1 post tagged “capitalism”

I would disagree because it sounds like socialism.

Yes, but is it a good idea or bad idea?  My point is that to dismiss an idea because of how it "sounds" is ridiculous.  Furthermore, what is unfair or "socialistic" about distributing taxes equally for school finance?  Why should kids in West Talle receive less because they are poor?  As you know, school finance is based on property tax.  Why should students at West Talle be punished for living on land that is not valuable?

Something tells me a welfare check is not going to fix that situation...

Actually, a welfare check would.  Violent conflict occurs over two things: land and/or resources.  In the regions of Darfur and Iraq, where tribal genocide is currently taking place (and in Rwanda, where genocide occurred 14 years ago) the conflict started because a group of people had no money and no way to support their families.  So, yes a welfare check (and adequate schools and health care) would dramatically curtail the violence.  People are killing each other because there is no security.  There is no security because hundreds of thousands of people with guns are out of work.  Put those people to work and they put their guns down.  On a larger scale, why are we in Iraq in the first place?  We invaded a country that did not attack us and posed no threat.  A country whose brutal dictator we helped install and then supported with guns and chemical weapons.  Is it just a coincidence we invaded the most oil rich country in the world?  Land and resources.

But, the point I was intending to make is that genocide is the natural end point of capitalism.  Capitalism is the economic equivalent of Darwin's survival of the fittest.  As political theory capitalism values some people more than others.  What is genocide but survival of the fittest on an extreme level?

How do we close the gap between wealth and poverty without negatively impacting the middle, especially when so many in poverty seem willing to allow the government to subsidize their income without making the effort to alleviate the burden of the government?

Excellent question.  Let us look to the past.  The Gilded Age represents American capitalism at its best.  Incredible extremes in wealth and poverty and a handful of people making a boatload of money: Rockerfeller, Vanderbilt, Carnagie.  All the big names.  The people we refer to today as the “robber barons."  Like the man said, “Behind every great fortune there is a crime.”  The point is, The Gilded Age created the greatest disparity between wealth and poverty that this country has known.  How did The Gilded Age work out?  In depression, of course.  Everybody went to the poorhouse except for a few families who generated incredible wealth and power.

Now, let’s look at the closest America has come to socialism (which is not very close at all).  This would be the New Deal, FDR’s response to The Great Depression.  The 40’s and 50’s gave us the greatest narrowing of the gap between wealth and poverty.  The New Deal ended the Great Depression and created the modern middle-class.  We refer to these folks as “The Greatest Generation.”

Of course, we’ve spent the last 28 years pissing all that away, really ramping it up over the last seven years with George W. Bush leading the charge (sidenote: Bush’s grandfather, Prescott, was ushered into the elite banking establishment by way of the Skull and Bones Society at Yale.  He was “tapped” by the children of two of our “robber barons,” Avery Harriaman and Percy Rockfeller.  Old Prescott promptly made a fortune banking for the Nazis [donating some of Hitler's silverware to the S and B's].  Prescott was even rumored to support the overthrow of FDR.  That’s a little piece of the Bush legacy that I’m sure will be left out of the official family history).  Anyway, my point is that socialism is all of us working together to provide for each other.  Like how our tax dollars support the local library where anyone can check out a book for free.  I never use the local library but I’m happy to support it through my taxes.  And the fire house, and the school system, and the public universities.  Share and share alike.  We all benefit…