So ok capitalism as a system isn’t totally bad. The higher ups sold this idea to the lower class by telling them that anyone could go from the gutter to the biggest house in the country if you were dedicated and you worked hard to get it. Yes and you too could become royalty if you found a toad in the swamp, kissed it, had it turn into a beautiful prince(ss) and married that toad royalty. It happens, but not often.
In general the economic system of this country is geared to do what feudalism did before, keep the lower class at the lower class status. At best you will be able to move a small step… from lower lower, to middle lower, and this if you are extremely dedicated and hard working.
The other thing about capitalism that to me is the real meat of what is supposed to happen is the competition aspect. Because everyone is trying to make money, everyone is trying to undercut each other and trying to one up each other. A good example of how this works is in the computer CPU market. The processor advances largely because there is competition. Awhile ago Athlon came up with a dual-processor chip, then Intel had to match it and quickly announced quad core. Not only are they pushing technology along faster but they are also keeping prices low as both are trying to be the value cost to get more business. If Intel was alone this wouldn’t happen, products would come out at a slower pace and at a higher price.
But what if the system breaks somewhere? For instance, what if all of the various companies within a genre agree upon a status quo. For instance what if Intel and Athlon got together behind closed doors and said “Hey, if we both keep prices and speeds comparable, we BOTH could be rich by overcharging the customer!” And then these two companies go ahead and do that? What happens then? Is this capitalism anymore? Well this is what has happened in many sectors of the market. For instance, compacts have been made with music industry (the RIAA), the movie industry (MPAA), the oil industry, and many other industries. These industries have all gotten together within their respective fields and have decided not to compete on certain aspects of business. Like price for songs/movies/gas.
The whole point of capitalism is supposed to ensure that the best of the best will always do the best and push the envolope but this is repeatedly proven untrue. No where more than in the music industry where the less talented become stars because they look pretty or have money (Paris Hilton sings now? LOL!!!) Yet there are far more talented bands and singers out there who work so much harder and get so much less recognition than bigger “talents” because they may not be as attractive, or don’t have the money to get in.
The oil industry is a bit special, because somewhere along the line they not only decided to cooperate with pricing (I mean come on there are 5 or 6 major gas chains and they can all be the same price within a 5 mile radius, that just isn’t realistic.), they also went and lobbied the government to cooperate with them too. I don’t know if this is just Wisconsin or national, but there are actual laws that put a minimum price on gas based on how much the crude costs. I know this because apparantly many gas stations are actually breaking this law because prices are so high.
I know this is true for real estate too, my mom is in that business and she is not allowed to take less than a certain percentage by law. How is this fair market? I realize this is to make it so that the bigger corporations can’t undercut the little guy to get him out of business and then up the price when they are gone, but really where the hell is the little guy in the oil business these days? I have not ever seen an indepently owned gas station in my lifetime, yet I can turn on the Andy Griffith show and see it in a little town! What happened to this country!?!?!!
So yes I’m a communist, this system isn’t any much better than a feudlism as far as I can tell. Now just cause I am a communist by nature doesn’t mean that I want to go be a part of North Korea or China, those aren’t good communist countries. Remember this when you think of communism, it is an economic structure not a political structure. Those two above mentioned countries are tyrannies as far as I can tell, and I don’t believe in THAT structure. I believe in either a Communist Republic (btw united states is not a democracy, we are a republic) or a Communist Democracy.
Democracy is probably better but honestly I don’t think a democracy will work until we get further along in technology than we currently are. I mean it is just a nightmare to try to figure out if votes are real or fake right now and to have people voting on every rule in this day and age is more than just a head ache.