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| Stencil graffiti in Lübeck |
“You show me a capitalist, and I'll show you a bloodsucker”
― Malcolm X
― Malcolm X
Capitalism is defined as a mode by which trade, industries, and the means of production are largely or entirely privately owned. This is across the board regardless of the industry or the need for the particular good or service that is offered, so in essence everything has a price even a life. The organisations on the other side of this transaction are modern day vampires that are only there to suck consumer dry. If we think of the rights of the citizens of a country, even citizens of the world there are some necessities that every individual should have the right to. They include all of the essentials that we need to live a healthy life such as health care, clean drinking water, education ect. By privatising the essentials we are seeing the natural divide that Capitalism creates in society with the haves and the have nots.
We see countless advertisements for a variety of charity organisations asking us to dig deep into our hip pockets to donate to those less fortunate than us in developing nations when there are those going without the simple necessities in life that we all deserve in our own backyards. Not to say that we are experiencing the same rate of poverty that other countries are, but maybe we should workout what we are doing here before we go play the hero and fix other countries. The people of a nation should not have to intervene to aid others when the government can do so on there behalf, they are more concerned with having the image of supporting our neighbouring countries than actually having a real impact.
By giving the people of a nation tax incentives to donate to charity they may appear that they care but in a way there really just giving themselves a way out, the government has been elected to make decisions on our behalf rather than to put the onus back on to their people. A recent survey of how much Australia allocates in the budget to foreign aid found than Australians grossly underestimate the the amount of money that is allocated. We do not think of the long term benefit of our actions rather just focusing on the here and now, altruism is definitely not a by product of capitalism but the failure to recognise that the lack of government intervention is capitalism's biggest weakness is were the issue lies.
We are led to believe that the less we are taxed the better off we are and that a progressive tax system is enough, but we see the loop holes that exist within the system to see the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. When we see all the excises that the mining industry is given and we wonder why they are constantly growing despite the constant drops in commodity prices we assume that their other assets and capital must explain there constant cash flows and are oblivious to all of the government support. Yes I agree with government intervention and there may be a significant impact if these big organisations fall but that is not to say that they should build a organisation with subsidies and excises. This goes against the cornerstone of a free market system, where the argument is that we do not help so only the best survive, yet if we look hard enough we see that this ideology changes when it suits them.
Capitalism is meant to give no one an edge and is said to let only the best of the best prosper in an environment driven by competition were the government's main role is to reduce if not removing all barriers to entry to encourage this environment of competition. This leads to the best product and services at the best price which all individuals within a market place seek out to find. So how are we meant to do all this when our Government is protecting the big players in the market and giving them the upper hand. To distract us from this they release new policies that are said to stimulate small businesses and allow new competitors to enter the market not because they have a chance but so they look like there on our side. Well to be on our side they need to create a more even playing field rather than aid large scale organisations and individuals to stay there and bully the new players out of the market. The established players already have natural benefits that exist within the market such as economies of scale, these already make it hard enough to break into without the added aid of the government.
We are led to believe that the less we are taxed the better off we are and that a progressive tax system is enough, but we see the loop holes that exist within the system to see the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. When we see all the excises that the mining industry is given and we wonder why they are constantly growing despite the constant drops in commodity prices we assume that their other assets and capital must explain there constant cash flows and are oblivious to all of the government support. Yes I agree with government intervention and there may be a significant impact if these big organisations fall but that is not to say that they should build a organisation with subsidies and excises. This goes against the cornerstone of a free market system, where the argument is that we do not help so only the best survive, yet if we look hard enough we see that this ideology changes when it suits them.
Capitalism is meant to give no one an edge and is said to let only the best of the best prosper in an environment driven by competition were the government's main role is to reduce if not removing all barriers to entry to encourage this environment of competition. This leads to the best product and services at the best price which all individuals within a market place seek out to find. So how are we meant to do all this when our Government is protecting the big players in the market and giving them the upper hand. To distract us from this they release new policies that are said to stimulate small businesses and allow new competitors to enter the market not because they have a chance but so they look like there on our side. Well to be on our side they need to create a more even playing field rather than aid large scale organisations and individuals to stay there and bully the new players out of the market. The established players already have natural benefits that exist within the market such as economies of scale, these already make it hard enough to break into without the added aid of the government.
BsB.
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