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originally posted by: burdman30ott6
a reply to: CB328
Stop and actually think
how God awful would we look with only the state giving and no corporations to make payrolls, investment profits, or to tax?
originally posted by: strongfp
a reply to: CB328
Yea no.. capitalism goes beyond the all mighty dollar.
Even Marx knew this and even proposed that a healthy dose of both worlds would be best. Inevitably capitalism creates healthy competition, but with advances in technology and social reform we should be striving for passion of self worth and community to build a stronger society.
But I need to go on at this point since I dare to mention Marx.
His world vision back when he wrote his works for the commune were much different than in today's world. But his vision of a positive - negative utopia is relative to the the time, it's mean of getting there have no bounds tho. People NEED to strive for peaceful living and building a society that works together, not against itself.
The notion of “externalities” has become familiar in environmental circles.
It refers to costs imposed by businesses that are not paid for by those businesses.
For instance, industrial processes can put pollutants in the air that increase public health costs, but the public, not the polluting businesses, picks up the tab. In this way, businesses privatize profits and publicize costs.
Here’s how those costs break down:
The majority of unpriced natural capital costs are from greenhouse gas emissions (38%),
followed by water use (25%), land use (24%), air pollution (7%),
land and water pollution (5%), and waste (1%).
So how much is that costing us? Trucost’s headline results are fairly stunning.
First, the total unpriced natural capital consumed by the more than 1,000 “global primary production and primary processing region-sectors” amounts to $7.3 trillion a year — 13 percent of 2009 global GDP.
originally posted by: strongfp
a reply to: FyreByrd
Right.
But capitalism does not allow for the participants to access most of the information. Or if they are given it, they are swoon over by advertising and marketing, but even still what goes on behind closed doors with the bosses never really reaches the public. This is where government is needed.
That’s not accurate. Many still would be viable. Profits may go down in some cases. And yes some rapacious business models wouldn’t work once changed.
originally posted by: CB328
I heard Peter Joseph recently say that there would be no profits in capitalism at all if the negative externalities they cause were taken into account. The classic example is superfund sites, stadium deals, or Walmart causing governments to pay for subsidizing their workers. Here is an article about the study that confirms that the top industries in the world take more from society than the profits they generate, so they are actually losing money while destroying the world at the same time. This is why we need more socialism, because capitalism has no regard for society or the planet.
grist.org...
I love the natural Capitol part of the article. Amazing they can come up with a dollar amount for that one.