Capitalism is dead (or dying)

[bluefrog]

Greed, stupidity, rampant entitlement mentality, corrupt governance and hypocrisy are no replacement for a sound economy.

Link

1.

Wall Street wealth now calls the shots in Congress, the White House
2.

America's top 1% own more than 90% of America's wealth
3.

The average worker's income has declined in three decades while CEO compensation exploded over ten times
4.

The Fed is now the 'fourth branch of government' operating autonomously, secretly printing money at will
5.

Since Goldman and Morgan became bank holding companies, all banks are back gambling with taxpayer bailout money plus retail customer deposits
6.

Bill Gross warns of a "new normal" with slow growth, low earnings and stock prices
7.

While the White House's chief economist retorts with hype of a recovery unimpeded by the "new normal"
8.

Wall Street's high-frequency junkies make billions trading zombie stocks like AIG, FNMA, FMAC that have no fundamental value beyond a Treasury guarantee
9.

401(k)s have lost 26.7% of their value in the past decade
10.

Oil and energy costs will skyrocket
11.

Foreign nations and sovereign funds have started dumping dollars, signaling the end of the dollar as the world's reserve currency
12.

In two years federal debt exploded from $11.2 to $23.7 trillion
13.

New financial reforms will do little to prevent the next meltdown
14.

The "forever war" between Western and Islamic fundamentalists will widen
15.

As will environmental threats and unfunded entitlements

 

[blazerboy30]

How do those little bulleted statements / opinions prove that "capitalism is dead"?

I see a lot of those points as being caused by a lack of capitalism.

Is it really the fault of capitalism that our federal debt is exploding, or is it the fault of government spending?

 

[bluefrog]

Read the article

 

[hasoos]

Actually the thing I find most interesting is that folks seem determined that one type of economy or another is "The only way to run the show". Folks who say that capitalism is the only way to go, or Socialism is the only way to go. Why so inflexible? There are certain pieces of every system which are desirable. For instance, we have Police Departments and Fire Departments which are socialized services here. Yet when it comes to socializing health care, all the sudden there is some objection to that, because it is "Socialism". My belief is that there are good parts of each and every system, and they can all be used in some sort of fashion that is positive for society if you are flexible enough to make use of them in the proper scenarios, and not violate somebodies individual rights. Capitalism has the strength to provide competition if the laws are written and obeyed correctly. It provides innovation. But it also can be abused, as we see in our system today, because it also inherently has the problem of promoting greed, and because of that, a criminal element.

What it comes down to IMO, is that a good idea is a good idea, whatever system it comes out of. As long as you don't violate folks rights, and it improves our system, why should anybody have a problem with it? Chances are the answer to our societies ills are not purely Socialism, Capitalism, Communism, or any other "ism". But a flexible solution that takes the best ideas, and incorporates them, while retaining the individual rights of the society.

 

[bluefrog]

If the capitalism paradigm fails people will start to look at other world powers, especially China. Where as there are a lot of good things about China (rich history, thriving economy) there are a lot of bad things too (poor human rights record, aggression to neighboring countries).

The same can be said of the U.S.

The biggest problem with the fall of capitalism is that it "will trigger global wars, massive government-debt defaults, and the impoverishment of large segments of Western society" in the transition to the next "ism"

 

[maxiep]

If the capitalism paradigm fails people will start to look at other world powers, especially China. Where as there are a lot of good things about China (rich history, thriving economy) there are a lot of bad things too (poor human rights record, aggression to neighboring countries).

The same can be said of the U.S.

The biggest problem with the fall of capitalism is that it "will trigger global wars, massive government-debt defaults, and the impoverishment of large segments of Western society" in the transition to the next "ism"

Jesus H. Christ, are you really so limp-wristed you believe China and the US are morally equivalent?

 

[bluefrog]

Jesus H. Christ, are you really so limp-wristed you believe China and the US are morally equivalent?

I would say the two countries' peoples, Yes. I have traveled there many times and have some very good Chinese friends who I think are at least morally equal to American people.

The governments, not so much... (although America has had it's share of human rights violations: slavery, school of the Americas, etc...)

That wasn't the point I was trying to make though.

This was:

The biggest problem with the fall of capitalism is that it "will trigger global wars, massive government-debt defaults, and the impoverishment of large segments of Western society" in the transition to the next "ism"