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What ATS has done to me as a young person in american society
Couldn't have said it better, great reply.
Originally posted by Schkeptick
Just one addendum to what you are saying - because I think it is good that you are aware and questioning & forming your own opinions.
Capitalism is not an enforced, artificial system like Communism, which depends on people acting a certain way. Capitalism is the STUDY of what people do when they are left to their own devices and act in their own pure self-interest. Capitalism is eBay and estate auctions - capitalism is the barter system. It's what happens on every black market in the world. It's the purest form of self-regulation through selfish motivation. Nothing is as reliable as the fact that every person will act in his own selfish best interests before he does anything else.
BUT - America no longer practices capitalism. The government, instead of imposing only those policies that would protect the individual (because this is necessary with capitalism in a country such as the USA that is supposed to protect individual rights) and allow capitalism itself to flourish in a fair way, has passed laws that allow CORPORATIONS to flourish. This is not the same thing. It is a terrible thing. Capitalism gets blamed when the blame really lies with 150 years of lawmakers who were completely ignorant of economic theory and passed ignorant laws. I suppose it is inevitable.
America has a government-enforced economic system of CORPORATISM. Right now, as I speak, the Supreme Court is passing verdict after verdict that protects the companies and marginalizes the individual. Class-action lawsuits will soon be a thing of the past. This is one of our last bastions of hope against the corporations, and we're losing the right.
Worse than that, this economic system has completely corrupted our government, such that politicians rely on those corporate donations to survive. Every person making laws in this country is indebted to corporations and cannot prioritize the individual. This corruption runs SO deep that I think it will unravel the country.
It is a dark day when capitalism is mistaken for corporatism. This confusion is also why I fear for the future of America.
Keep educating yourself, keep seeking knowledge. Knowledge is freedom...