All these glowing virtues you keep referring to are absolutely true, but the inevitable result is that Capitalism always degenerates into a rapacious, deadly plague which victimizes its customers, its workers, and even its investors. The only way these evils can be controlled is by government regulation, The capitalists have economic power, the market and the workers just don't have the resources to beat them, and the fat cats not only control the means of production, they buy out the state, the courts, the law, and in the international realm, they even promote wars for markets and raw materials, and to oppose foreign capitalists.
Yes, capitalism has its good points.
1) It harnesses the desire of every man to take charge of his own economic life.
2) It is self-regulating, yes, the Invisible Hand DOES work, until the bosses figure out how to chop off its fingers.
3) Competition weeds out the inefficient and the over-priced.
4) It democratizes commerce, by giving every citizen the chance to participate, either directly, or by investment.
I could go on...believe, I'm no enemy of capitalism. But I also recognize that Capitalists, the people who tend to rise to the top in this arena are determined to frustrate all these built in controls, to defeat their competitors by unscrupulous methods, and to grow their own businesses at the expense of other, more useful or honest ones: UNLESS, a democratically imposed regulatory system is placed to control these predators and keep the playing field level so Adam Smith's Invisible Hand can operate the way its supposed to.
In the United States, Theodore Roosevelt began the slow and steady process of reform that tamed Capitalism, putting the brakes to the excesses and abuses of the Gilded Age--over a century ago. And at every step of the way, the reformers have been opposed by the business community. This is now the political movement represented by the Republican Party.
In Europe, Socialist and Labor politics did the same thing--pretty much the same process, but under a different name and with different emphases. These areas, along with parts of Asia, have produced prosperity and freedom unprecedented in mankind's history.
Yes, Capitalism is good, but it can't be left to itself, under the myth that some set of magic rules discovered by Adam Smith will automatically guarantee it remains honest. It takes a democratically elected government, instituting just laws and courts, to tame this beast and keep it under control, because the mob that owns it, and runs it, want it all, and they don't want to share.
Off Topic » in reply to Look around you
Don't get misty on us, Buck.
The whole thread (75 posts)
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