‘The system of global capitalism is breaking down’

How should society be organised, if at all?

Moderators: AMod, iMod

User avatar
Bill Wiltrack
Posts: 5456
Joined: Sat Nov 03, 2007 1:52 pm
Location: Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Contact:

‘The system of global capitalism is breaking down’

Post by Bill Wiltrack »

.




Chris Hedges: ‘The system of global capitalism is breaking down’




Yet the global capitalist system you condemn has also produced incredible advances in life expectancy, raised hundreds of millions of people out of poverty, and showered the world in technology innovation.

I wouldn’t agree that it has benefited the ordinary worker. It has created a system of neo-feudalism where wages for workers have been driven down to below subsistence levels. Sweatshop workers in Bangladesh are making 22 cents an hour. In China people are sometimes not even paid at the end of the month if they don’t meet their quota. There are rashes of worker suicides. Pollution is rampant because there aren’t controls. It is completely Dickensian.

The idea of “trickle down” wealth has been exposed as a lie. It has made a tiny global oligarchic, corporate elite fabulously wealthy. It has also unleashed global speculation as a form of wealth creation, which is extremely dangerous because it overinflates a market until you get a bubble like the dot-com crash or the 2008 crash with subprime mortgages. And the effects on the global economy are devastating.







.
David Handeye
Posts: 457
Joined: Wed Mar 04, 2015 6:39 pm
Location: Italia

Re: ‘The system of global capitalism is breaking down’

Post by David Handeye »

where's the gif?
User avatar
Bill Wiltrack
Posts: 5456
Joined: Sat Nov 03, 2007 1:52 pm
Location: Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Contact:

Re: ‘The system of global capitalism is breaking down’

Post by Bill Wiltrack »

.





..............................................
Image






.......................................
Image






.
David Handeye
Posts: 457
Joined: Wed Mar 04, 2015 6:39 pm
Location: Italia

Re: ‘The system of global capitalism is breaking down’

Post by David Handeye »

Ah, here's the gif...
bobevenson
Posts: 7346
Joined: Tue Mar 03, 2009 12:02 am
Contact:

Re: ‘The system of global capitalism is breaking down’

Post by bobevenson »

Bill Wiltrack knows nothing about economics in general and capitalism in particular. I offer a single example to address his feeble mind. If a worker anywhere in the world is being paid a very low wage, he obviously doesn't have a better alternative, but Wiltrack only has contempt for the company giving the worker a better life than he would otherwise have. Enough said for Wiltrack's ludicrous socialist dream world! Of course his only comeback is another stupid picture since he has never been able to verbalize an argument of any kind.
Skip
Posts: 2818
Joined: Tue Aug 09, 2011 1:34 pm

Re: ‘The system of global capitalism is breaking down’

Post by Skip »

Chris Hedges is a pretty smart cookie*. Observant and meticulous writer; lucid and articulate speaker.






(*though a theist....)
Wyman
Posts: 973
Joined: Sat Jan 04, 2014 2:21 pm

Re: ‘The system of global capitalism is breaking down’

Post by Wyman »

Bill Wiltrack wrote:.




Chris Hedges: ‘The system of global capitalism is breaking down’




Yet the global capitalist system you condemn has also produced incredible advances in life expectancy, raised hundreds of millions of people out of poverty, and showered the world in technology innovation.

I wouldn’t agree that it has benefited the ordinary worker. It has created a system of neo-feudalism where wages for workers have been driven down to below subsistence levels. Sweatshop workers in Bangladesh are making 22 cents an hour. In China people are sometimes not even paid at the end of the month if they don’t meet their quota. There are rashes of worker suicides. Pollution is rampant because there aren’t controls. It is completely Dickensian.

The idea of “trickle down” wealth has been exposed as a lie. It has made a tiny global oligarchic, corporate elite fabulously wealthy. It has also unleashed global speculation as a form of wealth creation, which is extremely dangerous because it overinflates a market until you get a bubble like the dot-com crash or the 2008 crash with subprime mortgages. And the effects on the global economy are devastating.







.
So why did China fairly recently change from a communist system to a quasi-capitalist system? 'Wages for workers have been driven down to below subsistence levels' - Were the workers living the high life under the previous economic system?
bobevenson
Posts: 7346
Joined: Tue Mar 03, 2009 12:02 am
Contact:

Re: ‘The system of global capitalism is breaking down’

Post by bobevenson »

Free-market capitalism is the only economic system that makes sense, but it is practiced nowhere in the world. The U.S. has crony capitalism, and should scrap all international trade policies, tariffs and restrictions, allowing the free movement of goods into and out of the country.
User avatar
Bill Wiltrack
Posts: 5456
Joined: Sat Nov 03, 2007 1:52 pm
Location: Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Contact:

Re: ‘The system of global capitalism is breaking down’

Post by Bill Wiltrack »

.


I think it helps to understand that Communism is a system of government. Capitalism is an economic system.

I perceive the recent marriage of raw capitalism and Communism to be a new gate of hell that humanity is walking through now.

A brutally repressive economic system in bed with a government that has no regard for human rights is a nightmare that we have only been able to conceive, so far, through the most gruesome fictional imaginations.


This won't work out well...




.
bobevenson
Posts: 7346
Joined: Tue Mar 03, 2009 12:02 am
Contact:

Re: ‘The system of global capitalism is breaking down’

Post by bobevenson »

Bill Wiltrack wrote:I think it helps to understand that Communism is a system of government. Capitalism is an economic system.
Right, and the first thing that Communism does is to get rid of capitalism.
User avatar
Bill Wiltrack
Posts: 5456
Joined: Sat Nov 03, 2007 1:52 pm
Location: Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Contact:

Re: ‘The system of global capitalism is breaking down’

Post by Bill Wiltrack »

.


CATO Institute:


So why is China embracing capitalism as their sole economic system?




Pew Research Center:


China’s government may be communist, but its people embrace capitalism





Still haven't forgotten you don't have the balls to act like a man here. Ask her for forgiveness & apologize or you have ZERO credibility.

.
bobevenson
Posts: 7346
Joined: Tue Mar 03, 2009 12:02 am
Contact:

Re: ‘The system of global capitalism is breaking down’

Post by bobevenson »

Communism is the same as socialism in that the government controls everything, which is perfect for people like you who can't think for themselves. P.S. Eunuchs shouldn't talk about anybody's lack of balls.
Melchior
Posts: 839
Joined: Mon Apr 28, 2014 3:20 pm

Re: ‘The system of global capitalism is breaking down’

Post by Melchior »

The only good socialist is a dead socialist:

Image

Let us celebrate the honorable and glorious actions of Otoya Yamaguchi 55 years ago!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otoya_Yamaguchi
User avatar
Bill Wiltrack
Posts: 5456
Joined: Sat Nov 03, 2007 1:52 pm
Location: Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Contact:

Re: ‘The system of global capitalism is breaking down’

Post by Bill Wiltrack »

.





Socialism is an economic and political system where the workers control the means of production, such as machinery or farmland, instead of their bosses. Those people that advocate this cooperative society are called socialists. Another key belief is that management and portion are supposed to based on public interests. Socialists believe that everything in society is made by the cooperative efforts of the people.

There are many varieties of socialism, so no one definition can apply to all of them; however, in all varieties, the workers own the means of production. The major differences between the different varieties are the role of the free market or planning, the method of ownership of the means of production, the role of management of workers and the government's role in the economy. - wiki










.
Melchior
Posts: 839
Joined: Mon Apr 28, 2014 3:20 pm

Re: ‘The system of global capitalism is breaking down’

Post by Melchior »

Bill Wiltrack wrote:

Socialism is an economic and political system where the workers control the means of production, such as machinery or farmland, instead of their bosses. Those people that advocate this cooperative society are called socialists. Another key belief is that management and portion are supposed to based on public interests. Socialists believe that everything in society is made by the cooperative efforts of the people.

There are many varieties of socialism, so no one definition can apply to all of them; however, in all varieties, the workers own the means of production. The major differences between the different varieties are the role of the free market or planning, the method of ownership of the means of production, the role of management of workers and the government's role in the economy. - wiki

In other words, slavery!

https://youtu.be/0vhcnmDdzY8
Post Reply