What capitalism currently stands for or can be defined as

Crazy Dave

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Mon Oct-15-07 12:06 PM
Original message

What capitalism currently stands for or can be defined as

Where seven wealthy board members have more control over government policy than seven million Americans.

Isn't that pretty close and/or accurate to what it is now? Or am I way off the mark?

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leftofthedial

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Mon Oct-15-07 12:08 PM
Response to Original message

1. one dollar

one vote

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Crazy Dave

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Mon Oct-15-07 12:11 PM
Response to Reply #1

2. In 1940 dollars?

:hi:

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Selatius

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Mon Oct-15-07 12:14 PM
Response to Original message

3. you just defined, as Naomi Klein calls it, crony capitalism or corporatism or disaster capitalism.

Yes, you could even call it fascism, where corporations run the government.

There is no more capitalism. That implies a functioning free market competition mechanism. These markets in the US: They're anything but free. They're rigged in favor of giant business conglomerates.

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BridgeTheGap

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Mon Oct-15-07 12:16 PM
Response to Reply #3

4. Monopolism also works

Edited on Mon Oct-15-07 12:16 PM by BridgeTheGap

doesn't it?

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Selatius

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Mon Oct-15-07 12:18 PM
Response to Reply #4

5. There are no more true monopolies, post 1890 anyway.

Obvious monopolies are broken, but markets that are being strangled aren't being strangled by one corporation but by a few, an oligopoly. Oligopolies reign in many of America's markets. They act like a log jam in a river of innovation, change, and progress, and they should be blown up with sticks of dynamite, with extreme prejudice.

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BridgeTheGap

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Mon Oct-15-07 12:25 PM
Response to Reply #5

7. Interlocking directorates?

Also, Main stream media may not be a "monopoly" but it is being consolidated into fewer and fewer hands.

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Selatius

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Mon Oct-15-07 12:30 PM
Response to Reply #7

8. Those were supposedly outlawed in the 1890s as well.

For instance, you can't simultaneously serve on the boards of both Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola at the same time because if enough people do it in the boardroom, it almost has the effect of being a monopoly in a market. The drawback is you can serve on the board of Halliburton and the board of General Electric, owner of NBC News, because they serve different markets and not the same.

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Crazy Dave

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Mon Oct-15-07 12:20 PM
Response to Reply #3

6. Exactly

You've obviously studied it better than me. I own my own small business but everything I pay as far as licensing, taxes and insurance is at a higher percentage rate than applies to big business and it subsidizes them.

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