"cut the wealth of billionaires in half over 15 years, "

[georgephillip]

That might hold for the police and the courts, it certainly doesn't hold for a vast welfare industrial complex.

A recipe for disaster

 

[georgephillip]

The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) has traditionally reported that 49 states must balance their budgets, with Vermont being the exception.

Policy Research

NCSL’s experts are here to answer your questions and give you unbiased, comprehensive information as soon as you need it on issues facing state legislatures. We answer more than 20,000 requests for information a year.

www.ncsl.org

There is no authority above the states, i.e. Federal authority.
So why does the United States Federal government not have a similar requirement that 49 of the 50 states have..i.e. balanced budgets?

Because the federal government functions as a sovereign current provider and can not default on debts issued in its currency. States can not issue their own currencies, hence they are required to balance their budgets.

Modern Monetary Theory, Monetary Sovereignty, Colonialism and Independence, and an Economics for Sustainable Prosperity

 

[georgephillip]

Where is your proof that capitalism killed ANYONE??? What a gross totally erroneous statement!

How could anyone be ignorant enough to doubt a system that basis service on ability to pay instead of need kills those who can't afford the price?

Tallying Capitalism’s Death Toll

"The World Health Organization estimates that 3.575 million people die from lack of clean water, and that 1.5 million people die from vaccinable diseases every year.

"Mercy Corps estimates that nine million people die from hunger every year. By summing these deaths, it can be concluded that capitalism kills approximately 14 million people per year."

 

[georgephillip]

How do you expect things like offshore oil rigs and jet airliners to get created without corporations?

The same way we built roads, bridges, and canals during the first century of this republic:

What the Founding Fathers Really Thought About Corporations

"We don’t really begin to see economic enterprises chartered as corporations until the 1790s.

"Some are banks, others are companies that were going to build canals, turnpikes, and bridges — infrastructure projects that states did not have the money to build themselves.

"Citizens petitioned legislators for a corporate charter, and if a critical mass of political pressure could build in a capital, they got an act of incorporation.

"It specified their capitalization limitations, limited their lifespan, and dictated the boundaries of their operations and functions."

 

[Soupnazi630]

Workers under capitalism are compelled by their lack of ownership of the means of production to sell their labor power to capitalists for less than the full value of the goods they produce. There's nothing subjective about it.

Exploitation (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy).

Wrong

It is strictly and absolutely subjective.

Of course they are paid less than the total value of what gthey produce or nothing would be produced.

Exploitation is a good thing when voluntary which it IS under capitalism. It is an evil thing when forced which it is under collectivist systems

Your claim si absolutely and strictly SUBJECTIVE.

 

[Soupnazi630]

I think you're making a mistake to think in terms of big or small government.
We have the best government money can buy.

Marx knew that labor power is distinct from every other commodity in one important aspect; labor has the power to produce value beyond what is needed for its own reproduction.

The value that goes into the commodities that sustain a worker for a 12 hour day is less than the value of the commodities that worker can produce during those 12 hours.

"The key to understanding the nature of the capitalist economy, according to Marx, lies in understanding the nature of the commodity.

"A commodity is something that is useful and that is produced in order to be exchanged for a different kind of commodity.

"Parents who make bread to feed their family are not producing commodities.

"Bakers who produce bread to sell on the market are producing commodities."

The Labor Theory of Value and Surplus Value

Marx was a feayd and an absolute fool

He was wrong about labor and that is long proven fact

 

[DBA]

Didn't Rich Jeff admit that when he thanked every Amazon employee and every Amazon customer "because you guys paid for all this"?

In case you haven't noticed, 90% of US workers haven't been getting the same percentage wage gains over the past forty years as those earning a higher salary have.

Five Causes of Wage Stagnation in the United States | AFL-CIO

Lets put on our thinking caps and address the points made in this article.

The abandonment of full employment: - It is not secret that sticking with a job will increase your long term success. The recession aside, many lower income workers job skip quite often. That is not a recipe for success. If you work at McDonald's and have no other marketable skills, it would behoove you to stay at McDonalds, work hard and move up the ladder to shift manager, store manager, etc. Job surfing can largely be put at the feet of those that do it. It isn't often that a person is laid off from job after job due to market conditions. It is more common for that person to either a) not be performing and getting fired or b) getting tired of it and moving on to something else.

Declining union density: - It is certainly true that lower union membership lowers wages, however, it is also true that higher union membership raises costs and competitiveness in world markets. More unions in the US with exorbitant wages would only further price companies out of the market, which leads to them going out of business, which leads to further unemployment. The free market works with regards to the pay for skilled workers. In the free market world of wages, a person making $50 dollars and hour has some marketable skill. In the union world, that is not necessarily the case.

Changes in labor market policies and business practices: - I love the way things are spun here. The "lowering of the inflation adjusted minimum wage" statement probably tricks some folks. Again, raising the minimum wage only temporarily and artificially helps low income workers and permanently hurts those making above minimum wage because they aren't likely to see a wage gain but will be forced to pay for the increase in the form of higher prices for goods and services. Once the prices for goods and services accommodate for the increase in the wage, the minimum wage workers are back in the same boat and everyone else is simply left to pay more.

Deregulation of the finance industry and the unleashing of CEOs - "...the use of the financial sector’s political power to favor low inflation over low unemployment as a policy goal..." The Biden administration is worst of all in this regard. They seem to favor high inflation and high unemployment as their policies support both. Pay people to stay home, thus decreasing productivity, thus increasing demand thus creating more inflation. Brilliant strategy. As for CEO's making more money, these same folks don't seem to mind when a star QB signs a contract(Mahomes for example) worth 45,000,000/yr while a guy sitting on the bench for the same team makes 660,000/yr. Talk about wealth inequality, the bench warmer is making 1.47% of the salary of the QB. No difference in the real world.

Globalization policies: - Yes, international trade has certainly hurt the American worker as has globalization in general. In today's remote working world, a qualified person from a country with a much lower cost of living can be hired for pennies on the dollar compared to an American worker. Americans can either move to other lower cost of living countries or be ok with being an employed electrical engineer living in government housing. Globalization is a Democrats dream, not Republicans.

 

[Blues Man]

If you know you're not getting paid enough for your labor, it is up to you to change the political system that rewards those who have the most with 90% of all productivity gains over the past forty years.

We need a new economy and society that doesn't require millions of people live in perpetual financial and physical peril so a handful of parasites can float in space for ten minutes.

No we don't

And people don't live in perpetual physical peril.

 

[TNHarley]

Well…he did used to single out millionaires…until he became one that is.

Exactly. When he was a mayor his rhetoric was, "who needs a million?"
After he became a millionaire, it was, "who needs a billion"
He is a fraud just like all the others.

 

[georgephillip]

It does? Who are these people?

"In this discussion I want to draw attention to the fact that, since the time of the Russian Revolution, capitalist institutions as a whole have caused close to 158 million deaths by waging war alone, with liberal democratic varieties of capitalism contributing at least 56 million of those fatalities.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10455752.2021.1875603

 

[Blues Man]

"In this discussion I want to draw attention to the fact that, since the time of the Russian Revolution, capitalist institutions as a whole have caused close to 158 million deaths by waging war alone, with liberal democratic varieties of capitalism contributing at least 56 million of those fatalities.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10455752.2021.1875603

How many deaths have Communist institutions caused?

 

[bripat9643]

"In this discussion I want to draw attention to the fact that, since the time of the Russian Revolution, capitalist institutions as a whole have caused close to 158 million deaths by waging war alone, with liberal democratic varieties of capitalism contributing at least 56 million of those fatalities.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10455752.2021.1875603

According to your article, those people were killed in wars, not by capitalism.

 

[georgephillip]

Do they all do this simultaneously at the same time? Do they coordinate this price increase? That's illegal, you know.

When has capitalism ever concerned itself with legality?

 

[georgephillip]

So you agree that supply and demand control prices, but your theory of inflation says they have nothing to do with it.

How hard is it for greedy capitalists to manipulate the laws of supply and demand to enhance profits?

"Supply and Demand:

• P – price
• Q – quantity of goods
• S – supply
• D – demand..."

"I am not sure about you, but I don’t like these economic principles. I don’t believe they are true, and neither should you…unless you want them to be true for you.

"If you’re willing to think and act strategically, you can easily manipulate the laws of supply and demand."

"It should be surprising to learn, however, that by manipulating the laws of supply and demand, you can make more profit in less time and with far fewer headaches."

How to manipulate the law of supply and demand

 

[bripat9643]

How hard is it for greedy capitalists to manipulate the laws of supply and demand to enhance profits?

"Supply and Demand:

• P – price
• Q – quantity of goods
• S – supply
• D – demand..."

"I am not sure about you, but I don’t like these economic principles. I don’t believe they are true, and neither should you…unless you want them to be true for you.

"If you’re willing to think and act strategically, you can easily manipulate the laws of supply and demand."

"It should be surprising to learn, however, that by manipulating the laws of supply and demand, you can make more profit in less time and with far fewer headaches."

How to manipulate the law of supply and demand

They can't, turd. That's the beauty of the free market.

 

[georgephillip]

The fact that human wants are unlimited is a basic principle of economics.

Show the proof or admit you lie like Trump.

 

[bripat9643]

When has capitalism ever concerned itself with legality?

Capitalism doesn't have wants or desires. It's not a person. However, people do concern themselves with legality.

 

[bripat9643]

Show the proof or admit you lie like Trump.

We all know its true in our bones, moron.

Who would prefer having less to having more?

No one.

You can't come up with an argument that says anyone does.

 

[georgephillip]

Trump said you're smart enough and good enough to succeed on your own without government help.

Anything Trump says is at least as likely to be a lie as not.
Why aren't you smart enough to notice?

Trump University - Wikipedia

"On November 18, 2016, it was reported that Trump had agreed to pay $25 million to settle the two class actions and the New York suit.

"The settlement was reached 10 days before the San Diego class action was scheduled to go to trial.

"$21 million will go to the participants in the class actions, $3 million will go to New Yorkers not covered by the class actions, and a penalty of up to $1 million will be assessed by the state of New York for running an unlicensed university."

 

[bripat9643]

Anything Trump says is at least as likely to be a lie as not.
Why aren't you smart enough to notice?

Trump University - Wikipedia

"On November 18, 2016, it was reported that Trump had agreed to pay $25 million to settle the two class actions and the New York suit.

"The settlement was reached 10 days before the San Diego class action was scheduled to go to trial.

"$21 million will go to the participants in the class actions, $3 million will go to New Yorkers not covered by the class actions, and a penalty of up to $1 million will be assessed by the state of New York for running an unlicensed university."

So where's the lie?