Are there any positives at all to attribute to Capitalism?

[CrusaderFrank]

Capitalism, it's what separates whiny Liberal losers from real Americans

 

[Gadawg73]

I like all my shit.

as in he who dies with the most toys wins?

Maybe, but I don't care about when I die.
I like all my shit now.
Worked very hard for it and earned it.
Created a lot of jobs and wealth FOR OTHER FOLKS along the way.
How is that done other than capitalism?

 

[Two Thumbs]

Aside from the fact that it's been working for thousands of years?

hmm

What would you replace it with? Keeping in mind that socialism and communism are know failures. What's left?

everything is left. 3 choices out of an infinite number leaves a lot of options.

Capitalism has never existed tho, far from working for 1000s of years.

anarcho syndicalism is one of many alternative systems. But seriously there must be 300 different hybrids that have already been tested in the real world. Non of them were capitalism, many involved degrees of authoritarianism, fascism, socialism, democracy, social democracy, autocracy, monarchy, oligarchy and most of them worked. Rome for example did quite well and the Roman economy blended a variety of ideas and classes.

ok, you're talking politics, not the free market.

Capitalism is what we use, we use it b/c many of the other ideas you listed can't be corrected w/o a coup.

It's been capitalism, just under different names. A rose by any other name...

It used to be trading. I'll give you a pound of apples for a 1/2 pound of meat. Now, I'll give you the dollar equivalent of a pound of apples for 1/2 pound of meat.

This allowed non-producers to flourish. You no longer had to have a skill set that could be traded for food. So now we have artist, engineers, scientist, etc etc. All b/c capitalism allows them to do such things for a living.

 

[Two Thumbs]

I like all my shit.

as in he who dies with the most toys wins?

Maybe, but I don't care about when I die.
I like all my shit now.
Worked very hard for it and earned it.
Created a lot of jobs and wealth FOR OTHER FOLKS along the way.
How is that done other than capitalism?

It's not.

In anyother system you are "provided" what you need. Nothing more, and often much less. Remeber the food and supply lines Russians had to stand in?

 

[Jeremy]

Ever heared the phrase pertaining to 'beauty is on the inside' : "That's just what ugly people say" ?

I think it can be applied here to a degree... 'Capitolism sucks' : "That's just what miserable failures say"

 

[Sallow]

Maintaining competition is key to Capitalism. If that is taken out of the equation, what's left is no longer capitalism.

Indeed. Capitalism is a sort of survival of the fittest market economy. It's proponents like to argue that competition serves everybody by creating a more efficient economy.

But the flip side is that capitalism also promotes destruction of the least fit. destruction of the least fit individuals, ideas and ventures.

It is a kind of Darwinian market economy.

Exactly..which is why unbridled capitalism is not desirable or functional.

 

[Truthmatters]

Unfettered capitalism is not survival of the fitest its survival of the most dishonest.

Those willing to do anything for money will win.

The decent people end up getting robbed by the not so decent people.

When there are NO rules the moraless win

 

[loosecannon]

Capitalism built the greatest nation on earth.

which nation is that?

It has already been noted that:

>there is no such thing as capitalism, only partially capitalist economies

>capitalism didn't build the US or make the US great. Not by a long shot.

But why do you believe that and define "great"?

 

[Gadawg73]

While traveling I sometimes get angry when I can not find a banana to put on my cereal or oatmeal.
I believe I would get VERY angry if I had to part with any of my shit that I did not choose to part with.
I CHOOSE to travel in 1 hour 100 miles north of here to part with a lot of my shit to my neice and her 4 kids. Not at the point of a gun as government operates when they plunder my earned shit and give it to some moocher which is the antithesis of capitalism.
Which is not a great way to expand the pie so more folks can get more shit.
We all benefit from capitalism.

 

[Jeremy]

Maintaining competition is key to Capitalism. If that is taken out of the equation, what's left is no longer capitalism.

Indeed. Capitalism is a sort of survival of the fittest market economy. It's proponents like to argue that competition serves everybody by creating a more efficient economy.

But the flip side is that capitalism also promotes destruction of the least fit. destruction of the least fit individuals, ideas and ventures.

It is a kind of Darwinian market economy.

Exactly..which is why unbridled capitalism is not desirable or functional.

Agreed. But the point Loosebowels was making in the OP was about capitolism in general, not just "unbridled" or "unfettered" capitolism.

 

[hortysir]

Unfettered capitalism is not survival of the fitest its survival of the most dishonest.

Those willing to do anything for money will win.

The decent people end up getting robbed by the not so decent people.

When there are NO rules the moraless win

Quoting your favorite person again, dumbass?

 

[loosecannon]

I like all my shit.

as in he who dies with the most toys wins?

Maybe, but I don't care about when I die.
I like all my shit now.
Worked very hard for it and earned it.
Created a lot of jobs and wealth FOR OTHER FOLKS along the way.
How is that done other than capitalism?

that isn't capitalism.

If you work for a living you aren't a capitalist, you are labor. If you work for yourself you are capital and labor.

Virtually every other kind of economic system that ever existed allowed you to keep your shit - taxes. Capitalism isn't unique in how it allows wealth, it is unique in how it allows society to compete for and create wealth.

 

[Jeremy]

Capitalism built the greatest nation on earth.

which nation is that?

It has already been noted that:

>there is no such thing as capitalism, only partially capitalist economies

>capitalism didn't build the US or make the US great. Not by a long shot.

But why do you believe that and define "great"?

Holy shit, you are one dumb fucktard.

If you hate capitolism so much sell all of your personal property and move to North Korea.

 

[loosecannon]

Unfettered capitalism is not survival of the fitest its survival of the most dishonest.

Those willing to do anything for money will win.

The decent people end up getting robbed by the not so decent people.

Communism: from each according to his ability to each according to his need

Capitalism: from each according to his gullibility, to each according to his greed?

 

[hortysir]

then splain yourself. Can you name a positive aspect of capitalism?

Keep in mind we don't live in a capitalist paradigm, never have since the dawn of civilization, and to the degree that capitalism does exist, it exists alongside numerous other actors that contributed mightily to the events of the last 200 years.

What is progress? What progress that may have occurred is the product of capitalism rather than the organization of society, advances in technology, advances in literacy, education and information disemination?

Were patents and copyrights more or less responsible than capitalism was in facilitating the advents of the last two centuries?

What about war and defense? How great a role did noncapitalistic war and defense programs have to do with our technological progress?

Are you purposefully this thick?

One needs only to look at the definition of capitalism to see the positive aspect:

an economic system in which investment in and ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange of wealth is made and maintained chiefly by private individuals or corporations, esp. as contrasted to cooperatively or state-owned means of wealth.

Those are not the only two choices. The world is not a choice between state owned wealth and capitalism which you can't even define.

False dichotomy. Fail. Try to keep up. Seriously. IF you have something to contribute I won't want to miss it.

Please identify an economy that does NOT fall in to either one of those 2 categories.
I'll try to stay awake

 

[rikules]

OK, so everybody knows that capitalism is evil and promotes wealth redistribution from the many toward the rich......duh.

But does capitalism have a positive aspect? Anything at all?

Ignoramus.

Wealth is earned and accumulated, not distributed.

"Wealth is earned and accumulated, not distributed"


That's really funny!


You get an A on your economics exam

unfortunately you fail reality

 

[loosecannon]

Aside from the fact that it's been working for thousands of years?

hmm

What would you replace it with? Keeping in mind that socialism and communism are know failures. What's left?

everything is left. 3 choices out of an infinite number leaves a lot of options.

Capitalism has never existed tho, far from working for 1000s of years.

anarcho syndicalism is one of many alternative systems. But seriously there must be 300 different hybrids that have already been tested in the real world. Non of them were capitalism, many involved degrees of authoritarianism, fascism, socialism, democracy, social democracy, autocracy, monarchy, oligarchy and most of them worked. Rome for example did quite well and the Roman economy blended a variety of ideas and classes.

ok, you're talking politics, not the free market.

Capitalism is what we use, we use it b/c many of the other ideas you listed can't be corrected w/o a coup.

It's been capitalism, just under different names. A rose by any other name...

It used to be trading. I'll give you a pound of apples for a 1/2 pound of meat. Now, I'll give you the dollar equivalent of a pound of apples for 1/2 pound of meat.

This allowed non-producers to flourish. You no longer had to have a skill set that could be traded for food. So now we have artist, engineers, scientist, etc etc. All b/c capitalism allows them to do such things for a living.

that is all bullshit. Capitalism is a specific kind of idealistic economic form.

People worship capitalism even tho they have no idea what it is, what the options are are or that there have been different systems that worked fine. Like the economy of Rome or the mercantilist economy of the British empire.

 

[Jeremy]

Are you purposefully this thick?

One needs only to look at the definition of capitalism to see the positive aspect:

Those are not the only two choices. The world is not a choice between state owned wealth and capitalism which you can't even define.

False dichotomy. Fail. Try to keep up. Seriously. IF you have something to contribute I won't want to miss it.

Please identify an economy that does NOT fall in to either one of those 2 categories.
I'll try to stay awake

 

[loosecannon]

as in he who dies with the most toys wins?

Maybe, but I don't care about when I die.
I like all my shit now.
Worked very hard for it and earned it.
Created a lot of jobs and wealth FOR OTHER FOLKS along the way.
How is that done other than capitalism?

It's not.

In anyother system you are "provided" what you need. Nothing more, and often much less. Remeber the food and supply lines Russians had to stand in?

false, in almost every other kind of system you still work to earn a living and keep what you make - taxes.

Capitalism is NOT the opposite of socialism or communism. That may be the biggest myth propagated in the US in the last 50 years.

 

[rikules]

Capitalism built the greatest nation on earth.

which nation is that?

It has already been noted that:

>there is no such thing as capitalism, only partially capitalist economies

>capitalism didn't build the US or make the US great. Not by a long shot.

But why do you believe that and define "great"?

and in addition ...isn't china (socialist dictatorship) one of the 2 most powerful (and rich) nations on the planet?

if America is evidence that CAPITALISM works...
isn't china evidence that socialism ALSO works?