[buffalobuffalo]

Sure. I agree Many of those things would be a net benefit. So why don't we have them?

It seems to me, the main reason is that representatives won't vote for them. Why not? Mainly because their financial and political incentives are structured in such a way that they can't. Why are these incentives like this? You can keep peeling back layers of the onion like this forever, but as some point you realize it's just due to structures of the system that will recreate themselves in any similar system. Like how wings evolved separately in different evolutionary branches but all conform to a similar structure. Any capitalist economic system will have methods for vested interests to inhibit many types of positive change.

[thrance]

Humm sure, I agree with most of what you said.

I want to believe we can have a better economic system, not necessarily capitalistic, maybe one where resource allocation is achieved more democratically.

Capitalism, with all its flaws, was still an improvement over feudalism. I refuse to believe it can't get any better.