The Capitalist Problem

There is one main problem with Capitalism. That is it has no moral code. This moral code is something that every individual has. While we all have lapses in that code, most of us understand what is right, and what is wrong.We also have a common understanding of how to treat each other.

Capitalism's main objective is money/profits and money has no moral code. It is in fact amoral. This is what leads to the largest problem, an actual Darwinian struggle, that is not even supposed to be Darwinian. Survival of the Fittest for something none of us have control over is downright inhumane.


This is not to say that Capitalism is awful. I'm not saying that because I do believe that capitalism does in general keep our prices down, and allows us more choices of products. But Capitalism does not guarantee or protect the general well-being of citizens. And that is where government comes in. Free Market Capitalism has NEVER worked. What should be discussed is all a matter of debate, how much government is necessary?

If anyone tells you that there should be no government in any part of the economy they've either 1. Never actually thought about it, 2. Have no idea what they are talking about.

There is no incentive for a corporation to act morally. Capitalism does promote competition. But the goal of each competitor is to obtain 100% of the market. Often an unrealistic, and impossible outcome, each company is trying to get as close to 100% of the share as possible. That is why there was a "Bust The Trust" Movement and Anti-Monopoly legislation in the early 1900's because in many industries the market was dominated by only a few powerful companies.

Do you think that corporations (for example oil companies) would not harm the environment on a constant basis if not for the Environmental Protection Agency? Hell they even harm the environment when the EPA puts regulations on the amount of harm they can commit.

Before we had labor laws during the industrial revolution, a factory could make you work 14 hour days, 7 days a week. They also could employ children, and would often have the children climb into a jammed machines to fix it. FYI, many times when the machine was unjammed the child was killed. Thanks to the federal government, and the formation of OSHA (Operational Safety and Health Administration), and other Bureaus policies like these are now illegal.

The FDA makes sure that our food does not kill us if we eat it. Although when I had the Double Down I felt like I had a heart attack. The FDA also ensures us that our over the counter drugs are generally safe, and not mislabeled.
Did you also know without the government there would be no patent laws? Without these no company could be innovative without a competitor copying them immediately. So don't say the government never helped capitalism with regulations.

Yes there are times when these government organizations fail, but if you think where we would be without them, it offers us a pretty shitty life, where corporations control out every move.

This all comes to a head listening to Fox News, and Conservatives talk about the Wisconsin situation. They have all these billionaires, and fairy-tale tellers saying that what we need is less taxes, less government regulation, and workers to work for less. They say it is wrong for Corporations to take jobs overseas, and ask for cut taxes. It doesn't matter. The reason they left the U.S. and put the factory in China, India, etc. is because they were driven by Capitalism 101:  Maximize Profit.

The average income is in the $30,000 range.  The average CEO is getting paid 400 times more than the employees. (If you didn't major in math that's $12,000,000 for the CEO).  So you tell me what is a bigger burden to a corporation; 400 employees making $30,000 (which equals $12million), or 1 insignificant douche making $12million. Who is more productive for that corporation? The 400 workers who actually produce whatever the company does, or the 1 guy who pulls the strings.

Let's go with Conservative logic (Ironic words put together) for a minute, and say everyone takes a pay cut. If 400 workers took a 33% pay decrease to $20,000 that's $8million combined for the 400 workers.  400 workers make $4 million less and 1 person now makes more than them combined. That is how CEO pay has doubled, and workers pay has stayed stagnant over the past 10 years.

You could make the CEO take a 50% pay cut, making $6 million dollars a year. And he still makes 200 times more than the average worker.

The problem is not the workers. The problem is the CEO's. I didn't even mention the millions CEO's get in pensions, and other benefits on top of their annual salary.

All the complaints about workers need to expect less if they don't want their job taken overseas. That's ok. But what these imbeciles don't recognize is that no matter how little you pay American workers, there will always be someone working for less somewhere else. Let's say you cut a factory workers pay all the way down to $10,000 a year (which is barely good enough for a college student living at home). If there is somewhere you can pay a worker $2,000 a year, the Corporation will take that job elsewhere.

On Fox News they were talking about the teachers in Wisconsin, and said "show the average income". It was $51,000 and some change. They then talked about it as if teachers are making $10,000,000 a year. $51,000 is decent pay, but if a teacher lost his/her job, their life would be in major turmoil. Ask a CEO who just got canned how difficult his life is.

Why are we even trying to say a teacher doesn't deserve $51,000 a year?  Teachers are in a short list of the most important people in our society. It is impossible to even put a price on what they do. I'm not saying they should get $200,000 a year on average or even $100,000, but what they do, and how much they get paid does fall short.

These free market capitalists don't get it, and are often times arguing against themselves. Capitalism may be fine. The capitalist tries to drive down the average worker's wages. So they can produce for cheaper. Without Government Regulation nothing can stop a corporation paying us in Circus Peanuts.

By itself Capitalism DOES NOT WORK. We end up with less money, and taken advantage of. In order for Capitalism to work to take a phrase from The Young Turks/MSNBC Host Cenk Uygur, "the government must play the referee."