Capitalism is working as intended; it is not broken and does not need to be fixed. It was not meant to raise peoples standard of living or to make lives better. That is propaganda used to make you a willing participant in your own enslavement. The purpose of Capitalism is to make a few people rich while exploiting the natural resources available, including the human resources that do the work and buy the products and services. And soon or later capitalism will destroy itself because that is the inevitable fate of a system that eats itself alive as a part of it's process.
As a nation America has a lot of problems and we need to find the root cause to solve them. However, as long as we are working on solving the wrong problem, nothing will change. The problem is not that capitalism is broken and we need to fix it. The problem is capitalism. The question to consider is what economic system will provide what we need as humans and assist in the further development of human progress. Guess what the answer isn't: More unfettered capitalism!
I have never been a fan of capitalism or the havoc it causes to its victims. Most people suffer from the effects of capitalism, even if they don't realize it. Stress about money, bills, housing, schools keeping a job, all of it adds up over time. Nature and the environment suffer too. But most important, human progress is very much constrained by capitalism. Capitalists do not want people to progress unless they can figure out a way to make money on it. Progress is less important than profits. Unless it can be exploited life is not important. Principles, morality, kindness, peace, and love are of no use to the capitalist system unless money can be made. For some reason people don't know that capitalism is a life sucking monster or they refuse to see it or it could just be Stockholm syndrome. Thankfully, the Occupy Wall Street movement seems to have awakened a few people; I hope more wake up soon.
Capitalism has been extolled by its proponents as noble, correct and all about personal freedom and choice but it is none of these things. You buy what they sell you, you get what you pay for and you are who they say you are. There is no freedom in capitalism. There is only slavery in capitalism. If you don't think it is slavery, imagine your life if you lost your job and could not find one for several years. After you run out of money, the system starts to devour you. Kicking you out of your home and on to the streets, ruining your credit, calling you lazy for not being able to find work, making it hard for you to vote, testing you for drugs if you want assistance and forcing you to work for the lowest wages just to have some semblance of dignity. There is no dignity in working for others. People will do anything to get a job and even more to keep one. They will lie, cheat, steal, and kill; nothing matters but keeping their job. And when people do something the system deems bad, like sell sex, drugs or their children, we are all shocked and outraged. But we should not be, because capitalism makes everyone do bad or illegal things. Why is it worse to sell “illegal” drugs, than it is to kill people with defective prescription drugs? Why is it worse to sell sex on the street corner than it is to sell everything using sexual imagery?
There is no real defense of capitalism; its apologists have deluded themselves into believing in the system even, or especially when it has kicked them to the ground. "I could've been a contender. I could've been somebody", is the mantra of the drones who refuse to see capitalism is rigged for those who are already rich.
If you still have a job it is not because you are better than anyone else at your job or possess any special skills; they just have not found out how to do without you yet because everyone is disposable. The corporation uses you and when it is done, it tosses you aside. Corporations spend billions of dollars every year bombarding people with the message that there is no alternative to the current system. Submit and comply until you die; leave the thinking to them and everything will be alright.
Religion is useful to capitalism because it re-enforces the message of submitting to authority and working hard. If you follow the rules and are good, you will receive your reward in heaven for surely won’t get any on earth. Religion also tells us that the wicked will be punished so there is no need for justice on earth. That's why not believing in gods is so dangerous to the system; if you slip the bonds of the religion myth, you might stop believing in the myths of capitalism, the free market and other such nonsense. It all works together. It is no coincidence that Lloyd Blankfein, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Goldman Sachs, says he is doing the lords work. It is all one and same. The invisible hand of the market is allegedly the hand of god.
Please do not call me a Marxist because I am not familiar enough with Marxist theory to claim that title. From what I do know about Socialism, it seems to be the only way that humanity can live in a peaceful, prosperous and sensible way. The idea that people work cooperatively to produce the goods and services that society needs, sharing equally in benefits it produces is an appealing idea. Why do workers need individuals as owners, bosses or overseers? Why do the people that do the work accept not getting their share of the profit from the goods and services they produce? No corporation will ever pay you the true value of your work, that's how they make money.
Wal-Mart is a good example of the exploitation of everyone for the benefit/profits of one small family. The production of most of the goods sold at Wal-Mart is done by people who are practically slaves. The “associates” that work in the stores are paid as little as Wal-Mart can get away with. Even the overseers who are paid a little better, are exploited. Wal-Mart actively practices discrimination in its hiring and promotion practices. They flood the markets with cheap, useless junk which destroys other businesses. They get tax breaks from cities and states, often keeping the sales tax they charge the customers as a part of the deal. They provide limited health benefits to their employees, counseling them on how to get benefits from the government to supplement the employees’ low wages. The main people that benefit from the money that Wal-Mart makes is the Walton Family, everyone else is just a pawn in their greed game. Do we need Wal-Mart? Do we need the Walton family? What value do they add to our world, our nation, and our lives? How are they helping positive progress in the world? If Wal-Mart were replaced by a lot of small co-operative businesses, paying their employees living wages, would we miss it? I think not.
There are better business models than the corporate hierarchical one where someone is the boss and someone is the worker/slave. There is a growing movement for co-operative corporations or businesses. Co-op businesses employ over 850,000 people in America with revenue of nearly $500 billion. Employee ownership is a democratic approach to business that is better for us the workers who do the work. Co-Op's do not stifle productivity or ingenuity. Most people want to be invested and interested in the work they do; co-operative businesses allow this to happen and people's creativity to soar. This is actually something unemployed people could do now. Most unemployed people are not unskilled labor; they have skills that they could combine with those of other skilled or like minded individuals to start their own cooperative business to equally share both the risk and the success.
But what would happen to Wal-Mart and Verizon, and Co.? Who cares? They can only be successful by oppressing everyone around the world.
For more information on Cooperative Corporations check out these resources:
It is time for all of us to think differently. The old ways will not solve the problems of America or the world. We cannot budget cut or spend our way out of our problems. Our so called leaders do not know how to fix the problems and they are not open to alternatives. The real problem is the capitalist system. It should not be saved again. It should be allowed to die the death it should have died in 1930's.
Occupy Everywhere!
Power to the People,
Fobbsie
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