CAPITALISM: Do you know what it is? What is your opinion?

by Terry 89 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  peacefulpete

  Environmentalists decry capitalism's use of resources

  I am an environmentalist. Yes I confess I care about the present and future health of the biosphere. I suspect you do as well, but have fallen to using the lable disparagingly because it is popular to do so. Capitalism as a system does not necesitate a thoughtless consumption of resources any more than any theoretical oposite would be true. It is in my opinion quite possible to raise environmemntal consciousness within a Capitalist market. I have friends who operate successful green buisnesses. In fact once the population as a whole grows to understand the issues there will be (and is increasingly present) a tremendous oportunity for new industry and services that respect the planet.
• 

  Badger

  Anyone who thinks that capitalism alone despoils the earth should take a bath in the Volga or a deep breath near Chernobyl.

  anyway:

  Capitalism unchained is a monster. $6 gallons of gas on the afternoon of 9/11, $12 loaves of bread after hurricanes...that's what it is.

  Capitalism in a pure form cannot work for long. Look at Albania (writer P.J. O'Rourke devoted a chapter to it in his book Eat the Rich). with the following tweaks, however...

  1. Union Protection. Class exploitation breeds revolution and a vengeful, despodic replacement. meeting the needs and demands of workers has repeatedly saved places like Britian, Germany and the U.S.

  2. Progressive Taxes. Higher taxes on those that can afford it.

  3. Deficit Spending. Sometimes, cycles don't recover.
• 

  czarofmischief

  Plenty of other systems, such as militarism or technocracy, also allow for social elevation through individual effort.

  True. I stand corrected.

  but have fallen to using the lable disparagingly because it is popular to do so.

  I did. I apologize to all rational environmentalists. In fact, I too am not a rabid exploit the earth kind of fellow - but I do resent unnecessary intrusion on private property rights. What word should I use? Eco-centrism? Anti-humanism? Morons? I firmly believe that with rights come responsibilities - such as cleaning up after your business, etc. But sometimes restrictions get taken too far and only empower people who don't care about the issue at ALL, like D.C. bureaucrats.

  I find myself agreeing with Logansrun and that Krugman is usually well-thought out and smart and humane without being insipid.

  Anyway, where are you, Terry?

  CZAR
• 

  Terry

  What is Capitalism?

  Capitalism is a social system.

  What is it based on?

  The recognition of individual rights.

  What rights does it include?

  Individual rights to own the fruits of one's labors and to control one's private property.

  Capitalism means nobody can force you to do something without resort to rule of law. Physical force used to control people is banished from society and put into the hands of the law.

  Does Capitalism have moral justification?

  Only under Capitalism is man free to earn by the fruits of his own labor and keep control of what is earned with freedom from interference.

  DO NOT MISTAKENLY ASSUME that the mixed economy (not pure Capitalism) has any of these virtues! Resort to mixing SOCIALISM with Capitalism destroys the morality of the Capitalist system.

  Socialism demands that the man who earns must sacrifice to the man who doesn't on the basis of the whimsical "need" of the non-earner. This is social slavery.

  In Capitalist society human relationships are voluntary.

  In Socialist society the earner is compelled to serve.

  In a Capitalist society the right to agree or not, to cooperate or not is judged by the individual based on his self-interest.

  In Socialist society it is the right to disagree that is crucially absent.

  A Capitalist is free to do his best and earn the rewards of being best at something.

  A Socialist suffers from doing more because; the more he earns; the more is taken from him.

  The mixed economy in the U.S. taxes the most productive people and rewards the least productive out of the earnings of the most productive while lecturing them that it is their social "duty".

  A capitalist earnings are objectively determined by the value of his work in the marketplace. When men are free to trade with reason and reality as the only arbiter, it is the best product and the best service that wins.

  A Socialist society reduces the reward for competitive rewards and the drive to be better is stifled. The best and brightest in a Socialist society flees to the capitalist system out of sheer necessity.

  The essence of Capitalism is freedom: THE FREEDOM TO TRADE. Pure Capitalism abolishes trade barriers, protective tariffs, special privileges and basic injustice.

  Laissez-faire captialism is based on human rights and bans force from social relationships. The above mentioned __restrictions__are removed; the forced aspects are gone. The only force possible is Market Forces.
• 

  Terry

  The flood of misinformation, misrepresentation, distortion and outright falsehood about capitalism is such that the young people of today have NO IDEA (and virtually no way of discovering any idea) of its actual nature.
  

  A full, perfect, unregulated, totally laissez-faire (hand's off) capitalism has not been seen.

  From the beginnings various degrees of government intereference and control have been active.

  The nineteenth century was the ultimate product and expression of the intellectual trend of the Renaissance and the Age of Reason, which means: predominantly Aristotelian philosophy. The new economic system was a corollary of POLITICAL FREEDOM.

  The proof is there in history. To the extent a country was free of political control on Free Trade; that country prospered. America was the freest country and it prospered the most.

  Capitalism provided men living in poverty with a means of applying their efforts toward gradual self-betterment.

  Capitalism created the highest standard of living in all of history. The evidence is incontrovertible.

  Contrast even the feeblest incarnations of capitalism with ANY OTHER system and look at the results. The standard of living in Hong Kong compared to anywhere else in China is self-evident.
• 

  Narkissos

  Capitalism is not just another name for the age-old practice of trade and market business, or their apology (mercantilism). It emerges in the 19th century, in the wake of the English and European industrial revolution which concentrated the production of goods in the hands of a very small number of factory owners. Essential to it is the capitalization process, i.e. the accumulation of riches derived from the exploitation of labor and their use as a source of revenue. It basically has to do, not with individual free enterprise, but with the building of economic empires which have long outgrown the power of any individual State. So the State as a potential enemy of the freedom guaranteed by capitalism is really a strawman, and it's quite amazing to European observers how the average US citizen is prone to buy into it. Most of the State power (law, justice, police and army) is actually maintained as the barking dog of BIG private interests.
• 

  Terry

  Czarofmischief: Terry where are you?

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/12/78174/1272376/post.ashx#1272376
• 

  hillary_step

  narkissos,

  Capitalism is not just another name for the age-old practice of trade and market business, or their apology (mercantilism). It emerges in the 19th century, in the wake of the English and European industrial revolution which concentrated the production of goods in the hands of a very small number of factory owners. Essential to it is the capitalization process, i.e. the accumulation of riches derived from the exploitation of labor and their use as a source of revenue. It basically has to do, not with individual free enterprise, but with the building of economic empires which have long outgrown the power of any individual State. So the State as a potential enemy of the freedom guaranteed by capitalism is really a strawman, and it's quite amazing to European observers how the average US citizen is prone to buy into it. Most of the State power (law, justice, police and army) is actually maintained as the barking dog of BIG private interests.

  As ever, you resist the temptation of falling into simplistic definitions and provide us once again with a quite brilliant analysis of the subject under review. I do not apologize for quoting the whole of your post, it deserves to be read very carefully, especially by those who find it difficult to seperate the need to balance both individual and national ideals. It is all too easy for those who expound the Capitalist banner, to misrepresent, or not truly understand what Socialism really is.

  Best regards - HS
• 

  Euphemism

  Narkissos... I'm not quite sure I agree with that characterization.

  The agricultural economy that preceded the Industrial revolution involved a similar--or even greater--accumulation and concentration of wealth; except the accumulation was mostly in land--a specific form of capital--and the exploitation of labor was done through rents rather than wages.

  I agree that mere trade is not capitalsim; all societies have trade. The uniqueness of capitalism is that it (theoretically) forgoes the use of state power to redistribute economic resources; and that is something that has been historically rare.

  Terry... you wrote:

  Capitalism means nobody can force you to do something without resort to rule of law. Physical force used to control people is banished from society and put into the hands of the law.

  I thought that was the difference between anarchy and government. I don't see what that has to do with capitalism vs communism vs any other economic system.
• 

  hillary_step

  Euphemism,

  I'm not quite sure I agree with that characterization. The agricultural economy that preceded the Industrial revolution involved a similar--or even greater--accumulation and concentration of wealth; except the accumulation was mostly in land--a specific form of capital--and the exploitation of labor was done through rents rather than wages.

  Perhaps the point that deals with the issue is actually adressed by Narkissos in this statement, which highlights the differing ideologies between the 'feudal' and 'capitalist' systems.

  It basically has to do, not with individual free enterprise, but with the building of economic empires which have long outgrown the power of any individual State.

  Best regards - HS