>

Bingo! Personally, I'm grateful I was raised with people who don't look like me. The alternative seems to be growing up scared and gullible
Excerpt:

Utah high schoolers would be required to learn about the "superiority" of American free markets under new guidelines the state school board is considering this week.
Teachers would have to "explain why free market systems are superior and have made America the most free and prosperous country in the world" under new standards proposed for financial literacy courses.
All students are required to take the class to graduate from public high schools in Utah.
The addition will "make sure … [students] walk away without any question in their mind, regardless of how it might have been presented … that this is the superior system," Cline said.
Utah's financial literacy classes, which the Legislature began requiring in 2007, have drawn scrutiny for outdated advice and occasional forays into non-financial, personal subject matter.

Erin Alberty, 2 Feb. 2023, Axios (Cox Enterprises) >


The addition will "make sure … [students] walk away without any question in their mind, regardless of how it might have been presented … that this is the superior system," Cline said.

Ah, yes. Good. The purpose of schooling is to create nationalists who KNOW their country is the best. As opposed to the ability to think and critique the system they live in so it can be improved. >

I'm surprised they didnt bother writing "...or else" at the end. Why be redundant, right? >


I'm surprised they didnt bother writing "...or else" at the end. Why be redundant, right?

That's the beauty of it, they don't have to... because of the implications. >

But they can say no, right? >

Of course!
but they wouldn't dare. >

…because of the implications. >

... the consequences will never be the same >

Can you imagine the teacher explaining all of this and how great it is. Looking at the students, silently for a minute. Students murmur and the silence is broken by the teacher slamming the textbook onto their desk.
"Fuck this place, I can make more at Costco." >

My wife is a teacher in Utah… and yeah this last month we have legit had conversations about her switching to work at Costco… >

Yeah they pay a decent wage, have ok benefits, and don't treat their employees like complete garbage. So a vast improvement over teaching. >

Yeah, we just lost a child and it was a great way to find out Davis District doesn’t give employees bereavement leave >

Quit. Your family needs you more than Davis District. >

It’s my wife that works for the district and yeah the one thing we’ve decided 100% is this is the last year at Davis >

A man who must proclaim he is king, is no king >

Flawless logic. Apparently the 24/7 corporate owned media, and corporate owned internet, aren’t indoctrinating hard enough on behalf of capitalism, so the “small-gubberment“ “free market” folks are going to use big government to do it for them (on the public dime, ofcourse)!
In the 1960’s the Australian conservative party subsidised home ownership specifically to oppose communism (and ownership rose from ~35% to ~70% in 2 decades), because they understood that citizens who were given fruits for their labor (land ownership and economic wealth/security) would be less likely to oppose capitalism. If capitalist evangelicals actually wanted the population to believe the current system is the best, they’d ensure high living standards for all, and protect citizens from greed. Over the last 50 years they’ve done the exact opposite, because they are greed incarnate. >

"See kids, the reason you'll never be able to afford a house and will die from preventable illnesses is because American Capitalism is Fucking Awesome!" >

I'm from Utah and in our mandatory "Financial Literacy" classes we are taught that we can buy a house in cash by the time we turn 20 as long as we don't buy coffee ever and never use a bank. >

i... i can't tell if you're joking or not. >

Oh I wish I was >

Wheres that pic of the hedgehog screaming at the ground when you need it >

Suuuure, "free" country that locks up more citizens, even per capita, than Russia and China combined. Free to be poor and incarcerated. Or to be one of millions upon millions of felons who can't even get bonded to drive a truck! >

Go on YouTube look up "Newsroom. America Is not the greatest country" listen to it. It's remarkable. >

Will do, probably old news for me tho. But thanks, I'll check it out. >

It's like the current Republicans want to reshape America in the image of Russia in the 90s. >

Tbf Americans have a lot od experience in creating 90s Russian hellscape >

And they may have empowered Putin in the process. >

So capitalism... wants the government... to step in and make mandatory standards... >

Capitalism literally controls our government so yep. >

I'm Canadian, just enjoying the irony from afar >

The Ontario government is currently working with investors to privatize public healthcare and public education, much like they did with highway 407, in the 90’s. 
Social safety nets for the rich. Rugged individualism for the poor.  Capitalist interests are corrupting government services and public spending in Canada, too. >

I know, I'm not claiming that isn't happening here too.  Trust me I point out the issues with the Ford government as well. >

U.S. capitalism: where if you’re willing to exploit your fellow man, you too can be wealthy. >

This has greater irony in Utah, since the giant issue with the Great Salt Lake losing too much water because it's supply is being siphoned off is primarily due to certain people in power exploiting their fellow man for financial gain. >

Not to mention that whole cult running the state government >

In related news, high school graduates from Florida and Utah will no longer be admitted to any out of state colleges. >

Utah is late we’re onto menstrual cycles now >

Something tells me if we give it a few years Utah will become worse than florida >

You can’t have fascism without propaganda. >

So much winning.
Highest Capitalist cost for Healthcare, worst outcomes. >

Tbf it is possible to create a private market for healthcare that actually works. Somehow the US adopted the worst aspects of private insurance with the worst aspects of socialized insurance to give us the mess we have today. Literally if we go in either direction (more socialized or more privatized with regulations) we'd be better off. >

I was developing Physician Billing software when the Health Insurance mega-corps were just starting to form.
They should never have been allowed to own Healthcare Facilities. 
Now they set the customer rates and they set the Physician fees and they set how much they charge themselves for those fees.
Hospitals have to have unnecessary bed checks and tests just to wean enough money from their owners to keep the lights on. >

So its down to Soviet style propaganda? >

You could change the conditions or just make describing reality illegal. >

10/10 >

bot account
edit: banned? :D >

US capitalism is objectively the worst type there is. The entire modern developed world does capitalism better than the US. >


US capitalism

You misspelled kleptocracy. >

End goal of any capitalist. Some ate just held back. I don't see the benefit in allowing it in general >

This is insanity, especially since this isn't even remotely true and is just propaganda. >

I mean... Mormonism is pretty much literally American exceptionalism as a religion. So this is pretty much on brand. >

Yooooo that really is a good way to summarize it 🤔 >

From the wiki page on american exceptionalism:

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) believes that the Americas, including the United States, are a unique place,[26] populated by a chosen people and the native americans are, at least in part, composed of Lamanites[27] and Mormons for a singular destiny, linking the United States to the Biblical promised land in the Book of Mormon, with the Constitution of the United States being divinely inspired. Joseph Smith argued that the millennial New Jerusalem was to be built in America (10th Article of Faith) and reported God as saying "it is not right that any man should be in bondage one to another. And for this purpose have I established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose, and redeemed the land by the shedding of blood" (D&C 101:79–80).[28]
Although officially shunned by the LDS Church, fundamentalist Mormons believe in the White Horse Prophecy, which argues that Mormons will be the ones called upon to preserve the Constitution as it hangs "by a thread".[29][30] >

We are turning into North Korea aren't we ? >

If you wanna talk capitalism, then the neatherlands and Switzerland are the best. 
Hell, the Dutch have private Healthcare AND report high satisfaction of it. >

Meanwhile Switzerland has equivalent levels of gun ownership, but with 1/4 of the number of gun deaths (adjusted for population). >

Fascism isn't coming, it's already here... >

Anything coming out of Utah or Florida doesn't even surprise me anymore. Oh and Texas. >

US capitalism is like a snake eating its own tail, any value will be stripped out of companies and society for the few.  
So many great companies have been asset stripped in the name of shareholder value.  
On a societal level it's destructive, infinite growth  and a rewarding environment for the ruthless. >

Guarantee you they can't even accurately describe "free market".
A free market means everybody has all the same information. 
Never happens. >

Which means manor corporations rapidly take influence through brand recognition and economics of scale.
The free market just lets the most abusive cost cutters to rule the roost. >

The Party decides what reality is! >

TRUMP IS THE CURRENT PRESIDENT!!!
/S >

2+2=5 >

5? 5!!??? Ron told me it was FISH!!
YOU LYING SMOBERK. >

Instead of the Pledge of Allegiance are they going to say "Sieg Heil" 3 times every morning with their right palms raised in the air? >

You gotta admit, though. "Sieg heil" is much easier for kids to understand than the pledge of allegiance. 
As far as propaganda goes, Germans knew the trade well >

This is why we have the most expensive least efficient healthcare system on planet earth. We do this idiocy rather than studying how other countries give better care for less money.  Rather than going all in on alt energy because we know that oil and gas run out, our big oil co's double down on propaganda and teach our people to be loyal to them as part of culture wars. Rather than making an effort to keep our worker skills alive we become dependent on third world autocracies to keep our Walmart's and Home depots stocked.  Companies or countries don't stay great on propaganda alone, they need to acknowledge mistakes and do better. >

Can you say why America is the greatest country in the world? >

Wow. I think capitalism as a concept is a great innovation in human history, and Adam Smith wrote a solid, quality, hefty treatise on the subject. 
But let’s be serious here: today’s American version of capitalism is nothing like what Adam Smith wrote, nor anything like what even Teddy Roosevelt or Henry Ford experienced. Monopolies are far too prevalent, competition is not a serious option in many sectors (some of which are quasi cartel in nature) and others are actual Cartels in nature (OPEC). The revolving door of lobbyists, corporate subsidies, and Citizens United “money is speech” has practically legalized corruption and bribery. The disconnect between Wall Street and Main Street is growing bigger by the quarter. 
America is a de facto Oligarchy. A semi benevolent one that does have greater civil liberties and individual freedoms than many other countries, but is it the best one? Is it really for the people or for the big business interests? It is nominally a Representative Democracy, but for whom? Not the average person. Not the middle and lower income people. And those are easily 80% of the populace. 
Let’s talk to Norway, Sweden, Finland, Germany, The Netherlands, New Zealand, even Canada and Australia about this. What about South Korea, Japan, UK, Ireland, France? 
I’m sure I left some off the list. Nowhere is perfect. But the US has some of the worst health outcomes of that list of peer nations, the highest healthcare costs of that list, the highest poor:wealth ratios of that list, the worst statistical income distribution of that list, the highest incarceration rate of that list, and we are quickly eroding our mantle as the leader of civil liberties and individual freedoms. We are fast tracking down a road of legalized corruption, judicial instability, and poor quality of life outcomes. We are imposing laws based on religious text, enforcing morality codes based on religious concepts, criminalizing private behavior, and enforcing laws in a disparate manner, such that the wealthiest can almost purchase their way out of penalty while the poorest are excessively targeted. 
The best? That’s the kind of curriculum countries that know they suck force down the throat of the youth to avoid doing the hard work of making the narrative a reality. They just push the false narrative. 
No child learning that mantra will believe it for long. Lying to our youth to make ourselves feel better is not a solution. Look at Russia. They think Ukraine is attacking them and that “Mother Russia” is the victim of Western aggression. State run propaganda is why.
This kind of policy is another brick in the road to becoming a third rate has-been.  I’m not suggesting America is there yet. But we aren’t slowing down our approach either. We can still turn things around, but not by lying to ourselves. >

Yeah, capitalism sounds great on some level. It gets explained by examples where you're a carpenter, so how are you going to survive by doing carpentry if you have no food? You trade your chairs with the miller for flour and the farmer for eggs and the butcher for meat, and they trade with each other, with money as the medium of exchange, and everyone in the town gets their needs met. Hooray! And in that example, sure, capitalism sounds fine and I have no problem with it.
But somewhere between that and a world where rents are out of control, workers are barely treated as human, working full-time doesn't let you afford basic necessities, millions of people don't have sufficient access to necessary healthcare, and centibillionaires launch themselves to space and dream of owning slave colonies on Mars while the workers in their factories are run off their feet so hard they don't have time to piss and cameras monitor them for every time they stop moving -- we're missing that sense of "that just seems logical and fair and normal" that you have in quaint little Exampleton of medieval tradesmen. 
People keep using silly simplistic models of capitalism to explain why it's great, when what they're really defending is descending rapidly into serfdom. While most other modern capitalist nations have figured out a way to make life pretty respectably decent for most people, the US just chants "Free Market Capitalism! YAY!" while most of us stare down a bleak future of dehumanizing work life, unaffordable necessities, and no chance to secure a future, but we're constantly assured that we're super duper free because capitalism is the best and American capitalism is the most bestest capitalism of all. >


But somewhere between that and a world where rents are out of control

Adam Smith wrote a bit on that, too!
​
People like to simply Smith down to a 1-dimensional person, which is rather silly considering how he was a philosopher and those people spend 90% of their time doing nothing but thinking. He wrote about how the free-market can lead to economic prosperity - which it totally can - but also wrote about how it.....also couldn't.
He talks about the invisible hand.....but only when an individual is attempting to make the greatest amount of value possible (for their own gain). The individual is not intending to improve the public good, but in attempting to make the greatest amount of product, does so anyway.
^(Keep in mind that Adam didn't know what a 'Climate change' is. Environmental destruction was simply not something he accounted for when he designed his economic ideal. This, of course, changes the entire model when the public costs become something that cannot be ignored, when they could be before.)
The problem is that the modern business isn't trying to make the greatest amount of value possible, they're just appeasing their property-owners' stock prices (which are largely controlled by computers and have their own departments, have fun sorting that out.). And as we know, stock prices are practically imaginary and that 'value' can disappear overnight if the holders get spooked. Hell, I'm pretty sure there wasn't a large stock market crash yet to put things in perspective.
He also didn't have the hindsight of the effects of private monopolies (the first anti-trust law in the US, for example, was introduced in 1890).
​
His work is horribly outdated due to the era he was born in. He'd probably be kicking himself right now if he had modern knowledge of economics. >

Thanks for providing a nuanced view. I'm sick of people who hear one thing about the "Invisible Hand" and how free markets are the best thing ever and it's true because some guy a couple hundred years ago said it, and then get sarcastic about how anyone proposing any form of market regulation or complaining about the injustices of modern capitalism "doesn't understand basic economics." >

If capitalism is such a superior economic model, why do they need this? >

worshiping money is weird >

The god of greed Mammon, would disagree. >

We really do have a no-shit creeping fascism problem here … >

O uO Is real illegal now? Yay! >

24y/o who grew up in Utah here: that’s how it already was for me. There was never a conversation in K-12 about economics or foreign affairs that didn’t end in how superior USA capitalism is and how we’re so lucky to live in the best country.
It’s possible that things have drifted away from what I experienced and this is a push to cement that type of indoctrination rather than rely on the general consensus and ideology of the generation of teachers. >

21y/o Utahn here and I experienced the same BS. My dad is a high school teacher and from what I've heard it seems like it's only gotten worse. Especially as some older teachers are being radicalized to the far-right more and more by the day. Definitely feels like this policy is just trying to crack down on the few remaining teachers still willing to be critical of the status quo. >

I learned this in public school in california. I had a super conservative Gov/Econ teacher with Reagan posters all over the walls who showed us PragerU videos in class and told us his goal was to turn us all into republicans ("jokingly," of course). I'm surprised that this curriculum is surprising to people, and not something already widely experienced. >

So they're actually discouraging free thinking... >

School in the US is designed to do just that. Sit down, shut up, do what you're told without question, don't refuse to attend or your family will be punished, raise your hand if you need to attend to basic biological needs, etc. >

Not all schools. 
Mine didn't. But it really depends on the state and the area within that state. >

And students must promise to never travel, never learn about other cultures and how other countries operate. >

Soon you will have to call it the “Education” System, it’s like how Fox News isnt news and crab sticks don’t have crab in them. >

Don't worry comrade, the Department of Education is taking care of it. >

I think you mean the Department of "Education" >

Thats literally indoctrination. Fuck man, US is turning into China >

“Corporations are people.” Yeah, rulings have consequences. >

that's not a tenant of capitalism That's just a nonsense extremist supreme Court reacting to a broken system and a Congress that continually fails to do its job. >

This has got to be the worst format for a news article I've ever had the displeasure of being presented with. >

Lol never a state that's doing well in education >

The instant they force teachers to teach this curriculum, the kids will just turn on capitalism even harder. >

“Free market” lol, sure >

The right doesn’t want critical thinking skills being taught. >

Kind of fascinating, watching the US slowly sliding down the slippery slope towards totalitarianism. >

‘Looks around’ is everyone seeing what I’m seeing? Cause this sh!t is getting crazy. How is this happening and it feels like no one is stopping it. >

The irony if these students are simultaneously learning about nationalistic propaganda in their world history class. >

Indoctrination not information, can’t have people thinking on their own. I am sure this a fundamental tenet of fascism. >

Required? Shit, my high school teachers already did this in IL. No requirements needed. Just good ol’ fashioned myopic jingoism. Midwest, yeehaw! 96% white population, indian mascot with the motto of “Indian, and proud.” >

“So in conclusion, you have to work at Walmart the next 60 years and live with 2 other people in a shirts apartment to not be homeless and die.” >


superior US capitalism

Is this some other kind of capitalism that we haven’t experienced yet? When does that start because I’m hoping to be able to retire one day and the current version of capitalism is trying not to let that happen. >

Great job voting in 2016, America. You happy? >

This is almost at the level of Xi Jinping's China. Not a good development. >

Wow, you guys are checking the boxes of fascism 101 alarmingly fast. >

So, um, about China being bad ...
Welcome to America, where you're more indoctrinated than North Korea. > >

This is the indoctrination everyone keeps talking about. >

What else is new?  I was forced to sit through a course called “Americanism vs. Communism” in  high school in the 1970’s.  It was gawdawful.  Communism is a theoretical economic system.  “Americanism” is just what, exactly?  Anything the propagandist decides it is. >

Same here in the 80's and 90's. >

"Americans are the most propagandized people on Earth" >

Scroll about halfway down and you'll see from the full list that the US is at 15, just one below the UK. So not terrible but could be better. >

Number 15 isn't number 1. >

Youre the only one bleating about that. >

I'm sorry that reality upsets you. >

Cry some more. >

Does this ever work? It's not going to work with me but I wonder if it ever works for you with other people or if they just laugh at you like I am. >

It's so superior that we have record numbers of homeless people living on the street and people can't afford groceries or medical care. >

Mandatory patriotic education, something that only exists in the most free and prosperous countries on earth. >

If you have to brainwash someone to believe something is true, it's false. >

wow this state sucks >

Unsustainable dystopian poverty shithole lmao.
Capitalism needs mandatory forced propaganda to indoctrinate kids? Wait, I thought the U.S hates the dictatorship countries that have mandatory indoctrination propaganda in schools?
Sounds like "free market capitalism" is scared of the competition of other ideas and is getting frustrated with young people turning against dystopian poverty bullshit. >

Capitalism is only good for predators.  So they are going to lie to children.  Capitalism is so badly in its late stage that I doubt the children will believe once they hit adulthood. >

Conservatards need to brainwash the kids in order for their ideology to survive. >

Yeah no >

This was taught all the time in school when I was a kid.  Different time, for sure, and it wasn't a government edict. >

Exactly what I was thinking. It’s an attempt to go back to the 1950’s when these things were just known, by white people of course.