The 5 Biggest Obscenities of Capitalism Today
http://www.alternet.org/economy/5-biggest-obscenities-capitalism-today
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1. The Market Works. Just Wait.
Capitalists have a remarkable capacity for groundless trust in the efficiency and egalitarianism of the free market. It started with Milton Friedman's contention that "The free market system distributes the fruits of economic progress among all people." Then on to 1998, when the New York Times cheered the breakup of the Glass-Steagall Act as having "temporarily demolished the increasingly unnecessary walls built during the Depression to separate commercial banks from investment banks and insurance companies." Post-crash, in 2009 and thereafter, the capitalists noticed cracks in the foundation, but relied on self-correction. Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein assured us that "The financial system may have led us into the crisis but it will lead us out," and the Chicago Tribune echoed his sentiment: "Western-style private enterprise, despite its penchant for booms and busts, will lead the world out of the mess it led the world into."
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2. Taxes: Who Needs Them?
"Zero!" said Honeywell CEO David Cote when asked what the corporate tax rate should be. Misinformation about taxes may have started with Arthur Laffer's napkin demonstration, which convinced Republicans for nearly forty years that lower taxes alchemistically result in higher revenues. Wealthy capitalists have come to believe that everyone benefits from tax avoidance. Said Charles Koch: "I believe my business and non-profit investments are much more beneficial to societal well-being than sending more money to Washington."
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3. Global Warming is a Hoax
According to Republican Senator James Inhofe, it's "the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people." He would go on to reflect, "My point is, God’s still up there. The arrogance of people to think that we, human beings, would be able to change what He is doing in the climate is to me outrageous." Rick Santorum called environmentalism "one of the favorite tricks of the left," and Fox News reported that "Global Warming Stopped 16 Years Ago."
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4. Students Are Our Finest Product
The big names produce the biggest absurdities. A well-intentioned Bill Gates proposes quality control for the student assembly line, with video footage from the classrooms sent to evaluators to check off teaching skills.
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SEEMS to be a much better system than free market capitalism. Bernie Sanders, the senator who has always put people first, adheres to this philosophy and his consistent work to help people over the decades has earned my respect.
I think that all but the greediest among us recognize that free market capitalism ( a misnomer because there are no free markets, monopolies yes) is a terrible system that only benefits those who have no problem with taking advantage of others. I am disabled and retired, I could still make good profits if I were to use my skills and hire people for a non-living wage and oversee their work.
As far as we know, we have one life. I do not want to live mine taking advantage of people. Basically in America, that is the only way to accumulate wealth. That is why I am not wealthy.
IF "we" ( and it can only be accomplished when the masses refuse to participate in this system) choose another system (like Democratic Socialism which seems to be a much more fair economic system) we will have to remain vigilant because the greedy, self-serving will always be with us.
IMO, that is what happened to capitalism. Even though it is based on taking advantage of inequalities among people, FDR did much to
equalize and restrain corporations from owning and abusing us.
"We" did not remain vigilant (often because of political party affiliations, "he/she is a Democrat and would never put corporate America first"
and now we find that the only thing lacking is the bar-code on our bodies.
The approximately 80% of us who have been harmed in some way by unfettered capitalism, should IMO create a political party whose platform is people before profits. I see this as the very least we can do for ourselves.
Sadly, there has been no majority attempt at this. We seem to be restrained by the (corporate) voices that tell us "if you don't vote for the dlc candidate, we will have republican rule."
Yes, currently there seems to be only two choices. It usually boils down to the lesser of two evils, which is still evil.
"We the people" have some choices to make and if we choose to change the current system, we have a lot of hard work to do.
Sadly, we do not seem inclined to make the difference and we keep hoping that something will change. We are the only ones who can change it and the timetable keeps getting smaller if we hope to do it peacefully.
