American capitalism

[Marocc]

There's no denying the US is a capitalist country, but does everyone yet admit that the capitalism is causing enormous problems all over the US and the world?

If they don't try - sincerely try - to fix things they should be held responsible for how their capitalism affects others. Would it be unreasonable to say out loud, 'capitalism is ruining the US'?

In four weeks, during the pandemic, the rich amassed $308bn and 26 million Americans lost their jobs.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/26/heads-we-win-tails-you-lose-how-americas-rich-have-turned-pandemic-into-profit

".......Collins said the pandemic had further exposed fault lines in the US body politic that have been widening the gap between the really rich and the rest over decades........."

"..........By 2016 – seven years after the end of the last recession – the bottom 90% of households in the US had still not recovered from the last downturn while the top 10% had more wealth than they had in 2007....."

"......For black and Latinx Americans, the situation is worse. The black-white wage gaps are larger today than they were in 1979......."

"....Billionaire wealth soared 1,130% in 2020 dollars between 1990 and 2020, according to the Institute for Policy Studies...."

"...And the tax obligations of America’s billionaires, measured as a percentage of their wealth, decreased 79% between 1980 and 2018.."

[bush_cheney2004]

29 minutes ago, Marocc said:

There's no denying the US is a capitalist country, but does everyone yet admit that the capitalism is causing enormous problems all over the US and the world?

If they don't try - sincerely try - to fix things they should be held responsible for how their capitalism affects others. Would it be unreasonable to say out loud, 'capitalism is ruining the US'?

 

Compared to what ?    The world rewards U.S. capitalism with the U.S. dollar as reserve currency and flight to quality in times of crisis.

Income inequality is worse in the Middle East, Brazil, South Africa, and several other nations:

 

Quote

The Middle East leads the world in income inequality

 

During the period 1990-2016, the top 10% of the population in the Middle East enjoyed about 60-66% of the region’s income.

 

The “World Inequality Report 2018″ has ranked the Middle East as the region leading the world in economic inequality. The Middle East, which is treated in the report as a bloc that includes Turkey and Iran, ranks just ahead of Brazil and South Africa in terms of income inequality among its citizens.

 

https://thearabweekly.com/middle-east-leads-world-income-inequality

 

Edited April 27, 2020 by bush_cheney2004

[godzilla]

Compared to what the people of the US had in prior decades. Things have gotten a whole lot worse. Driven by GOP and "conservative" lobbies that have nothing to do with the lies that people get fed to go along. Obama tried to offer poor people health care, thats about the only gain the non rich could hope for in the past 20 years, and yet thats being fought tooth and nail and Trump in particular is trying to destroy.

[bush_cheney2004]

8 minutes ago, godzilla said:

Compared to what the people of the US had in prior decades. Things have gotten a whole lot worse. Driven by GOP and "conservative" lobbies that have nothing to do with the lies that people get fed to go along. Obama tried to offer poor people health care, thats about the only gain the non rich could hope for in the past 20 years, and yet thats being fought tooth and nail and Trump in particular is trying to destroy.

 

Actually, Obama doubled down on "capitalism" and gave Big Insurance and Big Pharma even bigger profits.

Wall Street loved Obama...and Clinton.

[godzilla]

no one said that they tried to shut down capitalism. they tried to help all Americans get a piece of the pie... not just the rich. and Trump has totally doubled down on screwing the poor. the manufacturing sector is not "coming back". he's trashing the Affordable Care Act. he gave the rich one of the most fabulous tax breaks in decades.

[bush_cheney2004]

26 minutes ago, godzilla said:

no one said that they tried to shut down capitalism. they tried to help all Americans get a piece of the pie... not just the rich. and Trump has totally doubled down on screwing the poor. the manufacturing sector is not "coming back". he's trashing the Affordable Care Act. he gave the rich one of the most fabulous tax breaks in decades.

 

The topic is actually about capitalism too.....not just another Trump hate fest.

The "poor" we employed at the highest levels in over 50 years with Trump.

[godzilla]

3 minutes ago, bush_cheney2004 said:

 

The topic is actually about capitalism too.....not just another Trump hate fest.

The "poor" we employed at the highest levels in over 50 years with Trump.

yeah, slaves were employed at high levels before as well. high employment doesn't always appear to mean that income inequality is not getting worse.

and again, i don't hate Trump. he's just an idiot. i actually feel bad for the guy. he's in way over his head and he knows it.

Edited April 27, 2020 by godzilla

[bush_cheney2004]

14 minutes ago, godzilla said:

yeah, slaves were employed at high levels before as well. high employment doesn't always appear to mean that income inequality is not getting worse.

and again, i don't hate Trump. he's just an idiot. i actually feel bad for the guy. he's in way over his head and he knows it.

 

Then why do you inject Trump into every thread ?

Some other nations have more income inequality than the United States, but you can't even name their leaders.

[godzilla]

um, cause this is the American politics forum? the thread is titles "American capitalism"? because Trump is currently the the president and his "policies" (using the term losely here) have direct effect on income inequality?

[bush_cheney2004]

3 minutes ago, godzilla said:

um, cause this is the American politics forum? the thread is titles "American capitalism"? because Trump is currently the the president and his "policies" (using the term losely here) have direct effect on income inequality?

 

Dude...American capitalism pre-dates Trump as president by many, many generations.   

It is profoundly stupid to think that he has such influence in only 3 years.

[godzilla]

14 minutes ago, bush_cheney2004 said:

 

Dude...American capitalism pre-dates Trump as president by many, many generations.   

It is profoundly stupid to think that he has such influence in only 3 years.

maybe you should re-read the OP. the topic is not American capitalism... its American income inequality.

[bush_cheney2004]

44 minutes ago, godzilla said:

maybe you should re-read the OP. the topic is not American capitalism... its American income inequality.

 

Even if that were the case (it isn't),  Donald Trump did not invent "income inequality".

Income inequality is a feature of American capitalism, not a defect.

Edited April 27, 2020 by bush_cheney2004

[Independent1986]

Good evening, yes I agree there are problems with capitalism. In a true capitalistic system I should be able to start my own social media company and compete with Facebook.

Can you do that today ? Of course not. This situation makes capitalism look like communism which is a few people on top and the majority of people at the bottom.

There's no denying this and this comes from a true believer in capital, it explains how someone like Bernie Sanders, a man that never produced anything in his life to have so much political power.

There has to be a solution or else I would not be surprised for the younger generations to do just that and there are lots of lazy people like Bernie Sanders that can't wait to dangle the worm of socialism in front of them and if you are still living with your parents and don't have independence why not take it ? 

Edited April 28, 2020 by Independent1986

[Marocc]

On 4/27/2020 at 4:13 PM, bush_cheney2004 said:

Compared to what ?   

Not sure which part you're referring to, but compared to either nothing, or the rest of the world in general. Or any place you care to.

[Tdot]

On April 27, 2020 at 5:50 AM, Marocc said:

There's no denying the US is a capitalist country, but does everyone yet admit that the capitalism is causing enormous problems all over the US and the world?

If they don't try - sincerely try - to fix things they should be held responsible for how their capitalism affects others. Would it be unreasonable to say out loud, 'capitalism is ruining the US'?

In four weeks, during the pandemic, the rich amassed $308bn and 26 million Americans lost their jobs.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/26/heads-we-win-tails-you-lose-how-americas-rich-have-turned-pandemic-into-profit

".......Collins said the pandemic had further exposed fault lines in the US body politic that have been widening the gap between the really rich and the rest over decades........."

"..........By 2016 – seven years after the end of the last recession – the bottom 90% of households in the US had still not recovered from the last downturn while the top 10% had more wealth than they had in 2007....."

"......For black and Latinx Americans, the situation is worse. The black-white wage gaps are larger today than they were in 1979......."

"....Billionaire wealth soared 1,130% in 2020 dollars between 1990 and 2020, according to the Institute for Policy Studies...."

"...And the tax obligations of America’s billionaires, measured as a percentage of their wealth, decreased 79% between 1980 and 2018.."

This thread theme might be rather, unfair, and might should be directed at those who made Capitalism the ultimate global game ---instead of it focusing on the nation which happens to be winning the game.

Did the USA create Capitalsim, or did it merely join the game?  It would seem that the (modern day) blame should go back to The Industrial Revolution. And that's not the USA.

[Marocc]

3 minutes ago, Tdot said:

---instead of it focusing on the nation which happens to be winning the game.

Instead of it focusing on the nation which among other nations is destroying the globe while pattering something about climate change being a hoax?

Actually, the focus, as far as I'm concerned, is capitalism. If you would like to choose another capitalist country, that significantly influences some part of the world, from the world map to use as an example while discussing this topic, please yourself.

[Rue]

On 4/27/2020 at 8:50 AM, Marocc said:

There's no denying the US is a capitalist country, but does everyone yet admit that the capitalism is causing enormous problems all over the US and the world?

If they don't try - sincerely try - to fix things they should be held responsible for how their capitalism affects others. Would it be unreasonable to say out loud, 'capitalism is ruining the US'?

In four weeks, during the pandemic, the rich amassed $308bn and 26 million Americans lost their jobs.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/26/heads-we-win-tails-you-lose-how-americas-rich-have-turned-pandemic-into-profit

".......Collins said the pandemic had further exposed fault lines in the US body politic that have been widening the gap between the really rich and the rest over decades........."

"..........By 2016 – seven years after the end of the last recession – the bottom 90% of households in the US had still not recovered from the last downturn while the top 10% had more wealth than they had in 2007....."

"......For black and Latinx Americans, the situation is worse. The black-white wage gaps are larger today than they were in 1979......."

"....Billionaire wealth soared 1,130% in 2020 dollars between 1990 and 2020, according to the Institute for Policy Studies...."

"...And the tax obligations of America’s billionaires, measured as a percentage of their wealth, decreased 79% between 1980 and 2018.."

I agree with you. We need a world Muslim theocracy.  

 

Edited April 28, 2020 by Rue

[bush_cheney2004]

3 hours ago, Marocc said:

Actually, the focus, as far as I'm concerned, is capitalism. If you would like to choose another capitalist country, that significantly influences some part of the world, from the world map to use as an example while discussing this topic, please yourself.

 

Start here....

The Middle East leads the world in income inequality

[godzilla]

whataboutism

[godzilla]

this is why Reagan is a "conservative" god.

Edited April 29, 2020 by godzilla

[Tdot]

48 minutes ago, godzilla said:

whataboutism

Heyyyy... Isn't that where people bring up evil, wicked acts by Democrats (like onto Tara Reade, Karen Whitsett etc) and then Dems respond with, "Okay, but what about President Trump and his..." ???

Edited April 29, 2020 by Tdot

[Tdot]

On April 27, 2020 at 10:28 AM, godzilla said:

Obama tried to offer poor people health care, 

Actually, no, he did not.  He pretended to.  

His removal of The Public Option from, Obamacare, proves that you are incorrect here. 

[Tdot]

55 minutes ago, godzilla said:

this is why Reagan is a "conservative" god.

This could be meaningless, in light of how Reagan was Capitalism's friend because he cut taxes when they were nearly 75% ---something which no President could dare try today! lol. You forgot about that part? 

Yes something like that in 2020 would not go over well with the ideals of decreasing our current national deficit 

[Tdot]

16 hours ago, Marocc said:

Instead of it focusing on the nation which among other nations is destroying the globe while pattering something about climate change being a hoax?

Actually, the focus, as far as I'm concerned, is capitalism. If you would like to choose another capitalist country, that significantly influences some part of the world, from the world map to use as an example while discussing this topic, please yourself.

I can respect your right to that opinion, but I did not reply here to please myself.

I replied here to help posters make sure that we readers here have as much info, as possible, when making choices or opinions about Capitalism in terms of the USA. So I apologize if I offended you wherever I pointed out questionable information you posted.

For example, everything you posted in your OP is about Democracy IMHO yes democracy and its laws which are independent of and irrelevant to, Capitalism. If you go by your own facts that you used ... you can realize that Capitalism can continue on as is, undisturbed, but everything still changes if the USA were to reverse every Democratic Inequality that you listed within your intrepid OP here no doubt. 

If the USA were to ever enforce their legislation called The Civil Rights Act of 1964 then every societal evil/Inequality you listed, would be gone. I don't see how that is a responsibility of Capitalism.

Although Capitalism can indeed benefit from such a colossal, democratic shift in society. Capitalistic-Democracy is actually a derative of Demcracy and its many faces. We actually just saw one face at work on a macro level, for example, look at how Capitalsim just benefitted when American Entrepreneurs of All Walks, Came Together therefore President Trump didn't even have to invoke the law at first ... although he did eventually ... and it forced USA businesses to abandon their own products then start mfg goods that fight the pandemic.

Edited April 29, 2020 by Tdot

[Marocc]

12 hours ago, Tdot said:

For example, everything you posted in your OP is about Democracy IMHO

No

12 hours ago, Tdot said:

and it forced USA businesses to abandon their own products

Those who did it, did it for profit.