Free market capitalism is lunacy

It's become popular to say that you are against the "crony capitalism" that rules modern America and that you would rather true "free enterprise".

Do you know what free enterprise, that is, no government regulation whatsoever on private trade would mean? It would mean:

*Corporations would never be held legally responsible for their bad actions.

*Walmart and Amazon would be able to buy out every single retailer.

*Bribing politicians would be legal and corporate lobbying would be unlimited and unchecked.

*The only options for schooling would be home school and private school.

*If you're rich, you'd be able to have the privilege of living in a gated resort community, but at the fear of the angry huddled 'masses' outside coming in with their guns to revolt.

*If you're not rich, you'd have two choices. You could make it for yourself in the countryside, living a nasty, brutish and short life, or you could live within the walls of a major city and become a serf to a major corporation, a fate which your children would inherit.

*The environment would continue to be destroyed at a much more relentless pace than it is being now.

*Nothing humanitarian could be accomplished, aside from causes that touched at the heartstrings of the elite, unless it generated some kind of profit.

*The arts would continue to suffer as most people will not have the luxury of creating art, and those who do will live in a life that worships busyness and conformity.

*NOTHING would be made in America. Nothing.

*The elderly and disabled would be forced to rely on family and charity, if they are fortunate enough to have either. If they don't, they would probably just be euthanized or would commit suicide.

We're looking at a world where violence and murder would be rampant, as well as starvation, where literacy is exceptional, where social mobility is non-existent, and where median life expectancy is 20-30 years.

Government of some kind is necessary to protect people from the predatory actions of corporations. If the people don't make their own framework for the law, taxation and infrastructure big business will make it for themselves.

reply to post by lampsalot


Im with you here, if you look at what life was like during theindustrial revolution, conditions were terrible for people. and part of the reason for outsourcing is other countries lack of environmental regulation. pure free market is only good for some people

Exactly.

The Founding Fathers of America believed that incorporation was a privilege not a right. Corporations were to serve the public interest and shareholders were only allowed to profit as a means to an end.

The Founding Fathers also made sure corporations could not influence elections or hide behind charities.

Click here for more information.

By the way, I'm not saying that I love our government or that the Obama administration is wonderful. I'm not a fan of our government at all, most of all because it's too corporate owned and influenced.

Only way to fix our government would be to ban all the lobbyists - or at least ban most of them and make the ones who are there, make their relations to our representatives completely transparent.

Very well put, there are those who will not understand as it has no utopia theory. For mankind to prosper he must strive to improve everything constantly, everything. complacentcy is the ultimate design of future failure, as there is no drive for improvement in life, or enviornment. Everything that is worth having was invented, designed and initialized in a capitalist society. The opposite of this is pure socialism, Name a real desireable item that was invented, designed, and marketed in a socialist country, can you think of anything?

Originally posted by grey9438
reply to post by lampsalot

 

Im with you here, if you look at what life was like during theindustrial revolution, conditions were terrible for people. and part of the reason for outsourcing is other countries lack of environmental regulation. pure free market is only good for some people

Exactly. I feel like since this current age of globalization began (~1985 or so) we have started to enter a second Gilded Age except this time, the story is behind a digital technology narrative as opposed to an industrial one.

reply to post by lampsalot


Sounds like you know everything already.

Please do go on.

Originally posted by teslahowitzer
Name a real desireable item that was invented, designed, and marketed in a socialist country, can you think of anything?

How about 138?

en.wik... ipedia.org/wiki/Category:Soviet_inventions

BTW, not saying I support a Soviet-type system. All I'm saying is a true free market would be a nightmare for most people, including those who are currently pretty well off.

reply to post by lampsalot

BTW, not saying I support a Soviet-type system. All I'm saying is a true free market would be a nightmare for most people, including those who are currently pretty well off.

Actually, I think that was what you did just say.

But please continue.

reply to post by txinfidel


Tx, I am questioning your age, you are using playground tactics and not adding any real contributions to your posts. Just little juvenile jabs with no real input, agenda driven with no wheels...

Originally posted by lampsalot

Originally posted by teslahowitzer
Name a real desireable item that was invented, designed, and marketed in a socialist country, can you think of anything?

How about 138?

en.wik... ipedia.org/wiki/Category:Soviet_inventions

BTW, not saying I support a Soviet-type system. All I'm saying is a true free market would be a nightmare for most people, including those who are currently pretty well off.

edit on 24-1-2013 by lampsalot because: (no reason given)

Crap, sorry everyone I know has several 138s, I thought they were invented in Ohio, my mistake..

Originally posted by txinfidel

Actually, I think that was what you did just say.

But please continue.

No, all I said was that free enterprise is lunacy and would lead to tyranny and feudalism. In fact the increased buyout of the government and the spread of capitalist memes into society is the reason America is becoming more tyrannical and divided, it has nothing to do with socialism. Our country is trending towards being less and less socialist and more and more corporate dominated.

reply to post by lampsalot


Free market capitalism is dictated by supply and demand.
Your claims are wildly outrageous and absurd.

Please learn some history. (your life may depend on it some day) Communism and Socialism lead to tyranny and dictatorships and the human death toll though an estimate is nearing the likes of about 300 million.

reply to post by lampsalot


There was an article around Thanksgiving, how the original colony was created around a corporate style of communism, where everyone was to share in working the same land together, very much like Soviet style communism, and the discovered that when everyone was allowed to work their own land, they were a lot more productive. If anything, corporate control is moving us towards communism, not away from it.

Originally posted by poet1b
reply to post by lampsalot

 

There was an article around Thanksgiving, how the original colony was created around a corporate style of communism, where everyone was to share in working the same land together, very much like Soviet style communism, and the discovered that when everyone was allowed to work their own land, they were a lot more productive. If anything, corporate control is moving us towards communism, not away from it.

What I'm saying is that free enterprise leads to feudalism, you need checks and balances to prevent this from happening.

reply to post by lampsalot


I am agreeing with you. My point is that free market economics, corporatism, feudalism, and communism are all basically the same.

They have conned people into supporting a new form of feudalism, by calling it a free market system.

Crony capitalism is when corporate interests have captured undue influence in the government so that they effectively manipulate government actions for their own betterment. This is where we are now.

When times are good they make the profits, when times are bad they get bailed out by the friends in government with public funds and they still profit (privatise profit and socialise loss).

Only a fool would argue for no regulation at all. You need regulation to stop monopolies forming. Its not a socialism versus capitalism issue. Its a venal corruption issue. Where economic interests have corrupted politics.

reply to post by justwokeup


This is exactly what it is about. Bankers have again morphed themselves Into a new aristocracy, by succeeding at fooling enough of the people in voting against their own best interests under the con of the free market.

Although what is often ignored is that this has allowed the boomers to rob the generations that came after them, so they could live in wasteful luxury.

Originally posted by justwokeup
Crony capitalism is when corporate interests have captured undue influence in the government so that they effectively manipulate government actions for their own betterment. This is where we are now.

When times are good they make the profits, when times are bad they get bailed out by the friends in government with public funds and they still profit (privatise profit and socialise loss).

Only a fool would argue for no regulation at all. You need regulation to stop monopolies forming. Its not a socialism versus capitalism issue. Its a venal corruption issue. Where economic interests have corrupted politics.

edit on 26-1-2013 by justwokeup because: typo

I'd say it's an issue of extremity. Pure, unadulterated capitalism of the Ron Paul variety would lead to feudalism but a mixed system like say, Canada's economy protects people pretty well, or at least it did prior to Harper.