Capitalism vs. Democracy

[turar]

A very interesting article, I thought I should share here:

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/29/opinion/capitalism-vs-democracy.html?src=me&ref=general&_r=0

 

 

[Packer16]

Capitalism in a vacuum is what very few folks are advocating.  This guy and his ilk are elite progressives who think that compelling folks to provide relief to others based upon rules they set up are the way to go and those who have enough power to lobby the government get there way.  I find it ironic that Mayor DeBlasio, Gov Cuomo, Sen. Shumer and our President dislike the "tea" party but they themselves use the tactics they accuse the "tea" party to suppress opposition.  They are just as much bigots against those how don't agree with them politically as those you used to find in the South.  Saying folks you don't agree with don't belong in New York, using the IRS to reduce the oppositions fund raising but in no way constraining your own and filing no criminal charges against anyone in the IRS.  Capitalism with a responsibility to others is what a capitalist democracy is about. 

 

Historically in the US wealth has come with responsibility typically via the reliance on a religious work ethic.  But the new "progressives" legitimize wealth with no responsibility by giving money to others by rules they establish which have little room for customization (that is why the war on poverty has failed - it requires more than money to pull someone out of poverty, it requires attitude and folks time).  The one thing I find ironic about the "progressives" of today is they appear oblivious to consumption equality (which is what I think the real problem is).  These folks who cry all day about income inequality don't want it to effect their consumption. The one famous person who lives consumption equality is Pope Francis.  Capitalism is only capitalism vs. democracy is a society with capitalism with no responsibility and consumption inequality which the welfare state encourages.  Sorry for the rant but I have not heard a response for the income inequality and capitalism vs. democracy red herring that many have been throwing around.

 

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[yadayada]

Education will need a drastic upgrade to keep up with technology if we dont want massive unemployment and even more inequality in the future. 100 years ago if you studied physics you only needed to know newton's laws. Now you need to learn much more complicated stuff. The amount of knowledge required to keep up will only increase in the future. And our current education system is not fit to deal with that. It is too expensive and innefficient. The answer to this is obviously not the government, but people like gates and greenblatt who set up schools with their own money and random admission that outperform pretty much almost any state run school.

 

If anything they should have an option to lower taxes for the rich, but set up a system where in return they can spend the money their way on their country. ALot of rich people probably have a problem with all the tax money that just dissapears in the system and never arrives to your average citizen. I know I would.

 

And from an outsider perspective, the wholy lobbying thing in the US seems terribly broken too. The things corporations are allowed to do in your country seems insane to alot of europeans. There has to be a better way to fund political campaigns? But I supose it is a catch 22, all the guys in power don't want to change, precisely because they are not really acting in the best interest of your average american anymore. But to get americans to care enough to force positive change, they need to smarten up by improving education. That is pretty much the ultimate fix to make democracy work better.

 

And Neil degrasse tyson sums up pretty well what is wrong with government: