True Capitalism has been dead for a long time, Commercial Oligarchy rules in the present.

reply to post by AmosGraber


I think the answer lies with us and moving away from relying on the system that TBTB have made us think we need to remain happy and safe.

I discovered this website Skillsbox a few weeks ago and after reading this thread it came to mind. It allows you to get things done that you would normally have to pay money for. It appears to be an attempt to remove peoples reliance on money to get things done.

You can use whatever skills you may have to do jobs on the site and earn credits which you then spend to pay others to use their skills to do things for you. This can be anything from mundane things like dog walking and house cleaning to getting legal advice or getting your car serviced. Interesting.

I haven't signed up yet but its nice to know there are alternatives. It reminds me of the lets community system that was set up in the 70's [url=LETS]

reply to post by MrSpiderMonkey


Just spent a few minutes exploring that site, wow! Interesting indeed, makes the dreamer in me kick in again, wondering wouldn't be grand if this is how simple life could be?...Haven’t signed up for it yet, will have to do further research on its legitimacy. I had to learn the hard way not to prematurely sign up for stuff on the web, when I was looking for health insurance, I got flooded by phone calls for weeks. But, if this is legit, i will be definitely passing it on to my friends. How'd you find out about it btw?

reply to post by AmosGraber


I've been looking at bartering websites for sometime and then saw a link to it on one my friend's facebook page. He said he knows the owners and his company dandelion & burdock designed the website for them. Would be great if it took off, I do hope TPTB don't shut it down or cause some scandal like whats happened with the wikileaks founder!

Originally posted by AmosGraber

Originally posted by galadofwarthethird
Private ownership does govern free markets, so you all have capitalism; you all own and are owned. Oil floats on water= corporations/capitalism floats on the masses.

If only we had free markets, we do have markets but they are far from being free. There is ownership but there is no private ownership, but your right you, me and the rest of everyone else is owned by the commercial oligarchy populace. Oil does float on water and the corporate oligarchies have been floating on the masses, I just think its time for the masses to start punching holes in the glass bottoms of their boats, even the best boats sink. The masses just have to push an iceberg in their way!

So many contradictions in your statement but ill say two, there is private ownership by some, brought to this point by feasibly free markets for some at a moment in time, in the past, and some like to be owned by the commercial oligarchy populace...most that like to be owned are in the commercial oligarchy's top bracket though so therefore have no choice but to like it. And the best boats don't sink easy, but it's just a boat in the end, so don't be on the water when storms hit, and there boats are made of glass and are sustained on the waters of the masses, because they know of no other way both and all classes of people's, so yes I agree with you a change is necessary, just depends on what kind of change. But all boats fail depending on the nature of the storm.

[edit on 21-8-2010 by galadofwarthethird]

reply to post by AmosGraber


S&F A wonderful thread Amos...thank you for posting! I wish I had

the answers but I do not know how to get out of this debacle!

Well Let me put my cards on the table I am some kind of Marxist. Before anyone seeks to derail the thread Marx was right (IMHO) but the Soviet union strove for communism from 1917 to 1920 after that it was all down hill.

I would like to see an egalitarian state and allows private creativity and bottom-up tinkering. I am completely against any form of totalitarianism. Has anyone noticed that the land of the free has grwon increasingly repressive since the 1940s?

It is stupid to assume that capitalism leads to freedom.

reply to post by galadofwarthethird

Originally posted by galadofwarthethird
So many contradictions in your statement but ill say two, there is private ownership by some, brought to this point by feasibly free markets for some at a moment in time, in the past, and some like to be owned by the commercial oligarchy populace...most that like to be owned are in the commercial oligarchy's top bracket though so therefore have no choice but to like it. And the best boats don't sink easy, but it's just a boat in the end, so don't be on the water when storms hit, and there boats are made of glass and are sustained on the waters of the masses, because they know of no other way both and all classes of people's, so yes I agree with you a change is necessary, just depends on what kind of change. But all boats fail depending on the nature of the storm.

I hope you are finding it mutually slightly funny how we ending up talking about the buoyancy of ships on top of water, when referring to the economy, as I am. I am just trying to allude to the fact of how private ownerships are comparable to us all collectively agreeing to the rules in a monopoly game. What happens if I refuse to pay taxes on land I completely own? The government will come, seize and take ownership of my property. Is this true “private” ownership?

Another even more pertinent example is what has/is happening around my local area. The military has over the course of the last few years, has been wanting to use imminent domain to seize miles and thousands of acres of land in southeastern Colorado to expand on the Pinion Canyon maneuver site, those ranchers, farmers, and private home owners have been fighting the military in court for years. Is this true “private” ownership? More information on this can be found here:

www.springfieldcolorado.com...

So, if these two situations can even exist in what you refer to as a “free” market society which guarantees; “private” ownership, in my opinion the only ones allowed to practice “free” markets and engage in “private” ownership is not the citizenry of our country, but the commercial oligarchy driven monetary administrative overlords. As far as someone not being owned by these entities I suppose it’s possible, if they can high tail it far enough up into some remote area and live a life of recluse.



[edit on 22-8-2010 by AmosGraber]

reply to post by Tiger5


Maybe someday that dream may become true Tiger, but as long as humanity is still driven by ancient primitive tribal moralities which are at the heart of the existence of greed, a thriving egalitarian state is virtually impossible, like my signature quote says, “Where ever there is authority, there is no freedom”

reply to post by AmosGraber

So, if these two situations can even exist in what you refer to as a “free” market society which guarantees; “private” ownership, in my opinion the only ones allowed to practice “free” markets and engage in “private” ownership is not the citizenry of our country, but the commercial oligarchy driven monetary administrative overlords. As far as someone not being owned by these entities I suppose it’s possible, if they can high tail it far enough up into some remote area and live a life of recluse.

That is exactly my point, free is only free till a fish eats enough to grow bigger, then it becomes a threat to the other fish surrounding it. What was once part of a whole becomes a bigger whole and eats up parts of it...So therefore free market society's can not exist indefinitely, this is exactly what the communists were fighting before ww2 happened america though was not in the fight but with time it to will know what it was all about. But ya the commies won in Russia and China and became the new big fish in the pond. As its said power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, ah yes things can get interesting indeed.