Has capitalism in our country failed? Has the free market economy more or less begun to implode on itself?
I have been thinking of some things lately that have made me start to wonder whether or not capitalism truly is the best economic system on which to base our country.
First, you have to wonder....is capitalism is a moral and just system?
In order to answer that question, let us think about it in this way. If Jesus were living in our times, would He condone capitalism? If you answer to that question is yes, here is another question. If Jesus would condone it why does He say in the Gospels, "blessed are the poor, woe to the poor" and "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." How do these quotes from Christ Himself coincide with the apparent greed and power-grabbing that is not only allowed but is actually encouraged in a capitalist society?
Aside from its moral implications, there are other questions worth asking. Questions such as....
Why is that the person that held the office of Secretary of the Treasury during the bailouts of the financial industry is a former CEO of the global banking firm Goldman-Sachs, which stood to benefit quite a bit from those bailouts?
Why is it in a society such as ours that is supposed to be democratic, is it the money and those controlling the money, instead of the will of the people, who control our elected officials and the decisions made at the highest levels of our government?
For instance, why is it that even though an extremely large majority of the people of the United States opposed the idea, a large portion of the taxpayer's money has been freely given to the financial industry, the automobile industry and the mortgage industry?
Also, why is it that the upper 1% of the population makes the decision for the bottom 99%?
Is this capitalism or is it feudalism?
Just in case you didn't know, feudalism was a system that flourished in the Middle Ages where the system of government was kind of like a pyramid. The king sat at the top of the pyramid and was basically the head of state. Under him were the various lords, who really controlled everything. They were the owners of the land and their vassals (indentured servants basically) were given the right to farm the land for their service by either giving the lord a portion of the fruits of their labors or by serving them in military combat.
Are we seeing perhaps an end to the middle class and the emergence of a two-class system: the have it alls and the have nothings?
Why, or how, is it that some people, particular corporate CEOs, are receiving salaries numbering in the tens of millions of dollars while others can not find decent paying jobs in order to support their families, or have to work 2 or 3 jobs in order to stay afloat in order to keep from getting forced out of their homes by the mortgage companies that their taxes just helped bailout.
Maybe the question I should be asking is not whether capitalism has failed but perhaps is it capitalism in and of itself that has created this elimination of the middle class or is it the rise of the corporation that has led to the failure of capitalism?
Is capitalism in theory a really good and fair economic system but in practice, because it has been left unchecked, has been left something to be desired.
Perhaps capitalism has not failed by itself. That is, perhaps capitalism is not the symptom of the problem. Maybe it is just the greed of corporate America.
Perhaps it is the fault of our elected officials whose political campaigns and careers are significantly funded by corporate America so they have a vested interest in allowing it to run free, without any type of meaningful regulation. They want to keep their jobs and are so addicted to their power that they have basically taken the lease off the dog.
Our Presidents, our U.S. Senators, our Congressmen, even our state and local legislators have been bought and paid for, which is indicative to me that they are just as greedy as corporate America itself. This shows me that they, like capitalism, just might have failed this country as well. They have failed the people and they have failed future generations because of their own greed.
Then again, is our current economic system really capitalism anymore? When the government of the United States has to keep the banking industry, the mortgage industry and the auto industry from going bankrupt, I don't think that is capitalism. That falls closer in line with state controlled industry, which, of course, is socialism.
Last night, I was watching this documentary and my wife, noticing my mood during the film beginning to shift asked me,
"Is this movie pissing you off?"
Me: "Yes"
Her: Does it make you hate America?
Me: "Absolutely not, but it does make me hate our government and kind of hate capitalism too."
Her: "What's the difference between America and our government?"
What's the difference?
America is not the government. America is not a particular economic system like capitalism. Corporate America is definitely not America.
America is people. People committed to freedom. People working hard to support their families. People voicing their opinions by voting in elections and making their voice heard to their elected officials.
America is 'We the People' standing up for what they believe in.
So I guess the point I am getting at here is whether or not capitalism is American. That is, does America = capitalism and vice versa?
I don't think so. I don't think the U.S. Constitution set up a specific economic system that the country had to follow in order to be a democracy.
But, then again, what are our other options?
Communism? Where the means of production and distribution are controlled by the public at large and there is no private property. Well, bits and pieces of that idea are good in theory but have never succeeded in reality. And the very idea of even uttering the word communism in this country would get you shot.
Socialism? The government controlling it all? Heck no. They can't even get mail service to run correctly, besides all of the other failures government controlled entities have had. Socialism is definitely not the way to go.
Are there any other options?
Another option is distributism, where the means of productions are spread equally among everyone. This is a type of system that ensures that everyone owns some sort of productive property. In some ways this appears to be sort of a hybrid of capitalism and socialism. The difference being that in a socialist state no individual actually owns any property.
It seems to me in a way that this was the original intent of the idea of capitalism, where all of the means of distribution and production are owned privately. The problem with it, as I have stated above is that the rise of large corporations has undermined that thought of everyone owning a piece of the pie.
The idea that only some people should be the owners of property and means of production and distribution while others are the workers and own next to nothing, save maybe a television set and some pieces of furniture is not only a bad idea but, in my own personal opinion, highly immoral.
To me that is not the American way. I don't think the forefathers intended for there to be such a wide margin between the rich and the poor. I don't think they intended for large corporations to control the country. But they do. And for the time being, it seems like there is no end in sight for that to continue unless those of us with voting power make it known that this is unacceptable.
With that in mind, to conclude here and to answer my own question.......
Yes, I think capitalism has failed.
Source: http://otterlimits.blogspot.com/2010/11/failure-of-capitalism.html
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