PoliTalker
Diversity Makes Greatness
Hello Flash,
-On what little they are paid for doing their part to make the rich richer.
For every one who has a cushy retirement savings there are ten who have essentially no savings at all, some without even Social Security.
Not true. While there is significant upward mobility from upper middle to wealthy, there is greater downward mobility from middle to poor. Corporate efforts to increase profits by reducing labor costs have been very effective, gradually shutting more and more of America out of a well paying job. Also, corporations have become incredibly adept at giving American consumers less for their money, thus extracting increasing quantities of wealth out of middle and poor America. Some are earning more, but most are able to save less. Most products are throw-away, or the planned obsolescence cycle is so short that it will be in the landfill within two years. This greedy corporation trick forces the consumer to make multiple return trips to the store or online ordering website for more and more of the same items already purchased possibly multiple times over the course of a lifetime.
I'm not claiming capitalism is the only culprit, but because capitalism seeks to sell people whatever they will pay for, and capitalism is also allowed to use very sophisticated means to create demand, capitalism must take a significant part of the blame for causing people to spend money on things that can lead to family disharmony.
Capitalism jumped on the advent of TV to destroy American families. At first, TV programming was wholesome. Then, the relentless demand for more profits out of TV turned the TV news from something which was presented without commercials as a public service, into a profit generator.
And over the years from the beginning of TV, as the pressure for more profits increased, the morals of the programming of TV fell.
Through capitalism Americans learned to stop having family dinners with nothing but stimulating conversation, and instead each eat alone with the TV providing the stimulus for thought. Now, of course, that has progressed to other media. Now millions of Americans have meals alone with their phone as their only partner for interaction. Capitalism drove that wedge smack into the core of American family values.
Not saying TV is the whole thing. Just an example. The number of ways capitalism places pressure on families is seemingly infinite. We had to use government to tell capitalism not to market nicotine to children, and even to get that far was an incredibly huge battle. Capitalism has no natural morals, nor reason for them. That's part of the danger, and why we need proper regulation.
I most certainly can. I never claimed capitalism was the only cause of greed, but it certainly provides the vehicle for greed. And unrestricted greed leads to greater and greater inequality.
Socialism is not the only alternative to capitalism. Most people don't get this. Most people think we are in a battle between capitalism and socialism; and that one of these 'ism's' has to prevail. That's just not true. We are actually doing pretty well right now with a mixture of the two. We have been for a long time. And there is no reason in the world that we can't simply take the best features of each and leave the downside of each behind. The best alternative to capitalism is a balance of capitalism and socialism together in the correct measure of each.
We already have the mixture. That's a fact. We need to all accept that fact, and have the dispute over the proportions of each to incorporate. This is an annoying trait of conservatives. Since they prefer not to argue policy they try to deny facts, and argue that 'alternative facts' actually exist. which is ridiculous. If we can't even agree on the facts, there is no way we can reach any compromise. And that is by design. Because most conservatives are not interested in reaching any kind of compromise. Not that all liberals have much interest either......... (We all need to work on that)
But I would like to believe there are more liberals willing to have honest discussions than conservatives. And I don't see many liberal slanted sources trying to change reality, challenging widely accepted facts. That is penchant of the right, this unwillingness to even accept the mainstream news, calling it fake. The news is not fake! Mainstream news might get some things wrong sometimes and there is nothing new about that. But that doesn't mean the right gets to make up it's own alternative facts. There is no such thing as 'alternative facts.' Facts are facts. Each side is entitled to it's own views, but not it's own facts!
We do not have to choose between capitalism and socialism. THAT's fake news. We just need to get the balance correct between the two.
We turn capitalism loose for everything it wants to do as long as we make sure it is not taking advantage of people or destroying our habitat, and that everyone is taken care of whether they can provide for themselves or not. We use socialism to make sure no individual is left behind by our prosperity. That way, anybody who wants nothing more than the bare minimum has it, and anyone who wants to be ambitious and do great things can be handsomely rewarded for those efforts. It is the ultimate expression of freedom.
True, and unrestrained capitalism brings them out.
I am well aware that there are plenty of people who are doing very well. Plenty. It's only understandable for you to be forming an impression of my view based on our discussion here. I have been focused on the plight of the underadvantaged. Some people, even though they lack deep pockets, take care with their lives. Their homes are clean, their presentation is proper, they care about their children, they do not engage in self-destructive behavior. But for much of the poor, they seem to live on a constant state of despair. Their attitude is not good. You see the poor neighborhoods, there is trash everywhere on the streets, the sidewalks, the properties. Nobody picks it up. How can anybody be positive and upbeat about life and instill good values in their children if they live in that neighborhood?
-On what little they are paid for doing their part to make the rich richer.
For every one who has a cushy retirement savings there are ten who have essentially no savings at all, some without even Social Security.
That's because both don't have the same proportion of investments vs wealth. For most of the middle class, their largest investment is their home, not stocks. For the rich more of their wealth is invested in the market and other ventures, and their home is a smaller proportion of the net worth.
Not true. While there is significant upward mobility from upper middle to wealthy, there is greater downward mobility from middle to poor. Corporate efforts to increase profits by reducing labor costs have been very effective, gradually shutting more and more of America out of a well paying job. Also, corporations have become incredibly adept at giving American consumers less for their money, thus extracting increasing quantities of wealth out of middle and poor America. Some are earning more, but most are able to save less. Most products are throw-away, or the planned obsolescence cycle is so short that it will be in the landfill within two years. This greedy corporation trick forces the consumer to make multiple return trips to the store or online ordering website for more and more of the same items already purchased possibly multiple times over the course of a lifetime.
I'm not claiming capitalism is the only culprit, but because capitalism seeks to sell people whatever they will pay for, and capitalism is also allowed to use very sophisticated means to create demand, capitalism must take a significant part of the blame for causing people to spend money on things that can lead to family disharmony.
Capitalism jumped on the advent of TV to destroy American families. At first, TV programming was wholesome. Then, the relentless demand for more profits out of TV turned the TV news from something which was presented without commercials as a public service, into a profit generator.
And over the years from the beginning of TV, as the pressure for more profits increased, the morals of the programming of TV fell.
Through capitalism Americans learned to stop having family dinners with nothing but stimulating conversation, and instead each eat alone with the TV providing the stimulus for thought. Now, of course, that has progressed to other media. Now millions of Americans have meals alone with their phone as their only partner for interaction. Capitalism drove that wedge smack into the core of American family values.
Not saying TV is the whole thing. Just an example. The number of ways capitalism places pressure on families is seemingly infinite. We had to use government to tell capitalism not to market nicotine to children, and even to get that far was an incredibly huge battle. Capitalism has no natural morals, nor reason for them. That's part of the danger, and why we need proper regulation.
I most certainly can. I never claimed capitalism was the only cause of greed, but it certainly provides the vehicle for greed. And unrestricted greed leads to greater and greater inequality.
Socialism is not the only alternative to capitalism. Most people don't get this. Most people think we are in a battle between capitalism and socialism; and that one of these 'ism's' has to prevail. That's just not true. We are actually doing pretty well right now with a mixture of the two. We have been for a long time. And there is no reason in the world that we can't simply take the best features of each and leave the downside of each behind. The best alternative to capitalism is a balance of capitalism and socialism together in the correct measure of each.
We already have the mixture. That's a fact. We need to all accept that fact, and have the dispute over the proportions of each to incorporate. This is an annoying trait of conservatives. Since they prefer not to argue policy they try to deny facts, and argue that 'alternative facts' actually exist. which is ridiculous. If we can't even agree on the facts, there is no way we can reach any compromise. And that is by design. Because most conservatives are not interested in reaching any kind of compromise. Not that all liberals have much interest either......... (We all need to work on that)
But I would like to believe there are more liberals willing to have honest discussions than conservatives. And I don't see many liberal slanted sources trying to change reality, challenging widely accepted facts. That is penchant of the right, this unwillingness to even accept the mainstream news, calling it fake. The news is not fake! Mainstream news might get some things wrong sometimes and there is nothing new about that. But that doesn't mean the right gets to make up it's own alternative facts. There is no such thing as 'alternative facts.' Facts are facts. Each side is entitled to it's own views, but not it's own facts!
We do not have to choose between capitalism and socialism. THAT's fake news. We just need to get the balance correct between the two.
We turn capitalism loose for everything it wants to do as long as we make sure it is not taking advantage of people or destroying our habitat, and that everyone is taken care of whether they can provide for themselves or not. We use socialism to make sure no individual is left behind by our prosperity. That way, anybody who wants nothing more than the bare minimum has it, and anyone who wants to be ambitious and do great things can be handsomely rewarded for those efforts. It is the ultimate expression of freedom.
True, and unrestrained capitalism brings them out.
I am well aware that there are plenty of people who are doing very well. Plenty. It's only understandable for you to be forming an impression of my view based on our discussion here. I have been focused on the plight of the underadvantaged. Some people, even though they lack deep pockets, take care with their lives. Their homes are clean, their presentation is proper, they care about their children, they do not engage in self-destructive behavior. But for much of the poor, they seem to live on a constant state of despair. Their attitude is not good. You see the poor neighborhoods, there is trash everywhere on the streets, the sidewalks, the properties. Nobody picks it up. How can anybody be positive and upbeat about life and instill good values in their children if they live in that neighborhood?
