Capitalism exists to oppress the bottom and protect the top - change my mind

[Mashmont]

We are in a current situation where the workers at the bottom cannot get a raise of share in the economy without those in power taking it back from them.

• The rising wages at the bottom are seen as an evil trend destabilizing the economy
• Company profit margins being higher than ever (basically rising wages at the top) is seen as economically healthy and good
• Companies have raised prices to protect profit margins to historical highs during supply issues taking advantage of shortages in the marketplace is seen as good
• The Uber wealthy continue to accumulate wealth in tough pandemic times and good times (pre and post pandemic) and no one cares
• The answer from those in power will be to raise interest rates, slow the economy to create unemployment hurting the bottom, again
• Tax rates on workers and capital continue to favor capital owners
• Unrealized wealth is only accumulated by the top - hell wealth is only accumulated at the top where top 10% own 89% of the wealth
• CEOs are making a historical multiplier over their workers salary, north of 270X’s

***Mod Comment - Need to provide links to back up statements made as facts. That's in the forum rules.***

I owe my livelihood to capitalism and make top 1% money but it is the systemic exploitation of the bottom through very powerful controls of capital at the top. There needs to be a more balanced playing field.

How can people who work with their way through life get the same breaks as those who own their way through life? No one wants to take shit away… they want a fair shake.

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This is classic leftwing loserthink. It's the idea that one MUST have an employer. The last time I worked for someone else, I was 31 years old. I was a high school math teacher making $20,000 a year. My wife and I had put together our incomes to buy a new house. After a year, we talked to our builder about a doing a covered driveway. A casual comment he made changed my life. He said, "Your house has probably risen $15,000 in value since you bought it." Bingo. That was 3/4 my salary. For doing nothing but living in a house. As a teacher, it didn't matter if I worked hard or not, I still made the same $20,000. I decided from that moment on I was going to get into the house business, and get 10 houses. And more after that. My income depended solely on the work, effort, and smarts I put into it. And thus is the beauty of capitalism. Anyone with average intelligence can do the same. You don't have to sit on your brains bitching online about being screwed by "the man". You can be the man.

 

[Mashmont]

We are in a current situation where the workers at the bottom cannot get a raise of share in the economy without those in power taking it back from them.

• The rising wages at the bottom are seen as an evil trend destabilizing the economy
• Company profit margins being higher than ever (basically rising wages at the top) is seen as economically healthy and good
• Companies have raised prices to protect profit margins to historical highs during supply issues taking advantage of shortages in the marketplace is seen as good
• The Uber wealthy continue to accumulate wealth in tough pandemic times and good times (pre and post pandemic) and no one cares
• The answer from those in power will be to raise interest rates, slow the economy to create unemployment hurting the bottom, again
• Tax rates on workers and capital continue to favor capital owners
• Unrealized wealth is only accumulated by the top - hell wealth is only accumulated at the top where top 10% own 89% of the wealth
• CEOs are making a historical multiplier over their workers salary, north of 270X’s

***Mod Comment - Need to provide links to back up statements made as facts. That's in the forum rules.***

I owe my livelihood to capitalism and make top 1% money but it is the systemic exploitation of the bottom through very powerful controls of capital at the top. There needs to be a more balanced playing field.

How can people who work with their way through life get the same breaks as those who own their way through life? No one wants to take shit away… they want a fair shake.

View attachment 656573

The "bottom" in a capitalist country have more than the majority in a Communist country. It's the best economic system known to man.

 

[Weatherman2020]

Wrong.
People come to the US because the US has turned all their counties into military dictatorships that pay slave wages.

So people risk their lives traveling so they can be enslaved.
Im sure the voices in your head tell you that is logical.

 

[citygator]

The "bottom" in a capitalist country have more than the majority in a Communist country. It's the best economic system known to man.

Acknowledging that, unchecked, capitalism exploits the working class doesn’t mean it can’t be a good system, or even the best system. It means it has to be checked. That’s not happening today.

 

[citygator]

This is classic leftwing loserthink. It's the idea that one MUST have an employer. The last time I worked for someone else, I was 31 years old. I was a high school math teacher making $20,000 a year. My wife and I had put together our incomes to buy a new house. After a year, we talked to our builder about a doing a covered driveway. A casual comment he made changed my life. He said, "Your house has probably risen $15,000 in value since you bought it." Bingo. That was 3/4 my salary. For doing nothing but living in a house. As a teacher, it didn't matter if I worked hard or not, I still made the same $20,000. I decided from that moment on I was going to get into the house business, and get 10 houses. And more after that. My income depended solely on the work, effort, and smarts I put into it. And thus is the beauty of capitalism. Anyone with average intelligence can do the same. You don't have to sit on your brains bitching online about being screwed by "the man". You can be the man.

Congrats. However you need to learn the difference in outliers and statistics. I don’t know where you fall but the bottom 90% have seen massive share loss in income and wealth. That doesn’t mean everyone. But massively almost everyone.

 

[bigrebnc1775]

Congrats. However you need to learn the difference in outliers and statistics. I don’t know where you fall but the bottom 90% have seen massive share loss in income and wealth. That doesn’t mean everyone. But massively almost everyone.
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Bless your heart another under achiever. If you can't make it in a capitalist system you sure in hell won't make it in a communist system.

 

[22lcidw]

Acknowledging that, unchecked, capitalism exploits the working class doesn’t mean it can’t be a good system, or even the best system. It means it has to be checked. That’s not happening today.

The Constitution says nothing about any system we live under. It spouts freedoms. Look how difficult it was to get that document. The size of government as it has ballooned has reduced rights with it. The times are not the same I know. It seems we pay lip service to freedoms. The rise of personal debts has chained many people along with the loss of unalienable rights.

 

[Correll]

Wrong.
Mutual Funds do not at all represent wealth.
You do not get to own a share of the company.
You just own a piece of paper, which is only valuable if some other idiot is foolish enough to want to pay for it.

Wow.

1. I did not claim anything like, "mutual funds represent all wealth". Your post is garbage.

2. As a investor in a mutual fund(s), I have something of real value. That you do not understand this is you being ignorant.

 

[Correll]

Congrats. However you need to learn the difference in outliers and statistics. I don’t know where you fall but the bottom 90% have seen massive share loss in income and wealth. That doesn’t mean everyone. But massively almost everyone.
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Your own links show massive gains in wealth in the post war era, widely shared.


That was capitalism too. So, the wage/wealth stagnation that you complain about, is clearly not inherent in the system but a result of policies SINCE then.


The obvious thing to do, if one really cares about middle and lower class income and wealth, is to look at the time period just before those trends changed and see what policy changes might have led to that change in trends.



IGNORING the actual causes, and just attacking the system is just you making up justifications for something you want.



False justifications.


Because you KNOW that the system you want instead is even worse and you cannot sell it honestly on it's actual merits and track record(s).

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

Congrats. However you need to learn the difference in outliers and statistics. I don’t know where you fall but the bottom 90% have seen massive share loss in income and wealth. That doesn’t mean everyone. But massively almost everyone.

Again with that phony leftist theory that the reason some have too little is because others have too much. Money in the US is not finite. You can make as little or as much as you want. I never been to a bank where I applied for a loan and they told me they'd love to give me one, but the rich people have all the money. Or if I asked my employer for a raise, and he couldn't give me one because the rich have all the cash.

 

[citygator]

Bless your heart another under achiever. If you can't make it in a capitalist system you sure in hell won't make it in a communist system.

You know that I’m doing very well and likely better than you. And if not that puts you in the top half of the top 1%. Nice job if so. I don’t think the top 1% is a measure of whether capitalism is working regardless of my position in it. I would say that you are as strong as your weakest link and if we can’t bring up the bottom we are not doing our best. Assuming everyone not making it is an underachiever is an excuse to excuse away a failing system.

 

[citygator]

Again with that phony leftist theory that the reason some have too little is because others have too much. Money in the US is not finite. You can make as little or as much as you want. I never been to a bank where I applied for a loan and they told me they'd love to give me one, but the rich people have all the money. Or if I asked my employer for a raise, and he couldn't give me one because the rich have all the cash.

There is a finite amount of money available at any moment and that amount of money is consistently being concentrated into fewer and fewer people. You can’t think that is a recipe for success?

 

[Woodznutz]

Again with that phony leftist theory that the reason some have too little is because others have too much. Money in the US is not finite. You can make as little or as much as you want. I never been to a bank where I applied for a loan and they told me they'd love to give me one, but the rich people have all the money. Or if I asked my employer for a raise, and he couldn't give me one because the rich have all the cash.

True. There's no giant mattress stuffed with the money of the rich. It's always circulating through the economy, creating jobs and wealth for others as well as providing a return for the owners of it.

 

[Woodznutz]

There is a finite amount of money available at any moment and that amount of money is consistently being concentrated into fewer and fewer people. You can’t think that is a recipe for success?

Large projects require the concentration of wealth.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

There is a finite amount of money available at any moment and that amount of money is consistently being concentrated into fewer and fewer people. You can’t think that is a recipe for success?

Wait a minute........... when have we ever run out of money in the US? I'm not talking about government spending, I'm talking the people themselves.

If money is being concentrated to the top, then somebody would have to be in charge of that, wouldn't you think? If so, who is responsible? That would be you. Not just you, but every single member here. We all concentrate our money to the top. In fact you're going to do that several times next week. You're going to stop and buy gasoline from those billionaire oil companies. You're probably going to stop at a fast food place and buy lunch or dinner from these billion dollar companies. You're going to pay your electric bill, gas bill, cell phone bill, cable or satellite companies. You may even buy a new computer or new app or something. But one way or another, you are going to concentrate your money to the top like most everybody else in this country.

Now, if you're not happy with this wealth concentration, charity starts at home. Give up all those products and services you purchase every week. Show us how to stop this money flow by example. We will really miss you here on USMB since you're going to have to give up your internet.

 

[bigrebnc1775]

You know that I’m doing very well and likely better than you. And if not that puts you in the top half of the top 1%. Nice job if so. I don’t think the top 1% is a measure of whether capitalism is working regardless of my position in it. I would say that you are as strong as your weakest link and if we can’t bring up the bottom we are not doing our best. Assuming everyone not making it is an underachiever is an excuse to excuse away a failing system.

So you're bitching about yourself?

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

True. There's no giant mattress stuffed with the money of the rich. It's always circulating through the economy, creating jobs and wealth for others as well as providing a return for the owners of it.

This conversation reminds me of the late Rush Limbaugh. As a child when he didn't finish his lunch or dinner, his mother always told him there were children starving in China. When he got sick of hearing it, he asked his mother "If I finish my dinner, how does that help one kid in China?" She never used that line again.

Government could take every dime from every billionaire and millionaire in this country and that won't help one little man. In fact it would hurt us if anything.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

You know that I’m doing very well and likely better than you. And if not that puts you in the top half of the top 1%. Nice job if so. I don’t think the top 1% is a measure of whether capitalism is working regardless of my position in it. I would say that you are as strong as your weakest link and if we can’t bring up the bottom we are not doing our best. Assuming everyone not making it is an underachiever is an excuse to excuse away a failing system.

It's not up to "us" to bring anybody from the bottom. It's up to them to bring themselves up.

 

[Woodznutz]

Wait a minute........... when have we ever run out of money in the US? I'm not talking about government spending, I'm talking the people themselves.

If money is being concentrated to the top, then somebody would have to be in charge of that, wouldn't you think? If so, who is responsible? That would be you. Not just you, but every single member here. We all concentrate our money to the top. In fact you're going to do that several times next week. You're going to stop and buy gasoline from those billionaire oil companies. You're probably going to stop at a fast food place and buy lunch or dinner from these billion dollar companies. You're going to pay your electric bill, gas bill, cell phone bill, cable or satellite companies. You may even buy a new computer or new app or something. But one way or another, you are going to concentrate your money to the top like most everybody else in this country.

Now, if you're not happy with this wealth concentration, charity starts at home. Give up all those products and services you purchase every week. Show us how to stop this money flow by example. We will really miss you here on USMB since you're going to have to give up your internet.

The key is moderation. Spend some, save some. Problem solved.

 

[flan327]

You’re free to leave anytime.
Meanwhile 2 million illegals with nothing but the shirts on their backs cross our border.
Maybe you should build a wall to help those fools from entering oppression filled Amerkkka.

IT IS SPELLED
AMERICA

CAPISCH?!