Capitalism...generally speaking...creates growth for business and people and subsequently for governments.

Along the process 'greed' enters the picture, greed at all segments and levels, requiring instant gratification, and a feeling of entitlement (including those who do not earn privileges as well as those with means who demand more).

Recent history tells us that 'capitalism' and the free market work well while in growth mode...BUT...when flat or in contraction, the economic poop hits the proverbial fan!

It is not logical to assume that the economy will 'always' grow. Therefore, it must be expected that occasionally there will be economic recessions, depressions, and complete monetary failures. As we move from a cash economy, to a debtor economy, and who knows what in the future, I suspect the intervals between recessions and depressions will be less.

If this country, it's people, and it's businesses, cannot tolerate the logical ups and 'downs' of capitalism, then something must change...

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Did you know both our problems and the solutions can be found simply by looking in our mirrors...and...Never confuse the extraordinary stuff I think and write with that of a well-balanced person...

It is probably true that capitalism cannot be sustained. But I don't blame capitalism. I blame governments who meddle with capitalism.

I especially blame Central Banks capable of inflating the economy with free money, which inevitably leads to mal-investments, and thus, bubbles.

I'm not saying that capitalism itself, if left alone (a free market economy), would not lead to bubbles and recessions. What I am saying, is that these bubbles and recessions would not be nearly as bad if the government didn't respond with massive bailouts, and if the Central Banks didn't give the government the means to do so.

When I take your first premise as being true:

Capitalism...generally speaking...creates growth for business and people and subsequently for governments.

the flaw i see is that it creates growth for governments as well. The bigger governments get, the more powerful they become, and the more damage they are capable of doing, though politicians who know nothing about economics except the word bailout.

In that sense, capitalism cannot be sustained.

[quote]Yes...but there is enough blame to spread around to greedy businesses and greedy people...from the mega-businesses to the mom-pop stores, from the wealthy to the poor...simply too much greed. Typically we have demanded higher wages/compensation yet we complain about inflation. We demand the highest return on our investments or we sell or transfer. We desire instant-gratification and feel entitled so we abuse debt to buy homes and cars and luxuries we cannot afford.

Politicians always want to spend and they want re-election so they are looking for give-aways to their electorate. Over the decades instead of earning the right to own a home, or own a $35K car, or other luxuries, easy debt allowed instant purchases of these items. It's a great dream to own this stuff, but there must be hard rules for obtaining debt, and when we violate this logic, we have what we have today.

I don't see how capitalism can be sustained? It seems to demand constant growth, more debt, inflation, etc. and cannot tolerate a perfect storm or even an imperfect storm.

As people increase their wealth, primarily from poor to middle-class, they have tremendous demands on government; better schools, more parks, more roads, better police/fire protection, and the list does not end. Government responds because these are the core voters. Couple this process with the population growth (another 100 million in the US by 2050) and government will expand in parallel with the Universe...

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Did you know both our problems and the solutions can be found simply by looking in our mirrors...and...Never confuse the extraordinary stuff I think and write with that of a well-balanced person...

I agree. I think that its silly to sink money into an economy that will be fine anyway just let it be.

Well, businesses and people create growth for themselves. The government then comes "to the rescues" and confiscates that wealth by force.

Greed is always balanced by a fear of loss in a free market. While someone might be driven by the possibility of huge profits, they also realize that a bad decision can mean losing all of their money. When the government steps in and says, "Oh, don't worry about losing your money - we'll cover you if you're in trouble," you remove that fear of risk. Greed is allowed to exist unchecked, because of government intervention.

The reason we have booms and busts is because of the actions of the Federal Reserve. You can't have a stable economy with a dollar that is constantly declining in value. Why would you hold onto dollars that you know are going to be worth 5-10% less in a year's time? Savings can't happen, and as a result, production dies.

Actually, I think we're headed for a straight up depression. The only booms now are nominal gains in the stock market. The "bust" is going to last a long time, and for every dollar that is created, the bust is going to last even longer.

I wonder how many people there are out there, just like you, that have been convinced by the establishment that "capitalism" is to blame for this mess. How long will they people able to continue to pull the wool over the American people's eyes to maintain their political power? At what point will people realize that the government is going to be unable to do anything about the worsening recession?

[quote]Paying taxes is required no matter where one chooses to live. The better the private sector performs, the more tax revenues are available. Problem is we always spend more than we take in and our spending is not efficient or correctly prioritized.

I'm talking about the greed that is in each of us in which we are self-absorbed and self-serving, unwilling to experience sacrifice, and expect the government or someone to solve all of our problems for us. It's a false sense of entitlement in which most all people demand equality even though they have not invested or earned that equality.

I think it's a lot more complex than this. How about most people and business and government being deeply in debt and cannot tolerate any downturns? How about the USA losing much of it's manufacturing off-shore? How about out of control population growth? How about an immigration policy run amok? How about an ever-expanding government spending more on welfare than it does education and health care and innovation?

I won't agree with your prediction but I think the ten-year road ahead is filled with economic chaos.

Not sure where you dreamed up this assumption but I'm 100% for capitalism. I'm a business owner! I want government to do government things and the private sector to do their thing, and never want government involved except for required regulations and to help remove obstacles that prevent American business from being globally competitive...

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Did you know both our problems and the solutions can be found simply by looking in our mirrors...and...Never confuse the extraordinary stuff I think and write with that of a well-balanced person...

I think it has a lot to do with out system of taxation… consider this:



I favor using economic rents as the basis of taxation and eliminating income and sales taxes (taxes on production and trade).

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"In my opinion the least bad tax is the property tax on the unimproved value of land, the Henry George argument of many, many years ago." — Milton Friedman, Nobel laureate in Economics (1976)

Henry George, Progress and Poverty
-The Canons of Taxation
-The Root Cause of Recessions

Are you a Real Libertarian, or a ROYAL Libertarian?

Yep. The crisis we're seeing now is due to the fact that spending isn't covered by revenue.

I don't see anything wrong with that kind of greed, necessarily. It's what drives people to innovate, create, and ultimately, produce. I agree that greed can drive people to demand things from the government, when they've done nothing to deserve those things. It's fine for them to want that, but when the government actually bends to those individual's will, we have a problem.

The artificially low interest rates have encouraged people to spend, become indebted, and not save. The USA has lost a lot of its manufacturing ability due to high corporate taxes/regulations. I don't think we're really having out of control population growth. Immigration may have had some negative effects on the economy, but it isn't the root problem. And I agree about the ever-expanding government spending. The Fed's actions are really a result of that spending. They've had to create more money to cover out of control federal budget deficits.

At least we can agree on that, then.

You're right, I did make an assumption there. It doesn't seem like you really blame capitalism for this mess, but rather, think that the problem is that the American public (and government) hasn't been equipped to deal with the effects of capitalism. My assertion is that the business cycle is not inherent to capitalism, but rather, is the result of an overly-active central bank.

it may be aged but the message rings true. Capitalism is the way.

Capitalism is just as capable of causing starvation, poverty and misery as socialism or communism. I prefer free markets… capitalism is loaded down with government issued privileges, which are not free market.

__________________
"In my opinion the least bad tax is the property tax on the unimproved value of land, the Henry George argument of many, many years ago." — Milton Friedman, Nobel laureate in Economics (1976)

Henry George, Progress and Poverty
-The Canons of Taxation
-The Root Cause of Recessions

Are you a Real Libertarian, or a ROYAL Libertarian?