Is Capitalism Dead?

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I thought welfare for the wealthy was as American as apple pie (which isn't but no matter)?

It's only when the wealthy aren't getting their cut that we're being taken over by filthy pinko commies that want to steal your paychecks and children.

Well, part of the point was that a lot of people on the left actually have supported bailout measures.

Well I don't think the bailout measure is something that can be easily segregated with partisan politics. People on both sides think its both a good and bad idea dividing things into 4 camps instead of the usual two.

Personally I think measures to increase energy availability and taking a hard look at the illegal oil company price fixing going on (until quite recently.. strangely enough they stopped right before the election as if in fear of getting in trouble with the "new guys") would have a much greater, more concrete, and longer term positive effect on the economy than simply throwing cash around but then again I'm not an economist.

A Recession(or worse) in one country does not signal the death of capitalism. Capitalism in fact has been around for thousands of years-its as old as civilization itself. As long as there has been trade between tribes, there has been capitalism.

Of course it is dead. Once you start bailouts to prevent failures due to uncompetitive products and corrupt industry behavior, the free market cannot act freely.

Socializing the losses (bailing out failures) destroys the punishment system that makes markets work.

Just like socializing profits (seizing profits of successes) destroys the incentive system.

The path to success in this environment is having the right friends and lobbyists in Washington. "Friends in DC" has replaced free markets as economic dynamics in the U.S. today. That's not capitalism.

speaking of, opec recently announced (yesterday or the day before) that they'd be cutting production by record levels to keep prices up.

it's called corporatism.

...supply side socialism.

As long as there is private property, private means of production and private parties making their own contracts and trading with each other, some form of Capitalism will exist. The only question is how much will the government interfere with it or regulate it.

Riddle: What is a camel? Answer: A horse designed by the government.

ruveyn

there are many was to get past oil. We will run out eventually any way. Car can be electric, powered by air, solar powered, etc. This has already been done. There are cars such as the one made by tesla motors that cna beata sports car. Gas stations can be replaced with electric charging stations and manufacturing can be done by using either biofuels or burning trash. Thy are not perfect, but people agree they can work. Trade is not part of capitalism and can exist without it. It has been around much longer than even the concept of money. There is the gift economy, the concept of trading items that have a subjectively determined value as well as other methods. Even technocrats agree there can be an alternative to capitalism. They have a concept of economics based on thermodynamics. I will point that before capitalim there was mercantillism. What is known capitalism came after. Most people consider adam smith one of th most important parts of capitalism. Most countries that attemptd laize faire capitalism gave it up not to long after. two examples being britain and the US. I would also lik to pont out that the concept of a free market and captialism are not necessarily the same.

what is happening with the bailout is actually considered lemon sociaism also know as corporate welfare.

economics and capitalism are not the same. Capitalism is an ideology not a system of economics. How do I know? read a book on economics. There certain concepts, but overall it is an ideaology. The othr ideaologies are socialism (not communism) and mixed economy. That the government already interferes in the economy according toadam smith would mean that we are not capitalist and since he was against international trade you can say goodbye to most of the products made in this country which are manufactured by china as well as japan.

the opposing concept to efficiency(doing it right) is effectiveness (getting it right). Scarcity can be used in any economic system. Keynesianism is an economic system, capitalism is the ideaology that can be associated with it.

Well, trade is a part of capitalism, umm.... as for trade existing outside of a capitalist system, sure, I can see that.

The issue with a gift economy is that there has to be a culture encouraging gifts, as otherwise it breaks down into the moneyed economy or the contract economy, both of which are very capitalistic modes.

"Even technocrats"??? Umm.... technocrats are anti-capitalist, so duh! But very few people are technocrats, and technocrats usually do not have a good understanding of economics. If they did, then they wouldn't invoke thermodynamics, but they just don't have the conception that there is a difference between human actors and particles, and that this difference is meaningful, but invoking a physics idea seems to suggest that they aren't even engaging relevant fields of study. Otherwise they'd invoke psychological concepts, political concepts, sociological concepts, etc.

And mercantilism is relatively capitalistic, but it had some very anti-capitalistic traits, such as the denial of free-trade.

The behavior of the US and the UK can be contested on whether or not the policies taken were ideal. After all, if you think that political pressures are dumb and self-serving, then you can argue that the policies taken were bad, or often bad, while the outcomes of a more market economy would be better.

As for a free-market and capitalism, that depends on how you define terms. Many people define the two as being about the same thing, where deviations in one is a deviation from the other.

Ok, it is corporate welfare. I don't see the relevance.

I hope you are joking

The US is one of the countries in the world that is actually considered capialist at all although it is not even considered purely capitalist.

I wold actul have to say it for economics it is scarcity, but even that concept does not matter if we do not have food.

Well, no, capitalism and economics are not the same. Capitalism is a particular economic system. Economics is a study of economic systems.

Capitalism has certain desired institutional mechanisms, therefore it can be referred to an economic system, and often is.
cap-i-tal-ism (kapi-tl-izm)n. An economic system in which the means of production and distribution are privately or corporately owned and development is proportionate to the accumulation and reinvestment of profits gained in a free market.

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Excerpted from American Heritage Talking Dictionary
Copyright © 1997 The Learning Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Socialism is an economic system as well, and the mixed economy isn't an economic system as it is merely an alteration of another economic system by taking it away from a purer version. If we were in a socialist system, and some candidates proposed limited markets, we might call that a mixed economy.

Umm.... Adam Smith isn't the end of capitalistic ideas, in fact, he is luke-warm on the idea. Most staunch defenders of capitalism are more so than Adam Smith, as Smith only described how the capitalist system would work t some extent.

Adam Smith was very much in favor of foreign trade, in fact, that is what he is very well known for, and one of his disciples, David Ricardo, developed an intellectual framework(Comparative Advantage) that is still used to understand the benefits of international .

Actually he has a point it could be exchangeable for energy. It called thermoeconomics I think. It is a Technocracy concept.