Capitalism Sucks!

scratcho,

You're getting warm, you mentioned population. Capitalism is no problem at all when based on a fiat currency, government simply creates and distributes more paper money.

 

Libya and Iraq were not communist nations. They were socialists, free from debt. Their money was strong. Their people had free medical care for life, free education anywhere in the world if they wanted it. When a young couple got married, they each got a wedding gift of $50,000 from the government. If they wanted a car, the government would pay for the first $50,000 for it. The young couple got a free house from the government, and with it free water, trash service, and electric power. When they got old, the government would give them a proper pension. During their work careers, in Iraq they got equal pay for equal work.

 

When can we keep the $ we toil for?

Why does "oby" want my $ ?

What % of my net worth does "oby" and the NWO want?

I love Individual's Ayn Rand quote. We have arrived , comrades.

 

If it wasnt for capitalism you'd be likely living in a stick hut eating the peanuts from your dead uncles shit... Even China has moved towards Capitalism these last few decades... .. Socialism doesnt create anything. Its a lie and the theft of labor. Its goal is to redistribute that theft to those whom are willing to sell their individual liberties. Socialism serves only those in power at the end, not those it governs.

 

Capatilsim by nature serves only the elite. Those with power use the system to get more power. Those without power are told it's their fault and if they would only work harder they could have say. Your view of socialism is clearly rooted in American propaganda. I left America for a social democratic country and it's one of the best choices I ever made. I pay tax the end and that's the evil dystopia for America.

 

Capitalism makes
Socialism takes

 

And then shares it with the poor. And all's well on God's green Earth.

 

And gives it to corporations, more accurately.

And all’s well in your imaginary world

 

That imaginary world actually exists in northern Europe. Come visit sometimes, and see the clean streets and lack of ghettos. And the hospitals that don't charge you 10 grand for a blood test.

 

I don't feel like capitalism sucks, & I love America.

But part of me senses that there is a type of greed that has gone unchecked in our country. Perhaps we are learning how to address that without placing limitations on the peoples' freedom.

 

Which Northern Europe country is that?

Seems to me, that they have market based economies. Some are more capitalistic than the United States

Country Rankings: World & Global Economy Rankings on Economic Freedom


United States ranks 17th place for the most capitalistic.

Northern Europe:

6th: Ireland
7th: United Kingdom
8th: Denmark
10th: Estonia
13th: Iceland
14th: Netherlands
20th: Finland
22nd: Sweden

 

factors that are important to me might be obscured by those that are important to corporations in the economic freedom index. Isn't Iceland doing really well? I can't believe they are so low. Maybe they're having a bad run of it this year. I followed that link and tried to chart some graphs. I selected Iceland from the countries list and overlapped them with I think the rest of Europe (I'm not sure how to use the thing all that well). Their rankings were above average (the line that shows how they are).

 

Here:

This is what I wanted to know...

Frequently Asked Questions
Q.1. What is economic freedom?
Economic freedom is the fundamental right of every human to control his or her own labor and property. In an economically free society, individuals are free to work, produce, consume, and invest in any way they please. In economically free societies, governments allow labor, capital, and goods to move freely, and refrain from coercion or constraint of liberty beyond the extent necessary to protect and maintain liberty itself.

Q.2. What are the benefits of economic freedom?
Economic freedom brings greater prosperity. The Index of Economic Freedom documents the positive relationship between economic freedom and a variety of positive social and economic goals. The ideals of economic freedom are strongly associated with healthier societies, cleaner environments, greater per capita wealth, human development, democracy, and poverty elimination. For further information, see especially:

• Chapter 1: Key Findings of the 2020 Index
• Chapter 2: 12 Economic Freedoms: Policies for Progress and Prosperity
• Chapter 3: The Fight for Free Trade
• Chapter 4: Supply Chains: The Odyssey of a Honda

Q.3. How do you measure economic freedom?
We measure economic freedom based on 12 quantitative and qualitative factors, grouped into four broad categories, or pillars, of economic freedom:

1. Rule of Law (property rights, government integrity, judicial effectiveness)
2. Government Size (government spending, tax burden, fiscal health)
3. Regulatory Efficiency (business freedom, labor freedom, monetary freedom)
4. Open Markets (trade freedom, investment freedom, financial freedom)

Each of the twelve economic freedoms within these categories is graded on a scale of 0 to 100. A country’s overall score is derived by averaging these twelve economic freedoms, with equal weight being given to each. More information on the grading and methodology can be found in the appendix.

Q.4. Which components of economic freedom are most important?
The Index of Economic Freedom considers every component equally important in achieving the positive benefits of economic freedom. Each freedom is weighted equally in determining country scores. Countries considering economic reforms may find significant opportunities for improving economic performance in those factors in which they score the lowest. These factors may indicate significant binding constraints on economic growth and prosperity.

Q.5. What is your period of study?
For the 2020 Index , most data covers the second half of 2018 through the first half of 2019. To the extent possible, the information considered for each factor was current as of June 30, 2019. It is important to understand that some factors are based on historical information. For example, the monetary policy factor is a 3-year weighted average rate of inflation from January 1, 2016, to December 31, 2018.

Q.6. Can I access the data online?
The Index of Economic Freedom can be easily explored using a variety of tools on our interactive website, including:

• Country Rankings: See where your country ranks in the Index and compared to its peers, and keep up with political and economic developments on each country’s page.
• Graph the Data: Customize and compare country scores in up to three countries using interactive graphics.
• Explore the Data: Download over 20 years of historical Index data, including macroeconomic indicators, and a regional breakdown of Index scores since 1995.
• Heat Map: Visualize the 2020 Index of Economic Freedom in this stunning and interactive map of the world. Find out how competitive your region is in achieving the ideals of economic freedom.
• Downloads: Download the entire Index of Economic Freedom book, or pick individual chapters, the methodology, or regional maps.

Q.7. How can I use the Index of Economic Freedom?
The Index of Economic Freedom is a helpful tool for a variety of audiences, including academics, policymakers, journalists, students, teachers, and those in business and finance. The Index is an excellent objective tool for analyzing 186 economies throughout the world and each country page is a resource for in-depth analysis of a country’s political and economic developments. The 12 economic freedoms and accompanying historical data also provide a comprehensive set of principles and facts for those who wish to understand the fundamentals of economic growth and prosperity.

 

This seems ok.

This seems subjective... what do they mean by it?

I would like it more if they would provide a definition for each of these things.

My point is the measuring stick that we are using to compare all things to seems to be skewed against socialism.

What about free health care?

What's the problem with it? Are we just blindly rejecting something because we don't understand it? I feel like the site here is designed reject the idea of social programming. It used the term "Tax Burden" for example. That suggests that if you are paying more tax you have less freedom. That's not true...

There are plenty of ways to be free. I don't find it restrictive to be entitled to free healthcare, free college, or subsidized food and shelter. Some countries are likely ranking poorly because of those things! They have implemented policies to make poor entitled to the same welfare as the rich.

 

Here is their video:



"business friendly tax code" is high on the list of defining factors in freedom? crackheads...

 

@six
Uh-hu. But you see, when we collect those evil taxes, we use that money to fund the actually useful public services and social security at adequate levels, rather than the military industrial complex that keeps it fighting all those pointless wars. Yes, we take from the rich and give to the poor (what you like to call stealing), to keep a roof over their heads, and food in their fridge, and as a result, you don't see us rioting on the streets, looting and burning stores, like they do in countries like Brazil, where they don't have "free money for lazy welfare bums who don't like to work". Punishing laziness is one thing, but starving people to death just to spite them for their social standing is just asking for trouble.

Yes, we have a so called mixed economy here, so we're not 100% pure socialist. We do recognize that the wealth has to come somewhere, and that somewhere is trade. The difference between you and us is that the European society has accepted that by socializing some of the wealth, we've enabled an era of prosperity and peace unheard of in the history of mankind. This creates an environment where even the capitalist benefits, when he can operate his businesses quietly in peace, in an environment full of customers with actual money at their disposal (even if it's just state handouts), and without having to fear being killed or kidnapped violently for his wealth. The capitalist can choose to quietly surrender some of his wealth for the state, to be used for the benefit of the people, or he can take his chances with the angry starving mobs when they get fed up with their treatment and steal from the capitalist anyway, only this time with weapons, in a much more chaotic way that is sure to damage the country and hurt everyone. Spreading, or rather circulating the wealth enables peace, that's the point of socialism. To keep everybody on board, instead of just the pampered elites.

As for why it works here, but not in North-Korea, well that's because of cultural differences. Scandinavians are actually honest enough to run the system as it was intended. In North-Korea, the Kim clan actually shares with no one. They hoard everything to themselves, only sharing with the military in exchange for protection. Communism and socialism will always fail, if the host country's culture accepts and enables widespread corruption and abuse that sends the money to places where it wasn't supposed to go.

 

The distribution of income and wealth in America is an international disgrace. By any measure, inequality has surged since 1980. Could Ronald “aw shucks” Reagan and his cronies have had any thing to do with it? I was working with economic data at that time and I was astounded by the absolute turnaround in inequality almost overnight. Contrary to the propaganda of the wealthy, it was not the fault of the poor for being”lazy” or lacking drive. It was, rather the corrosive effect of money in our political system that corrupted the tax code, gave revenue those who needed it the least and starved social infrastructure.
Almost all of the gains in economic wealth since 1980 have accrued to a tiny sliver at the top...at an increasing rate. And yet the propaganda continues and those who have lost the most have been brainwashed to support Trump and his lackies. The US has socialism all right...for the wealthy. The trolls in St Petersburg must be celebrating in the streets and collecting huge bonuses for their success in creating such ugly chaos and achieving what a generation of the arms race could not.

 

One thing to note about the Index of Economic Freedom is that it's propaganda disguised as scholarly analysis put out by the right-wing think tank the Heritage Foundation and the right-wing pro-business newspaper, The Wall Street Journal. The Heritage Foundation, bankrolled by Coors and Scaife Mellon fortunes, has its declared mission to promote conservative policies. This includes Climate Change Denial and Intelligent Design--not objective research. It often does studies that support it's lobbying efforts; for example, a study showing that poor people aren't really poor to support reducing welfare. For them, "economic freedom" means corporate and entrepreneurial freedom. "Labor freedom", for example, includes the freedom to be fired. Protection of job security is an infringement on labor freedom. The bottom line is a positive correlation with GDP, but their indexes are skillfully constructed to include a number of relatively non-controversial factors that are highly correlated with GDP with other controversial (ideologically conservative) small government ones that aren't, so that the overall result seems valid.The Heritage Foundation Economic Freedom Index is bad That and the use of subjective judgments to value some of the subscales like property rights and monetary freedom skew the results.

In this case, why would the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal (or Six-eyed Shaman, for that matter) favor an index that shows the United States trailing behind several countries that are often called "socialist" by the right? Well (1) to undercut the argument on the left that socialism works because these seem to be prosperous countries, by showing that they are really quite capitalist at heart; and (2) to take an unsubtle dig at the United States for adopting more "unfree" policies than even those northern European countries. What the listed Northern European countries are are social democracies, which (Bernie to the contrary) is not the same as "democratic socialism". Relative to the U.S., they are welfare states, which have made stronger commitments to a safety net, national health care plans, pensions, government support for university students, etc., than the U.S. does, but have not gone to state ownership of the means of economic production and distribution. Contrary to Six's description, the Economic Freedom index isn't exactly a measure of "captialism", although a real socialist country would score low on these measures.

 

Communism wouldnt even be able to exist if there wasn't a certain amount of the population so ready to bitch on their fellow humans to the authorities, a certain amount that just live for that shit

2020 taught me that