Posted on 02/17/2012 8:05:14 AM PST by pinochet
The leader of the Russian Communist Revolution, Vladmir Lenin, once declared that: "The capitalists will give us the rope, which we shall use to hang them".
For most of American history, capitalism has been a force for good, because most of America's leading capitalists were patriotic citizens, who were also devout Christians. So long as American capitalism is in the hands of patriotic Christians, the forces of capitalism can be harnessed to do a lot of good for America and the world. J. D. Rockefeller's fortune built the University of Chicago and other useful projects during his lifetime. American capitalist funds converted Harvard, Princeton, and Yale - which were founded as Christian seminaries to train clergymen, into world class universities. But the Rockefeller Foundation, Harvard, Yale, and Princeton, have been hijacked by anti-Christian forces, and been used as tools to undermine American culture.
But we have to consider the possibility that a capitalist system can be very dangerous, if it is in the hands of people who hate America and hate Christianity. Do you remember when the Clinton administration was bribed by defence contractors, into permitting the transfer of US missile technology to China? China may attack America one day, with American missile technology. I am also opposed to selling US arms technology to Islamic regimes such as Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Egypt. These regimes have turned virulently anti-Israel, and may one day attack Israel using American technology. Israel is the only Middle Eastern nation, that should receive advanced weapons from America, because they are America's only true ally. American national security depends on putting the interests of Americans first, ahead of the corporate profits of defence contractors, who are notorious for bribing administration officials and congressmen.
Those of us who support capitalism should have a healthy debate among ourselves, in order to build a capitalist system that reflects our values, rather than one that undermines those values, and puts us in danger of destruction.
By the way, I have nothing against defence contractors. Planned Parenthood is a capitalist organization, that makes profits out of killing American babies. The more babies that Planned Parenthood kills, the more profits they make. Like other corrupt corporations, Planned Parenthood receives subsidies from the taxpayers, in order to make their profit margins even higher, and has a powerful lobby in Congress. While I oppose the military-industrial complex, I am even more opposed to the baby-killing industrial complex, which kills more people.
Crony Capitalism yes... Captialism... NO!
LLS
Ethics.
If your thoughts were of a school of fish, they would all be herring...red herring.
And this is more effort than your original statement deserves.
Yes.
It’s not capitalism at fault, because all capitalism is an agreed exchange of assets for provided goods and services.
Capitalism without morals is a problem.
However, even in that incarnation it is better than any other economic system by far!
without the ‘military industrial complex’, our troops
would be left out in harms way holding nothing but their whazzits.
Capitalism is neither good nor evil. It is a system that, when combined with individual liberty, harnesses man’s inherent greed and unleashes man’s inherent creativity.
The undermining of individual liberty and capitalism is all traced to “tolerance” of those who want a different system.
Just as a religion cannot survive unless it enforces its beliefs, capitalism and individual liberty cannot survive if they tolerate socialists and collectivists.
Only through expulsion can these systems survive without being undermined from the inside.
It should be.
To paraphrase Winston Churchill: Capitalism is the worst economic system in the world, except for all the others.
There is no such thing as vulture capitalism, that was just a stupid ass remark on “the Texas doofus” perry’s part.
I would say it’s impossible to criticize any aspect of capitalism without being called a socialist, liberal, and invited to go join the DU, here at FR.
However, I agree, capitalism in the hands of those who dislike America, and are conveniently patriotic, (that is, only patriotic when military protection is needed), as well as lacking moral grounding, can be less than positive.
While all things on earth can be “abused or abusive” (our new PC language, there) capitalism in the United States has been an indisputable engine for achievement and production in every field. However, the disturbing scenario now seems to be that we no longer produce anything to speak of in the US.
Another development I don’t quite understand is that under the name of capitalism we no longer are even able to practice stewardship because we don’t have to. We opted decades ago for insurance! Insurance of every stripe.
Before insurance there were great strides made in medicine, the doctor came to your home in many cases, and the cost of research, development and delivery was manageable from top to bottom.
Doctors of course did not have two or three half million dollar homes, and cash on hand for toys and investment in resort development, etc., etc.
I can’t explain it, but so much capitalismm has gone from a very local and independent universe to one of capital investment cartels of global magnitude, and disproportional profits of an entirely different nature from early capitalism.
There never will be a set of rules that are detailed enough to stamp out immorality. So the real question is — what system works best in the overall scheme? History reveals a clear path to propserity.
As for morality ...
A. What religions make people more moral and less moral?
B. What philosophies make people more moral and less moral?
History answers those questions too. Simple really.
I think Christian charity works best in a prosperous nation.
Capitalism can't have morals -- only people can. It's important to make that distinction. Capitalism exists (it's not really even a "system") where people trade freely with each other without the permission or control of the government. Dishonest or unethical people do not sully capitalism any more than liars diminish the freedom of speech.
Milton Friedman’s videos should be required studies for all highschool students.
The only problem I see with capitalism is that there are not enough capitalists.
Capitalist system can be very dangerous when in the hands of the socialists,Obama&Co have proved it for the last three years.
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