The Grand Transformation: Republic to Oligarchy

[EdwardBaiamonte]

Only to the intellectually and ideologically limited

That explains your problem

too stupid of course since capitalism is not cronyism or liberalism or socialism.

 

[Darkwind]

Anyone who cannot figure out that Hedges is following a carefully laid out agenda is too stupid to post on the Interwebs and should have their access severely curtailed to only the Disney channel.

 

[georgephillip]

Anyone who cannot figure out that Hedges is following a carefully laid out agenda is too stupid to post on the Interwebs and should have their access severely curtailed to only the Disney channel.

What's his agenda, Einstein?

 

[EdwardBaiamonte]

Anyone who cannot figure out that Hedges is following a carefully laid out agenda is too stupid to post on the Interwebs and should have their access severely curtailed to only the Disney channel.

What's his agenda, Einstein?

Chris Hedges=communism

 

[EdwardBaiamonte]

Anyone who cannot figure out that Hedges is following a carefully laid out agenda is too stupid to post on the Interwebs and should have their access severely curtailed to only the Disney channel.

What's his agenda, Einstein?

Chris Hedges=communism

Hedges: "But once the Communist Party, along with other radical movements, was eradicated as a social and political force, once the liberal class took government-imposed loyalty oaths and collaborated in the witch hunts for phantom communist agents, we were robbed of the ability to make sense of our struggle. We became fearful, timid and ineffectual. We lost our voice and became part of the corporate structure we should have been dismantling."

 

[georgephillip]

We became fearful, timid and ineffectual. We lost our voice and became part of the corporate structure we should have been dismantling."

And the rich have been getting richer ever since, or did you forget about that.

 

[peach174]

We became fearful, timid and ineffectual. We lost our voice and became part of the corporate structure we should have been dismantling."

And the rich have been getting richer ever since, or did you forget about that.

That is because of crony capitalism George.
Both parties do it.
We the people need to demand that we get a new and simple tax code. That stops many of the lobbyists because they won't have any tax breaks to play their games with.
Then we need to demand that congressman can not make any money other than their pay checks. No stock trading or business deals while you are a congressman.
Then we need to demand that no one in congress can hire any relatives or friends.
Then after you leave congress you can not work as a lobbyist.
Then if they try to secretly try to change these rules later down the road they get terminated as a Senator or Representative.
They also need to change how the committees are run, one example because there are many - no raising money for campaigns.
Crony Capitalism is close relationships between business people and government officials and that corruption needs to be stopped.
Capitalism works well when you get rid of Crony Capitalism.

 

[georgephillip]

Then we need to demand that congressman can not make any money other than their pay checks. No stock trading or business deals while you are a congressman.

Wouldn't those changes require changing the Constitution?

 

[Stephanie]

Progressives like Gerogiporgi needs to give IT UP. You tried to shove off Socialism/Communism/FASCISM, by putting in Obama and the people REJECTED you in just SIX years. tsk tsk tsk

so all YOUR protesting and mayhem you are now putting on the INNOCENT people in this country will come back to BITE YOU and hopefully kills any chance of you coming back in the near future

 

[peach174]

Then we need to demand that congressman can not make any money other than their pay checks. No stock trading or business deals while you are a congressman.

Wouldn't those changes require changing the Constitution?

No

 

[peach174]

Then we need to demand that congressman can not make any money other than their pay checks. No stock trading or business deals while you are a congressman.

Wouldn't those changes require changing the Constitution?

No

That falls under house and senate rules and their outside earned income payments can be changed.

 

[georgephillip]

Progressives like Gerogiporgi needs to give IT UP. You tried to shove off Socialism/Communism/FASCISM, by putting in Obama and the people REJECTED you in just SIX years. tsk tsk tsk

If you honestly believe the last SIX years represent anything but a continuation of the previous SIXTEEN years, you are even more clueless than I imagined.

 

[kiwiman127]

What happens when their capitalists find cheaper labor and hundreds of millions of Chinese workers can no longer afford to purchase the fruits of their collective labor?

too stuipid as always. France England and American have been capitalist for 200 years and we are richer than ever so obviously China has nothing to worry about!

1+1=2
do you understand?

Ed B seems to be living in a vacuum and is unaware of reality.
Exactly who is richer? Americans in their entirety?
"From 2009 to 2011, the mean wealth of the 8 million households in the more affluent group rose to an estimated $3,173,895 from an estimated $2,476,244, while the mean wealth of the 111 million households in the less affluent group fell to an estimated $133,817 from an estimated $139,896."
A Rise in Wealth for the Wealthy Declines for the Lower 93 Pew Research Center s Social Demographic Trends Project
The two attached graphs show exactly who has gotten rich and who has lost wealth. The Middle Class lost wealth because of decades of stagnant wages but the upper echelon saw their wealth increase. Who exactly determines wages and who is rewarded for companies profits. In America, used to workers used to see a share of the success of the companies they worked for, in recent decades that philosophy changed.
As facts do show, the OP is correct.

 

[Freemason9]

too stuipid as always. France England and American have been capitalist for 200 years and we are richer than ever so obviously China has nothing to worry about!

Now THAT is stupid.

That is historical fact George.
Merchant Capitalism has been practiced in Western Europe since the middle ages.
History for the past five hundred years is concerned with the development of capitalism in its various forms.

I believe you confused the period of feudalism/mercantilism with capitalism. Capitalism is a relatively recent economic system that arose because of the relatively high capital cost of participation in an industrial economy.

It is a form of Capitalism. There are many.
Western Civilization has been using Capitalism for 200 years.

200 years now? You said 500 years earlier. I think you're talking out of your ass. Have you actually studied economics?

 

[peach174]

too stuipid as always. France England and American have been capitalist for 200 years and we are richer than ever so obviously China has nothing to worry about!

Now THAT is stupid.

That is historical fact George.
Merchant Capitalism has been practiced in Western Europe since the middle ages.
History for the past five hundred years is concerned with the development of capitalism in its various forms.

I believe you confused the period of feudalism/mercantilism with capitalism. Capitalism is a relatively recent economic system that arose because of the relatively high capital cost of participation in an industrial economy.

It is a form of Capitalism. There are many.
Western Civilization has been using Capitalism for 200 years.

200 years now? You said 500 years earlier. I think you're talking out of your ass. Have you actually studied economics?

Yes economics and history.
Merchant Capitalism- a form of capitalism.
What I said was "History for the past five hundred years is concerned with the development of capitalism in its various forms".
Western Civilization has been using the form of Capitalism we have now for the last 200 years.
There is a difference between crony capitalism and capitalism.
It is the crony capitalism that is destroying us not capitalism in and of itself.

 

[EdwardBaiamonte]

The Middle Class lost wealth because of decades of stagnant wages

yes this is because of liberal policies such as the highest corporate taxes in the world and the liberal's destruction of the family and schools. Do you understand now?

 

[georgephillip]

That falls under house and senate rules and their outside earned income payments can be changed.

The Constitution is the supreme law of the land. You can't tell people they aren't allowed to invest their wages and salaries in stock or bond markets.

 

[EdwardBaiamonte]

It is the crony capitalism that is destroying us not capitalism in and of itself.

.
crony capitalism is a term liberals use to suggest capitalism naturally features cronyism
when in fact if you have cronies you no longer have capitalism but rather something much more like socialism wherein, by definition, business and govt are extremely enmeshed.

This means that what liberals call crony capitalism is far more accurately called crony liberalism or crony socialism.

 

[kiwiman127]

The Middle Class lost wealth because of decades of stagnant wages

yes this is because of liberal policies such as the highest corporate taxes in the world and the liberal's destruction of the family and schools. Do you understand now?

As I have pointed out to you with backed by documented facts, yes the US has the one of the highest tax rates in the world, not the highest (Japan, New Zealand, Chad and Arab Emirates have higher rates.)

The USA is the only country that offers loopholes, so the rate drops further.
Many companies don't pay any federal taxes or tax rates under 10% thanks to the US's generous loopholes.
20 big profitable US companies paid no taxes
20 big profitable US companies paid no taxes
Many big U.S. corporations pay very little in taxes: study
Many big U.S. corporations pay very little in taxes study Reuters
I'm all for corporate tax reform, lower the rates and eliminate tax loopholes. How about you?
Corporations have still seen record profits and unlike throughout America's history, they have not rewarded the workers who contributed to the profits.
Look at the graphs I posted, record profits (after taxes), yet the working class has seen their income and wealth fall.
What you want is basically slave labor.
Over 70% of the US economy is driven by consumer spending. The Middle Class is the largest segment of the consumer class. But with stagnant wages, they have less and less expendable income. It's one of the big reasons that the 2001 recession and the Great Recession took so long to recover. It's simple economics, even a simpleton like you should see it. (But I'm not holding my breath).
I suggest to you, that you seriously educate yourself, you really don't understand economics and it's easy to see you been sucking up the stupid Kool-aid for a long, long time.
Speaking of stupid, remember when you claimed that the Ten Commandments came after Jesus?
Now that was a sign of total ignorance. And to top it off, you bet me $10,000 you were right. My question is,,,,,where's the $10,000? Only the uneducated would make such a mindless bet like that!
Many little children, who have some sort of religious upbringing would know the answer of when the Ten Commandments materialized in Biblical history. But not you!
Now pay up, welcher.

 

[EdwardBaiamonte]

The USA is the only country that offers loopholes,

too stupid as always. Yes our corporations and jobs move out of the country because they save on taxes by doing so. How stupid and liberal is it for liberals to encourage this ? You lack the IQ to understand. Sorry