Tag Archives: Capitalism

Why Capitalism?

Days before the 2014 Winter Olympics one of the quotes coming out of Sochi was, “Don’t flush the toilet, don’t drink the water and don’t expect a good night’s sleep”. ( NYYorkDailyNews )  Even after spending 51 Billion dollars on the games, the plumbing did not work, roads were not paved and living quarters were sub par in that Black Sea resort town.  Anyone taking a trip to stay in Orlando, Atlanta, or Nashville would have a far better experience with accommodations and amenities.  The living situation in much of Russia is far worse than that.  The difference is simply that capitalism produces the highest standard of living for the most people.  People, given the freedom to seek the opportunities that are best for them, will consistently have a higher standard of living that those whose lives are orchestrated by government.  The more orchestrated and controlled an economy is, the poorer the citizens of that country are.

As the United States has moved to implement more regulations and more entitlements, the standard of living for the average American has dropped.  Average hourly wages have dropped.  There are a record number of Americans no longer in the labor force.  Those of us working are paying these able bodied people to stay home.  There are more people are on food stamps than ever before and the rate of poverty in the US has continued to rise.  It’s not rocket science.  The more we implement policies that encourage dependency on government the poorer we as a country get.  The burden on the working middle class continues to increase.  It is not the rich that are paying for all these benefits, it is the average working American.

In college I wrote a paper lauded by my instructor which glorified the benefits of communism.  It was all about how everyone should be given their fair share and how communism had been implemented poorly in China and Russia.  The reality is that communism can’t be implemented in any way that is successful.  People will always act in their own best interests.  Those that get all their stuff free will do the minimum to maintain the free stuff.  That is why the able bodied, not yet retired people in America that are being paid while not working will continue to not work as long as the government will pay them.   The simple fact that people are people is enough to prevent communism from ever working as it does in theory.

But what about the excesses of capitalism where the worker is exploited and the consumer is ripped off?   Indeed these abuses do happen but, in a truly free and prosperous society these abuses are quickly eliminated.  Prosperity allows people to move from job to job for better wages.  That gives employers a significant incentive to treat their employees well.  Consumer products that harm people are quickly taken off the market as the reputation of the company making those faulty products is quickly trashed.  Beyond that civil and criminal law has stiff penalties for knowingly harming consumers.

So why do our politicians consistently promote benefits knowing that it harms the long term prosperity of this country.  Why is it popular among politicians and the media to say they are taking from the wealthy to give to the poor.  For the democrats it is not hard to figure out.  The position buys votes and power.  Everyone knows the examples of the USSR, China, Cuba, and Vietnam and the misery communism has brought.   They are unwilling to let facts get in the way of power and control.  The media’s support of the false and detrimental narrative is more difficult to explain.  Clearly, ABC, CBS, and NBC have been willing to falsely edit the news in the past year to promote the idea that cops are out to get black people or to make the economy look better than it is.  A dropping unemployment rate is not the headline when its caused by the lowest labor participation rate in history.  It’s new designed to prop up those in power and designed to fool people into thinking they are doing better than they are.

Our current path will result in widespread poverty yet no one in the media or in office seems willing or able to stand up and tell the truth.  Such poverty was evident in China and the Soviet Union before they allowed capitalist reforms.  Rampant poverty is currently evident in Cuba and Venezuela both countries that are embracing extreme socialism or communism.     The fact is that if the state takes to much from its populace so that the state can redistribute that income or spend it the result is a populace that can’t hold on to the fruit of its own labor.  That population will eventually stop trying to produce and for a long as it lasts they will soak up the government benefits.  This is already happening with the largest ever non-working and not looking for a job group.  Those that work will stop supporting everyone else and at that point all collapses.

The businesses that  support the media and the government in this effort to redistribute income are creating their own demise.  Those that support fake economics promoted by the likes of CBS are adding to the problem.    Those that advertise with ABC, CBS, and NBS are funding their eventual failure.   They may get a short term gain from crony capitalism and government largess, but when their remaining employees can’t support themselves their will be no one to pay for the things they manufacture.

Super Power No More…. Victims All

On the world stage today we have two super powers, Russia and China. But what of the United States you may ask?  Doesn’t the United States have the strongest military in the world? Yes, it does, on paper, but that does not make the United States a super power. Instead we have become the world’s greatest victim.

We can’t stop mean old Iran from getting a nuclear bomb, our economy has fewer people working now than it has had the last 70 years.  Mean old North Korea has its missiles targeted at us.  Our water is dirty. Our air is unbreathable.  Our industry leaders are greedy and worthless. We have invited terrorists all over the world to blow us up as it is our fault they hate us.  We have reset our relationships with the Arabs, and the Russians and they still want to kill us.  This is Barrack Obama’s America, weak, faithless and indefensible.    Oh, poor us.  We are the cause of the worlds ills and because of that the United States will disarm and be everyone’s victim.  Then our President, the man who should be the most powerful man in the world will apologized for our defending ourselves.

In order to be a true superpower,  we would need a leader who believed in and smartly exercised both the current capability of the military and its deterrent threat. Our President believes in dismantling the military and leaving us open to an increasingly dangerous world. The proof is in his actions. By announcing to our enemies the Taliban just when we were leaving Afghanistan Barrack Obama removed any capability of a deterrent threat and gutted any possible current commitments.  At that point he telegraphed to the world that he would not stick by his friends if it involved using military force. He announced to the world and to every terrorist that they had won. He has gone on to propose cuts to the military that would leave this country naked in the event of aggression. China and Russia have both proven they are capable of that aggression.

We would need a leader that was clearly capable of applying our economic strengths toward removing potential threats. Already with Iran he has shown that he is not willing to use sanctions to prevent them from getting a nuclear bomb. In the Ukraine he is offering an economic incentives to stave off a military coup.   The net result of that will be to just give resources to the Russians, a reward for their putting in their own puppet government.  His gutting of our capitalist economy has also dramatically weakened our standing in the world. His out of control debt has weakened the dollar to the point that Russia laughs at the thought of our applying economic pressure.
To be a super power, you have to understand how the world works. If you won’t admit that there are those bent on destroying you and that they are evil you will never confront them for what they are. Putin wants to reassemble Russia into the USSR and he is on his way. China is eyeing Japan with increasing hunger.  When we had significant advantages in arms and we were clearly willing to launch nuclear weapons in order to defend Western Europe, Russia saw strength. China feared invading Japan.  Now Putin sees Obama for what he is, a coward, willing to give away whole countries rather than to fight for freedom.  China does not believe that Obama would honor our alliance with Japan.
The net result is that the United States is a has been. What might it has is squandered in the ideological pulp of the Obama administration. Our enemies are looking to carve us up and the policies of this administration will not stop them. Instead of putting his effort into spying on the Tea Party and investigating 350 million Americans perhaps Obama should start defending this country’s interests. It is too late to save the Ukraine and Crimea, Syria, Libya, and Egypt. Russia has those marbles. Maybe we can save ourselves, Japan and Western Europe, but not on the current course Obama is taking us on.

Perhaps the media, instead of quoting today’s administration propaganda could get on board and point out the truth of what is occurring in the world.  When Russia knocks on their door it will be too late.