Capitalism - The End Game?

Capitalism - The End Game?

Before you read any further into this thread i want to remind you (the individual reader) that you are, before anything else, a human being. I want to strip you of anything that makes up your overall identity, so i am asking you to leave your gender, political stance, class, age and any possessions right here so you can explore the end game of capitalism from a neutral perspective.

For capitalism live and thrive it requires constant expansion. This being the case, capitalism is unsustainable. I believe that the end game is in sight as we simply cannot feed the troll any more.

Clearly, societies in the first world countries are breaking into tiers. The middle-class is declining, the working-class increasing and the rich are still making all the money.
Big business is driving capitalism and it's looking to buy up existing and new markets. The privatisation of markets and services that provide the population with basic life necessities is the ultimate symbol of capitalism coming to a disastrous end. Lets take a look.

Health care - The United States is a shining example of how big business has turned what was once a necessary human service into a money making profit machine. Human's need healthcare and this is blatantly being abused. People should not profit from sickness. People should not be priced out of care. I am not suggesting that healthcare isn't an expensive thing in modern times, i just believe that big business is keeping it expensive in order to profit and we all know that's wrong. Morally bankrupt and works against the majority. In the UK the are currently trying to sell off parts of the NHS in order for big business to make more profits. I have to pay for my dentist privately because i cant get on as a NHS patient - The prices are extortionate, £25 just for them to LOOK at your teeth, £40 per filling, £50 for a de-scale & clean. It gets worse.

Living - I especially want to focus on private landlords charging extortionate prices in order for people to put a roof over their heads. It currently requires a 20% deposit in order to obtain a mortgage. If you dont have that then your only other options are to live at home with the parents and save the money or move out to pay a landlord a ridiculous amount of money for your "own" place.

Jobs/Wages - Jobs in the retail sector (of the UK) have tripped over the last 30 years, however, large reduction in Full time work, Increase in low paid, part time work (flexiwork?) Not enough jobs to go around, working class people demonized for being benefit claimants,working poverty becoming a huge issue affecting many people. Despite multi-national companies consistently reporting annual profits in their billions, many of their workers are unable to afford a basic standard living (because they are not being paid a proper wage, they are being paid the absolutely minimum)

Privatization of Gas/Electric/Water/Transport suppliers - Heating poverty now affecting more people than ever before. Elderly especially unable to heat their homes. Prices have risen well beyond inflation and continue to shoot upwards annually. Price of a day rider in Leeds before 9.30 is £4.80 - The minimum wage is £6.18p/h (highest band available to those 21 and over) So technically the first 45 mins of your working day goes to pay for your transport. Rail fairs looking to increase on average at 6.2% though some fares could rise by up to 11% People are effectively being taxed to go to work.

Cost of running a car- Price of fuel consistently remaining high, Unleaded stands at £1.32 per litre, Unleaded at £1.49 per litre. Add onto that Road tax, insurance (Sky high for the youth), annual MOT (And any repairs deemed needed) The average cost of running a car will run into its thousands for many people.

Price of food has rocketed. Nuff said. Tesco's making billions, paying their workers very little, now wanting to expand into India.

Okay so that's how capitalism has effected the first world, now lets take a look at the rest of the world.

Sweatshops are common place in any developing country. These are factories were their workers are paid poverty wages and usually work in dangerous conditions. These people are exploited and the goods they make are exported to first world countries and sold extortionately to the consumer. Nike, Primark, Wal-mart, Ikea and American Apparel are all known abusers of this cheap labour - but the list continues to grow.

Damage to the environment because capitalism only wants to make profit. This includes pollution of all types that negatively effect the population. Only a few days ago someone posted a picture on ATS of bejing and how polluted the air was. This is obviously bad for their citizens that will, over time cause health problems - That will be capitalized on. Companies such as coke are well known for polluting local water supplies in order to make their product.

Starvation (Or hunger) - Around 925 million people hungry in the world today. While in the UK alone 15 million tonnes of food is wasted per year (mainly by households) Waste is not anything to blame directly on capitalism, but the way that capitalism (as a trade) has sought to supply and demand food is obviously having a negative effect upon the world.

But the overall point im trying to make here...
Is that everyone is getting screwed. The only people that are getting anywhere, are those who are already rich and standing at the top of the pile. The rest of the worlds population is struggling to keep these "job creators" and the like, in complete luxury - at our expense.

Figures clearly show that the worlds wealth is being sucked upwards towards a small minority people while the bottom feeders are plunged and chained into poverty. food for thought

And so with the current trend continuing i have to ask you, what happens when there is no more left to give? When people, even in the west, just simply cannot afford to live? Where then does capitalism expand to?

What happens when they own everything ?

Ive tried to make this thread as well as i can and honestly... i feel maybe a clearer point could have been made. I hope regardless that people still choose to discuss this topic. Thank you for being patient and reading.

Without the fear in the world how could we ever see the love, for that I thank them.

Capitalism occasionally needs a good house cleaning, however it does create opportunity to succeed. Your thread basically begs for Socialism of some form. That will work no better. You just swap wealthy capitalists for wealthy politicians. At least with capitalism everybody has a shot at success if they are willing to try and fail a few hundred times. With Socialism only politicians have a chance to become wealthy. There is no perfect system, nor will there ever be. Countries that embrace Capitalism generally thrive if government gets out of the way. What you propose is to let government distribute wealth evenly among the people. That is naive. The people will be enslaved while the politicians sunbath on their yachts. Effecting change in Capitalism is fine. Destroying it is suicidal.

Originally posted by jimmiec
Capitalism occasionally needs a good house cleaning, however it does create opportunity to succeed. Your thread basically begs for Socialism of some form. That will work no better. You just swap wealthy capitalists for wealthy politicians. At least with capitalism everybody has a shot at success if they are willing to try and fail a few hundred times. With Socialism only politicians have a chance to become wealthy. There is no perfect system, nor will there ever be. Countries that embrace Capitalism generally thrive if government gets out of the way. What you propose is to let government distribute wealth evenly among the people. That is naive. The people will be enslaved while the politicians sunbath on their yachts. Effecting change in Capitalism is fine. Destroying it is suicidal.

Im not advocating that there is a perfect system and i didnt mention socialism once. I just asked what happens when the rich have everything? When every market is cornered? When social mobility can no longer occur? What then? Does humanity just slave away to keep those very few at the expense of everyone else?

Im not advocating that there is a perfect system and i didnt mention socialism once. I just asked what happens when the rich have everything? When every market is cornered? When social mobility can no longer occur? What then? Does humanity just slave away to keep those very few at the expense of everyone else?

In that case it implodes. Torches and Pitchforks followed by charismatic saviours and demagoguery all round. Wars and a new dark age.

Of course none of that is inevitable. Its corruption thats taking us there.

When your head public prosecutor says he wont prosecute offences if the thinks it'll damage 'important financial institutions' you know you're on fast lane of the highway to total ruin.

reply to post by SearchLightsInc


Well, they invest their wealth in stocks which create more wealth for them and aids other ventures with that investment. If a country over taxes or over regulates business they go elsewhere to invest their money. So, it really does come down to Socialism in the big picture. Governments milk them for more and more money to distribute to whatever/whoever they feel like handing it to. Big government is bad for Capitalism.

Inequality is built into its DNA.

It's imperialism by any other name.

I think it will either self-destruct or change into something else more palatable.

The only endeavour that should utilise our competitive nature is sport.

reply to post by CJCrawley


Sport? Lets see. The NFL makes 9 billion dollars a year and is non-profit. They pay no tax on their profits and bilk the consumer. They are the capitalists in the extreme, yet pay zero taxes. Bad example i'm afraid. They are a bunch of over paid capitalists.

The problems of wealth imbalance is a global one, with many local repercussions. One positive thing that happened with the GFC was a move towards a better balance, but still has a long way to go. This also means that an economic or currency collapse is one way to help reestablish a common sense of value. Another and more stable option presented by the UN Commission is a wealth tax.

The UN Commission seems to have had this in mind when it said that new allocations of the proposed global currency “can and should have built into it incentives and/or penalties to discourage maintaining large surpluses. Countries that maintain excessive surpluses could lose all or part of their quota allocations if they are not utilized in a timely manner to increase global demand.”

www.un.org...

So for individuals, corporations and trust funds with excessive assets doing nothing, tax it. This is one option to help rebalance the economy in a more stable manner.