Originally posted by neo96
I agree with that dude on OWS what people call capitalism or its failure has been caused by interference in the free market lack of competition where
wealth rises and falls and gets transferred and they are protesting the wrong place.
Neo, you don't know how capitalism works. Sorry if that statement - once again - hurts your feelings, but it's pretty obvious.
Capitalism is nothing more than a system where business is run for profit. Sounds innocuous enough, sure. Thing is, that's
all it is - a
system for producing profit. Free markets and competition
reduce profit. If I run a lemonade stand and across the road someone else runs a
lemonade stand, too, then we have a few options. One, we can engage in a price war, which results in loss of profits for both of us. Two, we can
collude and form a trust, thereby securing profits, but preventing a free market, or three, one of us can use any means necessary to remove the
competition - obviously working with lemonade as an example, one can't really get the full scope of that option, but on larger scales , it works to
create monopoly, thus ending competition.That is, the only way for ME to secure MY profits, is to either close hte market, or end the competition.
What's been happening is that government interference in the markets has been
reducing for the last thirty years. The markets are almost
wholly unrestrained and unregulated now. As a result, collusion and merges are sweeping the financial world, since there's nothing to stop them in
their quest for every cent of profit. The cost to the public - political, environmental, and economical - is steadily rising, while quality of product
is steadily declining - got to cut those corners to save costs and secure maximum profit, you know.
What's more, a capitalist system also concentrates wealth; Lots and lots and lots of people at the bottom are giving their money to significantly
fewer people above them, who pass it on to even fewer above THEM, and o on to the very pinnacle. And of course, the fewer people involved, the less
wealth actually changes hands, so it collects at the top and never comes back down. I guess you might say that in this respect, capitalism is a system
whereby the rich mine money from the pockets of the not-rich. This is compounded by hte fact that increased wealth makes it easier to increase
wealth.
So with unfettered capitalism, you end up with, essentially, feudalism. A lord with wealth beyond all needs constantly pumping more wealth from the
work of the hundreds of serfs, with no regard for them beyond their ability to produce enough to turn a coin.
Eventually those at the bottom are no longer able to sustain those at the top . remember what I said about how wealth increases wealth? Well, there's
a limit there, since wealth is not infinite (if it were, what'd be the point?) it's at this point where you hit a recession, a contraction, or, in
the case of the Baron and the Serfs, a torch-and-pitchfork mob (thanks to the wonders of butane and machining, we can now construct torchforks.)
basically the serfs can no longer afford to throw their wealth and labor into this system at the scale the wealth-holders have set.
There's really no way to cure this beyond letting the whole thing fall flat on its face and start over.
However, there are preventative measures. You call them "interference," but what it reeally is, is government insuring that business practices
remain fair to business and customers alike, and instituting a system to keep wealth changing hands and preventing stagnation.