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Why I Have Lost My Faith in Capitalism

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Re: Why I Have Lost My Faith in Capitalism

#4

it seems like he really lost his faith in government regulation and subsidy programs not capitalism.

Seems like he's lost faith in the unrestrained capitalism preached by the right in America. Seems like he'd welcome a government entity handling the consequences of fracking with an eye towards the environmental and community damage, and someone stepping in to make big companies back off of anti-consumer, pro-profitability-at-any cost fees and other schemes.

Sounds like he's losing confidence in capitalism the way it works in the USA in our times. It might not be what you'd call capitalism, but that's what capitalism is for many people.

Re: Why I Have Lost My Faith in Capitalism

#5
post #4

it seems like he really lost his faith in government regulation and subsidy programs not capitalism.

Seems like he's lost faith in the unrestrained capitalism preached by the right in America. Seems like he'd welcome a government entity handling the consequences of fracking with an eye towards the environmental and community damage, and someone stepping in to make big companies back off of anti-consumer, pro-profitability-at-any cost fees and other schemes. Sounds like he's losing confidence in capitalism the way it…

Seems like he's lost faith in the unrestrained capitalism preached by the right in America.

To be fair the right loves anti-business regulation, just as much as the left. They are after-all working for the same lobbies and part of the same revolving door plutocracy. The right loves to implement legislation that keeps competition out of established players markets, just as the left does. America has not been a capitalist economy for a long time, and a century of ever increasing regulations have accrued to the point that it is starting to crumble. One can say they blame capitalism and cite America as their example, but it calls into question their understanding of economic models, because America does not meet the definition of capitalism and has not in a long time. Plutocracy, corporate fascism, or Corporatism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporatism) better meet the definition of America. It is pretty safe to say, that when an economy transitions to a centrally planned economy it stops being a capitalist economy. Just because we allow unlimited personal profit (a key tenant of capitalism) does not mean that we meet all the requirements of capitalism. One of the other key tenants (a market free of intervention. AKA government picking winners and loosers) has been missing for a long time.

Re: Why I Have Lost My Faith in Capitalism

#6
post #5
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems like he's lost faith in the unrestrained capitalism preached by the right in America. Seems like he'd welcome a government entity handling the consequences of fracking with an eye towards the environmental and community damage, and someone stepping in to make big companies back off of anti-consumer, pro-profitability-at-any cost fees and other schemes. Sounds like he's losing confidence in capitalism the way it…

Seems like he's lost faith in the unrestrained capitalism preached by the right in America. To be fair the right loves anti-business regulation, just as much as the left. They are after-all working for the same lobbies and part of the same revolving door plutocracy. The right loves to implement legislation that keeps competition out of established players markets, just as the left does. America has not been a capital…

So, I'll leave off debating the validity of anything you said and remark that that's entirely beside the point.

Feel free to argue that our economic system isn't capitalist; it's largely an academic discussion. It's called capitalist, wrongly or not, and it's that system that is what's meant here.

He's not talking about anti-business legislation, the picking of winners and losers, etc. He's talking about the unwillingness of government to intervene in business to prevent it from abusing the citizens. He's talking about the byproducts of the mania for deregulation in the name of the free market that's been a hallmark of the rhetoric of the right the US for decades.

Don't let details distract for the actual topic of discussion here. They matter, but not so much that they warrant ignoring the original complaint.

Re: Why I Have Lost My Faith in Capitalism

#7
post #6
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems like he's lost faith in the unrestrained capitalism preached by the right in America. To be fair the right loves anti-business regulation, just as much as the left. They are after-all working for the same lobbies and part of the same revolving door plutocracy. The right loves to implement legislation that keeps competition out of established players markets, just as the left does. America has not been a capital…

So, I'll leave off debating the validity of anything you said and remark that that's entirely beside the point. Feel free to argue that our economic system isn't capitalist; it's largely an academic discussion. It's called capitalist, wrongly or not, and it's that system that is what's meant here. He's not talking about anti-business legislation, the picking of winners and losers, etc. He's talking about the unwillin…

it's largely an academic discussion

I differ on that subject, one of the reasons that we are where we are is that people don't take the time to properly analyze what we are, if people lack the fundamental understanding that we do not have a capitalist market, to the extent that they complain about said capitalism then it is a huge issue. It shows that they have largely been successful in convincing the people that what we have meets the definition of the title, to the extent that even the blanket terms are accepted for something that it clearly is not.

He's talking about the byproducts of the mania for deregulation in the name of the free market that's been a hallmark of the rhetoric of the right the US for decades.

Yes and that was my point, they are not anti-regulation they are just anti-regulation for the insiders and both sides are just as guilty of it. They may preach the platform, but in practice they do not apply it across the board. Hence they pick the winners and looser by only being anti-regulation when it conveniently creates barriers to entry by anyone other than established players. As such, my post was very relevant to the article and it is not capitalism. What the author dislikes is corporatism which is the definition and title of what we have.

Don't let details distract for the actual topic of discussion here. They matter, but not so much that they warrant ignoring the original complaint.

I think you have misread my original post, the information was very relevant to the topic. I was not ignoring the complainant but rather highlighting that we do not have a capitalist system and his and our redress is to return to true capitalism which will only come about by people understanding that we are indeed not a capitalist economy.

Re: Why I Have Lost My Faith in Capitalism

#8
I guess the point I didn't make in this blog post, but that I usually do make when I'm discussing this topic in real life, is that the system we have right now, call it corporatism or whatever, will always develop out of capitalism. Because the people do not have the capacity to make checks on the government or business, given enough time, capitalism will start to crumble and create a system that is littered with problems that are practically impossible to fix by an uninformed public.