Capitalism is not the problem. The problem is corruption and lack of law enforcement. DC and Wall Street are so intertwined it's like they are two divisions of one entity, each helping the other to do their job in a manner that is mutually beneficial. Who was helped by the bailouts? Wall Street executives. Who conducted the bailouts? Ex Wall Street executives. Who was complicit? Blatantly, two congresses and two administrations, but there has been less blatant collusion for a century. Due to their corruption, Government is the problem.
Capitalism is the methods used to capitalize on situations available in the environment that has been created in which to operate. However, though the environment is technically the same for all, some are allowed to operate outside that environment and operate in a manner that would be illegal for you and me. It is illegal for them too, but they know they won't be brought to justice, and if they are, the justice will cost less than their profit. Government is the problem.
Capitalism is not the problem. Government's original role was to protect individuals' rights. To intervene when other individuals or entities violate those rights through fraud, theft, physical harm, or whatever. Transactions can be freely undertaken by and between individuals and other entities. Each party can know the details of the transaction and decide to enter into it or not. When one party does not uphold its end of the bargain, the government must intervene, otherwise the government has no business in the transaction. Instead, the government tries to legislate transactions and alter the environment under which these transactions can take place. Government is the problem.
Take, for instance, health insurance. The government and the insurance industry, along with the AMA and the pharmaceuticals industry, set up a system that would dictate how people would get medical treatment. The AMA said, "No chiropractic, no Eastern medicine, no homeopathy". The pharmaceuticals said, "Vitamins are bad, drugs are dangerous and need to be prescribed". The insurance industry said, "We need to create an environment that causes all insurance purchases to go through employment so we can sell big policies to large groups instead of small policies to little people. It must be tied to employment since that is where most of the healthy people are". The government said, "Ok. We'll regulate drugs to increase the cost, we'll disallow treatments not approved of by the AMA in order to create a monopoly, and we'll give tax breaks to people who buy their insurance through work". Government is the problem.
A different kind of example, the Department of Education. "We think all children should be vaccinated; if you don't get all your students vaccinated, we can't line the pockets of the pharmaceuticals and we won't send you any of that money your state sent us in taxes, so DO IT!". "We want all kids to be in school, regardless of their ability, their desire, or their demeanor. Therefore, we will pay you for each child you can get to say 'present' each day. The more you get, the more we pay. If you expel Big Bad Billy Bob, we will pay you less. Go ahead and let him disrupt class and terrorize other students, just MAKE SURE HE GETS TO CLASS!". "We decided that we want no child left behind. The way we will accomplish that is to ensure that you allow no child to forge ahead, thus leaving others behind. We will implement this plan with certain tests. Your job is to teach the kids how to pass these tests; if they learn something along the way, great. If you don't do what we tell you, we will close your school, so DO IT!". Question. Once we achieve 'No Child Left Behind', and everyone gets a college degree, who will pluck chickens? Government is the problem.
The more laws our government passes, the more corruption we can (and do) have. These laws that are written to guard against these capitalists are aimed toward the little capitalists to keep them from competing with the big capitalists. The big capitalists are nice people; they volunteer their time to help government by actually drafting these laws against themselves! They even help congress to create the loopholes they need in order to operate unencumbered. How nice is that! The more laws our government passes, the less freedom we have to make our own choices. They help us by telling us we can't buy Penicillin without their permission. They help us by giving us a tax break on insurance, as long as we buy what they allow, from whom they allow, with the terms they deem appropriate. Politicians allow this to happen. Government is the problem.
If government had little power to control people or economics, she would not have any currency to bargain with when the lobbyists come knockin'. Corruption must have a currency or it can not be transacted. If we lessen government's power, we lessen corruption by the same degree.
Using one of the examples above, what if the federal (and state) government did not collect or distribute tax money for, or make rules for schools? The county would have to collect money for school funding and it would directly affect those who are paying for it. It would be much more efficient, right now we send $100 to DC and get $60 back. If this were all done at the county level, it would be $99. Then, if Johnny is a bad kid, we could kick him out of school and send him to chicken-plucker school, or carpentry school, or whatever would work best for him. Simple is the solution.
Jim
