capitalism
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- hedge0
^ Definitely truth there.
- ********0
- ********0
- ukit20
Capitalism vs. Democracy
Thomas Piketty’s new book, “Capital in the Twenty-First Century,” described by one French newspaper as a “a political and theoretical bulldozer,” defies left and right orthodoxy by arguing that worsening inequality is an inevitable outcome of free market capitalism.
- free market? where?
how does the book define free market? just curious. n is it a good read?yurimon - The freest markets are probably in developing world economies that lack infrastructure and regulationukit2
- And maybe certain Asian economies like Hong Kong, Singapore, etcukit2
- So do you think there is more equality in those countries than in the Western world?ukit2
- free market? where?
- formed0
Of course free markets will continue to re-distribute the wealth to the top. This is simply humanity's greed at work.
Once one CEO makes X, his successor will make XX, etc., etc.
Then there's the simple "it takes money to make money", so when economies plummet, it is those that have money that can reap the benefits of a lower entry to stocks, housing, etc.
Just look at housing now, all those foreclosed homes have been (mostly) bought up by investors, large and small. Now they've doubled their money and collect rent from those that don't have any reserves.It'll continue to spiral downward and disproportionally, imho. Money is power, and those that have some always want more, at the expense of everyone else.
I am starting to believe the conspiracies about the 2008 crash :-)
- I dont think we are in a free market
:(yurimon - i don't think there's free anything.pango
- This guy is the freest one on earth :)
http://thechive.file…yurimon
- I dont think we are in a free market
- ukit21
- *sigh* looks like fascism or socialism to me. free market has no gov on top. gov is on bottom.yurimon
- capitalism isn't a model of government, derpyi_monk
- Ideally its a system of production but you have interference from gov in regulation so its relatedyurimon
- Capitalism requires government. Who else is going to enforce private property rights, contracts, corporate legal structure, etc?ukit2
- legal structure, and everything else you need for a capitalist economy?ukit2
- Requiring SOME FORM of gov't doesn't make capitalism A FORM of gov't.i_monk
- Not government. A political-economic system.ukit2
- ********0
People who talk about Capitalism and Socialism and Communism and Free Market Economy and Planned Economy as though these things still (or, ever) exist are just making noise. Distracting noise is useless to us. Meanwhile, people who understand the current state of affairs use mostly use it to their personal advantage. So, it would appear to people who still use these outdated terms that Capitalists (or, Socialists) are to blame for inequality.
The world is not capitalism vs socialism, nor is it democracy vs dictatorship. Time to move on, and time to start thinking about the world the way it actually is, instead of the way it was described to you in a History textbook.
- yurimon0
Capitalist Market participation is mandatory or you will be labeled as an extremist. The more subversive you are to authority, the more gmo you eat, more drugged, mentally perverse, sadistic do nothing consumer, that is assimilated and dependent on the system, the better your chances of getting a stamp of approval.
You are excluded of course if you are the crème de la crème in the Corporatocracy or part of the club in other words.
- utopian1
- hint, its not capitalism.yurimon
- Primates?utopian
- Genuinely, what is it then yuri? I need more than a hint!MrT
- There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns.utopian
- That is to say, there are things that we know we don't know.utopian
- But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don't know we don't know.utopian
- That clears it up.MrT
- he wants a technocracy. You have a hybrid model in the US. not exactly pure capitalism.yurimon
- colin_s0
(full disclosure: i hate capitalism and think it's the root problem with most of our troubles today)
the problem i have with labelling capitalism the fault of ALL of it is that capitalism is a construct of humankind - which is the true failure.
marxism / socialism / communism have the greatest belief that humanity works best when it works together. capitalism holds a belief that humanity works best singularly first.
the point is that people are corrupt as fuck and money as a method of exchange - having a fundamental economic system at all - will be the problem until we can construct a broad governing system of existence that has enough automation and natural balance that we need not worry about bartering and bickering over purchased resources.
until the point where humanity murders that system out of itself, we're probably stuck with capitalism because it gets us to that point the fastest. it is the snake that has a competition to eat itself more and more with each quarterly report, and eventually we'll get to the neck.
- fuck this frail shit. stand on your own two or drown over it. does personal responsibility mean nothing to you********
- fuck this frail shit. stand on your own two or drown over it. does personal responsibility mean nothing to you
- ********0
- i fuck with the hand script text box, somebody did good work********
- sarcasm?bklyndroobeki
- nope, brush lettering is awesome********
- this one sucks.bklyndroobeki
- i fuck with the hand script text box, somebody did good work
- Hayoth0
Buying a website domain + selling a product is capitalism. (Without heavy govt oversight)
- pango0
Better how?
- monoboy4
We have seen unprecedented level of unearned wealth in the UK thanks to our overheated property market. 1 in 6 houses are now bought with cash whilst those who earn their cash are locked out.
A hedge fund recently spent £100 million in the London property market because it offers a better return than the stock market.
Hard work and a pension will no longer sustain a decent retirement.
Meanwhile, Osbourne has relaxed all the legislation put in place after the 2008 crash by sacking the CEO of the FSA. And has ascerbated the housing crisis with right to buy.
This type of Capitalism only goes one way. The rich get richer, and the poor get poorer until they can't take it any more and riot or worse, wage war.
It's already happening in South America and the Middle East. It has nothing to do with religion. (and a lot to do with climate change).
We need capitalism that works for a greater good. Not just shareholders and self interest. Or we are all fucked.
Those at the top will just escape the pain for a bit longer.
- *levelsmonoboy
- Pretty much what's going on with Australian property too in the big cities.MrT
- *exacerbate (oops, terrible typo).monoboy
- yep - agree wholeheartedly.fadein11
- It's happening everywhere. Here in Denver, one of the hottest US markets, investors have snatched up a good portion of homes, and rents are skyrocketing.formed
- Home prices are typically 10-20% above asking cost, with a line around the block.formed
- Great for all those investors that bought up everything at pennies on the dollar a few years ago.formed
- A correction will force another banking crisis in the next two years. Western economies are no longer productive.monoboy
- 1 mistake is having a central bank.yurimon
- ********2
“At this point, it is important to mention that just like a cousin marriage is a cultural practice in Asian/British Pakistanis heritage, resulting in increasing risk factors for congenital anomalies, so too is choosing to give birth at or after the age 34 in White British women/couples. This is largely a result of choosing lifestyles embedded in liberal values such as preferring jobs, careers, bodily fitness and individualism over giving birth before the age 34. This has been reported as the highest cause in BiB babies born with birth defects (19%) according to BiB data.”
^ from some British health document.
Interesting callout to cultural norms. In large, expensive, western cities, a woman aged 34 to 39 is not considered old by her peers and community. Doctors have a different opinion, calling it a geriatric pregnancy, but they don’t condemn it.
Also interesting, separately, is that the above document seems to call out that white women are at greater risk above 34, which cannot be physiologically true. What they mean I think is that white women are culturally more like to have geriatric pregnancies.
Still, if you go to a big city like NYC, where career is valued above all else, imagine a 35 year old woman saying she’s pregnant and then treating that with the same social stigma we treat marrying your cousin.
For an American woman to be considered a success, under our current typical definition of feminism, she needs to prove she’s built a successful career and started a successful family. Nearly impossible to do both by age 34.


