People are losing faith in capitalism
Surveys suggest that a growing number of people are losing faith in capitalism and the free market system, convinced they are being — or will be — cast off as detritus in the wake of globalization and advancing technology.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Last year, a Gallup survey found that only 45% of young adults in the United States have a favorable view of capitalism, while 51% see socialism in a positive light. Among all US adults, only 56% gave capitalism a positive rating, the lowest since 2010.
If we are to restore their faith in capitalism and free markets, we must find ways to ensure that the rewards extend to far more people in the United States and around the world. Achieving that will require candid dialogue and close collaboration between government and business.
The challenge is complex. Social and economic disruptions, including income disparity, a shrinking middle class, the uneven distribution of the benefits of globalization, and the threat of job loss due to automation all contribute to the declining confidence in our economic system. Studies indicate that young people in both developed and developing countries can no longer assume that they will have a higher standard of living than their parents.
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IMO the first step is to acknowledge that capitalism is not about free markets or creating money or becoming rich. The various lotteries provide a pathway to becoming rich very quickly and those lotteries have nothing to do with capitalism. A lottery is a collective economic activity where random chance provides opportunity to obtain economic benefit. The trend toward very large lottery pay outs indicate that random chance for economic benefit has become more appealing than capitalism.
The purpose of any economy is to organize labor to provide safety, comfort, and well being for a population. Capital does not create more capital; only labor creates capital. Capitalism is really about organizing labor and not about generating profit. Only labor is the means of production. Without labor, money has no value.
The American economic system is really about organizing labor to generate and distribute economic benefit that provides safety, comfort, and well being for the population of the United States. The role of the Federal government has been to intervene when the American economy fails to fulfill its fundamental purpose. The United States is not a capitalist economy or a free market economy or a global economy. The United States is a mixed economy that depends upon organizing private labor to generate and distribute economic benefit.
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People are placing more hope in the socialist activity of national lotteries than in phony supply-side, free market, globalized capitalism. Neo-liberal economic theory has destroyed the value of work. Random chance is providing greater opportunity for economic benefit than does neo-liberal economics.
"some people" are losing faith in socialism as well.
seen venezuela lately?
regardless of how or what anyone thinks about socialism?
the USA will never be a "socialist" nation.
we are a nation of individual rights and individual ownership.
this is not going to change.
in this country, the collective has no ownership rights to others property, or the results of their production.
socialism in the USA = a pipe dream.
cheers
True which is why it fascinates me when the alt+right freaks out when anyone on the left farts.
I don't think it's a loss of faith with capitalism as much as a loss of faith in our current system that highly favors big businesses over the rights of individuals. Changing the rules (or laws) to make things more fair doesn't mean we automatically become socialist.
well, the alt-left does seem to fart a lot.
as in everytime they think the usa will become a socialist nation.
the alt-left would have better luck at the state level.
cheers
Sitting pretty much in the center of most things neither do I.
I just lost that bit in the edit thing. but I stand by that as well.
cheers
Wall Street is already socialist. Wall Street depends upon concentrating money to form a collective and then utilizes central planning to obtain economic benefit for that collective.
Wall Street operates in the same manner as did the USSR.
wall street is not a govt nor is it an economic system used by the states to engage in everyday commerce.
move along.
cheers
Wow, can’t believe they actually had that level of ignorance about Wall Street
creating a false premise like that requires a great imagination... LOL
Oh, so 'socialism' to you is redistribution of wealth where producers are forced to support others and thus dissuade personal initiative for all?
Well no wonder you hate 'socialism' as you define it.
Although it is funny that you do not call the object of your ire by its clear label: statist redistribution of wealth.
The requirement to make the United States socialist would be to nationalize the stock exchanges. We are already seeing a move toward compulsory participation in stock exchanges with the advent of 401k and IRA retirement plans. And there have been many advocates for transferring Social Security to the stock exchanges. The largest stock owners on the exchanges are already government managed retirement funds.
Keep in mind that socialism is really about owning the means of production and distributing economic benefit derived from production. That is what stock exchanges do.
Try this:
Wall Street depends upon "VOLUNTARY" contributions in order to concentrating those monies to form a collective.
The largest stock owners on the stock exchanges are government managed retirement funds. With the creation of 401(k) and IRA retirement plans there has been increasing advocacy for compulsory participation. Some people have been demanding transferring Social Security to the stock exchanges while retaining compulsory participation.
Participating in Wall Street finance is not quite as voluntary as is being claimed. The 2008/09 recession revealed how closely government and Wall Street finance are intertwined. In fact, the government bailout of General Motors used government stock ownership as the mechanism for transferring funds.
The United States economy has been transformed from a production based economy to a services based economy. What people overlook (often deliberately) is that means a financial services economy. Wall Street finance is forcing the United States to become more socialist.
Which are both "Voluntary", are they not ?
"has been increasing advocacy for compulsory participation. Some people have been demanding transferring Social Security to the stock exchanges while retaining compulsory participation."
And ?
"The United States economy has been transformed from a production based economy to a services based economy."
At whose Fault ? Even a specific Service based business prospers based on "Volunteers" wanting the service for their own personal preference. No one is forced to go to Disney, Niagara Falls, Grand Canyon, beaches, any vacation spot, etc..... They just want to go.
Actually, you are onto something. What big multinational corporations hate worse than anything else is uncertainty. Considering that modern economics is actually just math, whole economies could be protected from the extremes of cyclical economic downterns if governments exercised much more precise controls. This explains why healthcare will eventually become socialized, to both control costs and to eliminate uncertainty.
Economics is like weather forecasting. Previsions are good for a short term, but not so good for the long term.
Partly, this is because many economists get so deep into ghe mathematical weeds that they lose sight of the real world.
And partly, this is for exactly the same reason that weather forecasts degrade proportionally to their duration. Both fields have a huge number of variables, whose interaction at long term is just too complex to foresee.
Uh, yeah. That's because today's kids don't have a work ethic. They want everything for free. They just want to stay home and play Xbox.
Statistically Millennials in the workplace are working as hard, or harder, than the past couple of generations. They are just more socially plugged in and feel like they are getting less. Speaking generally, their goals aren't a big house and a job with a corner office. It's more like living simply and enjoying travel.
Work ethic? That's a very myopic argument.
Today's kids have experienced disruptions and layoffs. Work ethic doesn't provide a reliable pathway to obtain a stable economic future any longer. People don't get ahead by working hard today. The greatest economic rewards go to those that pay lower wages, provide fewer benefits, layoff more workers, and destroy jobs. Today's kids have been taught by the business community that 'work ethic' is for chumps. Entire workforces can be laid off just to scrape a nickel more in stock value.
Social Security is a program that depends upon work ethic. Not only has Social Security become unreliable; it is being replaced by gambling on Wall Street. Kids are being told that work ethic can no longer provide an adequate economic future.
Do you really believe that the professor decides how much her students must pay?
You are half-right. Capitalism hates free markets, which limit profitability.
And half-wrong. Capitalism is all about making money. Capitalism has no other reason to exist.
"we must find ways to ensure that the rewards extend to far more people in the United States and around the world. Achieving that will require candid dialogue and close collaboration between government and business. "
Sounds like a drag towards "Socialism" to me !
The only problem these days is:
The "Newby People" coming into "REAL" Adulthood , are FUCKING LAZY, and PROUD OF IT !
They "FUCKING DESERVE" , even according to the Improved ? Democrat Presidential candidates !
Nothing more, nothing less !
LAZY CHILDISH IDIOTS !
Judgmental, maybe?
Maybe !
Just disregard anyone's personal "Experience" with the "Newbies" Wants though. That's not important right now.