Capitalism has failed, let's consider other options

Capitalism hasn't failed...YOU HAVE! The whole of American society has failed by being little babies who have to receive a trophy even when they lose, that a school yard fight requires the police to be called, that YOU are somehow special, that YOU demand WE accept you no matter what YOU do, that we can't call "some people" criminals because of their skin color or religion, etc. And then on the other side...we allow criminals to continue stealing without kicking them out of society, our "leaders" invite people to illegally enter our country and use benefits WE worked for, our morals are in the #ter, we are constantly suing someone for something we caused, we blame the people who succeed and threaten to eat them because we are too lazy to get off our asses and the idea of "family" has been bastardized into God knows what.

We have f'ed ourselves and still some of you sit there pointing at "something else". Anything so that YOU don't take any responsibility for what YOU have caused. The only solution...tear it all down and start from scratch. Because you can't fix stupid, lazy idiots who think the world owes them something.

Far, far too many people think they're special or deserve special treatment for doing less than adequate at life and living? Far too many are leeches on society and far too many think they actually matter. Who the hell do you think you are? Get off your ass, get or make a job doing something productive and valuable, stop blaming anyone but yourself for failure and maybe...just maybe...there is some hope. But my guess is I'll be flamed here which does nothing more than show that I'm right...and we destroyed ourselves. Look in the mirror and see what you have become!

originally posted by: WeAreAWAKE
Capitalism hasn't failed...YOU HAVE!
Far, far too many people think they're special or deserve special treatment for doing less than adequate at life and living? Far too many are leeches on society and far too many think they actually matter. Who the hell do you think you are? Get off your ass, get or make a job doing something productive and valuable, stop blaming anyone but yourself for failure and maybe...just maybe...there is some hope.

Ha, ha, you are not living in the real world, especially the world with the economy that we all face today

Up to the 1940 a person could get just about any job with an 8th grade education, but today you need a BA or Masters for entry level.

Why?

Because the government & big business figured out a long time ago that populations would certainly increase over time, but due to technology advancements, the availability of jobs would not expand to meet that population growth. There is a reason they don’t want people dropping out of high school and then at the same time, encourage those high school graduates to attend junior college, then a 4 year university and finally a Masters degree or PhD. They do so because it DECREASES the amount of people looking for full-time employment at the SAME TIME, chasing after jobs in a market that CANNOT provide employment for everyone looking for, able, qualified for and willing to work.

Look at it this way, when people could get a job with an 8th grade education, they went out and did it as soon as possible (opportunity cost). Then jobs got scarcer and the minimum requirement became a high school diploma, adding 4 more years of people NOT Looking for jobs within their cohort. Then jobs got even scarcer and the minimum became a 2 or 4 year college degree, adding an additional 2-4 years of people NOT looking for jobs within their cohort. Now jobs are really scarce and may require a Masters or PHD, adding an additional 2-7 years of people NOT looking for jobs within their cohort.

Basically the way the economy has been structured TODAY, we are looking at young people within their cohort whom are NOT looking for full-time, career type, employment for 6-15 YEARS, beyond K-12, all while they finish more school!!!

This has been done ON PURPOSE, to keep the number people seeking employment lower. In 1920 after 8th grade everyone who was able, went out to look for work and typically found it, that’s simply NOT possible today under any circumstances. Easily accessed welfare will soon add another 1-3 years of people within a cohort, to those “not seeking employment”. Not to the specific detriment of society, but to continue to mask the illusion that jobs and upward mobility are still available. So, if someone gets a graduate degree and collects 1-3 years of welfare on top of than, that’s ONE less person competing for scarce jobs. The extra years of welfare are then acting in the same way to the larger economy as the increased minimum education levels for employment, with the real goal of decreasing the number of able-bodied applicants out on the job market at the same time. This cohort of people "not pursuing full-time employment" also includes those in Prison, Government pensioners/SSI and the disabled on government assistance. If everyone needed to go out and “get a job” or “start their own business” TODAY, as many “capitalists” and "entrepreneurs" suggest these days, we would all be making 0.25 cents a day.

With big business being hell bent on replacing living workers with machines, such comments as those in this post, miss a subtle point that ONLY the children of the wealthy will have the opportunity to become TRUE experts in such fields. Let me clarify, through the prior 20th century, a poor kid who studied hard could become a lawyer, engineer, accountant, even a doctor sometimes with the right combination of hard work, savings, scholarships, family support, etc, OR they simply went into the trades and learned on the job WITH pay. HOWEVER, in engineering and technician curriculum’s today, times are changing, which now favors kids whom have access to expensive software and hardware to “experiment” with and “practice” on before entering college or a particular training program. So when they finally get to college or to their first apprenticeship, those whom have had lots of free time to “play” with robotics and programming, outside of the classroom, WILL CERTAINLY outpace their less privileged peer, who flips burgers part-time, to pay rent and school expenses.

Those whom are going to be rendered jobless by automation/robotics/tech are going to be the least likely to be able to pick up these pieces in the coming era of traditional jobs destruction. Its going to IMPOSSIBLE for the poor to go back to school, get a masters degree in robotics, in full-time-only engineering programs, that strongly discourage their admitted students from taking part-time jobs, while favoring students who have both the money and free time and don’t EVER work at an unrelated job to their majors, who then buy expensive robotics hardware/software to experiment with outside of class.

They will certainly need to be supported in some manner because there are never going to be enough jobs available to pay them for the labor they are willing to provide. I can't say what that "support" may be, but the "boot straps" paradigm has long sailed off into the sunset, never to return. There are too many people and not enough jobs available, permanently.

a reply to: Puppylove
The only way capitalism could have failed is if we were operating under a capitalistic system, which we aren't. Since the introduction of the central banking system, the west has been descending ever deeper into a fascist driven marxist system with socialism sprinkled on top to keep the masses from revolting.
The cartels and monopolies currently destroying the economies of the world only exist by government decree. Pure market forces would have destroyed the oligarchs several times over if not for government intervention. TARP, TALF, FOMC, QE 1, 2, 3, etc, these are tools of central planners ie marxists and fascists, not free markets

Look Familiar?

originally posted by: xuenchen
Look Familiar?

Sounds like "hope and change" to me. Now lets stomp it out and get back to living.

a reply to: Puppylove

Capitalism in itself is not the problem. Lets face it, it provides for a very high standard of living if its done right. That is the problem, currently its meant to create a high standard of living for only a very small segment of the population . Over time there is a natural tendency for wealth to concentrate in fewer and fewer hands. And as this happens, those individuals tend to game the system more and more in their favor, by political control through PACS and lobbyists. Until finally, instead of a system that is creating prosperity for many, its only design is to funnel wealth to a small elite. Thats where we are now. If we can start to regulate it to allow for a more even distribution of wealth, more job creation, and stop all the rigging in the system to serve only the 1 percent, we will start to see improvement. Socialism has its place in some areas, but as a governmental system, it is not going to work in the US with a population of over 300 million people. Our present capitalist system wont work either for that matter. What we need is a strongly regulated banking system and regulated capitalism and wage systems.

Free markets aren't about freedom.

If you want this you have to pay me in that.

In other words, Control.

originally posted by: Cyruay
Free markets aren't about freedom.

If you want this you have to pay me in that.

In other words, Control.

No. That is a free market. Not "control."

You WANT x. So you're gonna have to pay for it in one way or another. That's what drives free markets. Supply and demand.

The problem is captilsim progresses towards a Corporatocracy, and that is a greed based system.
I have seen corporations act very shorted sighted, it's all about the profits for the next quarter, have a bad quarter dump your payroll, but not the millions at the top, but the hundreds of thousands at the bottom. Companies on the DOW are under huge pressure to perform and make money EVERY quarter.

originally posted by: Puppylove
Personally I believe in a perks system, one where jobs and positions within them are designated worth based on a calculation of difficulty, required education, physical toll on the body and or mind, benefit to society, needed number of bodies for the job, ect. And then perks are designated to the worker based on both these qualities, and their productivity, with each job having a minimum and maximum productivity worth with perks varying based upon hours worked x productivity.

So what would you say a 100k+ per year job is? I would say it falls right in with your statement above. Hint...it is not working for Burger King or Walmart.

No one is incapable of working, even if the job is as simple as being a greeter. Everyone can be of some use to society. As such at minimum even if the job is so simple as to say hello to everyone that comes in to an establishment, everyone should have a job no matter how minor and in doing so be provided with food and shelter. Refusing to work at all in any capacity should be a crime. Exception existing for extreme disability, being paraplegic for example is an obvious exception. Lot's of details would need to be ironed out.

Welcome to subsistence living. There is an inherent aspect to humans in if you provide some form of free living, even if it sucks, a large number will pick that living. In the past refusing to work at all meant death....

a reply to: Puppylove

I don't think you know what Capitalism is. Today its- 'the private ownership in the means of production'. When the State monopolizes the education system, FCC media, FDA monopoly on food and medicine access, monopoly control of the money supply, and in 2012 they spent 46%-49% of healthcare expenses.

The excess of money allocated to the top, is a result of the Federal Reserve monopoly in printing money, which makes it loose its value and hurts people with fixed incomes. The problem is too much government control, not a problem of the free market. The only reasons any business gets to not compete for customers, or can lie about the safety of its products, is when they only have one group of insiders to get the okay from. The biggest oil burning, trash creating, killing machine is the government. The bigger the State, the more the ruling classes use it, no bigger government is going to shrink the wealth gap.

Depending on what you meant by Capitalism, please consider Libertarian solutions.

What the world needs are robots. Robots that take up 75% of all jobs. Free food, free clothing and free housing, all made by robots that don't get a dollar for it, nor their investors. The rich should join and form a group to produce all the robots. Those without jobs should get reeducated in either sciences, entertainment or the army to make the world a safer place for everyone.

What would be in it for the rich? A more stable society, happier people, eternal gratitude in the form of yearly celebrations and maybe receiving deluxe versions of what robots create up to several generations.

originally posted by: Puppylove
Addendum: Just thought of a great way to encourage increased productivity, plus hours worked, any time/productivity past the cap is put towards the next period of work, this accumulates, meaning that the more productive you are and timely you work the more time you can accumulate to not have to work. So if you choose to bust your ass 80 hours a week 7 days out of the week with maximum efficiency at a job that allows for it, then you can rapidly build up long periods of vacation time, even potentially early retirement if you work for it.

You pile up enough time and production at a job, eventually you don't need to work, you've paid your debt to society, this could be done at any job, you just maintain the same standard of living you've worked for by living of the debt society still owes you.

the soviet union did that, with heros of work, they literally worked them selves to an early grave, great idea.

a reply to: johnnyjoe1979

What the world needs are robots. Robots that take up 75% of all jobs. Free food, free clothing and free housing,

And thats what will happen as soon as labor prices itself too high

a reply to: Borisbanger

And thats what will happen as soon as labor prices itself too high

Its going to happen regardless of labour costs as robotics continues to drop in price..

a reply to: johnnyjoe1979

What would be in it for the rich? A more stable society, happier people, eternal gratitude in the form of yearly celebrations and maybe receiving deluxe versions of what robots create up to several generations.

Once the elite have armies of worker robots.. What need do they have for the masses of people...

a reply to: Blue_Jay33

The problem is captilsim progresses towards a Corporatocracy, and that is a greed based system

They are both based on a greed system..and they work hand in hand

purp.

a reply to: purplemer

Its going to happen regardless of labour costs as robotics continues to drop in price..

looks that way.
I suppose, again, the spare will be conscripted and marched off a cliff

a reply to: Borisbanger

Not really sure whats going to happen. I can clearly see that technology is going to cause massive social upheaval in the coming decades.

Change is coming if we like it or not.. Lets hope its good change..

purp..

Capitalism hasn't failed it was killed by greed back in 1913 around Christmas time. It shows how good capitalism is, that it has taken this long to die. As soon as fiat currency replaced gold standard we were doomed. The FED has stolen most of the wealth of this country.