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And no, capitalism is not failing nearly as much as some people fail to thrive in capitalism. In socialism/communism we can all be forced to fail together.
Capitalism is defined as the private ownership of the tools of production.
There has been no capitalism in the USA since 1930s.
Why?
If the government can take a share of your property via taxes, it's not wholly owned by you.
If government takes your wealth and gives it to someone else, that is not capitalism.
That's socialism (collectivism), where the government ownership is less than complete.
Stealth socialism relies on pervasive regulation, licensing, and high taxes to accomplish the same goal of total dominance of the economy without the need to 'nationalize' all production and labor.
Those who blame "capitalism" are really attacking the current People's Democratic Socialist Republic.
The health of an economic system is not defined by income distribution or equality. Our primary issue as an economy is an inability to adapt our workforce to the ever changed dynamics of global competition. When America was an isolated economic bubble we could develop, manufacture, consume, and sustain (soup to nuts) almost everything ourselves. As global markets opened up to both capital & investment so did the labor markets. Those industries where relatively unskilled labor or production constraints could be mobile was transferred to the lowest cost to serve markets. As coal mines fades, steel shut down, furniture died, and other general manufacturing shifted we did not transition our workforce appropriately.
Some of that was failure to predict future demands and the rest was a reliance upon government. We used social programs to acquiesce our population into malaise rather than to incentivize change/improvement.
The beauty about capitalism and a free market is that all markets clear and eventually we reach equilibrium. There are painful parts like a recession/depression that counterintuitively are the most important part of the cycle. Most people fear or look at recessions as a bad byproduct of capitalism when in actuality it is the most healthy part of it. Inefficient businesses and professions must be allowed to go out of business so capital can be re-allocated to new prosperous parties. If you stop this process then you kill the essence of capitalism, hence the bank bailout was an immoral act in the eyes of a capitalist.
Our primary issue as an economy is an inability to adapt our workforce
to the ever changed dynamics of global competition.
I disagree. Our workforce has proven to be incredibly adaptable to circumstance and need.
What hasn't been adaptable are the OTHER millions of warm bodies (and dependents) we have who aren't a part of our workforce.
Quote:
Those industries where (health & safety matters mitigated toward and) relatively unskilled labor
or production constraints could be mobile was transferred to the lowest cost to serve markets.
As mentioned above, shifting this dirty & dangerous work to developing countries helped raise Billions of allies out of poverty.
Shifting the work, even the dirty and dangerous to people and land, was NOT the problem.
Quote:
We (then gleefully promoted actions and designed policy to support ...) social programs
to acquiesce our population into malaise rather than to incentivize change/improvement.
Chief among those changes & improvements we needed to incentivise was a conscious choice reflected in policy
(in the wake of the baby boom!) to not continue to produce another generation of no and low skilled people
at the same time that the jobs they could do well enough to be paid well enough were being eliminated. We did these families no favors.
And again... eliminating the jobs was NOT the problem.
Last edited by MrRational; 10-16-2019 at 03:26 PM..
And no, capitalism is not failing nearly as much as some people fail to thrive in capitalism. In socialism/communism we can all be forced to fail together.
Exactly.
This thread was started by the OP on 2-15-2015 and the OP has never been back to participate in discussion. Isn't that the classic definition of a TROLL?
This thread was started by the OP on 2-15-2015 and the OP has never been back to participate in discussion. Isn't that the classic definition of a TROLL?
Time to lock this POS thread IMHO.
Threads can become worthwhile even if the OP is garbage. A thread is the sum of its participant, not only the OP.
I'm going to state a few ugly things that a lot of politicians on both sides like to ignore.
The first is the human population has doubled since the 1970s. Democrats and Republicans love to argue about jobs and what not but overpopulation simply just makes things harder for everyone. There is only so much food, oil, minerals for industry etc. Housing in desirable areas has recently become astronomically expensive and this is part of the problem. Globalization has made this more problematic, as people in lower cost regions can do your job for 1/10th or less the cost. Many are educated too thanks to quality universities all over the world. Telling people to have less children and brace for the inevitable are politically incorrect so politicians don't do it.
The second isn't that capitalism is bad per say, it's that much of the capitalism in the US in crony capitalism. Why does the FDA make it illegal to order prescription drugs from Canada that are identical to those found in the US for a fraction of the cost? Because of pharmaceutical lobbying. Why are private banks and GM bailed out using tax dollars for their reckless spending while everyone else loses money? Political power. The government is being corrupted by our private sector to work for a few special business interests at the expense of the general population.
CAPATALISM has proven itself bad for people, society and nation itself and reality is before us...how will we fix it?
Here's the thing, Capitalism has NOT failed, and you can't fix it because it isn't broken, it's working exactly as intended.
Income equality is NOT guaranteed, it is earned. People are a product of their own efforts and decisions, and so there will ALWYAS be different levels of outcomes. As the Declaration Of Independence states, "the PURSUIT of happiness", which is basically what you're talking about here. Note the word "PURSUIT". Happiness, or in this case, income, is NOT guaranteed, merely the right to PURSUE it. You can't "fix" it because you can't fix peoples misdirected (or lack of) effort and poor decision making.
I see nothing in any of those charts indicating capitalism has failed.
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