The Diane Rehm Show

Capitalism is an idea and cannot be corrupt. Only people can be corrupt. Ask yourself why Pelosi/Kerry refused to answer questions about their personal investments related to legislation they were working on. If insider trading is illegal for you and I, why is it legal for members of congress and what affect on the resulting legislation does it have? Does the EPA, et al not have teeth because of this behavior? Crony capitalism is a reflection of the people that 92% of the voting public elects and begs to elect. Also ask yourself why Bill Clinton refused to sign the Federal Reserve Acountability Act in 1993, since, obviously, our neighbors are now homeless with the addition of their 401k having been plundered.

After 100+ years of being in power, it is obvious: anyone who votes for a Republican or Democrat deserves the effects. History gave a multitude of warning; government's history of failures has given a warning...anyone who votes for a Republican or Democrat deserves the effects.

ejowens:

Plain and simple....Capitalism is based on the profit motive. And the name of the game in Capitalism is the elimination of workers. Profits are what the boss/owner gets as a basis of the difference between what he pays for the work on a product to his employee/ wage slave and what he sells the product for. If he can work his employee harder and faster and get the same result, and the cost of the product doesn't go down, he pockets the difference as a profit.
Now if another owner/competitor/ undercuts him, he has to work his employee harder and faster yet....in order to remain in business.
If the owner can eliminate every other employee on the line and get the same amount of work out of the remaining employees, so much the better and his profit goes up even faster. This means that hie competition will do the same and lower the cost of the product even further....it's a race to the bottom.
This continues until there are no more employees, because employees without money means you don't sell products. Thus the profit motive and by extension Capitalism is flawed.

Amendment
Move to Amend 28th Amendment

Section 1 [A corporation is not a person and can be regulated]

The rights protected by the Constitution of the United States are the rights of natural persons only.

Artificial entities, such as corporations, limited liability companies, and other entities, established by the laws of any State, the United States, or any foreign state shall have no rights under this Constitution and are subject to regulation by the People, through Federal, State, or local law.

The privileges of artificial entities shall be determined by the People, through Federal, State, or local law, and shall not be construed to be inherent or inalienable.

Section 2 [Money is not speech and can be regulated]

Federal, State and local government shall regulate, limit, or prohibit contributions and expenditures, including a candidate’s own contributions and expenditures, for the purpose of influencing in any way the election of any candidate for public office or any ballot measure.

Federal, State and local government shall require that any permissible contributions and expenditures be publicly disclosed.

The judiciary shall not construe the spending of money to influence elections to be speech under the First Amendment.

Section 3

Nothing contained in this amendment shall be construed to abridge the freedom of the press.

Teece, the name of the game in Capitalism is extracting labor without paying for it. Fascism, the use and disposal of workers like paper towels, becomes feasible when there is a marked surplus of workers. In that case no promises need ever be kept because another truckload of chickens is always in route to the slaughterhouse. An equilibrium existed where negotiations with labor remained necessary (1820-1976) in the United States because labor was in a relatively short supply. Unions, and pensions and benefits and insurance were bargaining chips. Those days appear to be at an end even for highly trained and educated workers. I think the Oligarchy values their thugs above teachers or doctors, as they appear to be of more immediate utility. The jackpot macoutes on this commentary and others seem to be a subspecies of such indispensable mercenary cadres. It is laughable when they say the truth is irrational and unacceptable to their crude tastes. How can the superfluous population defend and maintain itself against an oppressor bristling with violence? Elections are a faint hope. Look how productivity rises as wages fall and you see actual conditions. Only a thin wall of decorum remains between hasty deportation of emigrants and the unemployability of the "99 weaks". And deportation always degenerates to extermination by passive or active means. Gingrich stood on Myrtle Beach and bragged how SNAP and extended Unemployment Insurance would be halted uder any of the Republican nominees. Obama is not above the same procedure if the Oligarchy demands it. This is the late Weimar stage after bourgeois assets have been sacked.

You liberals are hilarious.
Some want to re-write the Constitution, others have no clue how effective economies work.
Teece and Pancake. Read about "Creative Destruction"
From investopedia: "Creative destruction occurs when something new kills something older. A great example of this is personal computers. The industry, led by Microsoft and Intel, destroyed many mainframe computer companies, but in doing so, entrepreneurs created one of the most important inventions of this century."
The classic example is the buggy whip. Motorized vehicles put the buggy whip makers out of business. But buggy whip makers didn't starve. They learned another trade and moved on, and most importantly, society as a whole benefited. That is always true with macro shifts in the economy. There are individuals on whom it is harder than others, but society as a whole benefits.
Often, though not always, creative destruction STREAMLINES labor requirements and some people lose their jobs. That happened with the assembly line too. More product could be turned out with fewer workers. But in a GROWING economy, those workers do not starve. They are retrained for other pursuits. We are going through a macro shift in labor markets because of the decline of manufacturing in America. That hurts. But as a whole, society moves forward.
Capitalists recognize and accept the benefits of creative destruction.
Communists don't. It's that simple.

Same old

18 JAN US servers will be down

and will refrain from ALL sites

save you'all the trouble of banning US(again)

as believe will leave IT to the profITtears...

for caring, sharing, and enriching has no future here

so am going THERE- to OCCUPY

(and find lawyers and other rich for high caloric Soylent recipe)

Q: how are people and corporations different? corpses may make Soylent- BUT impossible to make without people!

people- essential for corps AND other USes