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Forum nameOkay Activist Archives
Topic subjectRight...and
Topic URLhttp://board.okayplayer.com/okp.php?az=show_topic&forum=22&topic_id=18523&mesg_id=18571
18571, Right...and
Posted by pocahontas, Thu Feb-15-01 04:07 PM
I guess this these worn copies of Sir William Petty's writings and Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations that I've read over ten times and highlighted profusely, plus wrote many a term paper on, means that I've never read capitalist theory..okay, if you say so.

>I think a lot of cats
>on here need to READ
>more than spitting this nonsence....

Really, nonsense, I would neve disrespect you opinion like that, but I'm one of these crazy liberals that think what anyone has to say is important...

>Socialism is practiced here in the
>US. Social Sercurity? Medicare? Welfare?

In order for these programs to work in true socialist form, the ideology needs to be in tact, which in America, it is not. We are constantly feeding people the capitalist rhtoeric that stigmatize these programs, and more importantly, the people who need them. The concept behind making sure elderly people don't starve (which our paltry SS programs don't, especially for our poor elderly), or ensuring that the sick can have access to being well (which Medicare doesn't always do in the most effective and efficient manner), or making sure the people who are unemployed have enough to feed themselves (which welfare doesn't do a very good job of) is that everyone deserves a minimum quality of life. So you are saying that that is a bad thing? Are thinking that poor people deserve to starve and the rich has earned every penny they have? Okay...

>>Currently, CEOs make 40 times as much as their average >employee. In the 80s, it was only 5 times as much. The >disparity between rich and poor is increasing, and as such, the >urgency for some type of equalization is apparent, because >history have shown us what happens when that disparity becomes >too great.
>
>I agree to a point..
>You will find that the stock
>boom plays a big part
>in that. plus fortune 500
>companies have a large range
>of employess and it is
>mostly with them that you
>find the CEO making enormous
>ammounts of money.

Okay, does this make an impact on the point that I made about the gap between the rich and the poor is widening and that is detrimental, as history has shown us time and time again, to political and economic stability?


>>I think that every human being deserves a living wage so that >he or she can feed him or herself, capitalism does not allow >for that.
>
>Actually pure capitalism would but only
>if you are willing to
>adjust with the market... again

Capitalism would not because doing so would contradict the "laissez-faire"/invisible hand that is essential to the notion of capitalism.

>>Teachers should be valued as much a doctors, and more valued >than multimillion-dollar actors, actresses, and professional >sports figures. Everyone should be valued for contributing to >the society period, whether a janitor or a CEO. If we percieved >contributions to the society in a less stratified, less >hierarchical manner, this would make perfect sense.
>
>Is the more of a cultural
>issue or on with the
>economic system..???

Everything is economic. Maybe you should review some old supply and demand charts, huh?


>>Capitalism has failed Africans around the world. In fact, the >primitive accumulation acquired by the Western world (as >capitalism requires according to Adam Smith) was the result of >using African as capital themselves. Capitalism continues to >marginalize individuals, and what's worse is that it wears the >guise of providing opportunities for all. Capitalism is a lie >to anyone who isn't white, male, and/or rich, because any one >of these qualities gives one an unearned advantage..."unearned" >is something that capitalism forgets to take into consideration.
>
>Not accurate... actually communism has failed
>just as miserably.

There's a difference between socialism and communism, you know? Perhaps our attempts at organizing and restructuring our governments (here, Caribbean, Latin America, and Africa) has to do with the stranglehold that White capitalism has on the entire decolonizing world.

>To much bs in this one
>to pin point just one.

Actually, I only said four things, maybe your synthesis skills are in need of some help...but before I get into the issues you failed to address...

First of all, how dare you call my opinion "bs?" I have NEVER disrepected anyone on this board, and I don't think I'm asking too much to expect the same treatment in return. You don't know me, and I don't know you. Until you came at me sideways, this was a decent acadmeic conversation (that's when two or more people talk about an issue in a coherent, constructive manner).

Anyway, back to the questions you punked out on...is what I said about the Western world primitaive accumulation wrong? You didn't address that point. Second, do you think that capitalism give everyone an equal chance to succeed the way it claims to? You didn't address that either. Third, what's your argument against the point that Adam Smith's model of capitalism does not take into consideration "unearned privilege"?

Instead of calling my ideas BS, maybe you should not be a punk and actually address them.

>the tone may be hostile, but
>it has to be.

Why? Unless you revel in being an asshole and cannot engage in civil dialogue and intellectual debate without becoming one.

>this
>not an endorsement of capitalism
>but again it must be
>heard..

Do you endorse anything, because you really didn't offer much analysis, just criticism...
>
>READ ABOUT IT FIRST....
>please

Maybe I should send you excerpts from the several books and essays I've already read over the last 5 year in my study of the African Diaspora and historical economy, I already have highlights and notes in the margins to make it easier for you...

>peace..

Really? With your attitude? Whatever...