Breaking down the definition of the word capitalism and exploring the perversion of the word in America and around the world.
Why write this?
Political Correctness has pushed us so far out of the realm of honest conversations that so many people are scared to talk openly about anything that might offend anyone around them.
Not only am I hoping to start a discussion here, I am trying to start an all out war on the battlefield of ideas over the political incorrectness of being politically correct. That being said, read along, challenge what you know and let’s talk it out in the comments after we’re done. Get it? Got it? Good!
It’s not that I think you’re stupid…
Unless of course you actually do think capitalism sucks. In that case I would ask you to kindly pack your shit and head off to Europe, China or anywhere other than America really.
Maybe you would be happier in North Korea or some other tyrannical state. I hear the soviets are making a comeback! And before you say anything about how great Canada is, I direct you back to my “pack your shit” statement a few sentences back.
No one is keeping you here! If you think they do it better somewhere else then by all means, be gone! Just saying.
Now, before we get into the ideological debate behind the bastardization of the word capitalism, let’s understand the origin and root of the word.
The definition:
We will start out with a few generalizations about the word capitalism, I’ll explain why it really is that simple and the tell you why people who think capitalism sucks are really just plain stupid.
What is capitalism?
/cap-i-tal-ism/
noun:
An economic and political system in which a country’s trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit.
Wikipedia
Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of capital goods and the means of production, with the creation of goods and services for profit.
Neither of these definitions tells us a whole lot about capitalism at its core so let’s dive a little deeper.
What is a capitalist?
cap-i-tal-ist
Noun:
A wealthy person (apparently you have to already be wealthy in order to capitalize on anything) who uses money to invest in a trade and industry for profit in accordance with the principles of capitalism. (We’re starting to see the skew already)
Wikipedia
Wikipedia actually redirected me to the definition of capitalism that I listed before where I quickly ended up on a page about Karl Marx’s critique of political economy and his views on the capitalist mode of production.
This is where I start to get frustrated
Lets look at one more definition (capitalize) before I get started explaining why we need to be careful of how we let people redefine words and the context in which we use them.
What does it mean to capitalize?
Google:
Cap-i-tal-ize
Verb:
1: Taking the chance to gain advantage from.
2: Provide (a company or industry) with capital. For this article I will ignore this definition as it relates to the funding of businesses and the capital (money) used to start and fund business ventures.
Let’s use a little common sense
If I am capitalizing on a situation, I am simply using that situation to my benefit. Where we pervert the game is in the governance and regulation of capital and industry. When we begin picking and choosing winners and losers.
Which is really part of why it bothers me when people vilify the word capitalist or capitalism. Furthermore, the system of capitalism has served to push forward technology and innovation and has free’d more people from the clutches of poverty than any other system before it.
If you think about it, the person who tells you that capitalism is bad is actually trying to capitalize on your intellectual ignorance and sway you into thinking that their definition is the one you should believe.
As if capitalizing on a low information audience is any different than a dishonest business capitalizing on an uninformed buyer.
This is not to say that people do not capitalize on the stupidity of others (it happens all the time), but since when does motive determine the definition of a word?
A politician might capitalize on his opponents weakness or mistakes just as easily as a business might capitalize on an opportunity stemming from a failed competitor or by taking advantage of an opening in the market for a new product.
A salesperson might capitalize on the stupidity of a naive car buyer, but is it not the responsibility of the consumer to also protect themselves? Is the world around us not always some battle which requires survival. It used to be jungles and wildlife, but now it is the wild world of consumerism and advertising which vies for our lives and souls. So yes, the salesman is sleazy for trying to take advantage of you, but you are naive to think that the salesperson would operate with anything other than their best interest in mind.
You see, we are all born with the natural instinct to take advantage of the situations that present themselves to us through the course of our lives. Whether it be for advancement financially, personally or intellectually.
Someone with a full-ride scholarship might be capitalizing on a lot of hard work leading up to receiving that scholarship. Just like an entrepreneur who makes it big by capitalizing on the years of hard work and struggles they put in before taking their company to the next level. Neither of which makes that person evil. In fact, it makes them smart, and we should applaud a system which rewards hard work and dedication.
We should applaud and protect a system that allows individuals to go out and create value in the world. But more importantly, a system that allows people to own the fruits of their labor. This is why capitalism is so important. Because in a capitalist system, the government protects the individual’s right to ownership of property. A fundamental tenet of a free society.
Humans are prone to greed
Generalizing all capitalists as bad would be like saying all Catholic priests are child molesters.
Whether in business, government, religion or life in general, people are prone to failure and greed, which eventually leads to an abuse of power.
That being said, assuming that all capitalist are bad and that they are all trying to get to the top solely by taking advantage of others is narrow minded, ignorant and impractical. The economy is not a zero sum game. It can expand and grow as new innovations are introduced to the market which means many people can succeed without others having to fail.
If you think business people and “capitalists” are bad people, then you should be willing to admit that people in general are bad, therefore the people that would teach you to hate a capitalist are also bad.
Isn’t your effort to convince me that capitalism is bad an attempt to capitalize on my ignorance on the true understanding of the word? Isn’t your effort to vilify the producers just an attempt to try and steal something you have not yet earned? What system would you suggest in its place? How should we treat the people and money of a country in order to produce a better outcome than what we are working towards today in America?
Let’s examine a few alternatives:
We already defined capitalism, so let’s look at some of the other “ism’s” that people might look to replace it with.
Socialism
We could just give everyone the things they need. You know, take from the rich and give to the poor and all that shit. Some might say that we are already living in a form of socialism now as we have welfare systems and social safety nets of which more than 50% of our population participate in. And on paper, it sounds like a great idea to just give people their basic subsistence, but in practice, it never works.
This is not to dispel the idea of a Universal Basic Income, which I actually support at some level but will discuss in a future article.
In a socialist world, there would be no accumulation of capital (wealth) and equality would abound! But the truth is that socialism has been tried (without success), time and time again, and you cannot guarantee an equal outcome for any large group of the earth’s population at any given time. What you can do is provide equal opportunity at success, which is really why America was so successful as an experiment in the first place.
That being said, I think everyone considers socialism to be a viable solution at one point in their intellectual evolution. Typically before they acquire any fundamental understanding of economics and free markets at scale. Don’t believe me? Just go ask someone on the street to share their hard earned paycheck with you. It likely won’t happen. But ask the same person for advice on how you should spend your money, and they will surely give it.
The truth is that at some point, the producers will quit producing and the entire system will collapse. Without compensation that is commensurate to the efforts, people eventually quit trying to produce and soon there are no goods or services (or anything else for that matter) to redistribute amongst the people.
Communism
After socialism comes communism which is really just a natural progression of state controlled means of production and equal distribution of capital. Which never seems to actually get distributed equally funny enough. To each according to their needs, from each according to their abilities. Or some stupid shit like that. What actually ends up happening is that the separation between classes becomes extreme and you eliminate any chance at upward economic mobility.
Eventually you end up with some dictator who thinks they are a god. A self inflated ego who runs around breaking shit like some pissed off toddler who needs a nap. Seriously, Mao, Stalin, Castro, etc. They all ruled over a communist regime which lead to death and despair for millions of people. Yet surprisingly you still see these dumb antifa fucks running around with the hammer and sickle on their flags while criticising the swastika on others. like for some reason the genocide attached to one is acceptable while the other is repugnant. Because obviously, they get to set the rules in every debate.
Communism sucks the life out of its people by propping up a select few who hold all the power. Eventually a communist society devolves into mediocrity and tyranny. Completely divided into have and have not while espousing equality for all. No middle class, no ability to separate yourself or change your station in life.
Fascism
At least with socialism and communism you get a cursory effort to provide for the people. With Fascism, all you get is fucked. Essentially this is a complete dictatorial control of a country and their entire economic system.
Think Hitler and Mussolini here.
Another key problem with Fascism is the propensity for violence. In a Fascist system, there can be no dissent or second party. Often, Fascist dictators rule through the threat of military violence, and through the subjugation of their people. Yet even in these corrupt systems, enterprising and conniving business owners will find ways to snuggle up to the people of power in order to earn favors and to gain an advantage in the market.
Back to capitalism
There are many more political and economic philosophies for you to explore than the three I listed above. These are just the most commonly referenced and have all been tried in some form or another in the last century. I encourage you to learn more about each of them and understand their history, their implementation in the past, as well as their strengths and weaknesses as political and economic theories. In that effort you will find that none of those systems can hold a candle to capitalism in its power to change the lives of those who play by its rules.
I will once again point out the propensity for human corruption and highlight the fact that regardless of the system, there will likely be iniquity amongst the people. This is primarily due to the fact that we are all different, have different motivations, interests, pursuits, etc. Not because the economic system in which we live is somehow designed to hold us back.
What I am trying to point out is that capitalism gives the average person (you and I) the best opportunity to carve our own path, to follow our own dreams and be rewarded according to our individual efforts in doing so. It is why America, has surpassed the rest of the world in innovation to this point, and why we were able to come so far in this country while others stagnate for centuries.
America’s perverted versions of progress?
This article is not intended to be a defense of American Capitalism in its current state. I believe we have made –and continue to make– major mistakes in our economic and political behavior as a country. We’ve been printing money like it’s going out of style, and although we since stopped, we’ve yet to feel the effects of that increase in our monetary supply. Furthermore, look at the amount of money we let influence the decision making of the people we send to represent us in Washington.
We have completely bastardized the idea of a free and open market, and to pretend otherwise is intellectually dishonest.
The problem is that America is no longer a purely capitalist society. We have evolved into a corporate oligarchy. A system where corporate money pulls the strings of all of the puppets in Washington. A system where the government itself is just a paid extension of the corporate crony machinery. A structure that has created greatness over the years, but one which is also now killing itself by suffocating the people who support it.
A truly capitalist society would strive to provide a level playing field so that its citizenry can compete freely. It would protect our ability to innovate and take risks on new ventures. Not seek to limit or diminish our potential for success. This is where regulators seek to find balance.
But instead we find our government striving to pick the winners and losers. Making investments or restricting industries in ways where the long term results cannot be predicted. And to write off that lack in leadership as a failure in a basic economic system is why I can plainly call you stupid for not understanding the nuance. At the very least it makes you ignorant and naive to the real problems we face as a society.
So where do we go from here?
Would you rather have a dictator telling you what to do? A monarch? A tyrant? An out of control government? Wait, we might already have that one…
But seriously. Tell me when the other systems have ever worked? I’m waiting…
When has a nation ever given up their individual freedom and ended up better off because of it?
Actually, I could argue that we are moving away from the ideas of free market capitalism and fair competition, and moving towards a systematically skewed system of social equality in name only. Instead of working to protect equal opportunity and a fair shot at the pursuit of happiness, we are working to ensure equal outcomes on paper at the expense of freedom for all in practice.
Furthermore, we have seen time and time again that the road towards socialism, communism, or any economic model other than capitalism for that matter, inevitably lead to mass oppression, a military style police state, and total control of the people and ideas which might otherwise power a free society.
So if you ask me, I’d prefer to put my trust in the people and in the market itself. I would rather see more competition, more innovation, and less government interference. I would like to see less influence from the corporate elite in the lives of the average American, and more opportunity for each of us to pave our own path.
Because I would rather be in control of my own destiny –for better or worse– as opposed to surrendering control to someone who has never met me, yet somehow thinks they can make my decisions better than I can make them for myself.
I would rather be in control of my own fate. To be in control of my ability to not only fail, but to succeed beyond all of my wildest dreams.
And I’ll take that every day as opposed to putting my faith in a state controlled corporate machine.
In closing
America was –and still is– the most amazing place to live in the world. There is a reason people risk their lives trying to get here in order to escape their oppressive regimes.
We are what we are because we’ve allowed people to realize the benefits of risk and reward. Have we messed up along the way? Yes. Have we gotten it mostly right? You better fucking believe it.
And if we find a way to correct that path, as opposed to looking for ways to turn from it, then there is no limit to what we can accomplish. But, if we continue restricting capitalism as a principle and vilifying the producers of this nation, then we will ultimately drag the entire country down with them.
Imagine a teacher telling the “A” students to not try so hard because they were making the “D” students look bad instead of finding ways to bring the “D” students up a level or two. It’s a little simplistic but it is in essence what we are encouraging people to do by pretending that some other system might serve us better.
We must stop telling people that success and profit are evil. But we must also not teach them that profit is everything that matters. We must teach people to be accountable for their thoughts and behaviors. Teach them how to go out into the world and create value for themselves and others. Teach them to reinvest their intellectual capital in themselves in order to advance their own agenda as opposed to walking around blindly advancing someone else’s.
Because I personally hate the thought of being anything other than exceptional. I hate the idea of striving for just good enough.
So, what do you say? How about we go capitalize on everything that makes humanity great and remember that we are after all, just people. Let’s remember that the slave masters keep the slaves uneducated for a reason. And let’s all set the shackles of societal stupidity aside and go build something beautiful.
The article is pretty simple and straightforward, liked it!
I also loved the angry comments, I think that a lot of statists Americans needs to look a little a bit around the world, especially in South America, and check what national socialism, democratic socialism, and pseudo fascism has been done, the deep poverty, the abuse to individual rights, the corruption, well, numbers speaks for themselves.
Read somewhere up there that some people still think that nordic countries are social democrats.. considering them as opposed to capitalism.. my god, the most economically liberal countries in the world called socialist, I don’t know if it’s ignorance or you guys really live into a bubble.
Having public services doesn’t mean that you are socialist, having universal healthcare doesn’t make you socialist, having social security doesn’t make your economy a socialist economy… Nordic countries are rich, capitalist countries, top tens in all economic liberty and free-market lists, and that money is what supports their big states (for now)
My theory is that people that feel weak or marginalized, will always tend to statism or will be collectivist, they will want to be given, not to earn. Will want to be governed and feel that having a leader is the way to go, having authority to tell them what to do, how to do it, what to spend, etc etc.
People that feel capable and complete will always tend to compete, will trust their capacity, and move along, will want to be free. It’s pretty logical if you think about it! I have been on both sides, coming from a shitty 3rd world country, thinking that I had born to be poor and that if I don’t accept that, I’m a greedy moron with airs..
The thing is, you live in fucking America, wake up assholes, you think you are having a hard time there? your country, your state, that one you adore, spend 50 years fighting communism, causing wars all over the world, intervening with south American democracies causing thousands of deaths indirectly because of condor plan, and now you want to move to socialism? my god.. fucking bastards.
You guys are PRIVILEGED, don’t have any idea how it is to work your entire life just for eating, without the chance of having your own company, your savings, because your money worth shit and you are not allowed to use any other currency, with public but pathetic education, lower rates in the entire world together with Africa, and public but pathetic health care.
Well if anything, this article made me even more anti-capitalist. I have a few questions for you.
In what world where a system that promotes competition and infighting and rewards greed be an ideal system?
In what world would it be good to even have losers? Would you not prefer a world where everyone is a winner?
In what world would scammers, fraudsters, and other people who prey on the uninformed be a good thing?
In what world where screwing up and being left to die be celebrated?
In what world is inequality celebrated as a good thing?
If you genuinely believe that inequality, leaving people to die because they made some mistakes, and taking advantage of others is a good thing, you are a psychopath. You are defending an animalistic and cannibalistic system that freely lets people die on the streets, that freely lets families starve, and leaves people in crushing debt. We can do better than this. We are HUMANS, not animals for Christ’s sake. We don’t let each other die – we’re much more civilized than that. Capitalism is a predatory system that has long outlived its usefulness. The only alternatives are some form of socialism.
“…communism which is really just a natural progression of state controlled means of production and equal distribution of capital…. Or some stupid shit like that.”
This is literally not the definition of communism – communism is defined as a ‘stateless’ society.
“Or some stupid shit like that.” really just means that you literally have’t looked up the definition of communism. How do you expect people to take this seriously if you don’t know the basic definitions?
Yes, forced competition over the waste of finite natural resources solely to maximize corporate profits is just swell.
Whilst I agree communism was never implemented right and few people enjoyed living inder it capitalism has shown its failure to help sustain a quality of life for Western countries. It did help lift millions out of poverty but as we now see the pandemic has shown how inefficient it is and it will now only push into poverty the very same people it initially helped. There must be a better way eg Norway to implement better safety nets for people. Why must be suffer and starve and be homeless when we do have enough shelter and food (supermarkets refuse to donate expired items or even those slightly affected to the poor). I am sick of this and no one is questioning our current system. How can I sit around sorrounded by people in poverty and think to myself “capitalism is the only true great system”? Do we want to end up living in slums with one skyscraper for the rich in the middle? Because this is wjere we are heading
If you really don’t see what late stage, shit-ass capitalism has done to our environment, equity or our humanity, you may be a fucking idiot. Or just another POS shill. GFY
What a joke.
I’m assuming you’re the same one who commented “You’re delusional” to the one guy. But in reality Emily, you gotta earn your own shit. You think you should just bag groceries and make around the same amount as someone that programmed that social media app, that you can’t stop yourself from using? gofuccself
I know right what is this?
Communist and anti capitalism is not a joke, it’s deatholl is very real
Capitalism is stupid… Stupid.
So capitalism the only working system that has not resulted in genocide is “Stupid” but the idealogy with a 4x higher deatholl than Hitler (No Norway, Denmark Ect are not socialist countries they are capitalist marketed ones) are what then? “Genuine”
Mass genocide is “Smart” genocide to you?
for the record, i’m critical of capitalism. obviously being a “capitalist” doesn’t make you a bad person. to imply that critics of capitalism, or anti-capitalists, assume that merely being pro-capitalism is some indication of moral error, would be a mischaracterization. the problem with capitalism is not that it’s evil. genuine critics of capitalism aren’t concerned with moral posturing, but rather with what appears to them to be irresolvable contradictions embedded in logic of capitalism itself, which has inevitable catastrophic consequences in the real world, whether or not those of us fortunate enough to live in the more developed nations are personally confronted with them or are able to understand their root cause. we anti-capitalists, wrong though our calculations may be, are of sound mind. and like many others, be they capitalists or not, our hearts are in the right place.
It makes you a in human being that lacks epathy and care towards others that less fortunate then you. So no offense dumbass go get a brain look outside and tell me that again you captalist are why poverty exist if you were not a fucking rretard you could figure it out but hey sucks being a idiot too stupid to get his head out of his ass.
Please take a class on grammar before you start calling others stupid.
Do not waste our time on these idiots none of your business they lack ability to see truth lack intellectual ability to. I there for those hate capitalism see what’s its done to America. The real americans are us that see this system as evil and corrupt.
I came here with an open mind. Figured someone outright calling me an idiot would set me straight. Such confidence and conviction in their understanding. I found myself trying to make sense of incoherent ideas of what someone thinks capatlism actually means.
I can set you on the right track, though. I know it is embarrassing when you call everyone an idiot and it turn out to be you.
Answer this. Can capitalism work without most being employees? If no, the bottom must be oppressed with just enough to get by. Does a middle class need to exist when everything is a corporation? If no, then welcome to the future of slavery. I guess I’d you want to see real capatlism, look to the boomers. That was the last generations to have a fair middle class. Once corporations take the middle class. The only thing that makes sense is slavery. Near impossible to rise from poverty. Living paycheck to paycheck. Doing all the work for some rich families that decided they own you. Oh, and this was possible thanks to capatlism. Fucking great system, bud..
This is dumbest fucking article I’ve ever read in my life. You sir, are an arrogant piece of shit.
right, absolutely nothing of substance
Capitalism is ideal “in theory”.
The problem is you get
1. Monopolies; this is bad for everyone for obvious reasons.
2. Insurance companies. Sure they can provide a sense of “security”, but most of them just take your money and try to deny legitimate claims, which makes it an overall drain on the economy and a huge hassle for the consumer….which leads me to
3. Health insurance. Healthcare was reasonably priced when doctors and physicians didn’t have to go through insurance companies. Now that they do, everything in 2 applies here, except it’s worse because it’s a necessity. The prices have been jacked up so much that you can’t reasonably pay for basic healthcare without having insurance…
4. Loans for liabilities. This is how the rich really screw the poor. They give you a loan for that car or your house and make you pay extra for everything, while they rack in those nice interest payments. Now if this was for a business or something the rich were actually taking a risk at loss for, then it would at least be in the spirit of capitalism. But it’s just rigging the system against the poor.
5. Renting. What better way to keep the poor at the bottom then to take a huge chunk of their paycheck every month, then get tax breaks on “depreciation”, so you can buy and invest in more property and charge more people for things, while the poor can’t afford to invest. Then when you decide to sell all your “property”, you can even make money on the every-increasing price of property because the poor get suckered into point 4 above.
6. Businesses are motivated to pay the lowest wages possible, while getting the most work out of a worker, no matter how much profit that employee brings to the business. And businesses are also motivated to fire workers when it suits them, whether the employee has made the company a lot of money or not. This is plainly exploitative and not in the spirit of capitalism at all. And yes, anyone can buy “stock” in a company, but most stocks don’t even pay dividends anymore and it doesn’t solve the problem of not being motivated to pay employees for their actual worth.
As someone who has lived in both a communist and capitalist country, it’s clear that capitalism incentivizes people to work harder and actually provides value in exchange for your work. I owe everything I have today to capitalist america, and I am blessed to be here. If I was still in my home country, I would still be going to bed hungry while a quarter of the working population was unemployed.
Capitalism provides opportunity for everyone (while the already-rich do have an advantage), unlike communism which provides opportunity only for the already elite class, if you were not born into the elite class, you’re fucked.
America is NOT a meritocracy
Hell yeah brother! Listen to this guy! Coming from a communist country, he knows what he’s talkin about. Welcome to America my friend, glad to have you here.
Capitalism is just another word. Forget that word. Because you basically have a bunch of greedy people who are conjuring up ways to rob others to move more towards them and less for others. Somebody has to live in poverty or endless struggle in order to keep wealthy people in wealth. And that alone is why its wrong.
What needs to happen is for all wealth to melt down across the board. So that everyone has an equal chance to have a comfortable life without hourding or deprivation. Nobody needs a Lamborghini. Nobody needs a mansion. That’s what’s wrong with the world. Rich people spend decades building norms based on lies to create unhealthy ambitions to mislead others into doing their bidding. ie celebs. Someday the world will learn once things get had enough. Its clear that the current generation is going to learn some hard lessons. Because wisdom is becoming less apparent than it was in the past. Capitalism doesnt create happiness. It only attempts to satisfy the greedy. But the greedy are never satisfied. They lie, cheat, steal, or even kill for it.
Why shouldn’t you be able to have a mansion or Lamborghini? Are you seriously going to limit the wealth people can have, such that they can’t afford luxuries, or set their mind to own something that’s really nice?
Capitalism has lifted billions out of poverty, and resulted in the biggest increase in standard of living in history. Socialism has never worked.
Yeah, you’re being delusional.
Your delusion was debunked emily
This idea that someone has to live in poverty for another to be wealthy? No, I don’t see that as being so. A company makes money selling a product people want. The people buy it and are happy with the product, and the company makes their profit. Are you referring to employees not being paid enough that work for the companies? It depends on the workers role. Are they simply pulling a lever on a machine? Won’t pay as much as an electrical engineer designing complex circuits etc for the company. This I consider fair really. Again, I can’t see that capitalism is a someone has to lose for someone to win type situation.
I… don’t know where to start with this. Your whole argument is incredibly flawed. The communism as practiced in the USSR and China were not idealistic forms of communism as explored by Marx, just as the capitalism pursued in the USA is not the ideal form of capitalism, a fact that you acknowledged. Therefore, to talk about capitalism in the abstract and ideal while referring to communism as shown in reality is a double standard and you cannot compare the two. It completely subverts the argument.
I would also like to know wth you think is going to happen to capitalism as automation increases to the point that many workers become superfluous, hence losing their value in society. I don’t think capitalism can deal with that, although I’m no expert.
(Also, the flag thing? dumb comment bro, the hammer and sickle refers to communism as a economic system which is not intrinsically a negative concept. The swastika is a direct referral to Nazism, which involves an ideology including but not limited to white nationalism, eugenics, and mass genocide. Just sounds like you didn’t think that one out.)
Genocide is not directly apart of Nazism/Facism either it was just what they decided to do while under that regime.
Yet using your own logic, That swastikas refer directly to that, So the hammer and sickle does directly refer to mass genocide even if communism isn’t “Real communism” it’s association refers to maosim, genocide starvation, and black supremacy.
What they posted here is a fact not an argument. You debunked your own comment. Seems you didn’t think it through..
hahahahaha this is so ignorant and arrogant, it makes me laugh.
The whole world knows what USA stands for: Uneducated Stupid Assholes.
Apologies to conscious 1% of Americans.
Capitalism>everything else so stop
These “Stupid uneducated assholes” remain the most developed in the world.
This BUFFOON is nothing more than a corporate and Lobbyist shill.
Anyone who tries to extol the virtues of the DESTRUCTION of the middle classes, through the ENTIRELY one-sided greed of Capitalism, is nothing more than a willfully ignorant, native, traitorous, bought-and-paid-for, low information imbecile. He’s probably a Trust-Fund baby, as well.
Anyone who’s had to work for a living has seen the destructive effects (and AFFECTS) of his beloved “Free Market Economy”, which favors the wealthiest 5%, and NO ONE else.
What did corporations do with the $$BILLIONS GIVEN TO THEM THROUGH THE TRUMP TAX SCAM??
They didn’t reinvest in America. They didn’t expand and create REAL jobs.
They engaged in STOCK BUYBACKS, which were ILLEGAL as recently as 1981!!! The “good jobs” they created were $10 an hour BULLSHIT jobs with little to NO benefits, while OUTSOURCING DECENT JOBS to 3rd World countries (or shitholes, as his hero and role model called them) for pennies on the dollar.
Democratic Socialism is the ONLY system that will bring the middle classes, and AMERICA, back to a COLLECTIVE SUCCESS, while corporations will have to settle for EXCELLENT R.O.I.’s, instead of quarterly RECORD increases.
Record increases should be JUST THAT…ANOMALIES and NOT a regular expectation.
This nonsense is nothing but typical greed talking.
This naive, silver-spoon fed voice of the wealthiest will ASSUREDLY confuse Democratic Socialism with Communism, because he clearly DOESN’T think for himself.
Here’s what he can do… RENOUNCE his claims to Social Security and Medicare to strike a blow against that DREADED SOCIALISM!!
Never mind those programs are as SOCIALIST as ANY ON THE PLANET.
THIS vapid, gullible, mindless follower can leave this country, because REAL Americans DESERVE BETTER…and NOT THE SCRAPS that fall to the floor from the tables of the wealthiest 5%.
Wake up and GROW up.
Last, it’s pretty clear that this fool MUST be a Trumpecile.
Bon Voyage, Herr Wannabe Dictator who has NO KNOWLEDGE of what REAL Americans demand.
You can go straight to HELL with your DISINFORMATIONAL garbage.
The title of this piece is painfully ironic and should be embarrassing to any reasonably educated person. But off course: if one were reasonably educated, one wouldn’t have written it in the first place. It is filled with ignorance and blindness to problems created by capitalistic mechanisms which thankfully have mostly been pointed out by others already.
When did I say there was no possibility of those things inside of a capitalist system? And we do not live in a truly capitalistic society. More of a corporate oligarchy. So I would agree with you that corporate control has become overwhelming, but the solution is to knock them back a notch, not scale the government to match their size. We must put more power in the hands of the people and shrink the role of government and large corporations in our lives.
Ahh! Dude! Now your beginning to understand. There is nothing wrong with Capitalism per se. And you know what? Mixed with a bit of Socialism its even better. For everyone. Like Gene Simmons said, “I don’t care what country you are from…it PALES in comparison to America”. That may be true. With an attitude such as this, it’s no wonder the rest of the world feels at least some measure of resentment. America and capitalism is in my opinion about as good as it gets. There is no perfect system. The systems are not the problem. Human nature is the problem. It has not changed since the dawn of civilization…it all boils down to greed.
Hahaha! You say on your site you have a “unique” perspective. I heard a dumbass, racist, red neck spewing the same rhetoric last week. You’re just as dumb as socialists and commies. Humans, as a species, are akin to cancer, parasites, and viruses. We don’t do anything positive. Existence in general sucks anyway seeing as it’s built upon selfishness and whether it’s explained as darwinism or a dumbass god feeling lonely wanting subjects to torture. People like you and others who choose sides are the biggest problem. You get caught up in your cognitive dissonance and can’t see any other way. Then, others have to suffer from your mistakes. You are far from a progressive, free thinker, or open minded. You are just like the SJWs and snowflakes you hate. You have zero concept of objectivity or quantitative thinking. ALL forms of government and commerce end up with the people willing to exploit others on top and everyone else fighting for scraps. The only way for a strong humanity is eugenics. All the trash needs to go. Only dark skinned, rh negative, high IQ people need to breed. Everyone else serves no other purpose but to make the intelligent miserable. Dark skin is the dominant trait in humans and doesn’t burn in the sun. Rh- people tend to be more intelligent than their rhesus monkey sub human counterparts. Low melanin is a damaged mutation and makes the species weaker as a whole (unless you live on one of the poles). This is fact, not opinion. I don’t make the rules, I just observe them. It’s also not racist seeing as we are the human race and Neanderthals (a different race) are extinct. If you have low melanin, not my problem that you’re mutated scum that has only been around a few thousand years compared to dominant melanin genes. I’d follow a dictator if their agenda was the truth. The truth is the only important thing in existence. Humans don’t need to leave the planet unless we somehow learn respect. We’ll just go to other planets and suck the jizz right out of them until they’re toxic balls of crust. I hope I live long enough to see our extinction. Now, if I could convince everyone on the planet to off themselves…Most would think I was telling them to masturbate. What I’d give to see everyone’s face at the end… Doesn’t matter whose left or right if you’re both docking weiners.
I see its old date.. maby you should read some science around this.. like Piketty’s book Capital in the Twenty-First Century.. you see that all this if failing and with this trend this ends again in tears and wain of class struggle war.. this time all around the globe.. about marx work you know absolutely nothing.. in short.. what he wrote was about how to try to change the value of labor on revenue/capital… and with time his words come true more and more.. his solution was not that perfect.. even thou he presented not the final solution how to.. and with this those communists started.. and asyou wrote it ended in disaster.. greed is inherent.. the system should guide this.. the capitalism is the longest system here.. and it failed over and over a will again.. now the new capital feudals, plutocracy is like the feudalism in the past.. history knows what happens again.. not a nice result..
capitalism is why thousands of people are homeless losing their jobs and why there is still raciest bigots like yourself in this world. The world would be better off without capitalism and people who support it because our economy would be better house market would improve and also our stock markets. Capitalism is the devils son and should be abolished and anyone who supports it thrown and lock up in a insane asylum because you people are seriously crazy and brainless. Greed and corruption is happening every day thanks to capitalism and if you cannot figure that out your deserve to be put in fiery brimstone along with pedophiles and perverts it like saying I love Satan because you do if you support capitalism you might as well sleep with him too. People like you disgust me and make me want to throw up on you your disgust me you sick perverted bastard and I hope you burn in hell.
I live in a “socialist” Western country where nothing has been handed out as freely to all non-workers as benefits, or tax-money, and where no market entity is larger than government, which also exists off tax-money, and still are an increasing no of ppl ill and homeless each year while nothing is growing faster than (relative) child poverty. In capitalism, the priority is business, assets and production (aka “the national capital”), but no Western country has ever had that as its priority nor is any Western country having that as a priority bcz Westerners are colonialists and not capitalists. Instead, you Westerners have a bunch of parasites causing hundreds of trillions of usd in biological damages each year in order to make 100 million of usd to put in their personal pockets and squander on shoes, suits, watches, cars, etc., for themselves, and everybody is 100% fine with that bcz “look at those ‘rich’, ‘fancy’ ppl – I wish I were like them”. It’s your own fault that you’re drowning in poverty and not surviving well at all as a species.
Lol. And you are wrong Douglas and you don’t know what you’re talking about. Yet you’re posting this from your electronic device that you got because of Capitalism. The only brainless dolts here are you Douglas. You don’t know what you’re talking about and should just shut up already and move to one of those countries like what the author said. Get out of here with your crap Douglas. The world would not be better off without Capitalism and is just a crap line said by nitwits like you Douglas. Capitalism has done more for the country than any other ideology and it’s obvious you’re just being rather stupid and don’t know anything. You are the one who is crazy and brainless and always will be. Such a nitwit. People like you Douglas are why Planned Parenthood exists and why people like you need to be sterilized. So much crap from bozos like you. So little time.
So why haven’t you moved?
I wish we were neighbors. All these selfish people who love this system are the ones who are benefiting from it, so therefore it is wonderful to them. They have no heart, conscience or soul. just a bunch of whores who use money to control, do and take what they want. The whore of Babylon has risen.
Actually….it’s communism that is perverted.
It is worker owned capital. You work, you own. You work better, you work more, you own more. There need be no state allocations of “ownership” beyond what can actually be produced nor does the agency involved need to be different from standard “capitalist” policies outside of the allocation of ownership according to work capacity paradigm. Also, there is not a way to allocate ownership without state agencies unless people are to simply claim territory and hold it by their own force. As such, capitalism will necessarily always require an entity to determine the “proper” ownership of things as always occurs in every society ever. And as usual, the richest will have a strong tendency to capture those agencies without a hard rule limiting ownership to production capacity.
Yes yes, I know. It would be absolutely horrible for a common worker to own their own work and own a proportion of the facility according to their personal productive capacity with no profits being extracted by non-working third parties.
I am beginning to suspect that all historical conflict over these manners are managed conflicts with controlled scripts designed to effect an outcome favoring rule by the richest. I have only met one person who actually understood the meaning of “worker owned capital.” An example of this is how statism necessarily excludes non-state control thereby obfuscating the reality of rich people being the defacto gubmint in unregulated capitalism. You see, a properly constructed concept of “statism” would say, “a political system in which substantial centralized control over social and economic affairs has become dominant….so in reality oligarchy is as statist as fascism and hardly distinguishable when you reduce the amount of obfuscating word play.
If so-called pure unfettered capitalism ever came to be it would be a neck slitting price war to the bottom as people cheated to annihilate their competition & then form barrier moats to entry. It would be even more of a nightmare.
I’d happily leave for another country, but unfortunately it’s pretty near impossible to get rid of your US citizenship. Look it up.
I agree with the person you didn’t, which means I am on his side. Screw capitalism. The Muslims, Chinese and Russians have already taken over this country and there is nothing you can do about it. Broke ass America.
fuck you
hahah was scrolling all the way down, what an effort just to let you know you are idiot!
so are you pig.
See who will have the last laugh when socialism comes in and it will old farts
What I don’t approve of capitalism is now instead of innovation they resort to scamming and dimming you. Sometime between Bush and Obama the ultra rich have decided you don’t deserve to own private property so have killed anything that has allowed it by making it seem technology has evolved but what it really is they are herding you into a slave camp where are spied on.
The preppers are right in a way that we could all be sent to FEMA camps but don’t realize it’s electronic ones in the guise of capitalism. They feared this socialism stuff and thought police would break down doors to take guns (which at times threatened to happen) but I think that was a PSYOP to keep us distracted while the cloud was being introduced to suck us all in.
Well actually I still am using my desktop and won’t give it up for a phone no matter how the industry throws a tantrum. You all look like 6 year olds doing so. You call that progressive? I call it REgressive as the name of the party it stands for. I’d rather get a throw a way laptop before I sign up for monthly subscriptions thru the nose.
Smartphones may seem cheaper out front compared to a computer but you are paying for every little thing. Good luck doing stuff for free. Most apps are broken with negative reviews.
I don’t even know where to begin to criticize this article. Calling it article is better than it deserves. The rambling of someone without any knowledge whatsoever is more correct.
Also for your information, socialism work. Most nations who are considered the best places to live on this planet are in fact socialistic nations, not capitalistic ones. One example would be the nordic nations: Norway, Sweden etc.
I have too little time to debate with someone who are set in their ways and not going to change no matter the arguments facing them.
So i am just going to be childish and say “Fuck you capitalist swine, we will bury you!”
You call other people ignorant but are speaking on my motherlands behalf, like you know it? You are in fact someone that is ignorant.
Sweden and norway are not 100% socialist. We (and other nordic nations) have MIXED economies. I find that we are more capitalist leaning but represent both systems. Why are we not 100% socialist you may ask? because
1.) Sweden loves business, as it is expected in our dynamic world nowadays. Thus, this defies the fact that the nation is socialist, since this fact is not “attached” to socialism.
2.) We count on NATO for different reasons – mostly for security measures.
There are other reasons, but I feel like these are two main ones i find that would be fit in this comment.
And, Sweden never really tested socialism as their main government system, but instead added it’s principles within the structure of capitalism, also called “social interventionism.” Which you can look up.
Scandinavia (obviously including Sweden), does not function with socialism, but with a system of social democracy – the Nordic Model.
There’s a reason why real socialism doesn’t work. And, like the article proved above, it does not work (although i am not agreeing with the entirety of said article), we just use socialist beliefs or morals.. If you ever come to sweden and say such ignorant statements you will be corrected quickly but you are just someone living somewhere else thinking my homeland is a utopia (which it is) because it’s “socialist”. What a donkey.
well said.
Fuck Yeah comrad
Civil war is coming . And you know what side has the guns !!!!!!!! Remember 76% of milatary is on my side too !!!!!!! We will put you fools 6 feet under!!!! To save this country ! !!!!!
> Hitler was a communist
If you’re this historically unaware, I don’t think you’re in a position to be calling anyone “just plain dumb” for their political beliefs.
Chelsea G. M., speaking of “just plain dumb,” maybe it’s time you pick up a history book yourself !! Hitler was NOT a communist. In fact, Hitler HATED communists. Hitler was what we called a FASCIST as was Benito Mussolini !! Why do you think Hitler invaded Russia after signing a pact with Stalin at the onset of WW II ?? May I suggest you LOOK IT UP before you rebut !!
She was referencing the article
Okay, you didn’t give me time to strap myself in. The German National Socialist Party were most definitely not communist or socialist. They were fascist. Do you believe that gluten-free bacon is healthier than bacon that doesn’t have that label? Is Budweiser the king of beers? Is non-gmo corn a thing because it is in the name? I suggest you might profit from doing some research.
This is written by someone immature, probably younger than 30
Close. I was 31 when I wrote it. Still agree with most of it, but it is time for an update. Maybe in the next couple months. Not sure what my age has to do with it though. Care to elaborate?
I don’t know why the writer of the comment exposed the matter of age, but I also noticed that there is a difference between younger and older people on perception about meaning of life – and I am not saying that all older people think alike, but in my experience the majority of elderly i know, are people who are softer and more understanding, which the capitalism just doesn’t seem to me to be. Some people desire stuff, influence and money, and would do anything just to reach the goal, doesn’t matter whether it will have an impact on all of us (environmental catastrophes), as long as they get their money – which isn’t bound to anything tangible anymore anyway, and it was designed to create an eternal debt.
And there are others, who don’t like to live a conniving life, and are just not willing to loose their morals for a job and would work regardless of the money, because we simply enjoy to learn new stuff – but in this scenario, those people wouldn’t be able to survive, because the only way to survive nowadays respectfully is if you have the money. I personally do not like capitalism, because until now, I could only find a job in branches that system supports and wants, otherwise, I could barely earn for food, and it doesn’t matter if I worked even harder and longer as someone who has a “normal” job that capitalism supports. The natural order of survival of the fittest is distorted, since I would surely be held in prison if I were to show my mightiness on the natural way, when meanwhile sadly people who hurt animals and ecosystem rarely are. I don’t like that the people who have power – translate money (fictional status) who actually have the power to change things, don’t want to change them, because of the other “benefits”. If there is no Earth, there are no people, and there is no economy, and we people, at least some of them have empathy, which capitalism is stealing more and more away from us. I would rather live in a world where I would know that most of people are my friends, and there are a few enemies, than in a world where people pretend to be your friends, and stab you in the back when they get the chance.
Fuck capitalism, fuck it’s mindless slaves, fuck this blog, and double fuck the idiot who wrote it.
And when you’ve done unfucking all that stuff……..fuck you.
P.S The old “if you dont like capitalism you can fuck off to North Korea” argument is a bit thin. If thats the best you could lead with, you’ve got fuck all to say so do us all a favour and go live with your greed in a quiet corner somewhere, preferably whilst trying to suck your mcdonalds milkshake through the business end of a shotgun. Thanks.
This might be the best thing I’ve read all week. Thanks for sharing your opinion.
Sincerely,
The idiot who wrote it.
You did say there was no possibility of a police state, slavery, or serfdom in a capitalist system all of which is false. The corporate state is the engine of our tyranny, as it supplies the government and police a the tools they need to tyrannize, and at great profit, and then they tyrannize us economically on behalf of corporate profits by helping to out source work, legislate awful trade deals, etc.
When did I say there was no possibility of those things inside of a capitalist system? And we do not live in a truly capitalistic society. More of a corporate oligarchy. So I would agree with you that corporate control has become overwhelming, but the solution is to knock them back a notch, not scale the government to match their size. We must put more power in the hands of the people and shrink the role of government and large corporations in our lives.
@And you too, Since capitalism is based on FREE markets could you elaborate on your “fuck its mindless slaves” comment? I am a little confused about how people who believe in the concept of freedom and free markets could be slaves. Perhaps you in your infinite wisdom could clear that up for me.
We must remember that we do not live in a society with “free markets”. We live in a corporate oligarchy where prices are controlled by cartels and competition is restricted because technology and information are not ubiquitous.
We are all slaves at some level. To our jobs, to our bank accounts and to the approval of others. We are slaves to the media, to the status quo, and primarily to the ideas that we are invincible.
I am not sure that is how he meant it, but we are all under significant influence from external forces that we rarely take time to notice.
The purest form of capitalism led to feudalism… Capitalism in its purest form always leads to mansions parked next to slums. The U.s. Market is dependent on exploited people in third world sweatshops for cheap goods. youre confusing the U.s. Economy with a free market. It’s not. It’s a mixed economy with a hybrid of capitalism and socialism. If we allowed business to screw over the nation to earn an extra buck they would, and we would look more like the third world nations we exploit than the advanced country we are today.
When one person owns all of the capital that’s called communism. That one person being a group of elites. (Government)
Communism is very capitalistic. It loves capitalism so much they own ALL of the capital!
Not sure I agree with your logic, but I sense some cynical sarcasm, so I’ll roll with it. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
yeah, capitalism works until one person owns it all.
Well….Okay, first things first: Your definition of Fascism is wrong, as well as your definition of Socialism and Communism for that matter. Fascism is a power structure where orders are given at the top and carried down. It is a strong centralized government which nationalizes and has all control of industry. In socialism and communism, the means of production do not go to the government; rather, they are liberated and given to workers so they are no longer exploited by the CAPITALIST class. This is because the overall goal of a socialist society is the eventual end of the state and associate freely in a world without coercion, and capitalism is a coercive system by nature. Anarchists believe there does not need to be a transitional period where the state guides the revolution, and statists do. The U.S.S.R. is not an example of either, because all the socialist institutions (workers councils and the like) were abolished shortly after Lenin took power. Peter Kroptkin’s predictions proved to be right, where he predicted that intellectuals in Russia would lead a revolution to take advantage of the people and bolster their own tyrannical power.
Now, human greed in capitalism is a major factor. For all those CEO’s and corporations whose purpose is one of either good or neutrality, there are many more who operate in incredibly cruel and exploitative ways. For example, the logo you spoofed for this article, coca-cola, hired assassins in Central America when workers attempted to unionize themselves in a bid to try and stop the ramped exploitation which was occurring in the third, perpetrated by multi-national corporations. In fact, this way of behaving seems to be the dominate thought process used by those who have massive amounts of wealth. This accumulation of wealth, or “capital,” is the overall goal of capitalism. What is being capitalized on, more often than not, is human suffering. Because of this, profits are protected above all else. This includes the environment and human lives.
Now, you mention that it gives us the ability to “follow our dreams” and “be rewarded for our individual efforts for doing so.” This seems like a classic the freer the market, the freer the people argument. There is no freedom in capitalism. The market does not always provide what is best, because it focuses on individual consumption. A good analogy used by Noam Chomsky is,”When I want to leave home for work, I have the option of buying a chevy, a ford, a toyota etc. What I do not have however is the option for a subway or public transport which would serve me, the environment, and my fellow man the best.” Not just this, but not everyone has the means to chase their dreams because there are losers in the capitalist system. There are plenty of children born into situations where they truly do not have a chance to chase their dreams. The inequality between a CEO who is making $11 million dollars in bonuses and children who are truly starving in the U.S. and around the world is appalling. Also, we are not rewarded fairly for our “individual efforts in doing so.” We rent ourselves out (our labor) to those higher up in the socio-economic scale, only to not be paid what our labor is truly worth.
Lastly, we do not even have a capitalist system. What we have is a State-Capitalist system, and going by your definition of fascism, it would seem that we are already there. The state (going through organs like the Pentagon) has colluded with businesses to keep profit high and the market as stable and healthy as possible. America has operated this way for a long time. The government gives an outrageous amount of welfare to corporations to protect them from the market. In the realm of business unfettered capitalism is now a joke and never discussed seriously, because the implications would be disastrous. They are afraid to face the market without protection. The only reason capitalism has survived over the years is because of State intervention; without it, the system would implode within 5 minutes. And as far as research and development goes, we as taxpayers have been subsidizing the private sector for a LONG time. Many advancements have either been made through public universities (supported by government funds) or discoveries made within the public sector and then given to the private sector to make a profit on.
Overall, weak arguments for capitalism which are used all-too often.
Just found this article and figured id humor it. Naturally i scroll through the comments and surprise surprise, i find a good comment that, for some mysterious reason, has gone ignored by the author of this article.
This fucking monkey has no business calling anyone an idiot, i doubt he’d even know how to respond to this.
I doubt you’ll see this, but i hope you have a good day, and im totally gonna steal this comment for future use.
dasvidaniya, comrade.
“For example, the logo you spoofed for this article, coca-cola, hired assassins in Central America”
Hmm, I never knew logos could be so dangerous!
Seriously though, the comment is a sound and informative eye-opener, from which the author of this piece would definitely benefit.
One slight correction, or perhaps clarification. In an ideal communist system, the state may not necessarily be abolished, and its retention may not necessarily be as imagined by others: even those think it would become superfluous, sometimes speak of “withering away”. Basically, the state would become unnecessary only by virtue of the fact that people finally understand what it truly means, and consciously become it.
As it stands, you can see people still cannot grasp the concept with many, like the author of this piece, confusing the state with the government (when the state should merely be the people, governed by the government.) and this is a guy keen on definitions, to boot!
humans are prone to greed ? So that’s your reason. Try harder. That’s like saying beacuse a man likes to rape a woman we should satisfy his needs? WHAT A FLAW ARGUMENT.
First, YOUR analogy is poor. Try harder. Rape and greed are two DIFFERENT things. Greed is a motivation, thus cannot be compared to an action, like rape. Pretty basic stuff. You are a perfect example of an self-righteous idiot.
Honestly, I was not even going to justify “LOL’s” comment with a reply, especially since they weren’t even willing to make it under their own name. It seems like anonimity is making the idiots stronger every day.
Anyway…. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
Why is the analogy wrong ? Isn’t rape greed to where you want to molest someone without their permission ? Rape is just another form of greed being manifest in actions !
I think you need to think harder.
I read your article on capitalism. I’ve been meaning to read it for a while now. This is not my critique, this is just my response to your writing.
For my taste, the opening is a bit too harsh. It does not match with the reasonable, diplomatic tone of the rest of the article. The main emotion that I detected throughout the whole thing is joy in sharing an opinion regarding a topic you think is important, enjoyment in educating and ultimately, faith that your audience will understand what you are saying and be moved to action. So, that being said, the intro seems too intense, and even possibly a bit hater-ish.
I like that you start with definition of words that describe concepts you are talking about. As a language nut (colloquial name for a linguist lol), I firmly believe that understanding true meanings of words, which we use not only to communicate but think as well, is half the battle against ignorance. So, I salute that decision!
Personally, I think a distinction between physical capital and metaphysical capital is important. I consider any form of money physical capital, simply because it can be manipulated in the same way you can manipulate a physical object. You can steal money (whether it’s paper or ones and zeros), whereas you cannot steal an emotion, or a thought or anything that human beings generate internally and is of a finer material than matter. You may say that yes, you can definitely steal those things, but that can be a whole other discussion. So, if someone is trying to capitalize on your emotions, you can deny that that. But, if someone tries to capitalize on your possessions, whether it’s time, or money, or your body, you can be put in a situation where you cannot say no. For example, if you don’t pay your property tax, you will go to jail eventually. Not that going to jail equals a death threat, you can still not pay it, but we are talking reasonably here. No one in their right mind, who worked hard enough and/or smart enough to earn a fortune, would choose going to jail over paying what they owe. (Bitch betta have my money!)
I don’t thin capitalism is bad as an idea, but I don’t think socialism is bad as an idea, either. But, there has always been and there always will be a discrepancy between the worlds of ideas and the world as it really is. Even though we as humans still have that lovely dream that our ideas can change this world, and change it for the better, that will remain just a sweet dream, simpply because of the very nature of our world. Of how our world is. See, we always think that this world can and will follow our moral ideals and our romantic projections. But of course it never does, and it never will. If you throw a ball along the inner edge of a deep bowl can you make it follow a square trajectory? No, it will follow the shape of the bowl. For that same reason, human ideas fail over and over again, no matter how perfect they seem on paper (and a lot of them are just beautiful!). Because the place we live in (earth, this universe, our dimension, our history our minds whichever) has its own rules and its own will.
No human has ever beat themselves, their human nature, which bursts with flaws. No one fully did. You invest your best efforts on one side, you neglect something else that then turns out is important. For example, you make an effort and you make an amazing company (like Steve Jobs did with Apple), but then you get a rare deadly form of cancer and you are so helpless and there’s nothing you can do to escape. You will say, but his idea survived, and it survived him and it will survive as many generations as the people who run it are smart. And that’s true. But don’t humans then seem as mere slaves to ideas? As if we are mere worker bees that bring those giants to life, to matter, and they keep on living as the generations of us die? It’s a bit scary. You don’t know whether to accept your role or rebel till sweet death grabs you.
And you ask a bunch of good questions. Would I rather that a dictator tell me what to do? Hell no. Or a tyrant or a monarch? No thank you. But whatever you name that persona – tyrant, autocrat, monarch, king, queen, dictator – they are all just a reflection of one of the biggest human flaws – being human. We can’t resist the lure of power, no matter how idealistic we start. No one would say no to being king, for several reasons. First off, everyone, literally everyone think they are right. And everyone would like to see their idea (whatever it may be) come to life. Even if you say that you would say no to being king, you know that the guy (or girl) next to you wouldn’t say no, and then is it better that you are king, even if you don’t believe in it, than let some dumbass schmuck be it? You know what you would do. Maybe you’ll say that you would become king only to pass laws to change the society to a free one, and what will happen then? The flawed, shortsighted human nature will win again. So many good kings, good leaders were killed when they weren’t playing by the rules of this human world, the rules that have existed for millennia. So many great people, great revolutionaries, great thinkers, great freedom-fighters, great spirits were removed by the lesser ones? The ones who need to cheat because they’re too feeble to run the whole race? The ones who need to use shortcuts because their hearts aren’t strong enough to endure what it takes to be great?
Looking back at history, nothing gives us hope that humans will stop being selfish, and start woking for one another. Because I just realized what our biggest flaw is. Shortsightedness. We are too shortsighted to see that only by being together and working together with love and respect for each other we could make this a perfect world. We have that potential. This could be paradise, as one of my favs of all time Freddie Mercury of Queen said. But we are too shortsighted. We can’t see beyond our noses, and then we start to panic. And the survival of the fittest begins. Who is the most afraid will win the desperation race. The most afraid one will then pile up stuff to be safe and never go through the struggle again, stuff he/she will never use. Huge houses, 20 cars, land, fucking countries. They want to own it all because they fought so hard to get out of that place of panic, where you can’t see the future, and you are scared. And that is how you get monarchs, tyrants, dictators, any kind of ruler. People who are so scared to be what they consider ordinary that they have rearrange the whole world in order to feel comfortable. To me, that is ultimate bullshit.
Also, I have to mention this, and I will challenge it. The statement that America is the most prosperous country in the world. It doesn’t sound right to me, and my first round of superficial research is confirming that doubt. Norway seems to be it, scoring first in these categories: economy, entrepreneurship and opportunity, governance, education, health, safety & security, personal freedom, social capital. I still have to look into who conducted the research.
And that’s where Americans need to chill. Capitalism is only one of many socio-economical systems that is susceptible to all kind of weaknesses as any other Utopian system (I call any system Utopian that does not account for the human factor, and no one has the time to calculate that shit). I definitely support the effort, but I think we are presently witnessing almost all human flaws manifesting themselves through the capitalist system. Please don’t get me wrong, I am not against capitalism. I just just don’t think it is our way out, not until we learn how to progress spiritually. We have advanced technologically so incredibly much. It is actually mesmerizing to look at the progress of only the last 100 years. Not to talk about from where we’ve come. But spiritually, we have not advanced, almost at all. We have stayed the same species, with the same old flaws. And we still focus on the wrong field to get us out of this mess. We are turning to technology again to save us. And the answer is not there. Our technology and our science is not what is wrong with us. We are what is wrong. But we run away, and we run away. We will move to Mars one day, I am sure. We are that determined to run away. Our shadow will always catch up to us. Do you know K. G. Jung’s concept of the shadow? The shadow of a person consists of all the aspect of his or her personality that he doesn’t want to accept. Whether it’s violent, sadistic parts of his/her nature, or the inglorious trait of conforming to being a follower even though you know better. And, according to Jung’s theory, being in that shadow gives emotions incredible power. The more you push those aspects of yourself into the shadow, in attempt to forget them and get rid of them, the more powerful they become and the more they are controlling you.
Sometimes I think that beauty and art could save this world. But a lot of time I forget. I forget of my beautiful dream and I start to panic because I can’t see past my fear. But in my mind, art has always been and always will be that place where everything is perfect. The only place where true, free love is possible. Where an open mind is possible. Where reality dances with the vibration of our minds. To me, that is paradise, and I always forget that I don’t need anything to access that state. I just need to give into it.
Giving in takes humility. Something we’ve forgotten. Something that has a much greater value and much greater implications for any society or system or human community then we currently realize. “How about we go capitalize on humanity and remember that we are, after all, just people.” What a beautiful, humble idea.
I like the piece though. It made me write this and I haven’t written in forever.
Peace,
M
Your response was fu*kin awesome!!!
Brilliant response!
Loved this comment, really thoughtful and honest attempt at holism! have you published anything? (like journal, blog, book, whatnot)
I think the worst aspect of capitalism as we know it is villifies the poor. In my experience it convinces those born into poor situations not to capitalize on their abilities, but to abuse them to the point of non-existence. It also builds a public support for ridiculously wealthy people as idols whose lives are built upon the destruction of communities, though some business magnates have turned this trend around. I worry that the ruthless pursuit of materialism leaves a lot of people quite empty at 40 and poor despite everything, thus the self-help industry.
I agree that most sane people consider socialism at some point in life. It’s a young man’s game–but it sure as hell offers a systematic criticism of the way the world is, which, let’s face it honestly, is pretty damned rough. Governments also do a lot of things right and have way more internal oversight than most people believe. It’s a populist idea to hate it, and sometimes that opinion is right, but government is the only thing keeping most people afloat behind the scenes as it were.
The main reason to intelligently distrust the wealthy is their influence on the political process, which at this point in American history is powerful beyond reason. That scares people–and rightly so. But your average middle class person who pays taxes etc.? Probably not a villain.
Oh, and America is in a unique position as far as the market penetration of everyday life. The way we do capitalism distorts perceptions of reality to an unbelievable degree, I think. Your Coca Cola banner above is a case in point. There was a case a while back where the company that puts out Tylenol sold religious calendars somewhere in rural South America–in the iconography they placed the Tylenol symbol in association with Christ, which was a deliberate attempt to create an association with God and their company. That’s some pretty wicked stuff, and this is coming from an atheist.
We do the same thing here. I think it’s more to do with what some scholars call the neoliberal capitalist formation and not private profit’s pursuit in itself. American firms have figured out ways to privatize just about everything they can. Sure, there might not be such a thing as a free lunch, but a lunch is a material, scarce thing; a lot of things owned by firms are not, and some of them have their eyes on owning things that probably shouldn’t be owned.
Formal capitalism can help people, it can provide them with their heart’s desire, but it’s going off the deep end when it creates those desires in the first place. You know what the ideal capitalist’s ideal worker is, and ideal consumer?
A prisoner.
“Waged labor is no different than slavery, except for the fact that the workers get to go home at night and pretend they are free!” – Abraham Lincoln
We must learn how to create as opposed to consume in order to change the direction of our country.
The real problem is too many companies own companies not related so therefore no responsibility is ensured. Don’t like Pepsi and you try to sue them well they are owned by a larger firmed owned by some insurance agency owned by a bank owned by one of 3 wealth global families.
The Sherman Act isn’t used enough and the times it has been used was our saving grace. The last real use was AT&T and Bell breakup which lead to the telephone revolution.
Now we need to do it to Microsoft and Google which they shake hands with each other and are not really private. They also have their heads in the asses of the CIA/NSA.etc. There is no end to the rabbit hole unless you realize we are in a spiritual war with God and Satan and it’s his (Satan’s) time to temporary rule and set up his false system using idiots like you who vote on skin color instead of economy.
After I took my first English Composition class in college, and I had to construct and read others argumentative essays I learned one thing. Always hear the best arguments from both sides, in a perfect world you hear from the extreme left and extreme right. Then we have to make sure that we are reflecting on both sides of the arguments equally and not allowing our own beliefs/opinions obscure the truth. I can’t tell you how many friends that I have told the true % of Americans on Welfare and they refuse to believe it. They know in their head that 50-60% of Americans are abusing welfare programs regardless of the research. I’m not making this comment to get into that debate I’m merely pointing out that we let our opinions filter the information that we retain. This is a bad thing to do because it can leave us telling others that potato skins contain all of the nutrients when in fact they contain toxins. We couldn’t even site our source on where the fuck we heard that potato skins have all the nutrients yet we have probably heard it growing up therefore we perpetuate this myth.
I am taking sociology this Summer, and I definitely get the feeling that my professor is trying to convince me that Capitalism is evil. The second that I saw your article listed under Google, my first thought was to ignore it, and regard its author as a brainwashed Capitalist jackass who doesn’t know what Capitalism has done to this country. However, the part of me that knows I can only construct strong arguments by knowing all parties strongest objections I had to read your article. I ended up wasting more time than I had wanted to also reading all of the comments. Your logic is undeniable here because you aren’t saying that our “Capitalist” society is perfect and people should stop trying to fuck with it! You are saying that Capitalism in itself is the best option and that Americans are not using the word in it’s correct context. Capitalism has become a dirty word in America and you are merely trying to make the masses aware that Capitalism isn’t the problem, the corrupt individuals who have integrated themselves into our easily corrupted legislative system is the problem.
I do have to agree with the individual above that when you start off by calling people stupid it can immediately turn them off. You initially come off very bias which can make readers perceive you in the same manner as the Mormons who knock at your door and try to cram Jesus down your throat. I am glad that you brought it down a few notches, your initial outburst at the mere thought of anyone who despised a word that Society has enforced their feelings of hatred towards was a bit much. Your responses to your comments paint you as an individual who is educated and isn’t here to argue with the trolls (all of the guys who responded to your article with a “fuck you fascist bastard”). This means you truly feel the need to enlighten individuals on the real definition of Capitalism and how we are using it inaccurately. Overall I felt it was a good read and I wish you a prosperous future!
Thank you for sharing your thoughts in such detail and for understanding the premise of the article for what it is as opposed to what you wanted it to be. More people should be so open minded.
Good day to you as well.
I know im hella late but John’s comment (see about 5 comments above)was pretty awsome. Im curious why no reply?
Hello @Sasha,
Honestly, I had not seen the reply. Sometimes the comments come in bursts and honestly, sometimes I read them and think I’ll come back to write a detailed response and then never get back to it. Due to the depth of John’s reply, I can imagine that is what happened.
I have replied to it now, and always try to interact with the people who take the time to share their thoughts with me.
I’ll be interested to your thoughts on my reply.
Thanks and talk soon.
Almost 2 billion years of evolution. Development. Superior intellect. And humans come up with a system based on competition where the mere purpose of life is to.. well.. be better than others. I hope this changes soon and we find something that benefits billions of people who don’t fit in this race.P.S I am not supporting communism either.
Amanda,
You bring up a good point but isn’t that the point of all of it? Isn’t that the basis of evolution? Survival of the fittest?
How come that is acceptable for our survival and evolution but not for our economics? I’m not saying it should be as ugly as it is but competition makes people better. And we should not be scared of it.
Instead we should be focused on making sure that everyone comptes on a level playing field.
Survival of the fittest is for animals and it’s based on instinct. However being a human being, we have the ability to reason. Capitalism is a eurocentric ideology that grew from FREE LABOR and the exploitation of natural resources that weren’t ours to begin with. Is that ethical? You probably think Malthus and Hardin are the bee’s knees, eh? When 10% of the global population uses 80% of its resources, food is in surplus yet THOUSANDS of people starve to death every day, youre telling me that’s a system that works? The system of capitalism is the corruption, sir. To desire to be better than someone is mental when we’re discussing basic needs. And that is what we’re talking about, no? To capitalize you must acquire more than the other, and therefore leaving the other with less.
Justin,
Your view is quite narrow minded. You forget that humans are just highly evolved animals. And yes, we are conscious but collectively we are stupid. And survival of the fittest is not just restricted to animals. It is how the world works.
Capitalism in and of itself is not bad. The people who distort it and take advantage of others under the protection of capitalism are the problem.
I would much rather live in a society that encourages competition and free market principles than somewhere that does not.
And I disagree. People are not guaranteed anything other than a chance to live when they are born. We deserve nothing more and it is those who think otherwise that end up driving us towards despotism.
The truth is that It is up to each of us to go out into the world and make something of ourselves. And sure, that may not be possible in some countries, but it is possible here in America. It was made possible because we set up a system that was supposed to protect the people from a tyrannical government. But that system has been corrupted just as much as our free markets.
I do agree that we have everything we need to to end poverty and suffering, but that would not be advantageous for the people in power. They need us to be stupid and dependent. They need us to think like you because that is how they can leverage us.
They do not want people who think like me. People who understand how the game is played yet willing to disrupt it anyway. Someone who has a conscious and is still a capitalist. Someone who understands that we need commerce and competition, but that people are more important than products.
They do not want creative thinkers challenging their status quo because if were to gain traction they would lose everything. To a society that can be self sufficient and successful. Where the individual is empowered to create and innovate and not restricted by the desires of a bloated democracy prancing around as a republic.
This is why independent thinkers are so feared. Because we do not fall prey to the generalizations and ideologies of ignorant fantasy.
We live in the real world. We live in a world full of people who are blindly following the pied piper of popular opinion and we are determined to wake them up and shift their gaze towards truth and real understanding.
Capitalistic government may work in some ways, but there are elements of it that don’t. For instance, the lying and deceit that goes on to keep the average american out of the loop.
Lobbying doesn’t have the general public’s interests at heart, it has whoever has the most money at heart. These are the people that are influencing America, people that care about nothing but financial gain…..for themselves!
When people are unable to have comfortable living conditions because they have no job available to them because the CEO’s at companies make cut-backs to benefit the people that already have all the money, there’s nothing to strive for. You work your whole life, and you get repaid by having someone tell you that you’re not necessary, but the CEO still always manages to get his or her bonus. In fact, they’re making record profits for the company, time for a pat on the back!
Is it really survival of the fittest when you’re born into money, when your father was born into money? When the huge corporations buy out the small ones?
Is that evolution?
I think it’s defecating on everything that human beings stand for.
We may as well all become robots because it’s completely useless having any human emotion.
The problem with capitalism is as you stated, people are greedy. People will have nothing to strive for pretty soon because one of two things is going to happen: the economy is going to collapse, or people are going to start starving to death. All because some “very intelligent person” decided he needed his bonus, but is exempt from taxes. He’s just exempt, just the way it is. The government wants that special coffee shop in their country so….let’s just pretend we don’t see.
Something’s going to have to give.
I just wish human beings weren’t so extreme one way or another. Just have a bit of a middle ground you idiots!
Kim, I agree with most of what you say. But here are a few things that caught my eye about what you wrote.
“Capitalistic government may work in some ways, but there are elements of it that don’t.”
Capitalism is not a form of government. It is an economic policy in which the free market is in charge of the means of production. Yes the government has become corrupted at a massive level and this needs to be fixed, but the idea is to get government out of the markets. Not more involved.
I do agree that Washington is run by big money but the next part of your comment goes in the wrong direction.
“When people are unable to have comfortable living conditions because they have no job available to them because the CEO’s at companies make cut-backs to benefit the people that already have all the money,”
This does happen. And big business is a big deal in this country. But we have to be careful to not vilify the producers and average businessperson in this country.
80% of businesses are small businesses. This means that most CEO’s are people you know. It just so happens that the only ones we hear about are the ones who do stupid shit.
You bareley hear about the CEO who decided not to pay himself so that he could pay his employees.
No one ever talks about the path the CEO might have taken to get to where they are. The sacrifice, struggle, effort, etc.
Does that mean that everyone has gone through that? No. Does that mean that some people wont get an upper hand by being born into wealth, have some early success or something else that gives them the upper hand? No. all of that will happen. Life is unfair. But we should all have a chance to make something of ourselves and the capitalist model is the only one that allows for that.
A truly free capitalist model that is. Not the one we live in now. One that is more of a corporate oligarchy than anything.
I do agree that the core problem is humans, but I think the problem is that we have become to complaisent. We have gotten used to the world that capitalism has built for us and we have forgotten how hard it was to build it.
Like the spoiled teenager who gets used to their large allowance. No clue what it takes to earn real income. And we are about to be cut off. We are going to have to go out and fend for ourselves once again. And the real test will be whether or not we make it. Whether or not we have what it takes once again to save humanity from itself.
Thanks for reading my thoughts and sharing your own!
fuck you fascist
you fascist mother fucker
so pretty much you wrote this long article just to correct us on the definition of capitalism? does it even fucking matter? who gives a shit at this point, nobody gives a fuck about capitalism itself. its the corruption behind it and all the fucked up things goin on in this country. and you act as if america is like this great place where we all have opportunity with our freedom. ya so what if someone has the freedom to be rich when their never gonna have the chance to be. your actin like america just has a few simple issues to work out and everything is all good.
I agree. But them why are the arguments made about capitalism and not the corruption.
This was the purpose of the article. To point out that it is not a flaw of the word or system itself, our current state is a flaw of the people running the system.
If other people running the same system would commit the exact same errors, then the problem is systemic, not with the people running it.
the problem is not capitalism its people. People think they are of more value than anything else its always about people first, this is a stupid mentality. We are even apparently more important than the planet the very thing that makes our life even possible. Surely it cant be just me that thinks that our species is a paracite feeding on the planet, Im not saying i hate my species just that we do have the intelligence to make a symbiotic relationship with our environment rather than paracitical but we CHOOSE not to. We choose to support a system that grows its population and its need to consume. That is what capitalism is.its GROWTH. When we hit the peak number the planet can support witch im sure some Boffins could work out. We should switch to a totally different system designed for sustainability rather than growth. Im no tree hugger but its plain to see that this capitalist comsumer system is gaining momentum with the inevitable destination of crash and burn. Radical changes need to be made. How about population control for a start i mean its not like you have to do anything sinister to control population. 1 kid per couple for decline 2 for sustain 3 for growth. gotta be better than waiting for over crowd then have some sort of culling in one way or another.
This is a pretty disturbing thought. I agree that people are the problem, but not because of over population. We have perverted the system but start talking about limiting reproductive rights and controlling the population and you start heading down a scary path. One that we have been down over and over again. Usually ending in mass murder, dictatorial rule and genocide.
Eugenics is not a new topic of conversation and I have no doubt it will come up again as subject matter for a larger discussion but I am not convinced it has any relevance to this argument.
First of all, I object to your poor diplomacy in referring to those who harbor opinions different from yours as “stupid.” Of course, you are free to say whatever you wish, but it won’t earn you allies.
You are right that not ALL capitalists are evil. We should never generalize. But capitalism provides a clear incentive to deceive or take advantage of others. You may argue that if we hand over production to the government, the government will just get corrupt themselves, and you would be correct (Stalin, Mao, the Kims, etc.) So this is where democratic socialism comes in. Communism and socialism MUST be paired with democracy to succeed. If the leaders know they will be voted out of office if they displease the people, they will have incentive to obey the will of the voters. It’s all about incentive :) This was the part that Marx got wrong: a dictatorship of the proletariat, or any dictatorship, for that matter, will ALWAYS get corrupted.
Factory farms abuse animals in order to maximize profit and efficiency. It is not that they hate animals, but by giving them bare-minimum conditions, they can cut costs. There’s an incentive to abuse animals. Ditto for the produce industry and pesticides.
I would like to point out that although they are not explicitly socialist countries, as the people have the right to vote out the socialists anytime they want, many nations in Europe practice socialism successfully. Oh, and free public education, healthcare for children, anti-monopoly regulations–those are all socialist ideas which make life better for us here in the United States.
CAPITALISM: prisons, and education, food, and healthcare industries—all crucial to human rights—are controlled by money-seekers who don’t care for people but only profits. I especially take offense to the private prison idea. It’s just an incentive to incarcerate more people. Imagine that! You could earn millions by depriving people of their freedom! The more I learn, the more disgusted I get. Privatized luxury industries are fine, if we must have them, but not basic or societal necessities. Justice, education, and health are human rights, NOT commodities for maximizing profit while minimizing quality or wages. The cost of education is outrageous. If everyone were given a higher education, it would only benefit society. It’s worth taxpayer money. But the military-industrial complex is the worst. It incentivizes needless killing.
I agree with parts of what you say and then shake my head at others. The problem is that we are not a free market and we are not a truly capitalist society. We live in a corporate oligarchy. It is a soft tyrannical state where the powerful maintain power buy protection each other and repressing those who have none.
The point of this article was to point out that we are all capitalists at one level or another. That we are the people who pervert the system. That saying capitalism is wrong is the same as saying guns are bad. Neither of those statements are true. They are tools and systems and they are subject to the whims of those who use them.
We have chosen to allow the system to be corrupted. We refuse to engage, speak out and stand up to these industrialists robber barons and we have allowed them to exert forces on us that might be impossible to reverse. Socialism is not the answer. Education, healthcare, etc, none of those are inherent rights of man. The freedom to live life as you want, to pursue your interests and to make something of yourself, that is innate human nature. The pursuit of happiness, not the guarantee of it. We have lost our way, in more ways than one and this has left us in quite the perverted state. What comes next is anyones guess but I think it gets worse before it gets better, simply because of the lack of education on the matter.
i agree with raymmar on this one
i also think some type of people needs to be insulted or else they won´t even start thinking about certain things,
actually isn´t this just a tool to catch attention (provocation works very fine i think as long as you dont go over board), if you are offended by this level i can only give you a recommendation to get a thicker skin (i m not native english so i dont know if there is actually a wording to express it otherwise)
also the government won´t become corrupt it IS already corrupt, though i can´t speak for your u.s. but i´m pretty sure even you guys have some shady things going on, after all preservation of power comes before aggressivly expanding after a certain degree (i m not saying that trying to expand your power can´t be considered a type of preservation because stagnation won´t do any good)
reading about animal abuse is getting me sick, i don´t mind if you want to pay 100 dollar for 500g chicken breast but please don´t take down other people with you (that is, as long we keep the money system…)
as a europeen i can assure you that we don´t have any socialist states, i think you should call it socialized capitalism though…and this is actually nothing more than a tool to keep the masses quite because as long as most people are content to a certain degree, they won´t revolt right? revolt results in chaos most time and chaos is hard to profit from, so most people in power wish for a stable environment to live in (i meant not a person in power so i can´t say for sure)
Why should capitalism haters pack up and move, you move and take your bullshit capitalism with yah. Maybe Mars wants betrayers and leeches. Society should take care of people, that was its purpose since the beginning not make life harder or worse. Humans put capitalism in place they can throw it out. Not like Jesus ordered it, he hated money, we’re all sinners bc of money and the usury it creates. Humans need to stop bullshitting themselves and all humans and do what’s best for all humans and build a real and easy way to live. Life shouldn’t be a lottery or a gamble from birth. You loose the lottery of life bc your born poor and you’ll always be poor. Life should be guaranteed for all. We can guarantee capitalist profits but not a life to humans born here. People are putting up with their lives not enjoying them.
Your premise is flawed and what does Jesus have to do with Capitalism.
What you are saying makes no sense. We (humans) need to be able to create value in this world and then be able to keep some of the profits from the value we create. Have we perverted the system? yes. Do people act like idiots sometimes? yes. But why throw the baby out with the bath water?
Capitalism is the only system that lets the poor lift themselves out of poverty and into prosperity. It is the only system that rewards the creator as opposed to a dictator. You need to get your ideology out of the way and try to understand the core fundamentals as opposed to your perverted view of what capitalism is. This is the problem we face. People who are so entrenched in their ideas that they are unwilling to look at the problem for what it is and see that the solution is not the system, its the people who pervert it for their gain.
But in a truly free market those people would be exposed. They would be thwarted. Instead, people with your line of thinking allow them to rob from the producers to “guarantee” benefits for others. Thereby perverting the system you claim to hate further in the direction you wish it not to go. Seriously man, wake up.
i tend to disagree about some statements here
but first things first…
religion has nothing to do with the economic system
if you wish to follow the teachings of an ancient ~2000 year old fantasy story book i won´t mind you
but don´t dare to stamp it on those people who don´t want to
also, i dont think that capitalism is the only system where prosperty can be worked out…
but first i have to say that i don´t like the narrow view that goes with individual prosperty
development and prosperty should be for everyone contributing, but it should also be possible for people to be able to contribute
nowadays getting to a level where you can profit from your contribution is unbelievable hard and even more often you get stones thrown artificially just to make it even harder and reduce the amount of people who reach that level so there is more left to share between the established
Lol, capitalism is the only system that enables the poor to lift themselves…
Lofl! And this guy has the audacity to call others idiots! Truly entertaining. Keep up the good work, we need the laughs!
“And yet somehow hundreds of thousands of people are reading them.”
…that doesn’t mean they all agree.
Yes capitalism is so great because we have shut for education, a failing economy, and a health care slightly above Cuba’s despite spending 26 times as much per a person. Government can’t get shit done elections are bought and sold. This really is the best system, let’s look at a few places that are doing better then us shall? Oh my god Gasp! They have socialized health ah run for lives oh wait that’s right there doctors still make hundreds of thousands a year and provide better care. Or maybe China better economy, education and health care. I think I will take and get off the sinking ship known as American Capitalism before we are all completely fucked.
You don’t get it. The overgrown government has as much to do with the corruption of capitalism as any corporation. When people are naive enough to think it is just capitalisms fault and not the people who are capitalizing then I question their competence as a whole.
When the government meddles with the system and creates a game where make believe money is the only thing that matters then of course the system will begin to favor the wealthy as they will build systems in order to separate the commoners from the corporate elite.
The new oligarchies are massive corporations but capitalism in and of itself is not bad. In fact it has brought more people out of poverty than any other economic system known to man and still does, even in its perverted state.
Socialism never works. Social fascism works even less. Try again with a better premise. Your logic is flawed.
Uhuh
Capitalism is stupid and are destroying every thing on earth, every one that thinks Capitalism is good, is stupid, now die and let earth evolve with out your involvement
A smart person dislikes Capitalism because by nature humans will abuse each other to get ahead in one way or form.
The problem lies in the fact that Capitalism, as it has evolved (which in itself is a huge part of the problem-Capitalism as it was when created by the Founding Fathers was freaking amazing), not only to the point where this type of behavior is acceptable but it’s passively encouraged.
The one part I do agree with is there is no perfect system. They’re all flawed in some way though you over simplify Socialism and fail to point out its the only other alternative to Capitalism which competes or exceeds Capitalism in quality of life, etc and paint it with a rather silly brush depicting it leading to tyrannical rule? Really? Socialism?
I also don’t agree that a free market with absolute control is a good idea, that happened earlier in the history of Capitalism and it was freaking awful. Why do you think unions exist? Why do you think regulations were created? Even your founding fathers realized the system couldn’t be unregulated. Corporations used to require licenses to exist which had a expiry date, the corporation was dissolved if any laws of consequence were broken and once their goal was achieved the corporation was dissolved and the assets divided up between the share holders.
Then we get into examples of some of the most horrific corporations to ever grace this planet such as Monsanto and their invasive GMO products which require Monsanto products to grow properly, examples of unhealthy monopolies and finally price fixing…a group of individuals all aimed at one specific goal creates a overriding mob mentality; achieve the coal at any cost. When that goal is profits and the cost is the expense of quality of life, lives themselves or prevention of bettering the human race and there’s no regulations we see throughout history it creates almost nothing but problems.
As for your final point, this is where I draw the line. You mention how everyone tries to capitalize and right now you’re trying to capitalize on a emotion from your readers. You know who else does this? Trolls. That probably wasn’t your intent but none the less, between the title and the closing you pretty much invalidated everything you had to say. Don’t go calling people stupid without understanding their point of view.
Capitalism is the cancer on earth, end of story… the only system that will work is zeitgeist movement, or The Venus Project …..
“Capitalism as it was when created by the Founding Fathers was freaking amazing”
Washington was known for evicting his former soldiers, Jefferson for slave-fucking and life-long debt arrears, Paine was a proto-socialist, and Franklin made some lucky investments. The way things worked back then wasn’t that different compared to Britain; all they did was relinquish the dictates of the king. England outpaced American investment until well into the nineteenth century.
People who are blinded to one particular party are like him. I know as I see it from the right and left all the time.
One thing I do know is that Hillary and Obama as well as their helpers have all said on air that they have never been so proud of Venezuela and want the US to emulate it. Sorry but nope not on my watch it won’t!
“America was and is the most prosperous country for a reason. We are what we are because we allowed people to succeed.” Let me fix that for you ” America is and was the most prosperous country for a reason. We are what we are because we 1. stole a country from its preexisting inhabitants, performing massive genocide in the process. 2. got a 400 year head start on industrialization and development with labor that they did not have to pay for.
Raymmar, very good article. You make some great points. I’d like to add to the discussion. I do think that capitalism in its purest form is the way to go because it rewards people for their hard work…however I don’t think the United States truly employs a pure capitalist system. Unfortunately we’ve transitioned from a true capitalist system to a financial capitalist system via a corporate capitalist system. In other words there was a time when our government protected the people through legislation and regulation of business. In a true capitalist system the people keep the government in check, the government keeps business in check and business keeps people in check
In a true capitalist system the people elect officials that they hold accountable and if those individuals fail the people, they’re voted out on lack of merit, not based on political alliance. The government holds businesses accountable by putting the onus back on the individual owners to maintain a fair working environment and businesses keep people in check by rewarding them by the intellectual capital that you bring to the company (e.g. the higher level of expertise, the better your pay and position). In other words the harder you work and the narrower the scope of expertise means you are better compensated (notice I didn’t say valued more than other employees, I said better compensated). That appears to happen in a financial capitalist system but it actually doesn’t (I’ll speak to that point in a minute). A pure capitalist system values the individuals and the system equally. The better the congruence between the system and the people, the more money a company will make because their competitors will have a tough time replicating their success.
However in a financial capitalist system the entire point of the system is to separate the haves and the have nots while making it increasingly difficult for the have nots (middle class and lower class) to move up the system as doing so would threaten their potential market share. A financial capitalist system solely values two aspects, 1) the bottom line (profit) and the processes to get their by any means and 2) maintaining power and control. A financial capitalist system doesn’t care what people know in terms of expertise (unless it’s solely to increase the bottom line even if that means unethical or in some instances illegal practices) and it doesn’t care about quality, only quantity. There reason why people rail against today’s capitalist system is because financial capitalism makes people over work, expects the impossible from them, often sets them up for failure, employs the blame and shame game and typically underpays them in the process. Large corporate entities know that small businesses are a threat to their profits so in order to eliminate that competition they align themselves with lobbyist and politicians to push their cause. It’s amazing how much easier it is to access capital and resources to maintain a corporation than over small businesses (not to mention small businesses, not corporations are vital to a successful capitalist system). Point being that corporations have taken away people’s ability to keep the government in check because they’ve literally “sponsored” politicians.
There’s a lot more to this but I think I’m made my point. To say that people who criticize capitalism are stupid is a bit misguided. It’s the sub structure of the capitalist system (financial capitalism) that people hate, not actually capitalism as that hasn’t been around in the US for a while.
I agree with most of what you said and I definitely agree that we do not have anything close to a true capitalist system but there is nothing I see that we can replace it with that would make any more sense. (True capitalism, not the perversion we call capitalism now)
We have perverted capitalism and the republic that once allowed us to grow like no other country before it. Both the government and large corporations have become bloated machines that consume anything in its way. Gluttons for growth and unable to change directions so they get stuck sucking the power out of all of us as a pretense for growth and the greater good. Both are misguided and both grossly underestimate the American people.
As for the title, I was just trying to stir the pot. It’s a thing I do.
Nice analogy. Except instead of A and D students we’re comparing billionaires to working men and women who the billionaires make stacks of dough off of while the workers either don’t make enough to live on or make just enough to scoot by like my family. I think the billionaires can sacrifice a little tiny bit. Just a thought. My often empty fridge, my old foreclosed home, or my aging parents being grinded down by inhumane hours in the medical field. Proof that Capitalism sucks.
Capitalism is the only thing that has ever allowed people to rise up out of poverty. People use other people, whether in corporations or business. Both large corporations and big government are to blame for the bastardization of our capitalist system. Pointing the finger at one and not the other would be ignorant.
P.s. there are very few billionaires in the world. The legislation and bureaucracy that is being imposed right now is affecting the middle class which more often than not is you and I.
I bet there are a lot of people in this world that would love to live in the “ghettos” of America as opposed to where they live. We did not get to a place where poor is defined by your inability to own a second car or have an HBO subscription.
Instead we teach people to depend on someone else. First for our happiness and then for our subsistence. And then we wonder why the whole thing is falling apart at the seams.
The ghettos of America are usually pretty terrible, actually. Host to a whole series of social pathologies which reinforce each other and drive out investment. Business people call them dead zones. There are some nice projects but those are usually just kept up by the city to show off; the rest of them are full of violent death and horrific drug dependence where people live in poverty for generations.
You don’t see private companies giving out food to people anywhere nearly as good as the government does it. That’s just population maintenance in its eyes, sure, but the government has a much stronger incentive to keep people alive than do private firms. Believe it or not.
“Unless of course you still think capitalism sucks. In that case I would ask you to kindly pack your shit and head off to Europe.” Sounds pretty tyrannous to me: Believe what I say, or live elsewhere. What about objecting to what you say, and continuing to live in the same country? Do people who live in the U.S. have to agree with you? No pure form of anything has ever existed. It invariably gets distorted. And we have heard time and time again from “Capitalists” about how great their system is, only to find these people using it as a means to promote their own selfishness. Strike a friendlier tone pal, and I might listen to you.
Capitalism has been and always will be the most efficient way to allow societies of people to climb out of poverty and into prosperity. I think it is tyrannical to try and take that away from the American people through back door politics and massive power grabs.
And yes, the people in the US have to somewhat agree. That is what the constitution, bill of rights and declaration of independence dictate. That we all play by the same rules. That is why were able to become exceptional and as humans always do we began to erode at the structure in order to amass power and influence. Over the last 100 years it has progressively gotten worse.
The tone I strike is necessary. It has to stand out above the other bullshit that permeates our internet and centers of influence online. We need to speak loudly about the perversion of our freedoms and the hypocrisy of the systems in which we are forced to live.
Thanks for your feedback.
I don’t think your tone is going to be effective. To me, it comes off as hostile. People don’t usually agree with someone because they are forced into it. Respect and consideration is the primary way people exchange ideas.
“I don’t think your tone is going to be effective” – that must be why we are doing tens of thousands of views a day right?
People agree because I make sense. Pretty simple really. Lots of other websites you can go check out if you don’t like my time.
“if you don’t like my time” Did you mean to say “If you don’t like mine”?
Tone* sorry… Auto correct. The perils of a one man operation while traveling.
I’m sorry you’re not open to constructive criticism. I think that holds people back. And that is one big objection I have to “Libertarians” (though I don’t know if you claim to be one or not), and “Capitalists”. I often find “Capitalists” to be quite narrow minded, and hostile towards any criticism. Apparently you’re taking the stance of “My way or the highway!” This is exactly the M.O. of Communism, Socialism, and so many things “Capitalists” complain about. In the end, we’re dealing with people. And “Wherever you come close to the human race, there’s layers and layers of nonsense.” (Thornton Wilder). However, you will probably be happy to know that I will take a powder from your website if that’s what you prefer. I also realize that in choosing to argue with you I am not going to change your mind at all, and that a level of antagonism is being built, from which no good will arise. But it could be you’re open to discourse. I don’t know yet. I am personally wary of people who claim to support the “Free Market” because most of the time those people are simply out to grab all they can at the expense of other people’s well being. It makes sense to be skeptical of the “Free Market” when that phrase has been thrown around by so many who just used it to screw the general public for everything they could.
I am quite open to constructive criticism. Yours was not constructive. You want me to change my style which is pretty much what makes me, me and why people read this blog.
I am a constitutional libertarian who believes in limited government and maximum individual freedom and responsibility.
Capitalism is not perfect, but of all the “isms” it is the best and it has served us well. Do people corrupt it? Yes, but we corrupt everything we touch. That is what we do.
People are greedy but that doesn’t mean we all are. That doesn’t mean that some of us cannot see the value capitalism brings but also understand that profit is not evil and drive, determination and hard work are all great virtues that we can all get behind.
I believe in a truly free market. That is something we have not had in a long time. People complain about corporations like they are not just large groups of people too. Governments, corporations, all just people. Some good, some bad.
To claim Capitalism in and of itself is bad is slightly ignorant and I mean that with no ill will. We all capitalize on situations around us all the time. It is those who let it consume them that we should be wary of. Whether in business or government, someone can be fully consumed by either money, power, and in some cases both.
I fee like you have probable not spent much time looking through the rest of the blog but I am always open to civil debate. I love when it gets heated too because its fun for everyone but that is what this is all about. It is about starting hard conversations in a very public way.
Thanks again for sharing your thoughts.
Experience has taught me that antagonism does not lead to understanding, but rather to hateful vilification. “In this world, you can be oh so smart, or oh so pleasant. I’ve tried smart. I recommend pleasant.” Cheers, Mick
Experience has tought me that people like to talk and not very many people actually produce.
It has also taught me that the producers get to set their own rules and that is an appealing lesson for everyone to learn.
You can be smart and pleasant but you can also be real and honest. I chose to be all of them.
Not everyone likes it or agrees but it is who I am and it has served me well.
My goal is not to attract everyone. Not is it to antagonize anything other than ideas. Some will
Come and others will continue to remain ignorant. My tone has no impact on that, it is simply my voice. One that I will
ontinue to broadcast loudly.
I’m bowing out of your site. Best of luck. Mick
The Declaration of Independence doesn’t dictate anything, actually. It’s a non-binding document.
Look through the nineteenth century and you see why people started flocking to socialism. Laissez-faire was despised by the working class–capitalism in full flower created rail roads and the like, sure, but its social costs were massive. Most American people lived in terrible poverty until the twentieth century when social programs and government regulation lifted the standard of living for many. Honestly the most effective form of human life thus far, at least on a mass scale, is capitalism that is forced to redistribute some of its revenue back to the general public. You’re hard pressed to have socialism without some funding to back it up, but you won’t have a public to fund capitalism if they start dying because it’s cheaper to put poison in their food instead of protein.
The government will screw you for life if you commit a felony. The private sector will screw you for life if you can’t pass an employment screening. Your priorities might use a more refined lens.
Not when capitalism resorts to loopboxes and micropayments for every damn thing you do. At this point you can’t say you dislike company A and go to company B because they are all doing the same shit and furthermore company A and B are owned by a larger firm owned by a bank owned by one of the 3 wealthy elites.
Then is capitalism worth saving? You the little guy have an illusion of choice.
What a bunch of shit. Where the fuck do you get your economic information from. Fact is, the only prosperous people in the US are the 1%. Read Capital by Picketti if you want a true understanding of the growing inequality. Tax breaks to the rich, bailouts to banks and corporations while the middle class disappears and loses their jobs, homes, healthcare. You hate socialism but love it when it bails our Wall Street usingtax payer money, Your article or opinion piece, whatever you wanna call it, is based on illusion and the myth of meritocracy. Ask yourself, why are 1/4 of US children on four stamps? Why rare 39 million Americans living in poverty? Wow, real progress. I rest my case . Yes, and I have moved to Europe. Germany, so take your horse Shiite and shove it
*sighs* So either the government tells you what to do, or your rich overlords tell you what to do. In the end for the average person, the rest of their life will be spent following someone else’s orders.
Why is it so hard for people to understand that at the end of the day governments, as well as corporations, are just massive aggregations of people making decisions.
Some good, some bad, all people. Why would you ever chose a government run system over a free market? In what world is that a logical choice?
One in where you have no idea what communism and totalitarianism is all about. One where we pretend America is immune, while we sit back and watch her die.
i think the problem lies not with the government only, i would pretty much prefer a supervized government which supervizes the market instead of a free market, a free market does not work because the market is used by people
though the question is always who supervizes the supervizor and how to make him immune to bribes
in the end only an independant supervizing system would be able to fulfill the requirements and there is the next problem which society would willingly give their scepter out of hand and how would we make sure that no one messes with the supervizing system…
How do you think our roads are done? By fairy folks with tiny bits of asphalt? Your government pays for the roads when they are not paying for someone homeless that is overdosed. Would you like to be nickled and dimed to drive on the highway and exits are randomized (IE Loop boxes). Pay more and maybe you will reach your exit or keep driving around and around.
Hello,
I am wondering what your response is to the claim that capitalism’s primary goal of profit leads to an iniquitous system. On the other hand, how would you respond to the claim that capitalism is virtuous? Lastly, if you have read ‘The Morality of Capitalism’, would you recommend it?
Regards,
-Artemis
I would say that I think profit is a good thing. It is a great motivator. It is when that profit corrupts your morals. When you sacrifice the employees, investors or consumers of your business for your personal gain.
I have not read it but I will add it to my list.
Thanks for your thoughts.
Capitalisms primary goal of profit is not necessarily bad. It’s the exploitation of that profit that makes it evil. It is the taking advantage of employees and customers that is evil.
However, to presume capitalism in itself is evil is hard as it is not an individual. It’s the same argument as “guns are bad” – they are incapable of being bad. They just are. We chose how to use the tool and capitalism has been the most effective tool in forging freedom than any other system known to man.
I have not read that book so I can not proffer an opinion.
I would ask you to look around and tell me which system has helped so many climb out of poverty? Which other system has created this amount of wealth?
I don’t think capitalism inherently sucks, but I found three issues with your defense of the free market.
1. Your defense of capitalism confused economic systems with political systems.
Although very related, you can’t use dictatorial communism (politcal -> economic) as a direct and complete comparison to democratic capitalism. Democratic communism is a highly preferable alternative to a totalitarian regime. To say otherwise is anti freedom.
Before you dismiss socialism, you must address the success of social democracy in the Scandinavian countries. They have lower proportional national debt compared to the US and many other capitalist countries. They have enjoyed major economic success through energy and tech companies. To a large extent the central economic planning in China mirrors socialism, so you must also explain away their developmental success over the past few decades. China has it’s human rights and quality of life issues, but that, again, is more a matter of China’s political system and culture than its economic structure. In fact, China’s noncapitalist economic success is directly leading to net gains for the population’s living situation, further complicating the case for capitalism as the only viable economic option.
2. You didn’t address structural market failures, such as:
-Negative externalities. For example: land, air, and water pollution; smoking; unpayed costs for contributing to climate change.
-Imperfect competition. For example: monopolies; coercive industries.
-Defining consumption as morally good. Buying your 7th Nike sweatshirt doesn’t really help anybody, but the baseline capitalist metric for positive progress, GDP, goes up. How and why is this considered beneficial?
-Planned obsolescence. This is related to both the points above and below.
-Asymmetrical information. As a customer, wading through advertising from companies that are incentivized to distort the products sold is incredibly time consuming. This opportunity cost interferes with the efficiency of the marketplace and often means that consumers purchase goods they don’t in fact want.
3. Churchill’s witty defense of democracy – it’s the worst form of government, except for all others that have been tried – as applied to capitalism contradicts the message described in your blog. If, as you say, this life is a social experiment, shouldn’t we try to test new social and economic systems to find the best one?
First of all, thanks for reading and leaving a comment. Secondly, let’s get into the meat of your remarks.
1. You cannot separate economics and politics. Especially when our political system controls the majority of our economy. (I almost got into some central banking stuff here but thats for another article) The illusion of a free market in America is just that, an illusion. The political architecture of most modern countries dictates the economic policy so to try and separate them is futile. The internet is the last true free market and is why it has seemed to be impervious to the recession we are experiencing and is also the reason the government is working so hard to try and control it as well.
My article was intended mostly to get people to realize the perversion of the word capitalism and to make people realize that we are all capitalists at some level. It is human nature. That is not to say it is without flaws but I would rather free competition and choice as opposed to a government directed economy with limited choices and forced participation. (Obamacare anyone?)
I do not dismiss socialism in theory, I dismiss it in practice. I used to think socialism was awesome and wondered why it was not more common until I started understanding that eventually people just quit trying, quit producing and eventually become clones and drones. There are a few places where it works with some success but nothing amazing is coming from those countries. People are happy in mediocrity. You do not see people moving to those country en-mass and you don’t find any real innovation coming from those countries. Winner – Capitalism
China is more of a fascist capitalist hybrid and I think that you will find that their economy is just as fractured as ours and propped up by the government to appear stronger than it is. Ghost cities and massive vehicle buys from the government to prop up their auto industries does not a successful economy make. they do a good job of posturing and I have no doubt that they will figure things out but for now they are not as strong as they claim to be financially. They are going through growing pains for sure but their people are not free to innovate or create and the government controls the majority of all major industry. Winner – Capitalism
2. I didn’t allow for some of the things you mention here because I do not think they are issues that can not be solved by a free market. They are self imposed barriers that I have a hard time acknowledge as influential factors when you talk about large scale economic policy. (Honestly, you lost me at climate change but that is also a discussion for another blog post)
Imperfect Competition – Monopolies are far and few between. I would argue that we are creating the ultimate monopoly in the American federal government.
Asymmetrical information – I agree with this point to an extent. Companies (particularly larger ones) have some issues with regards to advertising and messaging. That being said, I think you will see a massive shift in the power from the company, to the consumer as transparency in pricing becomes more prevalent. Not to mention that people are becoming more desensitized to marketing and advertising as a whole. I do not want to get too deep into my stance on marketing and advertising but I do address these issues throughout the blog and I hope to be at the forefront of a paradigm shift in the world of business to consumer communications and interactions that solves a lot of these problems.
The hard truth is that most successful companies are that way because they solve problems and deliver value. Sure there are frivolous products and unecessary expenditures to “pad the stats” but those are symptoms of a strong successful economy. You don’t see companies like apple popping up in Somalia or Scandinavia for that matter. Why might that be? Oh yeah, Capitalism is awesome and America was the place where you could come with an idea like that, start from nothing and build an empire like that. It used to be at least. I have a hard time thinking about the future of this country when we cripple peoples ability to innovate and start these kinds of companies moving forward.
Overwhelming regulation and governmental intrusions into the operation and implementation of business strategy is almost insurmountable. Take it from a guy who has his hands in a few ventures and is dealing with it all first hand. You mean to tell me you think the government could do a better job at any of it?
3. America was built as a representative republic and not a democracy. I would implore you to read a book called “The 5000 Year Leap” and truly understand the framing of this country and understand the historical background of how and why this country was born and why America was the “something different” you are asking me to accept in other more archaic economic systems.
Sure it has its flaws but never had a country grown and flourished like America and it would be ignorant to assume that that was not directly related to the empowered individual and their ability to innovate, create and capitalize on the needs of others with products and services that the market would support.
The problem comes from our perversion and subversion of the system that was created. Politics and government is the ultimate corporation and for people to hate on businesses simply for the fact that they are motivated by profit is again a flawed stance. The position wreaks of ideology and is just not something I can get behind.
As to your last statement about trying something new, America was something new. Everything else had been tried and we came, did our thing and pretty much kicked the whole worlds ass. Much like the rising star at the prime of their career, we got a little power hungry and started slowly evolving, regressing if you will back into the same quests for power that had destroyed every other system before it. As we move further from the constitution we actually move back towards the failed systems of the past and I just can’t get behind that.
Thanks again for your thoughts.
This is as dumb as that article you somehow got published on HuffPost.
And yet somehow hundreds of thousands of people are reading them. #Clueless
probably the biggest problem of modern capitalism is corruption in a diversity of fields
i don´t think i need to mention lobbyism or brutal marketing strategies to destroy competitors
the biggest problem is that modern capitalism is artificial slowing down of technical development because of lack of innovation so to make it seem like we are progressing the original innovation gets cut down in to several steps which get intruduced to the public over several decades
at the same time this principal also guarantees to maximizes profits unless the cover gets blown
why make big money with a new type of engine if i can increase the effectivness with several steps each time introducing it as the new super advanced development
I agree with all of this. Large corporations have legacy cash cows that they do not want to let go of because they are so profitable.
Cash, carbon and communication. Those are the three biggest oppressors of people.
Money is the leash they let us run around on, carbon is the fuel that powers it all and communication is how they keep us in the dark.
But capitalism itself is not the problem. If we lived in a true capitalist society those problems would have fixed themselves already.
Since we live in a corporate oligarchy, we only have the idea of capitalism to cling to. The hope that we might be free but in reality we are all under the control of massive corporate and governmental Manipulations.
this is genius
Thank you for your clear and articulate explanation. This is basically everything I want to say :)