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Loveisallyouneed -> RE: Capitalism and Consumerism...... (2/16/2008 3:55:51 AM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: NorthernGent
The vast majority of people in the West are capitalists
I disagree.
The vast majority of people in the west believe in welfare for those who cannot earn a living.
They believe in socialized medicine (at least for those who cannot afford medical care, if not everyone).
They believe in the rich being taxed at a higher rate than the poor. Indeed, they believe the poor should pay no taxes at all if their income is below a certain level.
All of these are socialist-based concepts. Ergo, to some degree, the majority of the west are socialists.
quote:
The idea that somehow the US is capitalist whereas Canada and Western Europe are socialist is a mere fallacy: we simply offer varying shades of social provision.
Which I see as a euphemism for stating that we are all socialists to varying degrees.
Consider that in America communications frequencies are considered public property, controlled by the FCC and companies are liscensed to use these frequencies with the understanding that the FCC can revoke their liscenses under certain conditions.
quote:
Consumerism in its current state, on the other hand, is an entirely different fish; it's dangerous. It's dangerous because attention has been shifted away from the democratic process towards fashion and fads (by design, I might add). In a nutshell, in countries where only 50ish% of the people turns out to vote, the people have effectively been disenfranchised and the lunatics are free to take over the asylum. It follows, thus, attacks on Capitalism or Socialism serve only to prop up the status quo and do nothing to address the current disillusionment with the democratic process.
Consumerism is the direct result of advertising, accelerated through the use of television.
Advertising is paid for by capitalist entrepreneurs.
If I have a product to sell, I want everyone to know and I want everyone to want to buy it. Indeed, the more I can attune the consumer to consume, the more profit I will make.
All I need do is convince people they are not cool, safe, efficient, whatever unless they've purchased my products.
TV advertising has spent over 40 years conditioning people to think in these terms. Consumerism is the result.
However, I would disagree that this constitutes a change in attention from democracy to "fashions and fads".
I would say the political process has convinced many people it just doesn't make a difference who is elected: Liar #1 or Liar #2. It doesn't matter what they promise because things are not going to change and have not changed significantly in over 60 years.
The poor get poorer and the rich get richer. Excuses will be found to spend tax money on anything but alleviating the plight of the poor, whether it is the "War on Drugs" (over 40 years old now and still no sign of victory) or the "War on Terror" (whose premise ensures there will never be an end to that war either).
Any excuse to funnel money into the hands of LE/Military and keep it out of the hands of the poor working class.
To keep labour costs low, it is essential that an "empoyer's market" prevails.
And in a global economy where 1st world nations must compete with 3rd world nations' wage expectations, it is to be expected that the working class will get poorer.
Which is why the rich must invest in LE and the Military. For in every nation in history where there was such a difference between rich and poor, the poor eventually strike back at the rich.
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