Taylor Lorenz Has Some Insane Thoughts About Capitalism

The Washington Post Taylor Lorenz, technology columnist on Sunday Tweet That “People are like ‘why are kids so depressed it must be their PHONES!’ But never mention the fact that we’re living in a late stage capitalist hellscape during an ongoing deadly pandemic w record wealth inequality, 0 social safety net/job security, as climate change cooks the world … u have to be delusional to look at life in our country rn and have any amt of hope or optimism.”

People are like “why are kids so depressed it must be their PHONES!” Never forget the fact that we are living in a capitalist hellscape of late stage during a deadly pandemic with record wealth inequality and 0 social security net/job security as climate change heats the planet

— Taylor Lorenz (@TaylorLorenz) February 20, 2023

This tweet is full of misinformation and combines several popular progressive tropes. There are many things to be concerned about, both factually as well as tonally. I will only address six.

1. Timing

Depression rates in 12-17-year-olds Between 2007 and 2011, they remained flat at 12 percent for girls and five for boys. They began to rise in 2012, reaching 20% for girls and 7 for boys in 2017. Of course, neither ‘late stage capitalism’ nor climate change nor the pandemic started in 2012.

2. The Pandemic

While the Covid-19 pandemic did cause serious damage to economies and societies around the world, it is not difficult to see how. The lockdowns that were implemented in response to the virus caused more damage for low-risk youth.

“We did serious harm to our children and young adults who were robbed of their education, jobs and normal existence, as well as suffering damage to their future prospects, while they were left to inherit a record-breaking mountain of public debt,” Edinburgh University Professor Mark WoolhouseAn expert in infectious diseases, Dr. Judith Larkin lamented in The Guardian. “People over 75 are an astonishing 10,000 times more at risk [from Covid-19] than those who are under 15.”

Lorenz, for her part is a lockdown maximalist. Responding to her paper’s article about China’s extreme ‘zero covid’ policies, Lorenz Tweet That “Choosing not to kill off millions of vulnerable people (as the US is doing) isn’t a ‘critical flaw,'”.

3. Social Safety Nets

This is the old claim that the US once enjoyed a generous welfare program, until it was taken to its knees by trickle down Reaganites and neoliberals. The timing is strange again. Barack Obama, America’s most progressive president in decades was only halfway through his eight year tenure in 2012 when the mental crisis seems to have begun. It is also misleading for the US to claim that social spending is not much of a priority. The nearly $4 Trillion Nearly three quarters of federal spending in 2016 went to the direction of “human services,” With Social Security (24%), Medicare (15%), Health (13%), Income Security (13%), and Medicare (15%) accounting for the bulk. As a percentage of the US economy’s GDP, public social expenditure Boosted From 6.71% in 1965 to 12.84% in 1980, 14.25 percent to 2000, and 19.32 percent to 2016, Inflation crisis was triggered by Washington’s pandemic stimulus cash. Capitalism isn’t to blame for this.

4. Work Security

It is not fair to blame capitalism for what Covid-19 and lockdowns did the job market. Lorenz refers specifically to the rapidly growing gig economy that has developed in the aftermath of Covid-19. Tweet As an example, job insecurity is a pernicious trend. This mix of positives and negatives is actually quite interesting.

“About two-thirds of current or recent gig platform workers think companies that run these platforms are fair when it comes to their pay, but smaller shares say the same for benefits’, a 2021 Pew study concluded. Pew also reported Nearly half of gig workers were at least “somewhat” positive” experiences with these jobs, with almost one in four reporting “Positive!” experiences. Room for improvement certainly but hardly a “hellscape.”

5. ‘Record Wealth Inequality’

The Fed’s inflation of the money supply was too high and the lockdowns were bad news for the middle and lower incomes. Lorenz’s description is however simplistic. For instance, the US middle classes does seem to be wealthy. shrunk Between 61 and 50 percent of the total adult population. The income of the lowest income group grew by just four percent (to 29%), while that of the upper-income adults grew from 14 to 21 per cent. Pew further reports that the percentage of upper income adults grew from 14 to 21 percent, while the lower income category grew by only four percent (to 29%) “Black adults, as well as married men and women, were … among the biggest gainers [in income] from 1971 to 2021, with net increases ranging from 12 to 14 percentage points.”

6. ‘Late Stage Capitalism’

This is another bad cliché, rooted in Karl Marx’s 19th century prediction that capitalism will collapse under the weight of its contradictions. Instead, Marxist dictatorships rose and fell, while the capitalist West constructed islands of peace and prosperity that were unprecedented in Europe, North America and East Asia. Only a few poor police states, such as North Korea and Cuba, remained hopeful for a post-capitalist paradise at the beginning of the 21st Century.

In the West, true believers kept looking for signs of revolution in every economic downturn. Today marks 175 years since publication of The Communist ManifestoThere is not a single postcapitalist country that is as technologically advanced, politically and socially free or as wealthy as the capitalist democracies in the West. Even China, the greatest threat to the West in the 21st century, has only reached its current level. abandoning Marxism/Maoism and acceptance of a mixed economy

Last August, China’s Vice President Hu Chunhua spoke out. It was “necessary” To “make great efforts to attract new foreign investment.” It is easy to imagine Mao spinning inside his mausoleum. The mummy of the Great Helmsman is a similar one to Mao’s. “late stage capitalism” cliché should be laid to rest. Lorenz’s cellphone should also be put to rest.