Capitalism

Let's face facts. As long as Capitalism exists, there will always be people who will be rich and those that are too poor. Take for example, the game of Monopoly. The goal of the game is to make more money and make your enemies poor. After the game is won, everything goes back in the box. Is it really worth it? Capitalist societies also tend to have more crime than Communist countries, (no, it's not because of the threat of getting shot) because everyone in Communism is required to work and everyone earns a living. This means there are no poor people, and since most crimes are resulted by poverty, then crime is reduced. Also people are not too rich, which means reductions in organized crime. Take for example, when China turned Communist to Capitalist, the crime rates increased and there have been mobs. Now then, lets also take into consideration the rich companies and banks. It's no secret that these monopolies buy there politicians and fund there campaigns. After all, a politician can't really fund himself. They also make profits off of people from other countries using cheap manual labor. These people don't earn enough and are often earning slave wages, and that is a terrible thing. Also as long as there are big rich companies in capitalism, they will tend to find a way to may money off your problems. For example, it is because of the oil companies that we don't have solar powered cars, because they buy patents to such things and keep everyone else from getting a free source energy. Yes, there are many flaws with Capitalism. I will admit that Capitalism does provide a better standard of living for the people, and possibly better education, but the cost is not worth it. Capitalism is an illusion of corporate greed, and the sad thing is that we are slaves to the system. Yes capitalism is bad Because history and current events prove it is wrong and we are educated and informed. Regulations came into being because so many bad businesses were doing so many evil things to destroy other companies. Same thing with the anti-monopoly laws. Same reason unions came into being. The socialist democratic countries in Scandinavia are rated both the happiest (US doesn't even make the top 10) and people feel they have more opportunity than any other country. And to all the these hardcore conservatives/republicans and capitalist. Try taking a history class. Competition doesn't destroy bad business. We aren't in small towns any more. There are hundreds of bad businesses who pump a lot of dollars into politician pockets. They drive out the small businesses, they lie, cheat, steal, and put crap into the marketplace and our environment. Because the competition is destroyed, people have no choice. Are you really so stupid to think that a small business can compete with a massive corporation like Monsanto, GE, Ford, Walmart, etc? What planet do you live on anyway. Government agencies that don't work are because the cons keep tying their hands. Like they have done with the post office, putting on absurd restrictions that no company is expected to meet. They did the same with Medicare, forcing them to pay full price for prescriptions instead of negotiating bulk purchase. Amtrak works well, but is likewise limited because the cons want them to fail. Unions don't cripple businesses. The union businesses that fail do so because of the greed and poor business practices of the leadership, not the unions. Hostess is fine example. They blame the unions but while they were going through bankruptcy, the top level people tripled their pay, driving the company into the ground. Same kind of stuff with Detroit. Business has proven itself completely incapable of self-regulation. How can wage slaves (and the vast majority of us are) be considered "free"? A business's number one priority is profit. With a few notable exceptions, consumers are but a tertiary concern. Businesses can join together right now for the benefit of an industry, should they so choose. Regulations save lives. Lack of regulation costs lives. Recently, 29 men were murdered by Massey Mining, but there was zero accountability. Some executive SHOULD have been tried and executed. Notice how the global economy was sustained by Glass-Steagall, and that it didn't take long for crooked banksters to crash the global economy, using trading strategies that used to be curtailed by Glass-Steagall. AMTRAK is national infrastructure. Business are not in the business of helping the consumer, the environment, or their workers. They are in the business of making a profit. Many times that means screwing the consumer, the environment, and their workers. That's why regulation is need to protect us from big business. One example is the Gilded Age with its child labor, rivers so polluted they caught on fire, 12+ hour work days, slave wages, dangerous working conditions, freedom to false advertise.Extinction is inevitable. In our capitalist societies, growth is not optional " it is obligatory " but we all know that infinite growth on a finite planet is impossible. Thus our "Business As Usual" paradigm will, at some point, necessarily slow, or come to screeching halt. For the destruction and use of natural resources is unsustainable, and growth not only of wealth but of population is impossible forever.Yes the rich just get richer. Simply the poor become poorer and the rich get richer. In the game monopoly the winner is rich and everyone else are poor. Capitalism in theory only sounds good and does work for a short period but once the wheels start to roll is when the vehicle begins to come a part. Yes, it has turned into 'bad'. You people seem to think that each person gets equal opportunity to succeed in a Capitalist society, WHICH IS NOT THE CASE. Take South Africa for example; and its' 'lost generation'. An entire generation was lost (they lost out on an education and most affected by this live a life of poverty to this day) because of something out of their control (Apartheid). Capitalism IS bad because, while constructive competition is good, modern Capitalism has turned into something horrible. Capitalism has come to mean bending rules and exploiting loopholes, buying politicians, hiding money in foreign bank accounts to avoid paying taxes, manipulating securities, sending millions of college students into debilitating debt, and covering business failures with citizens" money. These activities would not take place if society was different. Yes, but it has gotten better. Capitalism is a "bad" system because the laborer is paid less than the worth of what he produces so that the owners can earn money and grow their business(es). It has gotten better through the years, however, because now workers are able to receive health benefits and have certain rights that the business owners cannot violate whenever they wish. One of the greatest criticisms of Karl Marx's views of capitalism was that he viewed it as a still-shot that would never change. In reality, capitalism is a dynamic system that has changed itself over time to remain dominant. Yes, capitalism does not provide a healthy environment for people. A capitalistic system places too much emphasis on money, competition, and success. There is no emphasis on any humanistic values whatsoever. People get trapped into lifestyles they would never have picked just in order to survive, and find themselves behaving badly to their fellow humans in order to succeed. It amazes me that we humans have chosen this way of living when most of us realized it is destroying our very humanity.