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To: MeNeFrego
Blond, who has been a counselor to British Prime Minister David Cameron, just wrapped up a two-week U.S. tour to pitch his retooled version of “distributism,” a theory that argues that both capitalism and government are out of control.

The alternative to "capitalism" being what exactly? Some sort of collective authoritarianism, no doubt.

Well, this guy is half right, at least. Government certainly is out of control.

In truth, as most of us know, capitalism is not really being practiced in the USA, at least at the level of big business. So for that reason alone, branding capitalism as the boogeyman in the first place is rather misguided, since it's not the actual enemy.

What is out of control (besides government, of course) is corporatism (crony capitalism) whose benefactors, predictably, capitalize on their influence over an ever-expanding government, with its associated spending.

That's why people like Sarah Palin and her ilk who speak out against this real enemy are so important and influential in these times.

Let's all find a solution to the real problem, and not chase misnamed phantoms, whose pursuers invariably offer some flavor of Marxism as their "solution."

69 posted on 10/19/2011 9:01:23 PM PDT by sargon (I don't like the sound of these "boncentration bamps")
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To: sargon
Without being accused of being too knee-jerk, my humble proposal is that we actually practice something approaching capitalism, or free enterprise, if you will, before condemning it.

I submit that we have simply not seen capitalism in America for about 100 years, and therefore that central thesis of distributism, in the context of the last century or so, does not describe the American economic system.

Replace capitalism with "crony capitalism" or "corporatism," and the thesis starts to make much more sense to me.

Classical free enterprise (capitalism) is a phony enemy as far as this "distributism" is concerned.

Or am I mixing "free enterprise" with "capitalism"? Do they mean the same thing? I'm not an economic theorist, but I'd like to know the difference, if there is any.

Beyond that, any free market, voluntary solutions to our current situation are, of course, welcome.

71 posted on 10/19/2011 9:15:28 PM PDT by sargon (I don't like the sound of these "boncentration bamps")
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