CAPITALISM IS NOT YOUR ENEMY
The press can’t smell econ bull shit, and passes on misleading opinions using words like “corporatism” and “crony capitalism” which only elicit the erroneous thought that Capitalism is your enemy.
If you go back to an economic text book or just to “Economics Explained” by Robert Heilbroner, and Lester Thurow former Dean of Economics at MIT – you will find out that Capitalism is a market system – market society – that replaced the feudal system/society.
And in a market system economic activities are left to individual choice to respond to the opportunities and discouragements of the marketplace. Further a market in capitalism means that there is a regular flow of wealth-money into production – a flow of savings and investment – organized through banks and other financial companies, where borrowers pay interest for having the use of the wealth of the lenders.
From the beginning of capitalism there was a tension between the freedom, i.e., laissez-faire, and intervention. Laissez-faire represents the expression of Capitalism’s economic drive, and intervention its democratic intervention. The idea of leaving things alone, or totally free and unfettered-unregulated was breached early on by the English Factory Act of 1833, which established a system of inspectors to prevent child and female labor to be abused.
The idea that capitalism exists solely for the purpose of maximizing profits without regard for any democratic societal considerations or any concern for the public came from Social Darwinism and Schumpeter as well as Herbert Spencer who postulated the “survival of the fittest” ethic as the basis for his theory of Social Darwinism – which had nothing to do with Darwin’s natural selection.
From the beginnings of capitalism there existed the problem of curtailing greed for the good of democracy. Both Capitalism and Democracy are philosophy-based concepts and not science. So the word corporatism and the phrase “crony capitalism do not provide any real understanding of Capitalism, what is fundamentally wrong with how it has gone terribly awry. And the irrational fallacious idea that free markets self correct is merely propaganda from sociopathic greedy psychopaths who do not care about victimizing society.
It is amazing how little journalists and most Americans know about Capitalism as well as politicians who extoll the merits of our “free market” system. Adam Smith postulated his economic market theories, which he called Capitalism, in the 18th Century…well before the globe grew smaller with the internet and the ability of banks to transfer money in the blink of an eye.
Smith believed that a “free market” would be of beneficial interest to society; and believed there was an “invisible hand” that would correct markets out of balance. Smith’s “invisible hand” did not, and could not in the 18th Century, take into account sociopathic global greed. However, Adam Smith’s 18th Century “Wealth of Nations” is now used to justify the fallacious theory that markets self-correct because they are rational; therefore, they should not be regulated. Although by 1833 it had become apparent that an entirely free market was not of beneficial interest to society and needed to be regulated – controlled. So the English Factory Act of 1833 was the first reminder that greed needs to be controlled – not left to its own devices.
And this reminder was a tree that fell in a forest of silence. Regrettably this lesson was forgotten, cast aside by a tsunami of sociopathic greed. And now we are witness to tax laws based on greed and significant protective regulations discarded in the name of freedom.
Freedom is such a great word to hide behind – like the “Freedom Caucus” of the Congressional creationist primitive Koch paid pawns – paid to obstruct the public good.