Today marks the end of the most turbulent week in world business in over 50 years. Asian, European and American markets are crashing and no-one is daring to call a bottom on this crisis. IS this the end of Capitalism. Is Adam Smith's "invisible hand," a thing of the past? Can we really let the market correct itself? The answer is no! There is hardly anyone out there calling for governments to leave the market alone. The thoughts of Great Depression like suffering are too much to bear. Back then President Hoover let the market correct itself and all it did was cause disaster. This time around we have bailouts and government involvement in the markets that goes against the principles of pure capitalism. Today in the United States they are talking off government backing all bank deposits as opposed to $250, 000. This is a new phenomena. I am going to call an end to Capitalism in its old format and a more regulated world market where governments are more involved, it may not be Socialism in its purest form but it will be something in between Capitalism and Socialism, time will tell!
Is Capitalism the best system? Are there alternate systems that work better? One has to ask these questions now. As we all know we live in a world of finite resources. The belief that economies can grow grow grow is hard to sustain. Yes there is innovation and efficiency but these need to be moving at a faster rate than the growth for our world to be sustainable. Even in these "modern" times we still have countries that are way behind for one reason or another due to a transfer of resources to the wealthier nations, initially through colonialism and now through multinationals. We must now more than ever consider sustainable ways of using resources in order to insure our survival and to pull people out of extreme poverty. It is clear that the current system is not ideal to meet these two goals.
Iran has 29% inflation rate, a pair of tube socks cost $18 in Amsterdam. Americans inflation rate is one of the lowest in the world and so is our unemployment rate. The real estate and stock market were very over inflated in values. The real estate market was over inflated by predatory lenders preying on people wanting to buy a home they could not afford. The stock market was over inflated because of working Americans 401k supporting business's, then corporate greed and corruption reporting false earnings. Not to mention foreign markets control in our stock market, let’s not forget they have had a big hand in this crash some people even go so far as to call this economic terrorism trying to impact our elections. America needs to be extremely concerned with foreign countries try to control our markets and our elections. America is good to every nation and always the first one there when disaster strikes, yet we are the most hated nation in all the world for our wealth and capitalism. The liberal media is also responsible crying recession when there was not a recession which caused panic and destroyed consumer confidence. So before we sell out capitalism and give into socialism, let’s not forget were socialism normally progresses into a dictatorship or communism.
I do believe that dishonest CEO’s should go to prison and laws should be put in place to prevent predatory lending and insurance companies put people first over huge profits. America should put laws in order that will audit the corporations making them accountable for truthful financial reports and stop predatory lenders that allow people to borrow money they cannot afford to pay back at dishonest interest rates that will keep them poor. Take away laws that allow the insurance industry control our health care, the shame is that in our great nation if someone in your family gets sick even if you have insurance and they wind up filing bankruptcy to get the collectors off their back is ridiculous. Did you know you cannot have more than one health insurance policy? The laws are set up so the sick has to pay out of pocket.
I see your points, and yes the US is better off than a lot of places, but for how long? Complacency now may lead to problems in future. I agree with you, there needs to be some regulation in the system or else the same errors will be made. My entry above is more about highlighting the fact that capitalism in its present form is not sustainable and changes need to be made for everyone's sake. Do you believe in the market correcting itself at all times?
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/tinacho
People need to be made accountable for their crimes like predatory lenders and greedy corporations. But if you ever want to be a millionaire and do not want the government to make choices for you, watch out for socialism. The world will go on, everything is on sale.
Maybe there should be a curb to that desire to be extremely wealthy? I mean millionaires cannot exist unless there are some people who are dead broke, right? And yes, people should be punished for taking advantage of others..
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/tinacho
I was poor, raised by a single mother who had to work in a cotton mill to support her children. Now I am a vice president of one company and started my own. I am middle class now, but I worked my way up. Now my new business may go under, something I worked for in eight years with the purposed tax plan if Obama wins. My company is only 4 months old. I will have to lay off my employees; I will not be able to pay the payroll tax. That change just smashed this single working moms dreams at 40 years old I finally thought the American dream was alive. If my payroll taxes go up, I will go under and my employees will lose their jobs.
Of course I do not understand the complexity of your problem but I do know that none of these decisions on policy are easily made. The decisions made by policy makers affect households now, and future generations (take the trade deficit for example). I have no magic wand to solve the issues, but what I always stress and emphasize to people is that every decision leads to something, every action is a seed sown. Whether it is registering to vote, giving a child an assuring word or leaving a job and pursuing a dream. I admire people like you who have made the American dream a reality through industry and innovation, but it must be said that the American dream has been hijacked to an extent by some wealthier people who seek to be wealthier. Look at the consumer society we have today, people create products and tell consumers that they absolutely need them when they do not. As mentioned earlier there are predatory lenders and a whole bunch of other practices that seem to seek to keep people poor and in debt rather than promote the 'American Dream' This is a shame, I really do not have high hopes for a system that promotes such values.
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/tinacho
American does not need to vote, we need hire some Lawyers to get rid of the laws formed to hurt the common folk that were put in place by special interest groups and some CPA's to audit our congress and senate, big business and tell us the truth. Who did what, when and why? We should be able to fire any politicians that did not look out for our best interest to support some special interest or big business to our determent.
I worked two jobs for my dream, I deserve it , my kids deserve it, now just to have it snatched away from me.
so you would agree with me that the system has to change, we need a system that has more accountability and less deceit?
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/tinacho