non-entity is right, we do not exist in a free market, due to government intervention through regulations.
It's not simply 'some' businesses that are forced to shut down, it's non-essential businesses where the majority of the work cannot be done from home.
It is true that 'some' businesses are still operating, but this has more to do with the industry sector they've chosen to operate in, or lack of physical constraints (if non-essential), than policy based on favoritism or even arbitrariness.
There are always 'privileged elites' benefiting from contemporary market conditions within a capitalist economy. You would have to count a lot of small business owners who work hard in essential industries as privileged elites to justify your statement, which, obviously most small business owners are not elites on this planet.
> would you all be prepared to give up 100% of your wages and live in a communist society until the lockdown has been lifted?
No.
Are you aware of the magnitude of the additional money, resources, and genuine force it would cost to convert our entire society to anything resembling 'Marxism'? There is theory out there that a highly developed and mature capitalist system can gradually ease into socialism, but that if the conversion is attempted before the system is ready, there will absolutely be bloody revolution. In your scenario, how will the government force every individual and business to give all of their profits up? By force, presumably.
As an aside, there are many conceivable 'flavors' of socialism, each with their own themes and attributes. Most of them do not need to be filed under 'Marx'.
It's not simply 'some' businesses that are forced to shut down, it's non-essential businesses where the majority of the work cannot be done from home.
It is true that 'some' businesses are still operating, but this has more to do with the industry sector they've chosen to operate in, or lack of physical constraints (if non-essential), than policy based on favoritism or even arbitrariness.
There are always 'privileged elites' benefiting from contemporary market conditions within a capitalist economy. You would have to count a lot of small business owners who work hard in essential industries as privileged elites to justify your statement, which, obviously most small business owners are not elites on this planet.
> would you all be prepared to give up 100% of your wages and live in a communist society until the lockdown has been lifted?
No.
Are you aware of the magnitude of the additional money, resources, and genuine force it would cost to convert our entire society to anything resembling 'Marxism'? There is theory out there that a highly developed and mature capitalist system can gradually ease into socialism, but that if the conversion is attempted before the system is ready, there will absolutely be bloody revolution. In your scenario, how will the government force every individual and business to give all of their profits up? By force, presumably.
As an aside, there are many conceivable 'flavors' of socialism, each with their own themes and attributes. Most of them do not need to be filed under 'Marx'.
Hope this helps.
Edit: a word