Timothy Birdnow

I'm in an argument with a dimwit on Facebook who believes socialism is the best thing ever and capitalism the worst.

Marc Tek says:

I have only practiced capitalism my whole life. I know and play the game well but I’m here to tell you that Capitalism is unsustainable and it is at the core of every single social and national issue in this country.

Capitalism is like a cancer to a nation.
I know we are told to hate socialism but anybody who claims that capitalism is somehow superior for a country as a whole is either, purposely lying, ignorant of what capitalism does and how it works or simply benefitting from the status quo.

Naturally I have to rebut this. I reply: Marc Tek retorts:

Aside from the ability to consume gadgetry how has capitalism benefited the US citizens? Aside from gadgetry and consumerism?
Do you realize that this unrestricted capitalism has given birth to things like Hollywood, Consumerism, both of which have undermined the most important institution in society the family, the almost total destructing of the manufacturing system in the US, 2% of inflation per year, the ever growing national debt, the constant need for a war machine, this consumerism has denied a purpose to millions of people millions in prison, more millions addicted to drugs, which in turns fuels the drug cartels as they try to bring their products to our nation of junkies.

The US peaked in 1950 since then it has been a steady decline, our fellow citizens struggle to find a purpose a national purpose anyways.

So what’s the point of having a system that makes a consumer and gives some of the people access to gadgets more anyone else in the world while undermining every aspect that makes us humans?

You don’t have to take my word for it, Capitalism is literally eating the fiber of what We call the US, is just that most people are hypnotized by the propaganda arm of capitalism which creates distraction and refocus attention on nonsense, like the Muslim threat or the Chinese take over.

By the way, China is simply using the greed of the capitalist system against itself. China would not have been able to achieve all that it has achieved without having a socialist foundation.

Monumentally wrong Marc Tek. "Capitalism" is not an "ism" at all but is a Natural Law function endemic to human economics. People work for themselves. People seek to better their own economic interests. That is the core essence of what we now call capitalism. You are thinking about something very, very different. You are thinking about corporatism, where giant corporations work in partnership with government to eliminate any competition and to fix prices and wages and the like. The socialism of the Natioinal Socialists was corporatist. They believe businesses are there to be managers of resources but government ultimately owns the fruits thereof. That is what we have now, which is why we are hurting. We eschewed real capitalism quite some time ago.

Marc sneers:

Capitalism isn’t natural that’s why it requires propaganda and war to impose itself. That’s why the U.S. controllers cannot stomach a small nation like Cuba and Venezuela to do what they want, they have to be destroyed because otherwise it would be difficult for the propaganda system to keep people convinced.
Unless you are arguing that a human being is a beast then capitalism is definitely inhuman.

When a child is born he or she never thinks in term of selfish capital games, a child’s aspirations are communal meaning that he or she aspires to have an altruistic purpose in life.
A kid will tell you, I want to be a doctor to help people, or I want to be a teacher to help others.
Our human side pushes us towards building putting humanity first, this is why capitalism is in fact anti human, because when people become unaware of it, they start behaving as beast.

We live in a country where those who we call poor are dehumanized and looked upon as losers, we live in a country where people have no problem knowing that only some of them will get the best education while others will have to do with much less. That in itself is unsustainable.

But like I told someone else before you don’t have to take my word for it, because if I am wrong we must live in the most United strong nation ever and we are not in a decline but a ascension to even greater social unification and peace within our nation for that is what a society is supposed to ascend to.

I reply:

Marc Tek you say "capitalism isn’t natural that’s why it requires propaganda and war to impose itself." This illustrates you are woefully ignorant of what is being discussed. Capitalism is what people do when not interfered with by government. People make things or do things and buy or sell. THAT is the essence of capitalism. You have bought into the propaganda pushed by socialists. Socialism is the unnatural thing. It requires force to impose. Free markets require nothing but leaving people alone to do what they would do.

Again, your beef is with corporatism, the economic system of fascism and naziism. We have not practiced capitalism in the West for quite some time.

You out yourself:

"That’s why the U.S. controllers cannot stomach a small nation like Cuba and Venezuela to do what they want, they have to be destroyed"

So you are a communist. Uh, communism has failed ever time it is tried. It leads to poverty and despair and that is because there is no incentive to produce and there is a ruling class far worse than any robber barons in a capitalist system because they use physical force via the police and military to compel behavior.

"Unless you are arguing that a human being is a beast then capitalism is definitely inhuman."

Who is it who kills their citizenry when they become inconvenient? Read the Little Black Book of Communism.

Capitalism gives us medical science that has greatly improved the quality of life for all people. Oh, I'll bet your rejoinder will be "but not everyone gets it" and your solution would be that NOBODY gets it. Oh, they'll have guaranteed medical care, just it will be on a par with a first aid merit badge by a boy scout.

"When a child is born he or she never thinks in term of selfish capital games"

You clearly know absolutely nothing about children. Kids are very greedy, and do not like to share except when they don't have something.

Children also want to be flowers or animals. The reality is we teach children to live in the real world. Kids have imaginary friends. Kids think money grows on trees and that Santa Claus is a real person who brings them their hearts desires. Reality sets in as a child grows to maturity. They come to understand the basics of economics. You don't get something for nothing. That is the whole point of child-rearing.

The utopianism you espouse here is myopic and unreasonable and just plain silly.

Again, who behaves as beasts? Do you remember the Holodomor where Stalin starved the Ukrainians to death because they had small farms and were showing the glorious socialist system up for the bankrupt scheme it was? Do you remember the Gulag, where politically unreliables, Christians, Jews, and people who stopped applauding the Glorious Leader first went to be starved and worked to death? Castros labor camps?

Zbigniew Brzezhinski, no right winger or capitalist, estimated the deth toll under communism as 60 million and he was undoubtedly quite low.
It was probably well over 94 million. https://reason.com/2013/03/13/communism-killed-94m-in-20th-century/

And THAT number is only those killed directly. The deaths of countless people from starvation or disease far outweighs that number.

But the people who advocate freedom to engage in economic activity as you see fit are the beasts?

"We live in a country where those who we call poor are dehumanized and looked upon as losers"

No, we live in a country that kowtows to the poor and lavishes gifts on them. We live in a country where the poor live better thant he rich in the socialistic states you so dearly love. In America the poor own televisions, often several. The often own cars. They have air conditioning. They get plenty to eat and obesity is one of the major health problems of our poor (unlike in the socialistic third world where they are thin as rails). Our poor can afford alcohol, narcotics, and go out to restaurants and bars. Meanwhile we give them multiple government aid programs and appeal to Americans for more.

I worked with many poor people back in my younger days. What we call poor is quite prosperous.

Also, our poor are usually only poor for a short time, In America there are multiple paths to leaving poverty. All it takes it effort. Yes, there are those who are poor because they have learned the wrong lessons and think life is to be lived on someone else's dime (as you socialists believe) and that is the real cruelty, and it is the fault of people who advocate what you believe. If these people knew they had to be responsible for their own welfare they would do a better job. But they have been made into passive spectators of life because they see no way but government largess.

That is not a failure of capitalism. Capitalism produces plenty and allows them the luxury of not working or providing for themselves.

We provide free educationfor everyone. But that isn't enough for you?

The reason America is in decline is because people such as yourself have bought into a lie. You have accepted the lies of the Left who claimed they could create paradise then went and ruined the good things we had. Again, we no longer livein a capitalist society, and it has been an asymptote of the decline of capitalism with the decline of the United States. You clearly do not know what capitalism is. pr imderstand the great bounty and blessings it has brought to us.

There is far more charity in America under capitalism than you will find under any other system. Charitable giving is well beyond anywhere else.https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/most-charitable-countries I wonder why?

Because we have the money, but why? Because we have free markets that produce wealth. Wealth is not a pie to be sliced thinly, but is something that is made by people acting in enlightened self-interest.

And that is why everyone wants to come here. If America sucked as badly as you claim why is the whole world at our southern border? They want the blessings of a captialistic system, that's why. They want to be in control of their own destiny.

Capitalism is a system where People and not the State control wealth and the means of production. That is as natural as any system ever devised. It is People Power. It is the right to be left alone to provide for yourself and your family. What you advocate is power to the State, power to those in authority, power to take what is not yours. It is a legalization of theft. It is inherently immoral. Socialism must be imposed with the barrel of a gun. If you refuse to share you will die!

You need to really educate yourself on what the different systems are and what they produce. Your argument is not valid and that is a grave danger as I am sure you vote and vote for socialists who will drag us and the whole world down. What happens when America can't feed the world? Everyone starves.

BTW China floundered until it eschewed socialism for a corporatist model. I would add that it prsopered primarily because the West set out to make it prosper as it provided a great market and labor force. But China was and remains a command economy - it's now fascist rather than communist. And that is why it is starting to teeter. The West hamstrung itself with environmentalism and monetary manipulation that had nothing at all to do with capitalism and everything to do with socialistic ideas. China stepped into the gap, and began producing goods and selling them on the free market (the capitalistic market). Then it prospered. Socialism held them back and is pulling them back into the abyss as their economy is starting to melt.

Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at 08:28 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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