Lies Concerning Capitalism

[deacon blues]

Lie #1: Business constantly rips us off---capitalism is mostly cruel and unfair.

Nonesense.The Golden Rule of Capitalism is that you can only make a profit in this country by giving people a product or a service that they want.

Lie #2: The businessman is a villain.

Many people think it's plausible that CEOs have lots of time to sip cocktails and chase women. There are people who believe in a "leisure class", people who are out there exploiting other people and really have nothing to do except sit on their yachts and go to their swimming pools and their vacations.

In real life, that's nonsense. The higher up on the income scale you go, the less leisure time you have. You make money in this country by working hard.

Lie #3: When the rich get richer, the poor get poorer.

This is the old zero-sum fallacy, which ignores that when two people engage in free exchange, both gain, or they wouldn't have traded.

Politicians and lawyers believe this lie because it's true in their world. But it's not true in business. If you believe that when the rich get richer, the poor get poorer, then you believe that creating wealth causes poverty, and you're an idiot.

One of the things that I hate is the term "obscene profits." There are no obscene profits. The current economic downturn shows that when the rich get poorer ... everybody gets poorer.

Lie #4: Government is more fair and reliable than business.

Remember the last time you went into Starbucks, and then remember the last time you went into the DMV to get your license? Where did you get better treatment? And it's not because the barista is some kind of idealist or humanitarian. She wants a tip. She wants you to come back to her Starbucks.

But the left doesn't get it. This is the suspicion of the profit motive---the idea that if somebody is selflessly serving me, they're going to treat me better than somebody who wants to make a buck. But if you think about it in your own life, if somebody is benefiting from his interaction with you, it's a far more reliable kind of interaction than someone who comes and says "I'm in this only for you."

Lie #5: The current downturn means the death of capitalism.
Capitalism is alive and well. It irritates me when people argue that today's problems prove that capitalism "failed." What failed? We had a correction. A bubble popped.
The truth is from 1982 to now, the Dow has risen from 800 to 11,000. Had it happened without the bubble, we'd say this is one of the great boom periods. This is one of the biggest lies---the idea that because of capitalism, we're all suffering.

Poor people in America today, people who are officially in poverty, have a higher standard of living in terms of medical standards, in terms of the chances of going to college, in terms of the way people live, than middle-class people did 30 years ago. It's an extraordinary achievement of technology and of the profit sector.

If our country continues to believe the lies of liberal academics, economists, journalists, celebrities and politicians, we will see a reoccuring effort to undermine the underpinnings of our economy. Ultimately, we must remember that there is a father of lies, and we all know who he is.

[Aquila]

Capitalism isn't perfect. In a way, that's why the church is so important... we are the heart and conscience of a capitalistic society. But while capitalism isn't perfect.... it's the best economic system ever to grace our planet.

[jfrog]

Originally Posted by Aquila

Capitalism isn't perfect. In a way, that's why the church is so important... we are the heart and conscience of a capitalistic society. But while capitalism isn't perfect.... it's the best economic system ever to grace our planet.

Capatalism is only good because it is regulated. Minimum wage, 40 hour work week with overtime pay for more work. Without such imporvements to our capatalist nation then most of us would be little more than slaves to the big businesses. We would be mindless zombies that work our everwaking minute on an assembly line just to get by.

[Jeffrey]

Originally Posted by Aquila

Capitalism isn't perfect. In a way, that's why the church is so important... we are the heart and conscience of a capitalistic society. But while capitalism isn't perfect.... it's the best economic system ever to grace our planet.

I just hate when capitalism takes over the mind and spirit of the church instead of the other way around. Spiritual, cultural and economic ways...

[Dedicated Mind]

We are not a capitalist society. We have medicare, social security, medicaid, public post office, public police, public firefighters and public schools. Thank God for unions, workers rights, minimum wage, 40 hour work week, voting rights for blacks and women. Thank God for Liberal policies and the democratic party. We just have to wait for more conservatives to die off in order to move forward. Time is on our side.

[jfrog]

Originally Posted by Dedicated Mind

We are not a capitalist society. We have medicare, social security, medicaid, public post office, public police, public firefighters and public schools. Thank God for unions, workers rights, minimum wage, 40 hour work week, voting rights for blacks and women. Thank God for Liberal policies and the democratic party. We just have to wait for more conservatives to die off in order to move forward. Time is on our side.

Fedex might can handle the mail better than the public postal service can... that one might be something we need to return to capatalism.

[Esther]

Originally Posted by Dedicated Mind

We are not a capitalist society. We have medicare, social security, medicaid, public post office, public police, public firefighters and public schools. Thank God for unions, workers rights, minimum wage, 40 hour work week, voting rights for blacks and women. Thank God for Liberal policies and the democratic party. We just have to wait for more conservatives to die off in order to move forward. Time is on our side.

This has got to rank up with one of the uglist post I have read from DM.

I wish you liberal folks that want the communist way of life to move to a communist country and be happy.

The democratic party of today is nothing of what it was 40 years ago.

But you want to be liberal and support abortion and gay rights then that is between you and God. Since both of those are an abomination to Him, I'm sure you have a good answer for why you support being so liberal.

[Dedicated Mind]

Originally Posted by Esther

This has got to rank up with one of the uglist post I have read from DM.

I wish you liberal folks that want the communist way of life to move to a communist country and be happy.

The democratic party of today is nothing of what it was 40 years ago.

But you want to be liberal and support abortion and gay rights then that is between you and God. Since both of those are an abomination to Him, I'm sure you have a good answer for why you support being so liberal.

Esther, I do not support abortion or homosexuality on a personal level, but I do not believe the government should be imposing religous views on nonbelievers. Women should have the right to determine wether they want to go through with an unwanted pregnancy. Homosexuals should have visitation and other partner rights. What if we had an Islamic government? Would you want islamic values shoved down your throat? Why should we move to another country? 50% of America is liberal, we want liberalism here in America. why don't you conservatives move to Idaho and secede from the union?

[deacon blues]

Originally Posted by Dedicated Mind

We are not a capitalist society. We have medicare, social security, medicaid, public post office, public police, public firefighters and public schools.

There's not a single credible economist or book on economics or anyone considered an authority on the subject who would support this statement. We are most certainly a capitalist nation! Thank God we are. Now, are we less capitalistic than we used to be? Sure. Have we become more socialistic? Yes. And the vast majority of our social ills are the product of government interference with our free market system.

I notice you wouldn't even touch a single point in the opening post. You just make "shotgun" statements and act like you've made a salient point. I, however, will be glad to address your points.

"We have medicare, social security and medicaid". Wow! Thank God for those failing government run socialist programs. They haven't even been around 80 years and they are projected to go bankrupt in our lifetimes. My kids won't ever see their SS. A really poor way to convince us that government can do a better job than the private sector.

Thank God for unions

Oh yeah, ask Detroit how that union thing worked for them. The unions are the #1 reason the American auto industry tanked. Why have the Japanese built more loyalty and better, more fuel effecient cars over the past 30 years? They're non-union. Unions were a good idea back in the day, like 1900. Since then they have increasingly been a source for lack of production, lower quality work with decreased incentives. The sooner unions go the way of the dinosaur, the better.

workers rights, minimum wage, 40 hour work week

There are some government interventions that are necessary and helpful.These are good. But they don't create wealth and jobs and a strong economy. They just help protect the workers, and that kind of protection is good. The minimum wage has its limits too. It helps keep employers honest and mindful of fair wage policy, but too often it is raised at the expense of the employers stifiling business growth, more jobs, benefits and innovation.

voting rights for blacks and women.

I have no idea what this has to do with capitalism vs. socialism. Capitalists are in favor of voting rights. Socialists weren't the ones who made that possible. Capitalists were.

Thank God for Liberal policies and the democratic party. We just have to wait for more conservatives to die off in order to move forward. Time is on our side.

Keep dreaming DM! HAHAHAHA!!!

Y'all's days are numbered. November will be a bloodbath for the Dems. They will lose both houses in the Congress, Obama will be stopped in his tracks with his liberal agenda, he will either swing more to the middle and govern more like Clinton or he will go to war with the conservatives in the Congress and everything will stalemate.
Why do you think this admin is trying to do so much before November? They know the handwriting's on the wall. Conservatism is here to stay. You all were declaring that conservatism was dead in 2008. You all are gonna find out it was simply sleeping and is now fully awake.

Obama will be another Jimmy Carter.

[Jeffrey]

Originally Posted by Dedicated Mind

Esther, I do not support abortion or homosexuality on a personal level, but I do not believe the government should be imposing religous views on nonbelievers. Women should have the right to determine wether they want to go through with an unwanted pregnancy. Homosexuals should have visitation and other partner rights. What if we had an Islamic government? Would you want islamic values shoved down your throat? Why should we move to another country? 50% of America is liberal, we want liberalism here in America. why don't you conservatives move to Idaho and secede from the union?

DM. I hear you and am proud that we can be brothers even though we may disagree on exactly how the government should function.

Is murder a religious view? Do you consider abortion murderous? "Unwanted pregnancy" may sound better, but isn't it the same thing: murder for convenience (unwanted child)? Why do you stop short of homosexual marriage and include visitation rights? What guides your philosophy?

I think you'll find that our ideas are often shaped by our worldviews, and many of those worldviews are shaped by our philosophy of life, which in many cases is religious (or iconoclastic). It's not so easy to cut a line down on this. Our very moral law is because of a moral law Giver. See what I mean? As a society, we have a voice to determine what sort of society we want, as long as the maxims of freedom and liberty are upheld. However, those maxims are held in check by the moral conscience of the constituents of our nation. Because of that, I'm not only unsupportive of abortion, but am passionately against it in the majority cases.

The Church doesn't need a political state that collects tithes and gives sermons, but the ecclesia can be a moral conscience to the nation it lives in, especially this great nation which has given its citizens a voice.

p.s. your comments about conservatives "dying off" and American being a "liberal nation" couldn't be farther from the truth. America is a slightly-to-the-right-of-center nation.