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Really? Everything is about money. The problem with socialism is that it relies on every person having the same goal, the same destiny if you will.
All socialism involves slavery. - Herbert Spencer
You see how China is prospering on the backs of slave labor. China is a hybrid variation of socialism which is using capitalism to fund their global power. When they've crushed western civilization do you believe they'll drop capitalism from the equation? I think not, because there is always someone at the top of the food chain no matter what ism you drape over it.
I'd rather have a free market where I decide how to live my life, for good or bad. Socialism, Marxism, Communism dictates how one lives, how you fit into the machine. Progressivism is just a bridge between a democratic republic and a communist democracy... Lenin said "Democracy is indispensable to socialism."
I choose a republic over socialism any day of the week.
In some ways, your first paragraph is correct, the rest is not on key.
I was listening to this guy describing a (somewhat exaggerated) situation that goes like this.
Lets say there is a Coffee place that's a small business. A Starbucks is close, down the street. The place that isn't Starbucks is obviously not doing huge business compared to Starbucks, who of course are have great business and making great money regardless of whether or not that local shop is there. Starbucks opens another location on the other side of the local Coffee Shop, then another one across the street, with the sole purpose of driving that local place out of business.
Is this totally justified under the guise of Capitalism, or is this selfishness and greed?
Ultimately it is the consumers who decide, so that really isn't selfishness or greed. Plus, it is also a very unlikely scenario considering that Starbucks is probably going to lose more money by trying to drive this man out of business than they would gain by acquiring his customers.
If you wanted to use an example of unethical business practices or monopolies, you should have used a more likely example. Something like Starbucks buying out coffee wholesalers to either drive competitors out of business or make it that they profit even from competitors. That is a much more plausible example with real world precedents.
Yes, we have Crony Capitalism. Bailing out GM is a perfect example.
A key part of the balance in capitalism is the reward one gets for taking a risk. You start a business, that's taking a risk. But if you are successful, you get a nice reward.
But Obama has socialized the risk while leaving the reward private... the GM bail out is a perfect example but there are many others such as the Freddie and Fannie bail outs.
The bottom line is that the tax payers get screwed.[/QUOTE]
That's the purpose of capitalism, isn't it?
No. Under capitalism and a government that does what it's supposed to do, nobody gets screwed.
It's only when we have Crony Capitalism like the GM bail out that people get screwed.
The easiest real life example comes from the 50's, when there were gas stations on many four corner intersections. They would have "gas wars" (imagine!) and drive each other's prices down. Grocery stores did the same . . .not sure what changed, but something did.
Someone lost, that's what changed.
Quote:
Originally Posted by thePR
1. Where in this thread have I mentioned anything other than Capitalism?
2. Socialism is not about money.
Are you suggesting Socialist States have no desire for income? Because that would be absurd.
You might want to enroll in ECON 101 this fall at your local university so you can understand the difference between property theories, like Capitalism, Socialism and Communism, and economic systems, like the Market, Command and Traditional systems.
Seems like you're a proponent of oil for making plastic. That's fine. I like plastic. The laptop I'm using is all "plasticky". So is my 65" plasma TV. My motorcycle has plastic parts on it too. I get it. Most all the products we use have plastic parts. Would be hard to find a cheap replacement.
As for jobs, yeah a lot of employment depends on our use of light and crude oil. But that's our own addiction. Yes, we have to slowly wean ourselves off of it. But there is no imminent threat of running out of oil so there is no rush.
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