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Is Capitalism Dead?

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Is Capitalism Dead?
Yes 23%  23%  [ 11 ]
No 77%  77%  [ 37 ]
Total votes : 48

slowmutant
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12 Dec 2008, 6:34 pm

skafather84 wrote:
slowmutant wrote:
Capitalism is a way of life. It is a religion.

And the idol/mascot/godhead of said religion is ...

Image



drama queen. :roll:


Not really.



Letum
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12 Dec 2008, 6:50 pm

slowmutant wrote:
skafather84 wrote:
slowmutant wrote:
Capitalism is a way of life. It is a religion.

And the idol/mascot/godhead of said religion is ...

Image



drama queen. :roll:


Not really.


Well, it's not really an understatement is it?



Orwell
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12 Dec 2008, 7:18 pm

Fraya wrote:
So you're basing success on efficiency?

Yes. What else would you base success on? There is also the immense wealth produced by capitalism that would not be posible under a barter economy.

Quote:
Capitalism is nice but it only works because we have the stability and infrastructure needed to support it. If a government goes down the drain or the means of coin/printing production is destroyed or inoperable your money becomes worth only the paper it's printed on in a barter trade.

Commodity-based currencies like silver and gold would still work just fine.


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slowmutant
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12 Dec 2008, 7:28 pm

Letum wrote:
slowmutant wrote:
skafather84 wrote:
slowmutant wrote:
Capitalism is a way of life. It is a religion.

And the idol/mascot/godhead of said religion is ...

Image



drama queen. :roll:


Not really.


Well, it's not really an understatement is it?


Not really. :)



skafather84
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12 Dec 2008, 7:38 pm

slowmutant wrote:
skafather84 wrote:
slowmutant wrote:
Capitalism is a way of life. It is a religion.

And the idol/mascot/godhead of said religion is ...

Image



drama queen. :roll:


Not really.



i think it's quite an exaggeration. the reason why it's given the praise it is here with certain people is because we know it (mostly) works. the less interference, the better it will work. it's nothing to do with worship so much as appreciating a naturally efficient system of commerce.

i don't see how it's a religion...calling something a religion is so cheaply used here.


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Puppet
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12 Dec 2008, 7:51 pm

skafather84 wrote:
slowmutant wrote:
skafather84 wrote:
slowmutant wrote:
Capitalism is a way of life. It is a religion.

And the idol/mascot/godhead of said religion is ...

Image



drama queen. :roll:


Not really.



i think it's quite an exaggeration. the reason why it's given the praise it is here with certain people is because we know it (mostly) works. the less interference, the better it will work. it's nothing to do with worship so much as appreciating a naturally efficient system of commerce.

i don't see how it's a religion...calling something a religion is so cheaply used here.


I may be trippin' on my "sleeping pills", but I think the Bible was wise to assume that people might worship not the cow, but the gold.

I'm assuming that's slowmutant's interpretation?


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skafather84
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12 Dec 2008, 7:57 pm

Puppet wrote:
skafather84 wrote:
slowmutant wrote:
skafather84 wrote:
slowmutant wrote:
Capitalism is a way of life. It is a religion.

And the idol/mascot/godhead of said religion is ...

Image



drama queen. :roll:


Not really.



i think it's quite an exaggeration. the reason why it's given the praise it is here with certain people is because we know it (mostly) works. the less interference, the better it will work. it's nothing to do with worship so much as appreciating a naturally efficient system of commerce.

i don't see how it's a religion...calling something a religion is so cheaply used here.


I may be trippin' on my "sleeping pills", but I think the Bible was wise to assume that people might worship not the cow, but the gold.

I'm assuming that's slowmutant's interpretation?


that wasn't a metaphorical story. they were worshipping ba'al hadad...a semitic god of the time period.


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slowmutant
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12 Dec 2008, 8:08 pm

Puppet wrote:
skafather84 wrote:
slowmutant wrote:
skafather84 wrote:
slowmutant wrote:
Capitalism is a way of life. It is a religion.

And the idol/mascot/godhead of said religion is ...

Image



drama queen. :roll:


Not really.



i think it's quite an exaggeration. the reason why it's given the praise it is here with certain people is because we know it (mostly) works. the less interference, the better it will work. it's nothing to do with worship so much as appreciating a naturally efficient system of commerce.

i don't see how it's a religion...calling something a religion is so cheaply used here.


I may be trippin' on my "sleeping pills", but I think the Bible was wise to assume that people might worship not the cow, but the gold.

I'm assuming that's slowmutant's interpretation?


Correct. The golden calf is a symbol of materialism, which of course fuels capitalism like gasoline fuels a pickup truck.



slowmutant
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12 Dec 2008, 8:12 pm

I should have said, Capitalism is an unofficial religion. How many people worship the Almighty Dollar to the exclusion of all else?



Puppet
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12 Dec 2008, 8:17 pm

skafather84 wrote:
Puppet wrote:
skafather84 wrote:
slowmutant wrote:
skafather84 wrote:
slowmutant wrote:
Capitalism is a way of life. It is a religion.

And the idol/mascot/godhead of said religion is ...

Image



drama queen. :roll:


Not really.



i think it's quite an exaggeration. the reason why it's given the praise it is here with certain people is because we know it (mostly) works. the less interference, the better it will work. it's nothing to do with worship so much as appreciating a naturally efficient system of commerce.

i don't see how it's a religion...calling something a religion is so cheaply used here.


I may be trippin' on my "sleeping pills", but I think the Bible was wise to assume that people might worship not the cow, but the gold.

I'm assuming that's slowmutant's interpretation?


that wasn't a metaphorical story. they were worshipping ba'al hadad...a semitic god of the time period.


To me the world is made of symbols. I apologise if I offended anybody.


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skafather84
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12 Dec 2008, 8:27 pm

slowmutant wrote:
Puppet wrote:
skafather84 wrote:
slowmutant wrote:
skafather84 wrote:
slowmutant wrote:
Capitalism is a way of life. It is a religion.

And the idol/mascot/godhead of said religion is ...

Image



drama queen. :roll:


Not really.



i think it's quite an exaggeration. the reason why it's given the praise it is here with certain people is because we know it (mostly) works. the less interference, the better it will work. it's nothing to do with worship so much as appreciating a naturally efficient system of commerce.

i don't see how it's a religion...calling something a religion is so cheaply used here.


I may be trippin' on my "sleeping pills", but I think the Bible was wise to assume that people might worship not the cow, but the gold.

I'm assuming that's slowmutant's interpretation?


Correct. The golden calf is a symbol of materialism, which of course fuels capitalism like gasoline fuels a pickup truck.



you're adding metaphor where there wasn't any before. the story was a literal story and the intent was the first commandment. there is no commandment that states "thou shalt not be greedy." such an idea as how power has been conglomerated today didn't exist then.*

if you have a problem with capitalism, do what everyone else does: buy a rage against the machine album and a che guevera t-shirt and send some money to free tibet.


*i realized that this isn't very clear...what i meant was the idea of having money didn't exist back then outside of kings and people of noble lineage...not like today where some schmuck (as opposed to a blue blood) like bill gates can make billions off of his ideas and work.


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Last edited by skafather84 on 12 Dec 2008, 10:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Awesomelyglorious
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12 Dec 2008, 9:25 pm

slowmutant wrote:
Capitalism is a way of life. It is a religion.

And the idol/mascot/godhead of said religion is ...

Image

Capitalism is a system of economic organization, but not a religion. Heck, in the adherents of the Austrian school, the most laissez-faire capitalism favoring economic school of thought, a significant number of the modern adherents to that branch of thought seem to be religious, such as Lew Rockwell and Thomas Woods, and their Catholicism(Thomas Woods even wrote a book outlining the plausibility of Catholic views and Austrian economics going together), or Bob Murphy whose blog talks about both economics and occasionally talks about Christan theology, and I think a significant number of people on the Austrian boards once talked about being influenced by Cornelius Van Til, a Calvinist philosopher who developed a new view of apologetics(my memory could be mistaken though)

However, in any case, to argue that capitalism is a religion seems ignorant of both economics and religion, and I think the only theologians who might support you with that claim would perhaps be those who believe Liberation Theology, and they are obviously biased, and perhaps even heretical.



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12 Dec 2008, 9:30 pm

slowmutant wrote:
I should have said, Capitalism is an unofficial religion. How many people worship the Almighty Dollar to the exclusion of all else?

Not the same as capitalism, the worship of money is the worship of money, it has little to do with capitalism, and the original context of this saying was not even within what is considered a very capitalist society. Capitalism is just a system of exchange via money, and it is hard to say that this was thoroughly condemned in the Bible.



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13 Dec 2008, 1:44 am

nope, its allive and well with the selling of Illinois's seat



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13 Dec 2008, 2:01 am

Properly organized and respected almost any system would be functional. What brings down a system is gaming - disrespect for the essentials of the system which provide general benefit. The human drive for corruption underlies the destruction of any system and how to get rid of that seems to be an insoluble problem.



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13 Dec 2008, 2:45 am

skafather84 wrote:
there is no commandment that states "thou shalt not be greedy."


At least not in your religion. There are many that consider materialism to be a sin.


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