"The economic anarchy of capitalist society as it exists today is, in my opinion, the real source of the evil... I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy, accompanied by an educational system which would be oriented toward social goals."
— Albert Einstein, "Why Socialism?", May 1949
Showing posts with label Capitalism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Capitalism. Show all posts
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
God damned . . socialist.
A vast majority of America’s socio-economic faults stem from our fundamental belief that capitalism works, and everything else fails. One could argue that a bulk of it is a result of the demonization of communism during the Cold War, and the current demonization of anything involving the word “socialism”. However, socialist economic ideas in America have played a large role in passing fair labor legislation that, today, we take for granted, and creating the political climate we deal with on a daily basis. It isn't that hard to believe, especially considering Eugene V. Debs, leading and representing the Socialst Party, received 6% of the popular vote in the 1912 United States presidential election. In a time of massive labor strikes and even before the Bolshevik revolution, socialism was in the hearts of many Americans.
One of the most common arguments for the decency of capitalism is the profit motive. Each individual’s desire to be successful and garner wealth builds an economy to be reckoned with. While the concept of profit motive may seem wholesome, there are severe and often overlooked byproducts:
• Exploiting (a wild understatement) workers,
• A preference for cheap, sub-par materials in the stages of production (high fructose corn syrup),
• Generally building things that simply aren’t meant to last (obsolescence schemes - American cars, for example),
• Perpetuating the already rigid caste/limiting social mobility,
• An imbalance in the influence of corporate interest, and
• Promoting the acceptance of American greed.
The profit motive also leads to the creation of the corporation. We’ve seen too many examples in the past 20 years of corporations failing, burning the accounting books, for the sake of profit and not disappointing investors. Wall-Street speculation and predictions of a stock’s growth dictates the company’s bottom-line. Corporations such as Fannie May and Freddie Mac, AIG, and the “Big 3” Detroit auto makers all have something in common that affects the tax-payer and government: they’re too big to fail. They provide too much tax money that accounts for a large portion of the federal government’s budget, too many American jobs, and too many investments made by the American people.
Profit for the owners of the means of production is simply withheld wages and benefits for the laborers. The question this leads to is whether a power-house economy and the world's largest number of millionaires and billionaires justifies the fact that we also have one of the highest rates of childhood poverty for a developed, industrialized nation. Almost 1/4 of American children are raised in relative poverty, and more than 46 million Americans have no health insurance whatsoever -- that's over 18% of the total population.
One of the most common arguments for the decency of capitalism is the profit motive. Each individual’s desire to be successful and garner wealth builds an economy to be reckoned with. While the concept of profit motive may seem wholesome, there are severe and often overlooked byproducts:
• Exploiting (a wild understatement) workers,
• A preference for cheap, sub-par materials in the stages of production (high fructose corn syrup),
• Generally building things that simply aren’t meant to last (obsolescence schemes - American cars, for example),
• Perpetuating the already rigid caste/limiting social mobility,
• An imbalance in the influence of corporate interest, and
• Promoting the acceptance of American greed.
The profit motive also leads to the creation of the corporation. We’ve seen too many examples in the past 20 years of corporations failing, burning the accounting books, for the sake of profit and not disappointing investors. Wall-Street speculation and predictions of a stock’s growth dictates the company’s bottom-line. Corporations such as Fannie May and Freddie Mac, AIG, and the “Big 3” Detroit auto makers all have something in common that affects the tax-payer and government: they’re too big to fail. They provide too much tax money that accounts for a large portion of the federal government’s budget, too many American jobs, and too many investments made by the American people.
Profit for the owners of the means of production is simply withheld wages and benefits for the laborers. The question this leads to is whether a power-house economy and the world's largest number of millionaires and billionaires justifies the fact that we also have one of the highest rates of childhood poverty for a developed, industrialized nation. Almost 1/4 of American children are raised in relative poverty, and more than 46 million Americans have no health insurance whatsoever -- that's over 18% of the total population.
Social Environmentalism
A meaningful, successful, and earnest American environmental movement will not see its way into strict legislation or international pacts under the current capitalist policies. The United States, being one of only two nations to have not ratified the Kyoto Protocol, was largely convinced by corporatist idealism. Murray Rothbard, a key figure of libertarian idealism and a significant supporter of what he called “free market anarchism”, or what I like to call, “free market fundamentalism”, and his followers argued that individual pollutants that are emitted are still, by law, private or Lockean property (interesting, considering John Locke also believed that a person putting their labor into an object made it their property at least in part, and that the idea of private property was a contradiction of the Bible). Adhering to something like the Kyoto Protocol which calls for CO2 emission caps and emission-trading would be a violation of individual rights and is something to be handled in a class action tort.
This is a product of capitalist fundamentalism dictating government policy more than Washington or public interest could ever hope to. It is, by definition, fascism.
I think Benito Mussolini said it better than I can: "Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power."
Or maybe FDR: “The first truth is that the liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism—ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power.”
Free market environmentalism is insulting. What's best for business is not what's best for the American people. What's best for business is virtually always at odds with what's best for the conservationist and environmentalist.
This is a product of capitalist fundamentalism dictating government policy more than Washington or public interest could ever hope to. It is, by definition, fascism.
I think Benito Mussolini said it better than I can: "Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power."
Or maybe FDR: “The first truth is that the liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism—ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power.”
Free market environmentalism is insulting. What's best for business is not what's best for the American people. What's best for business is virtually always at odds with what's best for the conservationist and environmentalist.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
