On 10/14/2012 8:54 AM, ASSHOLE#104 Len wrote:
> Nobody opened a company and said "I'm going to open this company to
> see how many jobs I can create". Every one of them opened a company
> to MAKE MONEY! As they made money, people were offered jobs to keep
> the company going/expanding.
The upside of capitalism at work.
But the downside to capitalism is its agnostic position on the social
welfare (societal well being) of a nation.
We cannot be a nation of capitalists only, we must also be "socialists"
(but not in the traditional ideological sense).
A good simple read is the wiki page on "social democracy". Especially
the part where SD morphs into a "better" and more mature political
ideology after WWII by realizing the historical need to addresses the
down side of capitalism without crushing the upside of capitalism.
Trying to remain unbiased, neutral, and wanting to have a simple,
somewhat informed, educated, and productive public dialogue in the
future and for the future generations like my kids... and not advocating
for any particular political system... I'm trying to reconcile what I
see happening, with how I "feel" about it, so that I can move from
emotion to intellect. Admittedly, that's not easy as a human being.
It might be that what is happening in politics as it regards the rich
and the poor (the "owner" and the "laborer") is simply the result of the
intellectual and emotional framework of a left vs right ideology.
Specifically, the current political dialogue seems to indicate that we
may be seeing ourselves (owners and laborers) as "different" with
respect to "give and take".
Both lefties and righties consider the other party to be takers. Lefties
see righties as taking collective wealth from the laborers, and righties
see see lefties as taking that collected wealth from the individual
owners for whatever purpose. The most heinous of which we all agree (as
laborers and owners), is the redistribution of that wealth to those who
are neither owners or laborers.
A better framework for a dialogue on the economy is non-political and
void of any ideology. Simply stated, an entrepreneur invests capital
into setting up a business. A laborer invests capital into his skills.
The framework then is that laborers are the smallest business unit and
that we are all capitalists. What remains is a matter of scale and
complexity.
As businessmen of varying levels of wealth, means, and skill, it doesn't
seem unreasonable to me that in order to have a "nation", we have to owe
it to each other to stand up for each other, to have some loyalty, and
to collectively improve our skill sets and productivity as a means of
increasing wealth for all, not just for ourselves.
The problem with the economy is then easily understood as a breakdown in
the relationship between large and small businesses. Where larger
business owners are forgoing any sense of loyalty to the country and its
small business owners, even the unit laborer, in order to increase their
own wealth.
The downside to capitalism.
Capitalism is only half of the equation when it comes to the welfare of
a nation. It is up to charitable (or generous if you prefer) people to
manage capitalism for the benefit of society as a whole, rather than let
capitalism rule in its agnosticism toward society.
Peace out.
Steve