Capitalism, capitalism. How do I loath thee? Let me count the ways….
Few would argue with the conclusion that greed, selfishness, ruthlessness, and egocentrism are qualities that all of us humans possess, to varying degrees of course. Equally compelling is the argument that nearly all of us are capable of acting with kindness, compassion, justice, honesty, generosity, and empathy. Yet despite the sweeping epidemic of unnecessary suffering caused by torrential waves of avarice, self-centeredness, and brutality, our filthy moneyed elite, their well-compensated sycophants, and countless millions of deeply inculcated members of the working class defend the sacred cow of capitalism with the zeal of the Sicarii. What a brilliant way to conduct human affairs and organize ourselves socioeconomically! Not only do we embrace the inevitability of our human frailties; we willfully and perpetually embrace a system that ensures that the worst elements of the human psyche will predominate AND which amply rewards those who act the most reprehensibly.
One of the idiocies advanced as a logical argument to justify the continued existence of the abomination of capitalism is that while it may be flawed, it is still better than any alternative. If capitalism is the best humanity can do, it's time to cash in our chips and leave Earth to our non-human animal counter-parts. They may not have opposable thumbs and formidably sized frontal lobes, but at least they don't engage in the systematic destruction of themselves and the rest of the planet. However, before we act too hastily and engage in mass seppuku, perhaps it would make more sense to implement a mass reorganization of our socioeconomic structure, basing the new paradigm on far more egalitarian, sustainable, democratic, just, and rational principles. Or we could just keep destroying each other and the fucking planet….
Perhaps most disturbing of all is the way in which capitalism's relentless advocates have managed to bamboozle billions of people into equating it with democracy. Diabolical to its core, but sheer genius nonetheless. Concluding that capitalism and democracy are somehow synonymous is a bit like saying that Dick Cheney and the milk of human kindness relate to one another in even a very remote fashion. (Have you seen the myriad pictures of his evil grimaces floating around the Internet? Despicable creature that he is, he doesn't even attempt to mask his malevolence). Capitalism is naturally hierarchical, authoritarian, and brutal. Corporations, the legal vehicles for the plutocracy to maximize their profits while minimizing liability, are structured as tyrannies. What the hell is democratic about dog eat dog, law of the jungle, and every man for himself? Besides, if we uber-capitalists here in the United States are truly "democratic," and we "elected" a depraved idiot like W. to what is ostensibly the most powerful position in the world, what does that say about us?
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Anonymous2011-09-10 11:46
>>80
>The soviet union did achieve a lot technologically,
lololololol
fuck off you stupid soviet apologist/commie. >>76
>You're conflating social democracy/democratic socialism with communism
They are essentially the same thing, the social democracy pushes the communist cancer with the open approval of gullible brainwashed school age sorts and all the hordes of non-whites living on welfare.
>they support a mixed economy which has the best of both capitalism and socialism.
No, this is pure fantasy, has no basis in reality.
>>78
All leftism IS statism, that's the whole fucking point of socialism!
Without the statism..... you are just libertarian!
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AntiStatist!VoonmBZbSs2011-09-10 12:09
>>81
Meh it claims to want a stateless society as its goal and does not want to use the state to achieve that end, unlike Marxism that does seek a stateless society but wants to gain control of the state first to abolish it which i think is stupid.
Meh i dont really care i just think if people will be that dogmatically hateful towards markets then at least try to be stateless so people can opt in or out of your system.
Personally Im an Market Anarchist so i would think that stateless society with a free market when you get past all the MONOPOLY and EXPLOITATION fears i think sets the ground for a great and productive society. I could always be wrong though.
>>81 They are essentially the same thing, the social democracy pushes the communist cancer with the open approval of gullible brainwashed school age sorts
Countries who's populace vote for social democratic parties often end up at the top (or quite near the top) in the world for education. The word "gullible" doesn't come to mind when looking at a population that's well-educated. I'm guessing you're American, as the US is slowly approaching education levels that former Soviet republics are at.
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Anonymous2011-09-10 13:37
>>81
They put a man in space before us and supported modern fighter jets and nuclear weapons. I'm not a stupid commie, I'm not saying they were more technologically advanced than us overall.
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Anonymous2011-09-10 14:27
If only most Americans knew that they are supporting a fake capitalism. It's a "capitalism" that resembles real capitalism about as much as an octopus resembles an apartment building. It's a "capitalism" that is founded on government interference, government subsidies, corporate welfare, and the concentration of regulatory control in large corporations (which denies competition from smaller businesses regardless of merit).
>>89
Still doesn't bring anything new to the argument. Just more hand waving. I've heard much better arguments for total free market than that, but I've also in turn heard much better arguments for governmental regulation.
>>93
Im waiting, if you arent going to bring up any arguments then we are done here.
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Anonymous2011-09-11 19:07
I think the free market and Capitalism is fine. Socialism is expensive. Life goes on.
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Anonymous2011-09-14 10:10
"The problem with socialism is that sooner or later you run out of other people's money." Margaret Thatcher
In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,
By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul;
But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: IF YOU DON'T WORK, YOU DIE.
Rudyard Kipling, "The Gods of the Copybook Headings
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Anonymous2011-09-14 14:30
Why would "God" want to bless a country that has so many official policies that run completely contrary to fundamental principles of the religion that his son presumably died to establish? The answer is that he doesn't.
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Anonymous2011-09-14 15:22
What is capitalism, OP? Capitalism is the exchange of goods and services between people. Free market capitalism gives you the freedom to start your own business or seek employment as you see fit.
we willfully and perpetually embrace a system that ensures that the worst elements of the human psyche will predominate AND which amply rewards those who act the most reprehensibly.
On the contrary. If your business engages in amoral activity against its customers, they will boycott your company and you will go bankrupt. It's when a state decides that "this business is too big to fail" and feeds it with taxpayer's money, then that business can get away with pulling all sorts of shit. That, however, is not the capitalist system. It is a form of state socialism.
Capitalism is naturally hierarchical, authoritarian, and brutal.
Authoritarian? No. There is no coercion in the free market. You buy what you want, work for who you want to work for and start whatever business you want. How is that authoritarian?
Hierarchical? Definitely. The free market of ideas ensures that the best ideas stay on top (provided there is no state intervention to twist the results in a lobby group's favour).
Brutal? In what way? Wars in the name of oil? Those wouldn't exist without the state declaring war and without state propaganda.
bamboozle billions of people into equating it with democracy.
What's so good about democracy? Democracy is imposing the will of one demographic onto another. It gives the power to decide the nation's future to a demographic which is simply uneducated and will believe anything. I propose that only business owners should be allowed to vote, but then the whole "hurr durr human rights" issue comes into play.
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Anonymous2011-09-14 19:59
>>97
Why would God give a fuck how Rome is run. Government is a mortal institution run by mortals for mortals.
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Anonymous2011-09-14 20:16
ITT: we mistake capitalism (the omnipresent exchange of things for things that are purely tokens to represent value) with Capitalism (the ideological worship of the above idea).
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Anonymous2011-09-15 16:31
"When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why are they poor, they call me a Communist" - Dom Hélder Pessoa Câmara
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Anonymous2011-09-15 16:36
If your business engages in amoral activity against its customers, they will boycott your company and you will go bankrupt.
They will? News to me. Especially when companies are so damn good at distorting the truth.
>>99 Why would God give a fuck how Rome is run. Government is a mortal institution run by a few mortals for few mortals.
ftfy
Funny thing is that statist governments first justifications were RELIGIOUS ones, the modern god of your society is the statist governments only instead of a god you depend on a group that caters to 51% of the people and has no incentive to make things better because hes only president for 8 years.
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Anonymous2011-09-15 22:06
A lot of the times we mistake totalitarianism for capitalism. They make a viable mix for government, but giving the individual knowledge and the proper flow of information is important to stop the greediness and help promote empathy.
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Anonymous2011-09-15 22:37
>A lot of the times we mistake totalitarianism for capitalism.
>>97
Because the US wasn't founded on the Christian religion (despite the best efforts of the religious right to prove otherwise).
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Anonymous2011-09-16 5:43
Saying "fuck capitalism" and blaming it for various things doesn't really explain anything, you will never "stick it to the man" or whatever with that attitude. Capitalism was not designed then imposed on a population, it arose from practical necessity millenia ago to guarantee protection to individuals with economic power when otherwise they would simply be robbed by those with political or military power and their economic activity would cease, that is the pragmatic side of things and probably the best place to start when trying to analyze the nature of capitalism, not assigning some emotion like anger to it.
>>111 most of the shit in that video was wrong
So explain how instead of being a faggot. Or can't you?
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AntiStatist!VoonmBZbSs2011-09-16 22:47
>>110
>academic
>responsible
>just
>humane
>ISHYGDDT
Sources that are "academic" are as valid and true as Wikipedia.
I like how he only critiques the Keynesian model of of the business cycle but never mentions the Austrians.
Corporatism=/=Capitalism
If you are going to critique something, MAKE SURE YOU DON'T ONLY CRITIQUE THE EASIEST MODEL. A 3 year old would know that the broken window fallacy makes the Keynesian model mostly obsolete.
Oh and even libertarian socialists even know that marx was crap.
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Anonymous2011-09-17 2:56
lol @ white kids in privileged countries thinking they're the proletariat. Kid, you're on the fucking internet in your apartment, not passed out in the mud after another life draining day at the sweatshop.
The REAL proletariat are my brown, yellow and black skinned brothers worldwide who have become slaves to make stupid shit for overprivileged white people like you. If you think the lip service you pay to your rich white professor in conflict theory 101 will save you, you're wrong foolish gwei lo. Your head will be on the pike right next to "your" oppressors.
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Anonymous2011-09-17 4:21
>>114
Your whole world view is messed up, blacks and asians can be privileged too, also the middle class and lower class should be working together. Ideally everyone should be middle class. The middle class both own the means of production and work, isn't that what socialism is supposed to be? Workers owning the means of production? Why do you want to make everyone proletariats and peasants for the state?
Think more.
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Anonymous2011-09-17 4:26
The solution is obvious.
Socialism makes up for nearly all the flaws of capitalism when implemented correctly. However, in a democracy the population will always be uneducated, unintelligent, and greedy. The majority will elect incompetent leaders over and over again. These leaders, in order to win the popular vote, need to talk a big game and have more pro-me advertising than anti-me advertising, so they need a considerable sum of money for advertising and the support of the major-media corporations, who are controlled by the wealthy. The more people the politician will represent, the more money and advertising the politician needs.
This leads to ever-growing corruption, as the population expands and diversifies, requiring an even greater voice to gain their votes. The head of the government, if elected by the common man, will always be extremely corrupt as they require hundreds of millions in campaign funding, resulting in thousands of promises to the wealthy in exchange for funding. Politicians have to get elected by any means possible, as it is their job and source of income (which, if corrupt enough, can be very high).
The solution, of course, is to not elect the head of the government, and not to leave it up to a group of elected officials to elect as they may vote according to the interests of their campaign funders. Plato described a Philosopher king as the ideal king; we should find the most intelligent and educated man and place him on the throne (females will be less popular over-all in modern society and will have to take more time off to birth and care for heirs, however, when society becomes more open to total equality a female monarch will be nearly as desirable as a male if they are equal in all fields but gender). Succession can be determined by the selection of the most intelligent child, of which the monarch is expected to have many of, regardless of birth order or gender (again, when society modernizes a bit females will become viable), OR the ceremonial 'adoption' of an able leader from outside the family if the intelligent monarch deems his/her offspring as unfit to rule.
The power of firing ANY non-legislator/judge government employee, within reason (no mass firings of one group of people, like firing every teacher who is a Green Party member) should be given to the monarch, who can intrust it to someone else. Public education will rapidly improve as firing incompetent teachers will become simpler, as will the US Postal Service.
The monarch's descendants will be given the best education available. Should they choose not to learn, they will be unable to take the throne.
Only defensive wars, in which an ENTIRE COUNTRY attacks our country, meaning their government is openly saying "we are declaring war on you", can be declared by the Monarch.
Elections will still be held to elect local representatives., however, voters will have to be at or above a set IQ (probably around 130-140 for the minimum) and will have to have attained a certain level of post-highschool education (Bachelors or Masters as the minimum) from an above-average college (no Debri scholars). These standards will apply to anyone wanting to run for office, possibly to a greater degree. These representatives will receive a small payment (no hundred thousand dollar salaries and ridiculous pensions) and will vote/debate through webcam; they will still keep their regular job. There will be several times the amount of representatives we currently have.
Those allowed to vote will be able to repeal any legislative action through gathering a petition of signatures which will result in a referendum being held.
Judges will be picked by the representatives relative to their locality and approved by the voters. The Supreme court will always have a set limit of judges (no you do what I say or I put the limit at 15 judges instead of 9, and fill the spots with people who agree with me) and will have enormous educational, experience, and IQ requirements (150+). Pay will be about $60,000 a year with no pension. The Supreme court will be 13 members, with the head-justice being elected, 4 justices being elected, 4 selected by the monarch, and 4 selected by the legislators. 3 elected justices, or the head justice + 1 other elected justice, together will have the power to call a referendum against any recent action by judicial branch.
A petition requiring a very very large amount of signatures can be used to call a referendum against any judicial action.
All trials will be conducted by a jury picked from the pool of educated/intelligent voters. All parties involved, defense and prosecution, will be hidden behind screens, use numbers instead of names, and have their voices altered to sound gender-neutral. No information about each trial will be released until after it is over.
The punishment for any level of corruption in all government employees, excluding of course the lower level ones such as teachers or mail-men, will be execution.
The government will be audited on the same 2 days every year, with 1 additional random day. Computers at every police station will randomly select days where the local governing officials are to be monitored. Higher level officials will be monitored 24/7. Governing officials do not have the right to privacy or protection from random search and seizure.
There will be no federal reserve.
The government can vote to delay the collapse of a company, but a vote will not to be held to bail it out.
The government cannot sponsor studies aimed to find negative information about something. All results, positive and negative, must be mentioned whenever the study is mentioned, and it will have to be brought up whenever the it's subject is debated. Nothing can be made illegal without evidence of it's effects, no long-term hypothesis are allowed (this shit will destroy society in 30 years after legalization, trust me, it will just randomly happen in 30 years, I got a feeling).
If a news-source gives biased information they word biased needs to be plastered all over it, and, if it has audio, the reporter needs to say "this is just an opinion based on no evidence or inconclusive evidence" before and after each statement which cannot be proven beyond reasonable doubt.
I'm actually in agreement with you OP. But then, there are not many websites out there that don't support capitalism, even when they claim otherwise. You know what pisses me off most about capitalism?
How only the rich get to be free. And freedom means "commanding those below you". Capitalists don't give a "FUCK" about freedom! And yes, 4chan, and 99.9% of all other boards, are capitalist. By inhibiting freedom of speech, they are proving that;
A: They believe in a hierarchy. That somehow we, the peasant class members, are at the beck and call of what the moderators deem appropriate responses. Which how are we supposed to know what the hell that is? It would at least help if there was some flat rules, but then if there were, there'd be no need for mods, as we could just sage and hide threads like that anyway. Why does an imageboard need mods? It doesn't, it's just an excuse to abuse privilege.
B: Most moderators, and their sycophants fall back on "it's their forum/website". Who the fuck says? This is the inherit flaw in capitalism. "Ownership" is an abstract, and it's just an excuse for MORE ABUSE!!! I would think the "owner" would be those who actually work to make the board better. IE: The members. Who contribute discussion, originality, memes, etc. But no... it belongs to someone who just claims authority, and is willing to trample over their rights to keep it that way. So they're just violent thugs, and their constituents are assisting to rape. Many prominent left-wing boards like revleft and soviet empire.com are guilty of this as well. Nothing but bourgeois scumbags.
C: We all know why capitalists censor. Not simply because the truth is inconvenient for them, but because it's about power. Like any rapist, it's simply the principle of they like knowing they can back you into a corner, and violently strip you of your dignity. They get off on it.
Some could argue that in fact, your right not to be banned is protected "BY" capitalism. I used to say that when I was younger. That I owned my account, and that no one had the right to dictate what I could post, where, or when. Because the account was an extension of myself, and since I was the one legally held accountable for whatever I wrote, and had to bust my ass to make posts, I am the sole heir to what happens to that account. And I'm obviously not going to consent to being banned. No "terms of service" or "rules violation" can change that. Something youtube failed to understand when they deleted my videos and banned me, so I reported them to the fucking authorities for copyright violations.
However, capitalism isn't based on rationality or consistency. Just violence. Might makes right in the capitalist's world. And laws only apply to poor people. If "YOU" break the law, you go to jail. When "THEY" break the law, it's "innovative", "daring", or some other crap that romanticizes them even further.
If you think about all the shit capitalists do to people on a daily basis, it's quite shocking many more people just don't freak out and go on killing sprees. And yet we want to believe those type of people are the crazy ones... no, what's crazy is putting up with abuse, abuse, and more abuse. It's not only crazy, it's sick. It ain't just people you don't like suffering... it's you, it's your family, your kids, your fucking dog. You should take this more seriously.