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I have a degree in economics
and an MBA in Finance both from respected schools. You might say
that my education in finance and economics celebrated
capitalism. And so did I for a long time.
Now, after more than 40 years
of experience as citizen, financial professional, and
participant in our economy, I have come to the conclusion that
capitalism, as we know it, doesn’t work as advertised and is
unsustainable. It doesn’t make most people rich; it makes
most people poor. Most of the world exists under capitalist
regimes and most of the world’s citizens are poor. In
addition to that, the notion that capitalism and democracy are
almost synonymous, which is what we were all taught to believe
almost as a religion, is patently false. One look at China
ought to disabuse anyone of that myth.
Capitalism and democracy are
two different things: one is an economic system that
supposedly describes a system by which goods and services can
equitably and efficiently be distributed among participants,
and the other is a political system that supposedly describes
the method by which power can be equitably distributed among
citizens in a manner that allows them to be self-governed. The
two actually are at odds with one another. There’s nothing
democratic about capitalism. It is only well executed
propaganda that lures us into believing that one compliments the other. It’s nonsense. Left unchecked, capitalism leads
to tyranny for workers. And in America today, capitalism
is essentially unchecked.
Dr. Michael Parenti, a
well-known professor, lecturer and political scientist, says
it best (http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11635.htm)
He points out that it is only a myth that the affluent middle
class in America came about because of capitalism. In
fact, the middle class in America became affluent only because
a lot of brave people fought many long hard battles against
America's capitalists.
Now we’re not talking here about small entrepreneurs— the
small mom and pop businesses that populate the American
landscape. We’re talking about the large multinational
corporations and their owners that control the lion's share of
our financial wealth.
A hundred years ago in America
capitalism was in its prime. Capitalists did not go into
business with the idea of creating wealth for the middle
class. As Parenti says, they went into business to create
wealth for themselves. Capitalists are interested in labor
only as a unit of production. They are very much interested in
reducing the costs of production in order to improve
profits. If you visited a factory in New York in the early
1900’s what you would find would be children working 18 hour
shifts and women working in sweat shops in stifling and
obnoxious unsafe conditions.
The middle class came about
through blood and sacrifice after facing brutal opposition. It
was the resistance to capitalism—a great class
struggle—that gave rise to the middle class in America and a
great many died or were brutalized in the process. It was the
unions and citizen revolts that fought for child labor laws,
women’s rights, workers rights, and civil rights. Injuries
and death in coal mines and factories were epidemic and would
still be so were it not for the brave men and women who fought
for safety standards, employee benefits, and decent work hours
and conditions.
Capitalists will and always
have, taken every opportunity to reduce wages and externalize
their costs by exploiting human and natural resources whenever
possible, leaving poverty and pollution in its wake…
sometimes to
the point of human and environmental death. Capitalism makes
capitalists rich at the expense of workers and society.
American workers got zilch until our great grandparents
struggled and demanded their share of the spoils.
Of course once capitalists were
forced to provide decent wages and benefits, they then put a
happy public relations face on it so they could cynically take
credit for how beneficial their corporations have been for the
American worker. Still, in every economic downturn, workers
are the first to be laid off while the corporate elite keep
their jobs or
are offered golden parachutes to retire early.
But capitalists are relentless.
Today, many of the gains made decades ago through brutal
struggles have been reversed, with modern day Democrats as
well as Republicans leading the way. Now Social Security,
Medicare and Medicaid are in their sights. Unions are mostly
gone, manufacturing plants have been sent abroad where labor
is cheap, and even white collar jobs now are being outsourced
to India and China. Capitalists aspire to take the American
worker right back to where they were in the early 1900s. The struggle for
both political and economic freedom was hard fought, and many
of those freedoms are now disappearing or being degraded. We have forgotten to teach our
children how we got here. That lack of historical understanding is costing us
and them dearly.
When capitalism is allowed to
flourish unchecked, democracy suffers. Lawmakers pay little
heed to so-called constituents nowadays. Money has corrupted
our elected officials and we are fast morphing into our own
form of fascism. Without an awake, educated and motivated
citizenry, democracy cannot survive. The greed, hypocrisy, and
dishonesty that capitalists and lawmakers currently celebrate are a
lethal and growing cancer on our republic.
The result of decades of lies
and deceit is now coming home to roost: Our economy is at the
worst state I’ve seen it in 40 years. It is
not a natural disaster; it is a man made disaster. Broke and
betrayed, the average American worker will wake up one day and wonder what
happened to their lifestyle and their freedom. It will have
been stolen right out from under our noses. Capitalists are moving East where there
are new opportunities. General Motors is going bankrupt in the US,
but is thriving in China.
Frankly, I don’t think this
ship can be turned around now before citizens experience a
great amount suffering… and turning it around is going to take more than
simply replacing a Republican president with a Democrat. As this American
tragedy unfolds before my eyes, I am struck by the fact that I
don’t know many people who even want to understand what is
happening to them. Unfortunately, that won’t keep it from
happening.
...to
read Part 2
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