Re: Well if you'd just
Note: I saw a post by Guinevak complaining about capitalism, and although all of the problems listed are very much true, it's important to distinguish and categorize all of our issues to make it clear and not one sided.
It's not capitalism, it's lobbying and corporate
Capitalism is not the problem. Capitalism is simply a market system, and we are simply told it is a problem by many outside forces. It's about individuals making profit and owning businesses.
But the US is a mixed economy, we have a few socialist policies too.
Here's an explanation in layman's terms to make it really simple for everyone.
Lots of other countries have capitalist economies while still banning unethical businesses and holding more socialist polciies to benefit their people.
Socialist policies are not bad in themselves, but it is when they are overapplied and the individual can no longer run a business or make profit outside of the government where it becomes a problem.
Japan is an example. Japan is capitalist but you can't simply start a business selling just anything there. You have to ask permission from the Government, and although that seems counterintuitive to how the US operates, some rules and regulations are necessary for the good of everyone.
There are strict rules and regulations for what can and can't be done, in order to protect the people.
Where the US differs from other capitalist countries is that, the US had very little to no safety nets and or stronger regulations for the things that protect the people in the founding of this country.
Freedom is great, but with that emphasis on freedom we seemed to forget to set rules on what we can and shouldn't do when selling something to someone else. That's where our laws came in, and the court system began the process of creating our precedence laws. We have statutory laws of course, but until something new is presented to the court, there is no law for it. Laws are written first, but courts shape how those laws are applied and interpreted when real cases arise.
It is great that we have an opportunity to build wealth in this country, but it's also true that we are not the same country that we were before anymore.
There is simply less opportunity now. And that's not to say there is no opportunity to build wealth, but that many people cannot simply build wealth because the game has been rigged to get us stuck and slaving away at a 9 to 5 while worrying about bills and taxes and debt. We've been heavily marketed towards the next best thing, the next credit card, and many of us are now paying for it.
So what went wrong in the US?
For starters, the US allows corporation to be entities that can influence our politics. So a corporation that can influence our politics will always act on its own best interest.
Something important:
A major turning point was Citizens United v. FEC, which gave the go ahead for corporations and unions to spend unlimited money on political messaging. Isn't that awful? Now both sides can heavily propagandize and market towards you.
Another thing:
So corporations can't vote like you and I can, but they can increase their influence through lobbying, campaign financing, and political advertising.
So anyway, companies tend to act in their own interest, and the U.S. system allows significant influence. But it’s not unique to the U.S. it’s just more permissive compared to many countries.
You can be sure that a corporation has influenced your politics. If you watch mainstream news, the topics that are espoused and supported are usually lobbied by corporations to get you to vote on what benefits them.
But it's wrapped up in a pretty sob story gift to get you emotionally driven to vote a certain way.
I'm not emphasizes right or left here, this happens on both sides. We are heavily propagandized from both sides.
What's the saying, left wing right wing, still the same bird? Yeah maybe there is some truth there.
Ideally, you want to avoid politics because no one side is the cure.
We've been sold all of these consumerist lies and our personal lives have been politicized to the point where we now feel we have nothing in common with those next to us.
We are even propagandized through the films we watch, the clothes we wear or don't wear, or the lifestyle we decide on.
Other things to note
The entire medical system is a profit focused business. Pills are what we are sold, but often it's not a straight up cure. You are sold the pills and that's what makes the medical industry money. Particularly pharmaceutical companies. The more time you are on a pill, the more money is made off of you.
Did you know that at least 49% of people are on some kind of prescription medication?
The entire food industry is a profit focused business, particularly processed foods. It's why we have over addicting highly engineered "foods" like chips, cookies, sodas, etc which are devoid of any nutrients and highly addictive to the point where you just keep eating or drinking them. It's why we struggle with our weight and our health.
On top of the junk food, even our normal foods like bread is bad for us. There's like fifty preservatives in one loaf of bread from the grocery store. All of it is to make more profit, but it also makes us sick over time. This statement is seen as radical to some, but it's not radical, our food is actually killing us in the US.
Taxation is seperate and not capitalism
Taxation is actually common in all types of governing powers. We get moderately taxed compared to other countries (believe it or not), the problem is that we also get less benefits for our taxes. Our taxes simply grow our government, but our lives don't get better because of the problems I have mentioned above.
The entire point of taxation is to make the government grow in size and strength. It's paying the government.
The government has assumed some jobs such as our roads, our schools, or our public institution buildings as its job, so the excuse of taxation is to pay the govenrment to mantain the country in running order.
Not many people know this, but taxation was so taboo in the US, that in 1913, the 16th amendment had to be ratified to allow for income tax. In 1930, taxation became common place for everyone.
It was historically only used by our government during wars. Of course, after the 1930s it became a fact of life for the common American.
Income tax was originally used during emergencies like wars, but after 1913, and especially during the 1930s and 40s it became a permanent and widespread system.
Now, many or us are taxed almost 30%. On top of that, we are taxed for our food and everything we purchase in retail stores.
We even have property taxes, which go against the idea of owning a home. Do you really own a home, if you could lose it to the government after three years of not paying property taxes?
The govenrment gets it's pay and somewhere along the lines we forgot how to actually argue against being taxed.
We're like the frog in the boiling pot of water, we've just simply stopped making a difference.
The problem isn't capitalism, it's the version that we are running on. It's not protecting us as human beings.
In this world currently, you have to get smart about your food, about your medicine, and about your finances, and you have to let go of the blind trust that has been ingrained in us in order to survive and thrive. That blind trust we have on authority is what makes us worse off. At the same time, you still have to play into the rat race to some degree if you want to own a house, or property. This country is set up so that it is impossible to buy homes really without taxes in hand.
Sure you can buy in straight cash, but who has that kind of money on them? and If you're not paying those taxes, you're in a lot of trouble once the IRS gets wind of you.
Conclusion
We have to somehow as a collective ignore and avoid corporate as much as we can, shop local if we can from farmers, and figure out some alternative health remedies rather than going to the doctor for everything.
We have to nourish our bodies, use our brains, and slowly but surely save up some money! We need to teach ourselves what was purposely not taught to us in schools. All by design to make us dependent on a system that doesn't want you getting ahead.
The system wants you subsisting and dependant on it. On top of this, the government has made it its job to overprint money, which means our money that we work for loses value each time more is printed. This isn't an administrative issue, this is something that is not stopping regardless of administration.
There is something much bigger than our administration that is influencing our policies to keep printing money, to keep us poor.
The doctor is great if you break your arm, but he's not going to save you from your autoimmune disease with a pill. Only you can help yourself.
Junk food is delicious, but it's not going to keep you healthy.
There is a balance for everything, but at some point we have to recognize just how many forces are against us in order to take some control back on our lives.