It's the Capitalism, Stupid. ...........(repost from 3 years ago)

[garybeck]

With Moore's movie coming soon, it appears the big discussion is going to be about capitalism. Of course, anyone who opposes capitalism will be labeled a communist or a traitor in the mainstream media. But if Moore's film accomplishes anything, more people will realize that the driving force of capitalism is greed.

I'm glad to see this topic is going to take center stage, finally.

3 years ago I posted a thread titled "It's the Capitalism, Stupid." Although much has changed in the last 3 years, the problems associated with Capitalism have only gotten worse. Here's my thread from 3 years ago...

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http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1321952

Capitalism, by definition means to "capitalize." In other words, think up a product that people will buy. it doesn't matter if they need it or if it serves any purpose. It only matters that people will purchase it. (the "Thneeds" made by the Onceler in Dr. Seuss's Lorax story comes to mind). Then, hire some people to make it, and capitalize on them by paying them the least amount possible. Then, capitalize on the consumers by charging the highest price you possibly can entice them to buy it at. Do everything you can to minimize costs and increase profits. Of course, government plays a vital role in regulating your business and setting parameters and rules you must comply with, to prevent you from using slave labor and things like that.

But when you reach the point where your product is selling and everything is in place, you have to capitalize more. Capitalize on any opportunities to take market share from your competitors. Find new ways to cut costs. Think up more products that people will buy and repeat the process. It's a never ending drive to increase revenue at all costs. Capitalize, capitalize, capitalize.

Some would argue that this process evokes innovation - people invent new and more efficient ways to manufacture products. But I would argue that the driving force in most cases is to increase profit, not make products that are necessarily more useful or beneficial to society. All that matters is, "will it sell?"

After years of this, huge corporations will emerge, which have been playing this capitalism game for generations. They have exhausted all all their innovative efforts, cut every corner, increased their profits as much as they can.

Now it's time to explore new ways to capitalize.

One is to expand beyond the boarders of the country. Cheaper labor, new markets, less corporate regulation; these things exist overseas and we've already seen a huge shift in this direction of the last 10 years.

So now it's time for the "final frontier" for the capitalists - taking over the very government that has been regulating it all this time.

All these rules and regulations are nothing more to the corporations than something that stands between them and higher profits. Changing the laws would mean more money.

It is a natural course of events in a system set up like this, that these huge corporations would go after the government at this point. Since government is highly influenced by campaign contributions and other sorts of money flowing from here to there, and the corporations have money to give, they will first try to influence government officials through traditional and mostly legal methods.

But eventually, they will realize that they actually need some of "our boys" directly in high-level government positions, so that they can be assured the laws will favor them, thus creating new ways for them to capitalize.

Whatever it takes, they pick their man and send him to be "the decider" for them. The stakes are so high, it doesn't matter how he gets into office. Just find a way. Steal the election, lie, make promises you know aren't true; do whatever it takes.

Now, we are seeing what I believe is the natural progression of living in a country with a capitalist economy.

It starts with encouraging people to think up a product, make it as cheaply as possible, and sell it for the highest price possible. It ends with a corporate takeover of the government.

Is there any benefit to this system? The bottom line is "will it sell?" rather than "what benefit to society does this offer?" The inventor of the "Pet rock" is seen as a genius, and gets rich, while solar panels "cost too much" even though they could solve many environmental and economic problems.

We should have seen this coming, and I'm sure some people did. I knew it was going to be bad when Bush got into office but I didn't realize how bad until it actually happened. But the point is, Capitalism breeds insatiable greed. The horrific events we're seeing today are inevitable. It will happen. It will never end until the last tree is cut down and the last law limiting corporations is abolished. Under this system, it will happen. It's inevitable. It just happens to be occurring now, which makes it rather distressing for us.

So yes, I blame Bush and all his cronies for all this mess. But I also think some of the blame has to be put on the system that inevitably creates the situation we face today.

Am I saying "Marx was right?" Does this make me a communist? Or a socialist? I don't know enough about it all to say. But I do believe that if it weren't Bush/Cheney, the corporations would keep trying to get someone like them into office and we'd just be facing something like this 4 or 8 or 12 years later. A system based on rewarding greed is inherently flawed.

It seems the "American experiment" of which Capitalism is a central theme, has failed. It's clear to me that if we are going to get out of this mess, we are going to have to change the system itself.

original thread from 5/31/09:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1321952