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Most people hate capitalism because they don't understand it and confuse it with plutocratic state corporatism = fascism.
The word as such is kind of stained, just like communism, racism, colonialism, and most of the other isms
I know it varies from place to place, but where I come from calling someone a capitalist is about as much of an insult as calling someone a communist.
Doctors, lawyers, high paying public service sector jobs arent even in the same ball game financially that the OWS crowd are directing their protests at.
They are if they are directing their protests at the top 1% of wage earners. As you can see by this chart, the top 1% of household incomes in the nation make $380,000/year. In Massachusetts (where I live) that's a university professor's salary.
Bank fees are a funny thing. I mean, we lend them our own money so they can do something with it, pay their employees, invest it or whatever. But they charge us for doing something with our own money Maybe because they are too stupid to take good care of our money, losing and wasting it, gambling with it, thus needing additional sources of income, i.e. fees.
Banking has always been a scam. For all the Christians out there didn't Jesus talk about the banks and usury?
Doctors, lawyers, high paying public service sector jobs arent even in the same ball game financially that the OWS crowd are directing their protests at.
You're right--they aren't. And you know what--I don't have a problem with the people who are mega wealthy--we're talking billions of dollars--good for them. There's nothing wrong with being rich. The problem comes in when they put mega dollars into elections and politician's pockets so that the rules are changed to benefit them, at the expense of everyone else. If you want to make a ton of money--great--but you shouldn't be able to pay off the government and buy the rules that let you do what ever you want so you get richer and you hurt me. That's not capitalism.
The protest is not against capitalism. Some of the protesters may be anti-capitalism, but the protest against big banks isn't. Are big banks really pro-capitalism? If big banks are socializing risk, so that all of us pay for their losses, is that capitalism? Bankers and financiers are not risking their own money. They gamble with someone else's money, and when the gamble doesn't pan out, they still take their cut and move along, while the person whose money they lost is left behind. Sure, the supposed free market says that if they lose enough money, then people won't do business with them anymore. But the free market isn't operating here, because the system's been rigged. It's been rigged because "too big to fail" may not be accurate, but it's like a myth, it has some truth to it. "Too big to fail" means that they've done a great job socializing the risk, so that if they fail, then we all lose. What the Occupy protest is about is the idea that if you've set up a system where we all share in the losses, then shouldn't we all share in the profits as well? When Citibank's risks went south, they got a bail-out. Now they're sitting pretty. And the people who bailed them out, are they sitting pretty? Shouldn't they be? The bail-outs were a sort of risk, a risk that the American people took, pretty much without the consent of the American people. They took a risk, it panned out, Citibank's earnings are up by 74%, and yet the American people aren't getting the profits, Citibank is. The issue is simple, if you privatize profits, then risk should be privatized. If you socialize risks, then profits should be socialized. That's capitalism. What's happened is that risks have been socialized, profits have been privatized, and that's led to the tremendous income inequity in the United States that has had the effect of destabilizing our economy and our political landscape.
To defer a bit fromt he topic, but what was mentioned earlier:
I went on my lunch break, and found these 2 things.
Again.. they don't have much of a message..except "plz give me things"
Socialists do not speak for the Occupy movement. Socialists have joined in the Occupy movement, much the same way various groups joined the Tea Party movement. Socialists have one agenda, Occupy has a different agenda. That there is some overlap allows socialists to join protests, to use the Occupy movement to get their own voices heard. There were people at Tea Party protests who similarly had some overlap in their agendas with the Tea Party, and used the Tea Party movement to get their own voices heard.
They are if they are directing their protests at the top 1% of wage earners. As you can see by this chart, the top 1% of household incomes in the nation make $380,000/year. In Massachusetts (where I live) that's a university professor's salary.
SUMMARY OF FEDERAL INDIVIDUAL INCOME TAX DATA, 2010
the Top 1% are the top 1% due to having a high net worth, not high wages, like I said.
you keep ranting on about taxing high wages, like some kind of Democrat.
IMO, it's a pretty solid read and makes some really excellent points. I'm going to share one section that really stuck out to me:
This, in a nutshell (to me), basically describes why capitalism works so well. This is the exact reason why people point out the hypocrisy with "OWS" (and all of the other protests). They will stand out there for weeks..protesting against out system..and most of them being very anti-capitalist. Well that's fine, we are a free society and they have a right to protest....but when you're spending all of this time and your consuming products you are supporting capitalism. This, of course, is just my opinion.
What are your thoughts? I do hope you've read it.
It is not capitalism people hate, its fascism.
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Maybe because they are too stupid to take good care of our money, losing and wasting it, gambling with it, thus needing additional sources of income, i.e. fees.
