View Full Version : capitalism...
the capitalist system - is a system wherein - those on top - view you and i - as a target:
either as...
a target cutomer...
a target employee peddling their wares...
a target to destroy...
in any case - we - are targets...
- discuss perhaps...?
crap - missing - s - customer...
p.s. i'm offline again - painting - i'll check back - later - to see - if this went anywhere or not...
ach...
ought to have made that a bit clearer - starting over - and then - off again...
the capitalist system - is a system wherein - those on top - view you and i - as a target:
either as...
a target cutomer...
a target employee peddling their wares...
a target competitor which needs be asslimilated or destroyed...
in any case - we - are targets...
discuss perhaps...?
- okay fixed and my my what a messy person i can be oh well off again...
Heartland
10-07-2005, 06:56 PM
I'd add:
A target voter (along the same line as "customer").
We grew up being told that anyone could succeed in a capitalistic society, that all had and equal chance. Sadly, we've come to learn that we don't all have the same chance, and that we're not all equal. Ambition is not everything, as we were taught.
Your chances to succeed and make it big in this country are dependent on your environment, your education, your business and family connections (including those secret societies that all the biggest movers and shakers are part of), your race, your sexual preferences, your religious preferences, your willingness to kiss serious ass just to make it to upper middle class, and your willingness to put money above everything else, even your family.
Even if you manage to overcome all of the above, you will need to sacrifice your moral integrity in order to stay at the top. Capitalism is a game, and those who can't follow the rules of that game will never be allowed into the inner circles.
sadie999
10-07-2005, 07:18 PM
Well, capitalism isn't such a bad system. It's a bit low-brow, but that's just my view and I'm one of those people who'd be happier being a college professor for $60k a year than I would selling cars or air time for $150k a year.
The reason capitalism is so corrupt in this country is the wheeling and dealing and price fixing that goes unchecked - also the stupidity of the consumer.
Two tiny examples of how the consumer in the U.S. is taken for granted and in my opinion lets themselves be shat upon:
-I just saw the new Hondas that are going to have safe ways to transport pets; one is a glove box that transforms into a space for small pets and the other is a tent for larger animals in the back seat. Why did Honda do this? Because Japanese consumers wanted it. Huh? Up until 20 years ago, the Japanese thought we Americans were foolish for loving and spending so much money on our pets. Why does Honda value its Japanese consumers more than it values us?
-You know how most computers and peripherals come with a whopping 90day warranty? Well I accidentally once clicked on a website for some pc company, but I hit Europe instead of the U.S. - there, the warranties were a year for things that here were only 90 days. Why do Europeans get better warranties than we do for the same products (I'd bet it's law and this country sucks when it comes to consumer protection laws.)
Our culture seems to take great joy in beating up those dirty rotten welfare mothers while blithely looking the other way at corporate welfare. We've all but destroyed unions and job security in this country while letting businesses run roughshod over us.
Laissez faire capitalism might be brutal, but it would be fair. What is being practiced in this country is nothing more than stealing and coercion. The corporations and the politicians they own will turn America into a third world nation - hopefully after I'm dead, but I'm guessing within 75-100 years.
Peace.
JavaNoire
10-07-2005, 10:24 PM
The anarchy of laissez faire capitalism is both brutal & horribly unfair. There is nothing fair in the cronyism, shark attack *ethics*, sweat shops, subhuman wages & working conditions of a completely unregulated economy. It is *simpler* to understand but it is not fair decent right.
Corporate welfare is scandalous. Worse is the American apathy that permits(encourages?) it to grow & thrive. Consisering the hostility many have for poor welfare recipients, such apathy is disgusting. Why begrudge the poor the paltry assistance they receive? Why is corporate welfare tolerated without such widespread resentment?
Heartland
10-07-2005, 10:49 PM
Why is corporate welfare tolerated without such widespread resentment?
Because the American consumer (read: target) has been brainwashed to believe that in order for us to have jobs, we must support corporations with our tax dollars. We're threatened that if we don't give them what they want, they'll go elsewhere and we won't get the jobs. It's nothing more than blackmail by the corporations and the politicians who are lining their campaign pockets with corporate donations. That, and America is full of suckers.
It's Reaganomics at its finest, the trickle-down theory. Only it never quite manages to trickle down very far. The trickle always seems to stop with the upper management and the millions of dollars they and the CEO's receive in salaries and bonuses, not to mention their ridiculous perks. I was in the corporate world for nearly 20 years. I have yet to see anyone in upper management do much of anything except have endless meetings and telephone calls. Oh yeah, they make decisions, once in a while.
Mid-level and skilled jobs are now being done by temporary workers, who receive lower wages than the corporations would have to pay if they were regular employees, and no benefits. This started in the 80's, and is rampant in all the big corporations. "Temporary" is defined as indefinite in the corporate world. The corporations love to tease ... promising that any day now the "hiring freeze" will be lifted. I played that game for four years at one major corporation, until I figured out that I was the one being played. The prize was great, but they were never going to let any of us anywhere near it.
hi up there - i painted for the rest of the afternoon - and then - became all absorbed in reading history - anyway - i'm glad that this went somewhere...
another thing i'll add is this - i've said it before:
capitalism is a system - in which - one entity gains something - at the expense - of another entity...
well - it's 1:30 am now - so - maybe i'll come back to this again - leter on...
p.s. i really need edit - later...
agentorange
10-08-2005, 06:42 AM
I agree with Sadie.
Sorry, dusa, you sound really insane and bitter on this.
The rest of you I dunno if you are commies or just raging.
Anywho, I gotta go to bed and can't really put my own thoughts into the matter.
Heartland
10-08-2005, 07:54 AM
I'm not a commie. I'd just like a system that wasn't so lopsided ... a system where the workers, who are the ones making all of the money for the elite, at least can get decent health care for themselves and their families. I'd like that trickle-down theory to really be a trickle down theory instead of a sound byte.
I don't think Dusa sounds insane and bitter at all. I think she simply sees what many of us do, that the system we have is dangerously tilted toward the rich and powerful. People don't have much incentive to do their jobs in an outstanding way year after year when they finally come to realize who's really getting the payoff for their hard work. I think this is a big reason that American goods and services don't even come close to reaching the quality they did 30 years ago.
insane and bitter - oh you - other than the world going to hell - i'm happy as heck - and - not very bitter at all - base - i love life - yes - love it - love it - love it - hahahaha - you can be such a funny silly goof sometimes...! :1rotfl2:
agentorange
10-08-2005, 02:19 PM
I don't believe there is anything wrong with capitalism, and more specifically, a free market. My argument is, we don't have a free market in this country. Corporate welfare is out of control--corrupt politicans who are connected to old, inefficiant industries bilk the public out of tax dollars to keep these worthless industries alive. The train system is a good example. We've been bailing Amtrak out of the gutter for decades, meanwhile our public bus systems are in the toilet. The airlines get the same tender treatment. Communism, of course, is far worse in that regard--the government owns the inefficient companies altogether. I fail to see the difference between that and allowing private ownership only to have it riding on the coattails of government handouts. The same holds true for people who live on handouts.
We have to stop buying into the misguided notion that what we have right now is a free market, because it's nothing of the sort.
the phrase:
..."manifest destiny"...
mean something to you...?
if so - what...?
agentorange
10-08-2005, 03:53 PM
to spread our culture and ideals across the globe...
But that was 1840's speak, our current culture is nothing I'd want to spread. What does that have to do with a free market, though?
i know what they said it meant back then - i'm asking - if it means - something - to you - personally - and - if so - what - and - um er - base - i'm not talking about a free market...
justjg
10-09-2005, 08:58 AM
Every system ever used by man has been corrupted.
Today's Communism isn't really Comunism anymore than today's Capitilism is such.
Heck, if Anarchists came to power that would be corrupted too.
The problem isn't the system.
The problem is us and "our" inherant hypocrisy.
The problem is "greed" whether for financial or power gains.
The aggressive or dominant always push to the front.
Whether Commisar or Capitilist someone is always going to look down on someone else.
It's human nature :)
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