Why can't capitalism stop its excesses, greed, and other damaging characteristics?

"According to the founding father's "A republic, if you can keep it.", according to Ben Franklin to be more accurate. The rest believed it to be a Democratic Republic. I am not sure where your ignorance comes from regarding personal freedoms. Obviously you have never read the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, or much of anything else positive about the US, and its founding.

 

The problem, mind you, is that the term was hijacked by the likes of Tony Blair. So-called centrists gave the green light to the extreme outcomes generated by neoliberalism.

 

Oh, now you hurt my feelings.
Best of luck/-you are really going to need it.


BTW: History and Political Science Major, UWM; democracy is direct vote with majority rule, a republic is a representative government with elected officials, which we were created as. A democratic/republic is a contradiction in terms, that is, a statist government with a mixed economy, and which violates the rights of the individual by subordinating them to the common good, and which is what we've become.

The constitution is a limit on government, not on the rights of man.--A Familiar Exposition of the Constitution of the United States by Joseph Story, Justice of the Supreme Court 1811-1845. The Bill of Rights is an extra warning telling the government to go to hell and stay there.--Patriots: The Men Who Started The American Revolution by A.J. Langguth. And capitalism was chosen as America's economic system because it is the only economic system that's bans the use of the initiation of force, and is based on the rights of the individual to trade that which is his for that which he wants.--The Life and Major Writings of Thomas Paine by Philip S. Foner; Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal by Ayn Rand. And many more. I am well read beyond most people on this planet. Apparently including you.

We have now arrived at the crossroads in history between a full authoritarian dictatorship or a return to liberty as free individuals. If the human soul has enough reason left, we will return to being a free nation where no man owns another man's soul, where tears and bullets are not tools of exchange for goods, and each man is free to rise as high as he seeks, by his own effort and for his own happiness, and to make as much profit as he desires. If not, start getting ready for the gulags, killing fields, re-education camps, and the starvation and famine experienced by Russia, China, and now Venezuela, with its empty zoos, and empty streets of cats and dogs. And just think, before Chavez, Venezuela was the richest country in South America, and not only grew its own food on some of the most fertile land in the world, but exported some of it to other countries, and has oil reserves larger than Saudi Arabia.. How fast life can change when Atlas shrugs and the Orren Boyles, Wesley Mouchs, and Jim Taggarts show up.

But all appeals to authority aside, and ignoring all the millions of pages of books read and studied, the choice is really one each of us most make on what we decide is right: Do you want to live life as a free man for your own happiness, or as a government serf serving the state for the public welfare. Me? I agree with Patrick Henry: "Give me liberty or give me death!"

Ayn Rand: "Democratic” in its original meaning [refers to] unlimited majority rule . . . a social system in which one’s work, one’s property, one’s mind, and one’s life are at the mercy of any gang that may muster the vote of a majority at any moment for any purpose."--http://aynrandlexicon.com/lexicon/democracy.html

Yaron Brook::"The Evils of Corbyn's Socialism"

 

I am arguing that none of them were ever communist societies with communist economies.

 

Look into the Mondragon corporation with 80,000 workers in 4 countries.

 

The first step towards a dictatorship? A democratic government.

 

Ask Yaron: How Do You Create Equality With Greats Like Lebron James?

 

Not at all. A little knowledge goes a long way, while an excessive education can cause stupidity. Now, are you saying we do not have "direct vote with majority rule"?

I would agree that we have become a statist government due to the corruption of the political community, and corporatism.

 

Since they are not Democracies, Republics, or free/equal, societies with a capitalist form of economics, what would you call them?

 

liberty and equality are the principles of our Declaration and Constitution which created a very very tiny govt so as to ensure liberty and equality. Do you understand?

 

80,000 and shrinking in a world of 7 billion people. It's less than a worthless grain of sand. If concept worked it would have taken over the world long ago since most are free to try it.

 

The first step toward war? Peace.
The first step toward murder? Love.
The first step toward misery? Joy.
The first step toward unemployment? Employment.

You're turn again. This is fun!

 

China and Russia, - state capitalism.
No. Korea, - totalitarian dictatorship.
Cuba, struggling transition from capitalism to socialism.
Iraq under Hussein, - dictatorship.

 

Oh I do. However, it was evident that the poster to whom I was responding did not. Do you understand?

 

people freely traded with one another 5000 years ago before they thought of money. Capitalism is natural to human nature so had no kinks to work out. Read "The Gift" on the origin of capitalism. A gift is an act of love or friendship. then to insure everyone gave gifts they invented money.

 

They sure act like they do.

 

What is to misrepresent about "abolition of private property." It seems very clear.

I don't claim to know about Marx. I claim a reasonable acquaintance with his ideas and their later derivative forms.

Right. Because it is an absurd fantasy contrary to the known facts of human nature.

Sure they did. But the more sincere and thoroughgoing the attempt, the quicker and more complete the failure, and the higher the body count.

I definitely know the difference. Socialism has actually been imposed multiple times, usually in the name of communism.

<yawn> You are equivocating between the predicted mechanism and the intended result. Logic isn't exactly your strong suit, is it?

Yes: the empty barrel is communism, which can't ever be observed in reality, as it is only allowed to emerge "naturally" from a system which is certain to fail and collapse before that can happen.

 

It's pointless. You agreed with my comment and then you contradicted it. You apparently aren't interested in anything but your own distortions that propaganda taught you and your disregard for consistency and principle make it all pointless.

 

Nope.

You have been demolished, you know it, and you have no answers. Simple.

 

You don't refer to any economics in this cheer. You effectively admit the why: "I don't claim to know about Marx"

 

Neither did the post it is a response to. So your comment is completely irrelevant as well as disingenuous.

Right. Just like I don't know much about Joseph Smith or L Ron Hubbard. I can evaluate their teachings just fine without knowing much about them personally.

 

Marx's influence on economic knowledge cannot be denied, from one of the first analysis into property rights to stealing Marxist ideas to understand involuntary unemployment. What do you know about Marxism? And how have you integrated it within your understanding of capitalism?

 

You mean, his having impaired it.

An incorrect analysis.

Incorrectly.

I had to study it to demolish it.

There is no way to integrate Marxism with understanding of anything but Marxism.

 

wrong, Republican America is free. Any company can turn toward communism tomorrow and millions have to one degree or another but the transition seemed to indicate failure or worse performance rather than better.

 

In two words, Left wing.