capitalism

Excerpts from The Trump Diaries: Too Miserable to Laugh

In 2016 Donald Trump became the president of the United States to the dismay of the majority of citizens in his country.  He was supported by the Republican congressmen and women as well as the Republican senators in his nomination as their presidential candidate and continues to be supported by most of them years into his fallacious presidency. 

There were most likely many players in putting Trump in office, but it was not only the minority of citizens who voted for him.  Those who actually put him in office paid for his presidency and they wanted returns on their investment. 

The conservative movement is defined by something that has been referred to as shareholder capitalism, the idea that a corporation is only responsible for increasing shareholder value no matter the cost to society, the environment, the idea of a working democracy, or what they refer to as external costs.

For all intent purposes, the United States is a plutocracy.  Trump and his administration do not stand for or work towards fair job creation for those people that are truly left behind by corporate economic decisions, they are the highway upon which such decisions run their course. They will and are being paved over for profit.  

As the conservative movement continues to dismantle any and all governmental policies directed at protecting the public’s interest, Trump will continue being the clown.  That is what he is paid to do by those who put him in office. But such a game is dangerous and could cost us all a lot more than just a thin profit margin.

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Truth is Like Poetry 5

Problem: Laissez-faire Capitalism

The problem of the idea of money is (actually) most likely as old as humanity.  Money, in all its forms, is simply a method of barter.  Bartering systems have varied over time, ranging from rocks and livestock and other things throughout history.  However, capitalism goes beyond the concept of bartering.  Capitalism is the concept of profitizing.  Nowadays, especially in the USA, capitalism has taken on a religious tinge which gives it some of the same qualities and problems as religious belief.  So, the idea/concept of using money as a system of barter is not the issue, the ideological fetishes regarding profit is. 

Profit-at-all-costs is the end result of laissez-faire capitalism.  This, in short, is the problem.  This has cost the American society dearly morally, socially, and politically and culturally.  One aspect of this problem is the so-called ‘Protestant work ethic”, which leads to meritocratic worth above all else and creates a moral worth to economic standing.  Secondly, capitalism has led to an oligarchical and plutocratic governing system that is unhealthy and even dangerous.

Lastly, laissez-faire capitalism corrupts the concept of civilization; it undermines a core value system that allows peaceful societies to exist by rendering unfair the barter system itself.  Profit-at-all-costs  undermines trust in the economic system of a country.  It is important to remember that greed is not a basic good, something capitalists throughout time have seemed to forgotten.

Solution:  Government Regulation

FDR introduced “The New Deal” early last century when capitalism-run-amok tanked the American economy, and it is a good start as a solution today.  Furthermore, anti-trust laws are already in place to rectify the problem of capitalism, but have simply been relegated to legal trash heaps by the Republicans in particular and indirectly by Democrats.  They are The Sherman Antitrust Act, The Clayton Act, and The Federal Trade Commission Act. 

The Sherman Antitrust Act deals with unfair and deceptive contracts and trading (think Wall Street) while The Federal Trade Commission Act deals with deceptive ‘acts and practices’ such as the housing bust in and the reasons the government (we the people) had to bail out the banks.  The Clayton Act was put into place to cover issues not covered by the previous two.  There is also the McCain-Feingold Act which, in part, was put in place to battle Citizens United (a heinous piece of pathetic legislation that undermines all vestiges of fair-trade practices).

Secondly, government is not a business and cannot be run as such.  It is a platform upon which societies are built, and like all such platforms, it is conceptual, not financial.  The question, as is the case with most socio-political questions, is what kind of society do we as individuals want to live in, and government is an answer to that question.  Laissez-faire capitalists, Libertarians and Republicans mostly, have answered this question loud and clear as to the kind of society that they desire, and the consequences of their decision has not boded well for civil, fair, peaceful societies.