Capitalism is the most able system, most powerful drive for change and improvement. Capitalism has advanced our world from its young steam engines and factories to one which can produce iPhones, thin laptop computers with 5 GBs of memory, rockets we can send to the moon, and accelerators approaching the threshold of the universe's mysteries. It has given us Walmarts, which for better or worse have achieved an efficiency and standard unparalleled in history--and providing us with not only less expensive real-income costs, but less expensive real-time costs (after all, everything we buy is ultimately paid for in time--the hours spent earning that money. Thus, a bag of grapes might have before cost the equivalent of a couple of hours of the average American's time, a time that has remarkably dropped by orders of magnitude so that the same bag of grapes costs a few mere minutes). If we've come so far in 240 years, imagine what society could look like a century or two from now, assuming we fix our numerous externalities-related problems including the likes of global warming, nuclear annihilations, etc.).
But that world is threatened.
Socialism? Is that the culprit? Maybe. Less so than what you would think, though--and I would be willing to make the case that some degree of socialism is required by any community to maximize utility as well as a more relaxed, pleasant, "happy" (so to speak) environment. After all, without socialism our free-market system would reward winners, as we know. And absolutely crush losers. We might be a risk based economy, but gambling everything on the possibility that your powerful, creative innovation will never be outdone (a counter capitalistic and progress idea, ironically) not only goes against the whole point of the system but dissuades all but the most naive individuals from investing in some idea or system. Why bet everything on an idea that could gain you temporary riches but reclaim your rewards in a heartbeat, leaving you more destitute than before? So, of course we need a "safety net" to catch us, to give the "losers" a chance to recuperate and retrain themselves in a different specialized field to maintain our levels and standards of productivity and productivity gain. That's only a minor point, even. Socialism, to a degree, is required, and for the most part the United States does a good job balancing socialistic ideas with our capitalistic ideology.
Mark Twain once said "I'm all for progress; it's change I don't like." That comment really hits at the matter. We, in the United States, good Americans that we are, support capitalism. After all, its one of our fundamental ideas, and it's proven to be the best, hasn't it? Aren't we Number One? Biggest economy? Most efficient workers? We take this idea for granted; that we're the best, that by being the best we can easily continue to recruit the best worldwide and maintain our status (Which brings on a whole other debate regarding immigration, legal immigration, trades and tariffs, and how we restrict not only the next potential terrorist but also the next potential worldwide phenom who would revolutionize the world with a technological advancement--phenoms who outnumber potential terrorists hundreds of thousands to ones. But again, that's a whole other debate). But if we fell off that wagon, if we fell to Number Two, then what? The tide starts to go the other way...Just as in football,the top recruits go elsewhere. Even our hometown high school players travel to the best place offered them, especially our best...And so begins the murderous deadly cycle known as the brain drain.
But what's to blame?
Our capitalistic ideals tie themselves to the idea that someone will always build on ideas, find a better way, find a smarter way. If we don't then our economy grinds to a halt. We stop improving, which as far as America goes is a fatal concept in the long terms. So, quick question--how do we find smarter ways? Well, duh. With smart people. And so we get at the heart of the matter, ignoring the relatively trivial matter of interest groups--the education.
Education? Don't we have the best schools in the world (topped, of course by Stanford University, heart of Silicon Valley and New America, and followed by lesser but still admirable colleges in the form of Harvard, MIT, Caltech, Columbia, Princeton, Yale, Vanderbilt, Berkeley, Chapel Hill...down to even "lowly" technical schools)? Of course, not everyone can have a Ph.D--some people have to be the workers, the checkout attendants, otherwise the people with Ph.D's wouldn't be as valuable? Flawed reasoning though this is (as Charlie Wheelen points out in "Naked Economics", econ is hardly a zero-sum game), consider that our overall educations standards and rankings fall far behind most developed countries--take your pick of any lists or rankings anywhere near related to the issue. So why are we number one?
My bet: Sputnik.
Sputnik was, at the time, a humiliation. It brought with it a sense of urgency, which was followed and entailed a sense of value in education. Our funding in research increasing by orders of magnitude; we made goals; we paid our teachers, schools, universities more. And as the incentives in those fields increasing, so did the volume of people joining them. The generation whose first significant memory was Sputnik brought forth the computer revolution, won the Cold War and changed the world.
Now, we're living in the first years of the generation whose first significant memory was 9/11. With it, fear of terrorism...And the sad part? This fear increased the probability that the next Sergey Brin gets locked out...Keep out even a hundred semi-giants, and you cannot imagine the multi-billions of dollars down the line that will never develop, or at least never develop here...And so do win the outsiders who almost by default gain lasting intellectual power and value, outsiders who could care less that the standard of living in the United States is flatlining at some given value or amount.
We need capitalism to survive. And so, ironically, we need the next Soviet Union...We need the next REAL enemy, not Iran or Afghanistan or even North Korea. We need a military superpower with great contrast to us...Unfortunately, we might not find one until it's too late.
When will you people ever learn? Take Obamacare, for example. It allows the existence of privately owned insurance companies, thus it will FAIL!! Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are also an example. They are quasi-government entities but because they are not 100% government ran they FAILED. Capitalism underwent the Great Depression and the recent credit crisis all because of PRIVATE BUSINESS!! Do you see a pattern here? Capitalism = FAILURE. In fact, if it were not for the bail outs and stimulus packages that heroically saved us from "the brink" as the President often states, we would all be in poverty and have nothing. So you can pass all the health care you wish and all the finance reform you wish, the bottom line is that all of it will FAIL.
As Karl Marx once said, Democracy is the road to socialism. Its only when we begin to socialize the government and make capitalism "work" do we find that it is unworkable. Therefore, it is my prediction that the US will soon have a national health care program. They will also continue to tighten the noose of government control of private industry with continued finance reform until the boot of government is firmly placed on the necks of the Bourgeoisie.
As Karl Marx once wrote, "The workers of the world have nothing to lose but their chains, workers of the world unite!!"
Originally posted by FMFNo rebuttal FMF? It is obvious that Capitalism is a flawed endevour. It is only when privatly owned business is erradicated that we can sleep safely at night knowing that there will never again be a "financial crisis". We will all be provided by the government what we need to survive whether it be health care, retirement, welfare. It is then and ONLY then that universal social justice can be realized.
Should comments about flogging a dead horse go on a new animal welfare thread or on any one of the existing threads that are being hijacked?
Originally posted by FMFName some "good" things about capitalism if you have a rebuttal? My guess is you can't because all you do is rail against it. My guess is that you are closet Marxist.
No. One reason for coming to RHP is for the humour. Your little riff these last few days has fallen flat. You don't have the political literacy or genuine wit to pull it off. Bad luck mate.
Originally posted by whodey'No more jokes' is good. I have stated my support for democractic capitalism umpteen hundred times on these threads. So talk to someone else about it, if you must. But, hey, 'no more jokes' is good.
No more jokes FMF, give us some good aspects to Capitalism.
Originally posted by FMFSo why not explain it to me or give me the threads.
'No more jokes' is good. I have stated my support for democractic capitalism umpteen hundred times on these threads. So talk to someone else about it, if you must. But, hey, 'no more jokes' is good.