> Capitalism coupled to represenatative democracy is the best shot we've got at developing a fair, balanced and sustainable economic system.
Tend to agree, but that only addresses the economy. From what I've seen, capitalism cares very little for the advancement of society itself, and quite often works against it (eg, oil companies and global warming). You mentioned pricing in environmental costs, which obviously I would agree with, however I think the only way to achieve this is by banning companies from having any sort of political free speech and this is a tricky line to walk. In our current state, the environmental costs of our activities are a large point of contention because the people doing the damage are able to buy a large portion of "democratic" mindshare through propaganda. How do you regulate this? It's a hard problem.
Also, take something like consumerism (as in, buying a new phone every year). It doesn't make us happier, it doesn't make our lives better, nor does it do the planet we live on much good. However, consumerism and capitalism have grown into a feedback loop. It's an area where we spend enormous amounts of energy to derive very little benefit. The free market here does us no good, and in fact enables what I would consider a bad societal habit. Not that I think there's an easy fix or we should try to control people, but it's an example of capitalism working well but providing little value. It's self-referential existence.
> The problem with Anarch-syndicalism is that at scale people will syndicalise back into special-interest blocs
I am an anarchist, but I do believe this is true. Humans are not capable of this self-organizing yet.
Tend to agree, but that only addresses the economy. From what I've seen, capitalism cares very little for the advancement of society itself, and quite often works against it (eg, oil companies and global warming). You mentioned pricing in environmental costs, which obviously I would agree with, however I think the only way to achieve this is by banning companies from having any sort of political free speech and this is a tricky line to walk. In our current state, the environmental costs of our activities are a large point of contention because the people doing the damage are able to buy a large portion of "democratic" mindshare through propaganda. How do you regulate this? It's a hard problem.
Also, take something like consumerism (as in, buying a new phone every year). It doesn't make us happier, it doesn't make our lives better, nor does it do the planet we live on much good. However, consumerism and capitalism have grown into a feedback loop. It's an area where we spend enormous amounts of energy to derive very little benefit. The free market here does us no good, and in fact enables what I would consider a bad societal habit. Not that I think there's an easy fix or we should try to control people, but it's an example of capitalism working well but providing little value. It's self-referential existence.
> The problem with Anarch-syndicalism is that at scale people will syndicalise back into special-interest blocs
I am an anarchist, but I do believe this is true. Humans are not capable of this self-organizing yet.