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More bad news for the country that is leading the way among nation to recovery while other linger such as Europe. Communism and Socialism are so 20th century gone back experiments. Even China knows this. North Korea is only survivor if you can call it that; looking at S. Korea.
Capitalism has only been around in any form we would recognize for around 350-400 years. That's about half the time feudalism lasted.
I don't think, given 5000 years of world history and a pretty wide variety of economic paradigms, that what we currently have will last forever.
We're starting to get closer, but I think the breaking point will be when robotics and software start to make humans unemployable. We're less than 100 years away from that. There will come a point when even 3rd world sweatshop type jobs can be done by robots and middle class 1st world jobs done mostly by software, and a point where humans will only be needed for periodic labor input at best. At that point, the creative type jobs that machines can't do will become far more important.
Everything the government does these days is to protect the interests of big business; our trade agreements, low minimum wage, welfare system. We protect big business first and foremost.
Who do you think is getting the welfare when the largest company (WalMart) has so many of its workers on public assistance?
do you really believe this, no , not starting an argument , small business makes up 70% of the employment section, these are company that have less than 100 people. They don't get your so called corporation welfare.
I keep hearing one political side always talking about corporation welfare. yes there some out there but you hardly see it, yes there some tax breaks for moving factories and hiring local people. Its not all like when obama gave 3 trillion dollars to his buddies that we never saw. so not taking all of that in.
a simple question, and i am not trying to start an argument but i just don't know.
if the capitalism system is so bad, what do you replace it with. think about it, even china a communist country has a capitalism system with wall mart.
We're starting to get closer, but I think the breaking point will be when robotics and software start to make humans unemployable. We're less than 100 years away from that.
I'd guess ~30 years and consumer-capitalism will be defunct. Universal human rights will be chucked into the dustbin of history as well. It will be replaced by a semi-feudal system in which robots take the place of serfs and slaves. Privilege and rights will scale with wealth and property, with an increasing % of the population having none.
if the capitalism system is so bad, what do you replace it with. think about it, even china a communist country has a capitalism system with wall mart.
so what do we replace it with
We can't replace what we don't have.
Mixed economy is best, with more collectivism than our current construct. More unions, stronger wage / labor laws.
I guess I could read my own story. I was getting $80/hr 25 years ago.
The thing that blows me away is your tunnel vision and lack of reasoning capacity and empathy. I don't expect everyone to be like me. Last time I took an IQ test (admittedly a long time ago) I scored in the 99.9%ile. I'm also good looking, athletic, and male. I figure that gives me at least a small advantage over the average person.
It isn't that your statement about "starting a business that caters to rich people" is incorrect. I've advised people to do that very same thing myself. At the same time however, I recognize that the only reason this is true is because our economy has been declining for 40 years for the middle class, and only the rich are prospering!
Do you understand that the prescription for an individual may be completely different than the prescription for a country?
I don't know how to explain this any more clearer. Anyone can make it in this Nation. Many people are making it now. The rules for creating wealth have not changed one bit. The comment about starting a business that caters to the rich came from an article that I mentioned. I see it as a good plan of action though and you yourself admit that you have advised others to persue that plan of action.
The economy was doing real well when Reagan was in office. His ideals created one of the greatest economies that the world had ever seen. The middle class became wealthy during that time frame. They contintue to get wealthy. I have been watching my own net worth grow and the net worth of many around me. It is amazing that someone as simple minded as myself and others have the ability to build a 7 figure net worth in our lifetime. Even with the economy down things are happening for those willing to search out opportunities.
I don't know how to explain this any more clearer.
You aren't explaining. You're just ranting a tune over and over. There are other forums where you can go to discuss politics and religious beliefs. This is the economics forum. Economics is a science.
Anyone can "make it". In theory. If they work hard at it *and* are lucky. That has been true in every place at every time. It doesn't excuse the fact that wealth and income have shifted dramatically away from most of the population into the hands of a few. This makes it harder for someone to "make it". It isn't complex math, this is simple arithmetic.
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The economy was doing real well when Reagan was in office. His ideals created one of the greatest economies that the world had ever seen. The middle class became wealthy during that time frame.
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It is amazing that someone as simple minded as myself and others have the ability to build a 7 figure net worth in our lifetime.
All the old farmers where I grew up are millionaires. That was true even 30 years ago. My Dad is worth ~$10M. He's never been anything but a small time farmer. None of them did anything special or risky. None went to college. Many didn't graduate HS. They were the sons of poor farmers, and expected to be poor farmers as well. Then came the great productivity advances in the middle part of the last century. Yields and land values skyrocketed and they became rich. Try that now though, starting from zero! Margins are much smaller. To make a living you need to farm a lot more land and have a massive investment in equipment. It's precarious, *and* the industry supports way fewer farmers than in the past.
In the same time period (after WW2 until ~1980) it was easy for any guy who wanted to work to get a secure and decent paying job with a good pension and support a family, send the kids to college, etc. No education requirements or special skill needed. *That* was when middle class living standards took off. These guys are retired now or nearing retirement if they are still alive, and they are doing fine. It's their sons and grandsons that have it tough.
Reagan, seriously?! It's no coincidence that the start of many negative economic trends coincide with his presidency.
rruff, OK so this is the economics forum. True. All I know is what I see. All I know is what I lived thru. I was in high school when Reagan was elected, by a landslide I might add. He is the last President to have a true majority of the nation behind him. He took nearly every state during both the 1980 and 1984 elections. I remember that interest rates were in the double digits back then. Try and buy a house back in 1980. No wonder property values were low, no one could afford the interest rates. LOL
I remember people talking about how great this nation was back in the early to late 1980's. Things were happening, people were starting new business operations and many of those people made very good money. My dad started his business back then as well and did very well for himself.
You mention people prior to 1980 getting good jobs where the employer would take care of them. Amazing benefits that these employers offered employees. What happened? Capitalism is what happened. The market spoke. The owners took those jobs and offered them to people that would work for less. That is how the market works. If a business can get more value from someone else than the business will gravitate to the higher profit margin. But what happened to people that lost jobs? Many started their own companies, becoming capitalists themselves. realize that if you are a worker that has no equity in a company than you have no say in what happens to your job. If the company sends your job somewhere else than you are out of luck. Capitalism never failed. The rules of capitalism worked and the owners fought for a higher profit margin. Employees have no control over that. The market has all of the control.
I was in high school when Reagan was elected, by a landslide I might add. I remember that interest rates were in the double digits back then.
I'm a little older than you. Not a lot. I did buy a house. I was smart enough to predict that rates would drop, so I got an adjustable loan.
Interest rates were not any of Reagan's doing. The Fed controls that. If you think that's a big deal then you should love Obama, because interest rates are the lowest ever, and stock market gains have been the highest ever.
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I remember people talking about how great this nation was back in the early to late 1980's. Things were happening, people were starting new business operations and many of those people made very good money. My dad started his business back then as well and did very well for himself.
That was when the rich launched a globalization scheme to divorce themselves from dependence on US consumers. Escalating debt is what kept the economy humming. Do you remember all the ranting about the fiscal deficit when Carter was president? Suddenly deficits didn't matter at all as soon as Reagan took office. Personal debt shot up as well. Loose credit, easy money. There was a big jump in workforce participation because more women were getting out of the house. All this led to high consumption in spite of stagnant and declining wages.
You understand how that works don't you? Escalating debt = perpetual stimulus. Until of course you max out your debt.
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The owners took those jobs and offered them to people that would work for less. That is how the market works.
Where do you think all these new people willing to take low pay came from?! They were the same people who were making good money and benefits before. They settled for less because the market *declined*. How is that a good thing?
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It's no coincidence that the start of many negative economic trends coincide with his presidency.
