In Part 1 , I described a few of the implications of capitalism's success being decoupled from general wellbeing, equality, and environmental protection. I also described how capitalism is often compared to alternatives, but the alternatives, while socialist in name, are usually politically totalitarian as well as economically non-capitalist. Here, I expand on capitalism's impacts from a New Zealand perspective on housing. *** For many generations, the mainstream Kiwi dream has been to own a family home on a quarter acre section. Indeed the same aspiration as a national identity is echoed throughout Western capitalist democracies . It's little surprise that this type of goal is common: a home offers shelter and security, basic human needs topped only by the likes of food, water, and air. As you would expect for a dream of this kind, it has historically been widely achievable, and indeed has been supported by government policy ( see Ferguso...
Ideas on shaping the world we want to see.