In American culture it's virtually blasphemous to say bad things about capitalism. When you do, people assume that you're a communist or a socialist and assume that those two things are bad, despite the fact that most people don't know what they are.
I think capitalism is ok, but I also like aspects of socialism (like Social Security benefits, for instance) and communism (food to eat is a right, not something you pay for). Likewise, I think capitalism has it's good points, like... um... I'm sure it's got it has a good point or two.
The idea here is that no system of economy is perfect. Communism doesn't give an outlet to the unfortunate but seemingly natural urge for greed while capitalism does (there's a good point!). Socialism if taken to the extreme can bankrupt a government or even an economy (the government can't provide EVERY service even if they tax the crap out of their citizens). However, capitalism taken to the extreme can also be detrimental. Now, there is plenty of evidence of this around the world, from polution, to sweatshops, to--well, a whole lot more. I'm not going to cover all of that right now--but what I am going to talk about briefly is a case where capitalism bit the hand that feeds it.
No, I'm not talking about the recording and movie industry going after file sharers, although that is a good example of this. No, this is completely unfair and the victims did nothing to deserve what they are now suffering through. According to a NYTimes.com article, United Airlines has gotten approval from the US Government to default on their pensions.
Now, pensions are funds that people get when they retire from a company after working many years for them. Imagine one of your insentives for staying employed with a particular company was the pension plan. You stick with them for ten, maybe fifteen years (or even longer) only to discover that your employers have done a lousy job of making money and have gone into bankruptcy. Then, the government gives them approval to renig on their contracted promise to pay you a pension when you retire.
This pension was yours, by law--but now, by law, it isn't.
Essentially, this is a case of government allowing big business to avoid living up to its responsibilities--essentially playing favorites.
However, and here's the rub (I knew I had some rub left!)--when government and business works together like this, it's not called capitalism, it's called...
...fascism.
Well, to be specific, it's one part of fascism called "corporatism." It's a word that generally describes the concept of government giving legislative power to corporations. It's an integral part of fascism because if government lets corporations control them, corporations will let government control us through the media. Quid pro quo, right?
But hey, corporatism is just a part of fascism--it's not all bad, right?
Unlike communism, socialism and capitalism, moderate fascism is NOT good at all because when government and business work together without the best interests of the people in mind the very thing government was created to protect is now being harmed. The people become cogs in a machine--less important for what they are than what they do.
I hope I don't have to explain how wrong that is.
Think about it, when corporations and government work together to control the masses what we end up with amounts to a sort of modern feudal system. Where the corporations double for the feudal lords and we all work for them in some capacity or another.
Hey, isn't that pretty much what we've got going now?? ;)
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