we essentially solve all the problems that our biology has adapted to fight. The effectiveness of free market capitalism may be responsible for the naive populace giving up its freedom to total rule.

I don't know where I stand on this. I see both things. I see antifragility in people such that beneficial ideas grow. But I also see growth of ignorance in people such that they believe a centralized political elite making decisions for them is a good idea.