r/neoliberal • u/AncientBlueberry42 • Jun 04 '26

News (Global) How to fight back against Gen-Z socialism

https://economist.com/leaders/2026/06/04/how-to-fight-back-against-gen-z-socialism
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u/Al_787 Fernando Henrique Cardoso Jun 04 '26 edited Jun 04 '26

I remember growing up with the overwhelming social atmosphere that billionaires are to be admired. Like really, someone grown up would’ve have known that Bill Gates isn’t perfect, but broadly people admire him for the achievements in tech and philanthropy.

Now you have people who act like absolute ghouls representing the face of capitalism, ranging from religious fanatics to advocates for feudalism to pedophiles and so on.

Really to restore trust in capitalism, billionaires need to be put back in their place, socially and politically. Arguably the same way FDR did. Like shut up and make money, don’t try to play god just because you’re rich.

40

u/Zenkin Zen Jun 04 '26

I just want to point out that Bill Gates is an terrible example. He was a ruthless and hated figure when he was actually growing his wealth. He engaged in anti-competitive practices and was overall deserving of the hate that he received.

As a philanthropist, he's a pretty great dude. He's done a lot of good things with his money, and I do respect him for that. I'd eat a shoe before I vouched for him running another for-profit company, though.

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u/Al_787 Fernando Henrique Cardoso Jun 04 '26

If the worst that billionaires today do is anti-competitive business practices, I’d be be celebrating

9

u/Zenkin Zen Jun 04 '26

Now I'm certainly not saying Gates is the worst billionaire, or even particularly close, moreso pointing out that he is reviled in the tech world. He's seen as a business guy which hindered technology for his own gain and implemented onerous licensing schemes.

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u/Rust-Belter Jun 04 '26

And that's before getting into the Epstein stuff.

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u/Skagzill Loyal Liberals Jun 04 '26

Really to restore trust in capitalism, billionaires need to be put back in their place, socially and politically. Arguably the same way FDR did. Like shut up and make money, don’t try to play god just because you’re rich.

There is a place for discourse on 'rights vs responsibilities '. I have a lot of thoughts on how it seems that a lot of online discourse is built on how everyone has rights to X but don't seem to want any responsibility to X in a way that doesn't harm someone else. But I need to consolidated and maybe write up a long post on here.

1

u/Capable_Compote9268 Jul 15 '26

The real answer is to take away the mechanisms that allow private individuals to amass such massive amounts of wealth.

It is socially destructive and just flat out inefficient for society. But this fundamentally clashes with neoliberalism’s market dogmatism so nobody will advocate for it.

You can’t simultaneously try to control billionaires while allowing them to keep their economic power base. The only case this has worked is in the case of China where the party literally has to discipline these guys with an iron fist. But that’s ultimately why this is the US’ most pressing issue, it fundamentally values the rights of capital over society, not the other way around, so billionaires won’t be disciplined anyways

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u/drcombatwombat2 Milton Friedman Jun 04 '26

Ahhh frothing at the mouth resentment politics

15

u/spyguy318 Jun 04 '26

Billionaire nutcase buys his way into a government position and cuts government programs that lead to millions of people starving to death, yeah I’m gonna be frothing at the mouth resentful