Do you think unfettered Capitalism will destroy our planet?
If Free Market Capitalism is allowed to be the dominant economic system throughout the planet, then our gestures to save our planet from climatic disaster are just that, gestures that are totally futile.
Is it about time we tried real socialism, and not the deformed versions of it practiced in the Soviet Union, China etc.
Socialism will work perfectly in a modern economy, because of our history of democracy. Russia etc were backward economies that is why they become corrupt, because most of the population were poor non unionised rural workers. We understand what democracy is in the west, so beauracrtic corruption could never happen, if planning stems from below.
I think it is impossible to have "unfettered capitalism." I think people will always temper it with charity and kindness. "Capitalistic pigs" do find themselves shamed, and even jailed when they go against the laws of the land.
OTOH, unfettered socialism would never work, either. People sometimes do things that aren’t in their best short-term interests, but they can’t be depended on to do those things.
What we need is grass-roots socialism — people working together to help each other out, and taking active part in their local governments. Then, and only then, will socialism work. Because, if you still have "secret capitalists," they will game the system, and bring it down.
This is difficult to explain in brief, but I will try my best.
Money is the blood of any economy. For capitalism to work for the benefit of all, every citizen must have an understanding of money. May I introduce you to the Austrian School of Economics? You can learn more about it at:
http://www.mises.org
Ludwig von Mises was one of the greatest economists of our time. We can all learn from him. Among one of his observations is that money based on a gold standard is incredibly stable and facilitates wealth distribution more readily than any other kind of money. Unbacked paper money is prone to inflation and therefore cannot really be called "money".
The problem with "free market" capitalism is that it is not "free". How come most free trade agreements last for 1000 pages instead of just 2 or 3? Of course the powers that be would have us all believe it is "free market" capitalism when in fact it is just a bunch of crooks-in-power rigging everything to their benefit. That, IMHO, is not a true "free market".
I would not say that FMC is the problem. Rather, it is the lack of restraint on part of the more powerful players that is the problem in question. In the end, it boils down to centralization vs. decentralization. If capitalism were practiced on a decentralized basis, fairness would be easier to achieve. At least each locality would have the model that best suits its needs, instead of having one forced upon it by a distant power center.
Believe it or not, control of economic activity in the West is largely in the hands of an oligarchy of select corporations. Normally, one would expect the more powerful players to show some self-restraint and let the start-ups gain a footing, but usually capitalism leads to socialism in that those who survived and thrived during the predatory (dog-eat-dog) phase are afterwards in a position to rig the game to their benefit. Of course this leads to a sclerotic, innovation-less establishment and the collapse thereof, and the whole cycle is repeated. Think of it as hot fumes that turn into molten metal, which turns into solid metal, which becomes harder and harder until it crumbles and becomes dust.
Simply distinguishing between only socialism and capitalism leaves much to be desired. Either or both are applied differently from place to place.
The socialism you refer to will have to originate in a grassroots effort and be part of a local initiative. Only by conjunction with other local initiatives can it become something national. In any case, decentralization is needed, for any centralization will only mean too much power concentrated in the hands of an oligarchy. This means inculcating a respect for private property, for this is the first step towards a free society. Of course there will be certain things that are needed by everyone and should thus be considered part of the commons (i.e., publicly owned), but somewhere the line between public and private must be drawn. Relying on government to equalize everything is only asking for disaster, since the government can do only so much. In the end, the people — and communities — themselves are to be responsible for their own welfare.
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yes, i definitely think U.S. under capitalism will bring our country to collapse someday (as you can see with all the economy crisis right now).
but one thing i want to point out is that socialism is a good idea, but you need to be very careful with it, since there are a lot of pitfalls (such as people unwilling to work).
Socialism in russia and china may not have been the best, but i think they worked pretty well.
at least, Russia became a strong nation after the socialist rule.
socialism was definitely good to china. mao zedong was able to bring china above the surface, ever since they suffered a series of defeats since the opium war. if socialism hasn’t existed in china, china would still be a 3rd-world country now.
it’s just that socialism in these countries didn’t LAST. if it lasted, then these two countries will be pretty much successful economically and politically.
one more thing: democracy will not work with socialism. in democracy, people can speak anything. but sometimes, people don’t understand the real meaning of socialism. so what if they protest against it? that won’t work.
for socialism to be effective, you need a strong central government.
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Not only your question is already backed up by science, but it is likewise predicted by ancient religious icons.
Yes, it will. And you are right, in saying that in reality, communist system has never been tried by at all. What we saw is a State capitalist like China, and Totalitarian government broke up into pieces of state capitalism like Russia.
Check this out as well: http://www.greencommunism.org
References :
http://www.greencommunism.org
I think it is impossible to have "unfettered capitalism." I think people will always temper it with charity and kindness. "Capitalistic pigs" do find themselves shamed, and even jailed when they go against the laws of the land.
OTOH, unfettered socialism would never work, either. People sometimes do things that aren’t in their best short-term interests, but they can’t be depended on to do those things.
What we need is grass-roots socialism — people working together to help each other out, and taking active part in their local governments. Then, and only then, will socialism work. Because, if you still have "secret capitalists," they will game the system, and bring it down.
References :