Unchallenged achievement of the American health care (non)system: costs twice as much as comparable OECD countries, proportionately covers the least amount of its population, consistently ranks at the bottom of key health care indicators. Now that takes some (non-)doing.
Actually, I think the majority of Americans know their healthcare system is really bad. Look at how popular Bernie Sanders campaign was, and he ran strongly on healthcare reform.
But the American government - pretty obvious now to the world, and a lot of Americans - has been hijacked by the money changers - of the three branches of American government, the Executive and Legislative branches are now pretty much corrupted and in the hands of oligarchs. The only last vestige of Institutional power left to the American people is the Judicial branch - of which it is currently being subverted by a corrupt Supreme Court. The US Constitution - a remarkable document, does remain the bedrock of the original American dream, but if the oligarchs succeed in fully corrupting all three branches of US governance - then the only thing left will be probably decades of unrest, and a descent into mass poverty, militarized police, and the kind of authoritarianism and dictatorship Americans used to watch on their TV sets in other countries.
That's the darker outcome - and a very possible outcome. If you listen to Chris Hedges (bless his heart) it's already a foregone conclusion. I don't know. I still hold out some hope that Americans will somehow come to their senses soon. You know, start organizing resistance, mass strikes, going to the courts when possible etc. I mean - it is going to happen eventually, people will only put up with so much - but the thing is, it can keep going this way for a long time before any real change does happen. Sadly.
A couple of dope slaps are in order, or as Cher in "Moonstruck," "Snap out of it!" 1) Mitch McConnell accomplished his 20-year quest not only to secure a 6-3 majority on the Supreme Court, but also much of the rest of the federal judiciary. For this his legacy will justifiably read, "Did more than his fair share of damage to the country."
2) This country has only about 20 years to go before collapsing. Reason? Payment on the interest on the national debt currently stands at 13% of the national debt. In twenty years time, it will climb to 42% if nothing is done - and it won't be. That means good-bye to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. The Penta-gone budget and "aid" to Israel will remain untouched. At 42%,, government becomes increasingly powerless and irrelevant, a criterion of a "failed state." Fun (for some) while it lasted.
Those who make the policy decisions believe it. Those who have to use it often have their maladies compounded by virtue of having encountered it, trying to pay for it.
Taiwan is not part of China. It is an independent sovereign state. Public opinion polls consistently indicate a strong majority support for sovereignty. Why would a fledgling democracy like Taiwan submit to a Stalinist dictatorship like Beijing ?
Ever hear of the "One China Policy"? It's in the law of China, Taiwan AND the USA. Constitutionally, Taiwan IS part of China - they are simply arguing which part of China is the real Govt, Beijing or Taipei.
On every real polsci metric of Democracy, China stands out as one of the big achievers. The Govt really do give the population want they want.
The US among Western nations squats near the bottom, along with the UK. The population never get what they want.
An especially poignant message during the onset of the season of forced-maximal-consumption, aka season of light and all the other euphemisms for the season of grotesque capitalist excess.
You wouldn't know a "Commie" if you fell over one. If you don't understand the definition, it just makes you look silly if you keep using the word. Talk later, Don.
I admit, I've never really met a "Commie" in my life. I mean, it's something my grandad used to talk about in the 1950s and Mr. Joe. But that's about it.
My favorite line is "Stop buying $5 cups of coffee and save up for a new car!" I've never bought a cup of coffee like that in my life. What do I give up to get a new car then?
Just the other day Trump said people should stop haggling with car dealers over the price of their Cadillac (avg. new price >$60K) and instead spend that time haggling with their health insurance providers.
LOL - How he managed to pass himself off as an economic populist should be the subject of a book. And one of the chief, uncomfortable conclusions will be that he did it with a lot of help (intentional and otherwise) from the Democrats.
For those carrying an antiquated view of what is happening in the USA, the most capitalist of nations, here are some recent developments that should cause you to recalibrate your perspective:
"Recent polls show a stark partisan divide in views of socialism: a majority of Democrats (around 66%) have a positive view, while an overwhelming majority of Republicans (around 84%) have a negative view.
Key Findings from Recent Polls
Democrats A Gallup poll from September 2025 found that 66% of Democrats have a positive view of socialism, compared to only 42% who view capitalism favorably. This marks the first time in Gallup's polling history that less than half of Democrats view capitalism positively. Younger Democrats are particularly less likely to view capitalism favorably compared to older Democrats.
Republicans In sharp contrast, only about 14% of Republicans have a positive view of socialism. Views among Republicans have become even more negative over time. Meanwhile, 74% of Republicans hold a positive opinion of capitalism.
Generational Differences Age plays a significant role in these views. Young adults (under 30) across the political spectrum are more open to socialism. One November 2025 poll found that a majority of young likely voters would want a democratic socialist to win the 2028 presidential election, including about a quarter of self-identified Republicans in that age group."
I am 84: never in my life has democratic socialism been the preferred ideology of young Americans or Democrats. Never, Recently, in Seattle and New York city, Democratic Socialists coming from nowhere (1% support) have won! Something is happening, the antithesis of the Trump agenda...the descent into fascism has created a powerful backlash to the effect that while most Americans still cling to capitalism, the writing is on the wall: democratic socialism has become mainstream; young Americans are voting at an unprecedented rate, and those who cannot lend a hand to this amazing transformation in the making need to get out of the way.
"If you want a high-speed rail system, build it yourself."
Was recently on an AMTRAK Northeast Corridor trip, 6 hours down (not counting 35-minute delay along the way), a shade less on the way back (Europe, China, Japan probably cover the same distance in half the time or less). Jostled virtually the entire way, as if in a washing machine, had to take care anticipating the lurches to the left and then to the right on the way to the cafe' car, and taking a leak required bracing against the side to have a reasonable chance of staying on target.
All this because we send $4+ billion to Israel each year so they can kill the people whose land they stole so that they don't complain anymore, and so that the combat - but not morally - fatigued Israelis can go on Mediterranean vacations to recoup, instead of putting that money toward modernizing the track and signalling along the NE Corridor to approach a respectable level of passenger rail service in this country.
Apparently, fatigued Israelis go to places like Amsterdam, watch a soccer game, bash the local population with broken street signs, then claim they're the victims of a pogrom.
All Jewish Zionists are exactly the same in that regard. Just google the video of the girl whining to the police that she felt unsafe on campus at Columbia because there was a pro-Palestine vigil several buildings over. Eternal victimhood is not preached or expected by accident, and neither is eternal projection when committing all sorts of unethical, immoral and even otherwise illegal acts.
>>"All this because we send $4+ billion to Israel each year"
The spending on Israel, Ukraine, military is DIFFERENT (i.e. different accounts) from spending on the things you talk about. At the FEDERAL level, taxes ARE NOT USED for spending.
An easy mnemonic to remember this is S(TAB) - Spending BEFORE Taxes and Borrowing. Taxes are used for multiple things - like controlling inflation, getting people working and producing things for the government, etc., but NOT for spending.
Also, I suggest learning how the Govt. ACTUALLY creates money. The U.S. Fed Govt. can spend $5 trillion on infrastructure AND spend $5 trillion of evil stuff (like Israel, military, etc.) at the same time - it is NOT 'either/or' (though this is the ILLUSION created by politicians and most other people that don't understand the 'money and banking system' as it is implemented in the REAL WORLD.
I've had the same comparative experience and here out west the Amtrak ride is even worse than on the east coast. We got a sleeper car and traveled all across TX and NM a few years ago and I maybe got 3 hours of sleep in 35 hours on the train. Contrast that with Europe (Spain, Chechia, Italy, Slovakia, Hungary, etc.) and I can easily grab 2-4 hours of sleep on a trip from say Budapest to Prague.
God damned socialist commies and their functioning infrastructure!!! [but that's actually more proof of what Feral Finster said elsewhere in this thread - our system is functioning exactly as intended by the people who actually own it.]
"Make a new gig economy app that helps poor people sell and deliver their organs to rich people."
I think they already have one or are working it. I see the ads EVERYWHERE: Sell your blood plasma and make money! Start today! That's all the poor are good for--their blood and organs to give to rich people. Just look at what all the Israelis took out of the bodies of the Palestinian hostages. "Health tourism" is a real and deadly thing for us poors.
Israelis probably do have exactly such an "app" but likely not available to the mass market. I'm not even joking. Organ harvesting from Palestinians who have been assassinated by a bullet to the head is rampant in Gaza. There are reports of surgically clean cuts with multiple vital organs missing and evidence of surgical sanitization chemicals. The Israelis are a stand-in for me for arch-capitalists in the sense that they are hypocritical semi-socialists who still have zero scruples when it comes time to make a buck. And I mean ZEE-ROH.
Well, it is a good thing that capitalism is doing so well. It will allow people to be happy before the world collapses from climate catastrophe or before all those brilliant capitalists in power decide to nuke someone they consider to be their enemy or who has resources they "need".
Capitalism is the best it is ever been and will always be until its end... That is what it does. There is no capitalism in nature because animals can not horde resources without consequences. If they eat too much food the reduce their survival and the survival of their species, if they wreck their environment they threaten their own lives. Capitalism continuously takes resources from the planet and imbalances them to an absurd degree. Polluted oceans, deforestation, polluted air, fracking, etc... The more people there are and the more resources the rich take, the fewer resources there are for the rest of us...and even fewer for the rest of the life on the planet that has no say in capitalism. My point here is that the system is the best at what it was designed to do...destroy life on this planet.
Let's start with some assumptions. First: evil is a force of disequilibrium and good is a force of re-equilibration. Second: given equal intelligence and energy employed per unit of time, evil prevails over good. Third: the natural state of each subject in a system derives partly from hereditary characteristics and partly from chance. Fourth: the structure of a system is not formed by chance but depends on its initial conditions and derives from the behaviors of its parts and the interactions between its parts and the external environment (the system's environment). Fifth: the vast majority of a system's parts are homogeneous and accept the system's structure, while a small, well-organized minority directly or indirectly determines the system's course (evolutionary or involutive). Therefore, the overall state of a system depends on the initiative of a minority and the acceptance of its conditions by the majority. And changes have never been determined by the majority. For this reason, the original structure has never changed but has always repeated itself. To change it, an event is needed that causes a "break" in the chain and the replacement of the original initial conditions with new ones. To do so, both the break and the replacement can only arise from the action of those who manage to overcome the system's resilience (the capacity for regeneration) by using greater intelligence and/or greater energy expenditure per unit of time. Only then can good radically and definitively assert itself over evil.
Immigration is the ultimate victory for Capitalism.
No need to invest in training, robotics, automation or increase pay and conditions if it can just fly in labour. Its a race to the bottom for the working class and the Left are cheering it on.
Yes. A lot of leftists and socialists don't really understand the many nuances of immigration (and the different KINDS of immigration), and default to black-and-white approaches/opinions to it.
For instance, the Cato Institute (which is a Conservative Think Tank) has for years come out with reports on 'debunking the immigration myths' of the conservative (republican) politicians (https://www.cato.org/policy-report/januaryfebruary-2019/myths-facts-immigration-policy) and showing (with DATA) how immigration BENEFITS the Capitalists (at the expense of all the workers AND the immigrants themselves).
There are environments (and conditions) where immigration works, and there are those in which it doesn't. There is a fantastic book by Hein de Hass called "How Migration Really Works: The Facts About the Most Divisive Issue in Politics" (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/123204515) that really goes into the NUANCES of different aspects of immigration that work for leftists, immigrants, and others. Unfortunately, IMMIGRATION is a VERY misunderstood subject (by people that are all across the political spectrum).
Capitalism requires an absence of government interference its definition.
What most countries have is Crony Capitalism, which sucks.
And socialism has never worked, and will never work. That is, unless one is actually deluded enough to believe that individual humans can regain their rapidly disappearing moral fiber.
Humans are far less moral than any other animals in the kingdom at this point, however.
No valid definition of capitalism includes "an absence of government interference". That is not and has never been a thing; that's just some nonsense ancaps started saying a short time ago.
Actually the only truly valid definition of capitalism is the one Marxists have been using since their contemporaries coined and popularized the phrase. It's their word, so theirs is the correct definition.
ancap is one of the most ridiculous ideas I have ever heard. I think libertarianism is the same thing. There is no way to be an anarchist and a capitalist at the same time. I don't think it would make sense to be an anarchist and a communist at the same time either. I consider myself an anarchist most of the time; I have read a lot about anarchism and, to me, it makes more sense than what is happening in the world now. As Emma Goldman says, communism is nor the answer, but it is a step in the right direction. That is not a direct quote, just a summary of what she said in one of her books.
'true capitalism' (also known as pure or laissez-faire capitalism), government interference is by definition absent or minimal. However, in reality, all existing capitalist systems feature some degree of government involvement." - Google
As the ancaps, and I am one, say, you are seeing "crony capitalism," or "corporatism."
Pretty sure that Adam Smith predated Marx by some wide margin, actually. The term refers to the Liberal concept of "You own your own labour", in juxtaposition to what came before, IE Feudalism, where your labour could be owned directly in slavery, or forced indenture, or Serfdom.
Capitalism divides into two paths, worker-owned companies, ie private, for-profit cooperatives - purest form of free market capitalism, and what lifted Denmark out of deep poverty, and minority-ownership Capitalism, Ie Corporatism.
Socialism is where either taxes are collected to spend on social welfare, lifting the poorer into the ranks of the middle classes, or where the State/Party assumes ownership and control of the economy.
They are not actually opposed, as even Marx recognised.
What you are deriding Caitlin as "Capitalism" is actually a new form of Feudalism - Technofeudalism, the inevitable result of disgusting Neoliberalism in a technological society.
In a private, shared-wealth society built on cooperatives, there is no need for authoritarian States - in minority-control, such as Feudalism, techno-feudalism, or top-down communist systems, the regime HAS to be scared of the public, as they could lose their power and privileges by an uprising.
Horse putty. Plenty of Democratic socialist countries are doing just fine. And their citizens aren't going bankrupt because of medical bills. And their education systems don't stink. You know why, because they're not privatizing everything in sight for a bunch of sociopathic billionaires and their paid for loser sycophants.
Nah, socialism has never worked, whether you think it has or not. It would be great if NYC would become a paradise. But will you need to see it with your own eyes? It will not prosper; evacuation of wealthy people and companies is prevalent and rapid. (Capping rent is a disastrous idea.) Seattle too. Chicago has no hope anytime soon, if ever.
That's all guys like you got, the fear you spread. Like once the billionaires leave the city, it will collapse. What a load of hokum, including the fact that the majority of them ain't going to leave. They rarely do. They'll just continue doing what they are good at: bribing US politicians and breaking laws they can get away with.
Your big lie - that billionaire sycophants like you always push: government itself is the big evil. Meanwhile, you completely ignore wealth inequality, worker exploitation, and the lack of regulations in a market place that is increasingly becoming completely rigged. Nothing about your arguments is ever done in good faith. You listen to no one but yourself, and that's the hallmark of fanaticism (not patriotism).
🎯 Yes! Thank you for that Brucker. Democratic Socialists (like Bernie Sanders et. al.) are STILL Capitalists, though people keep confusing them (intentionally or unintentionally) with Socialism.
More threats. More fear. That's all you and bullies like Trump have ain't it? You wouldn't know what it means to have a free, civilized society if it smacked you in the face.
“ Socialism has never worked”… Socialism is just a word . What’s wrong with being social? Isn’t that the root of the word. Socialism. Unfortunately, words can only express a partial perspective of its image.
Why limit yourself to other people’s perspectives….. which all too often deny the progression of ideas from those who do not impose limits on themselves??
Funny that democratic socialism is alive and doing very well in places like Finland, Norway et al. Just because you don't understand what socialism is, doesn't mean it's not working in more sane places than the USA.
Capitalists run amok in the USA,
the number of people who go bankrupt every year because of medical bills.
Norway - 0
UK - 0
Israel - 0
France - 0
Spain - 0
Portugal - 0
Denmark - 0
Australia - 0
Iceland - 0
Italy - 0
Finland - 0
Ireland - 0
Germany - 0
Netherlands - 0
Sweden - 0
Japan - 0
Canada - 0
United States - 643,000
"Best health care in the world," they still touting that line...?
Yep. But less and less Americans are believing these lying pieces of shit every day.
Unchallenged achievement of the American health care (non)system: costs twice as much as comparable OECD countries, proportionately covers the least amount of its population, consistently ranks at the bottom of key health care indicators. Now that takes some (non-)doing.
Takes some non-thinking.
What Amurdicans have been trained in.
Excellent students in at least 1 discipline.
Top - or should that be bottom? - of the class.
Top of the bottom?
seriously? do U.S.A'ians believe their medical system is the best in the world?
We in other contries scare our kids with stories of the U.S.A. health care system...
Actually, I think the majority of Americans know their healthcare system is really bad. Look at how popular Bernie Sanders campaign was, and he ran strongly on healthcare reform.
But the American government - pretty obvious now to the world, and a lot of Americans - has been hijacked by the money changers - of the three branches of American government, the Executive and Legislative branches are now pretty much corrupted and in the hands of oligarchs. The only last vestige of Institutional power left to the American people is the Judicial branch - of which it is currently being subverted by a corrupt Supreme Court. The US Constitution - a remarkable document, does remain the bedrock of the original American dream, but if the oligarchs succeed in fully corrupting all three branches of US governance - then the only thing left will be probably decades of unrest, and a descent into mass poverty, militarized police, and the kind of authoritarianism and dictatorship Americans used to watch on their TV sets in other countries.
That's the darker outcome - and a very possible outcome. If you listen to Chris Hedges (bless his heart) it's already a foregone conclusion. I don't know. I still hold out some hope that Americans will somehow come to their senses soon. You know, start organizing resistance, mass strikes, going to the courts when possible etc. I mean - it is going to happen eventually, people will only put up with so much - but the thing is, it can keep going this way for a long time before any real change does happen. Sadly.
A couple of dope slaps are in order, or as Cher in "Moonstruck," "Snap out of it!" 1) Mitch McConnell accomplished his 20-year quest not only to secure a 6-3 majority on the Supreme Court, but also much of the rest of the federal judiciary. For this his legacy will justifiably read, "Did more than his fair share of damage to the country."
2) This country has only about 20 years to go before collapsing. Reason? Payment on the interest on the national debt currently stands at 13% of the national debt. In twenty years time, it will climb to 42% if nothing is done - and it won't be. That means good-bye to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. The Penta-gone budget and "aid" to Israel will remain untouched. At 42%,, government becomes increasingly powerless and irrelevant, a criterion of a "failed state." Fun (for some) while it lasted.
Reminds me of something JFK said:
"If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich."
And they will come for the rich - if human history teaches us anything.
I'll be dead in 20 years. I'm old now.
Likewise. So what's next? Was this all some kind of absurd joke played upon us? Or do we dare believe there's more to us then just brain?
I wholeheartedly agree Jamenta.
I learned from Chris Hedges, a quote from Howard Zinn: 'The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those who they oppress'.
Chris Hedges, one of the few people I read who actually lives in a library.
I sometimes think he carries one around in his head.
Those who make the policy decisions believe it. Those who have to use it often have their maladies compounded by virtue of having encountered it, trying to pay for it.
The US healthcare is good for those who can afford to pay cash for the very best.
Ask the billionaires about their healthcare.
Ask members of Congress about their healthcare.
You can add Taiwan to that list. I live there and the National Health Care works quite well. Even poor little Taiwan has Socialized Medicine.
That's because it is part of China. If the U.S. has its way, Taiwan will lose its healthcare.
Taiwan is not part of China. It is an independent sovereign state. Public opinion polls consistently indicate a strong majority support for sovereignty. Why would a fledgling democracy like Taiwan submit to a Stalinist dictatorship like Beijing ?
Ever hear of the "One China Policy"? It's in the law of China, Taiwan AND the USA. Constitutionally, Taiwan IS part of China - they are simply arguing which part of China is the real Govt, Beijing or Taipei.
On every real polsci metric of Democracy, China stands out as one of the big achievers. The Govt really do give the population want they want.
The US among Western nations squats near the bottom, along with the UK. The population never get what they want.
Stick that in your pipe.
An especially poignant message during the onset of the season of forced-maximal-consumption, aka season of light and all the other euphemisms for the season of grotesque capitalist excess.
It is working exactly as intended.
Not if the Commies take over!
Is that you, Donald?
Commie Punk!!!
You wouldn't know a "Commie" if you fell over one. If you don't understand the definition, it just makes you look silly if you keep using the word. Talk later, Don.
I admit, I've never really met a "Commie" in my life. I mean, it's something my grandad used to talk about in the 1950s and Mr. Joe. But that's about it.
Later Spunty.
WTF Commies, you imperalist idiot.
>Sell your phone and use the money buy a house, you idiot.
They really do sound like this
My favorite line is "Stop buying $5 cups of coffee and save up for a new car!" I've never bought a cup of coffee like that in my life. What do I give up to get a new car then?
Israelis will buy your first born. Contact Mossad for more information.
Just the other day Trump said people should stop haggling with car dealers over the price of their Cadillac (avg. new price >$60K) and instead spend that time haggling with their health insurance providers.
LOL - How he managed to pass himself off as an economic populist should be the subject of a book. And one of the chief, uncomfortable conclusions will be that he did it with a lot of help (intentional and otherwise) from the Democrats.
>>"What do I give up to get a new car then?"
Maybe your organs? 😵
Yeah, why would I need my organs--I got a new car, right?
(SIGH! So many would fall for this line of reasoning, I'm afraid...)
For those carrying an antiquated view of what is happening in the USA, the most capitalist of nations, here are some recent developments that should cause you to recalibrate your perspective:
"Recent polls show a stark partisan divide in views of socialism: a majority of Democrats (around 66%) have a positive view, while an overwhelming majority of Republicans (around 84%) have a negative view.
Key Findings from Recent Polls
Democrats A Gallup poll from September 2025 found that 66% of Democrats have a positive view of socialism, compared to only 42% who view capitalism favorably. This marks the first time in Gallup's polling history that less than half of Democrats view capitalism positively. Younger Democrats are particularly less likely to view capitalism favorably compared to older Democrats.
Republicans In sharp contrast, only about 14% of Republicans have a positive view of socialism. Views among Republicans have become even more negative over time. Meanwhile, 74% of Republicans hold a positive opinion of capitalism.
Generational Differences Age plays a significant role in these views. Young adults (under 30) across the political spectrum are more open to socialism. One November 2025 poll found that a majority of young likely voters would want a democratic socialist to win the 2028 presidential election, including about a quarter of self-identified Republicans in that age group."
I am 84: never in my life has democratic socialism been the preferred ideology of young Americans or Democrats. Never, Recently, in Seattle and New York city, Democratic Socialists coming from nowhere (1% support) have won! Something is happening, the antithesis of the Trump agenda...the descent into fascism has created a powerful backlash to the effect that while most Americans still cling to capitalism, the writing is on the wall: democratic socialism has become mainstream; young Americans are voting at an unprecedented rate, and those who cannot lend a hand to this amazing transformation in the making need to get out of the way.
"If you want a high-speed rail system, build it yourself."
Was recently on an AMTRAK Northeast Corridor trip, 6 hours down (not counting 35-minute delay along the way), a shade less on the way back (Europe, China, Japan probably cover the same distance in half the time or less). Jostled virtually the entire way, as if in a washing machine, had to take care anticipating the lurches to the left and then to the right on the way to the cafe' car, and taking a leak required bracing against the side to have a reasonable chance of staying on target.
All this because we send $4+ billion to Israel each year so they can kill the people whose land they stole so that they don't complain anymore, and so that the combat - but not morally - fatigued Israelis can go on Mediterranean vacations to recoup, instead of putting that money toward modernizing the track and signalling along the NE Corridor to approach a respectable level of passenger rail service in this country.
Apparently, fatigued Israelis go to places like Amsterdam, watch a soccer game, bash the local population with broken street signs, then claim they're the victims of a pogrom.
All Jewish Zionists are exactly the same in that regard. Just google the video of the girl whining to the police that she felt unsafe on campus at Columbia because there was a pro-Palestine vigil several buildings over. Eternal victimhood is not preached or expected by accident, and neither is eternal projection when committing all sorts of unethical, immoral and even otherwise illegal acts.
>>"All this because we send $4+ billion to Israel each year"
The spending on Israel, Ukraine, military is DIFFERENT (i.e. different accounts) from spending on the things you talk about. At the FEDERAL level, taxes ARE NOT USED for spending.
An easy mnemonic to remember this is S(TAB) - Spending BEFORE Taxes and Borrowing. Taxes are used for multiple things - like controlling inflation, getting people working and producing things for the government, etc., but NOT for spending.
Also, I suggest learning how the Govt. ACTUALLY creates money. The U.S. Fed Govt. can spend $5 trillion on infrastructure AND spend $5 trillion of evil stuff (like Israel, military, etc.) at the same time - it is NOT 'either/or' (though this is the ILLUSION created by politicians and most other people that don't understand the 'money and banking system' as it is implemented in the REAL WORLD.
Read this for more info -> "The Deficit Myth: Modern Monetary Theory and the Birth of the People's Economy" by Stephanie Kelton (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45731395)
I've had the same comparative experience and here out west the Amtrak ride is even worse than on the east coast. We got a sleeper car and traveled all across TX and NM a few years ago and I maybe got 3 hours of sleep in 35 hours on the train. Contrast that with Europe (Spain, Chechia, Italy, Slovakia, Hungary, etc.) and I can easily grab 2-4 hours of sleep on a trip from say Budapest to Prague.
God damned socialist commies and their functioning infrastructure!!! [but that's actually more proof of what Feral Finster said elsewhere in this thread - our system is functioning exactly as intended by the people who actually own it.]
"Make a new gig economy app that helps poor people sell and deliver their organs to rich people."
I think they already have one or are working it. I see the ads EVERYWHERE: Sell your blood plasma and make money! Start today! That's all the poor are good for--their blood and organs to give to rich people. Just look at what all the Israelis took out of the bodies of the Palestinian hostages. "Health tourism" is a real and deadly thing for us poors.
We are being factory-farmed
And How
Israelis probably do have exactly such an "app" but likely not available to the mass market. I'm not even joking. Organ harvesting from Palestinians who have been assassinated by a bullet to the head is rampant in Gaza. There are reports of surgically clean cuts with multiple vital organs missing and evidence of surgical sanitization chemicals. The Israelis are a stand-in for me for arch-capitalists in the sense that they are hypocritical semi-socialists who still have zero scruples when it comes time to make a buck. And I mean ZEE-ROH.
It's been going on since at least the NATO war against Yugoslavia. The woman who whistleblew about it was hounded to her death.
It's when the modern slavery "Sex-trafficking" industry really took off as well.
NATO itself is neck deep in these practices.
The Idiocracy is alive and well
If capitalism is the best it's ever been, then it can only get worse! And it's time for it to go!
Well, it is a good thing that capitalism is doing so well. It will allow people to be happy before the world collapses from climate catastrophe or before all those brilliant capitalists in power decide to nuke someone they consider to be their enemy or who has resources they "need".
Capitalism is the best it is ever been and will always be until its end... That is what it does. There is no capitalism in nature because animals can not horde resources without consequences. If they eat too much food the reduce their survival and the survival of their species, if they wreck their environment they threaten their own lives. Capitalism continuously takes resources from the planet and imbalances them to an absurd degree. Polluted oceans, deforestation, polluted air, fracking, etc... The more people there are and the more resources the rich take, the fewer resources there are for the rest of us...and even fewer for the rest of the life on the planet that has no say in capitalism. My point here is that the system is the best at what it was designed to do...destroy life on this planet.
Scary how true this!
“Quit your whining, commie” ?
Thanks for the compliment, Caitlin.
Let's start with some assumptions. First: evil is a force of disequilibrium and good is a force of re-equilibration. Second: given equal intelligence and energy employed per unit of time, evil prevails over good. Third: the natural state of each subject in a system derives partly from hereditary characteristics and partly from chance. Fourth: the structure of a system is not formed by chance but depends on its initial conditions and derives from the behaviors of its parts and the interactions between its parts and the external environment (the system's environment). Fifth: the vast majority of a system's parts are homogeneous and accept the system's structure, while a small, well-organized minority directly or indirectly determines the system's course (evolutionary or involutive). Therefore, the overall state of a system depends on the initiative of a minority and the acceptance of its conditions by the majority. And changes have never been determined by the majority. For this reason, the original structure has never changed but has always repeated itself. To change it, an event is needed that causes a "break" in the chain and the replacement of the original initial conditions with new ones. To do so, both the break and the replacement can only arise from the action of those who manage to overcome the system's resilience (the capacity for regeneration) by using greater intelligence and/or greater energy expenditure per unit of time. Only then can good radically and definitively assert itself over evil.
Word salad much? LLM chatbot, perchance?
Immigration is the ultimate victory for Capitalism.
No need to invest in training, robotics, automation or increase pay and conditions if it can just fly in labour. Its a race to the bottom for the working class and the Left are cheering it on.
Unless we start to see humans as one race with equal rights, regardless of our artificial 'borders'
Yes. A lot of leftists and socialists don't really understand the many nuances of immigration (and the different KINDS of immigration), and default to black-and-white approaches/opinions to it.
For instance, the Cato Institute (which is a Conservative Think Tank) has for years come out with reports on 'debunking the immigration myths' of the conservative (republican) politicians (https://www.cato.org/policy-report/januaryfebruary-2019/myths-facts-immigration-policy) and showing (with DATA) how immigration BENEFITS the Capitalists (at the expense of all the workers AND the immigrants themselves).
There are environments (and conditions) where immigration works, and there are those in which it doesn't. There is a fantastic book by Hein de Hass called "How Migration Really Works: The Facts About the Most Divisive Issue in Politics" (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/123204515) that really goes into the NUANCES of different aspects of immigration that work for leftists, immigrants, and others. Unfortunately, IMMIGRATION is a VERY misunderstood subject (by people that are all across the political spectrum).
Capitalism requires an absence of government interference its definition.
What most countries have is Crony Capitalism, which sucks.
And socialism has never worked, and will never work. That is, unless one is actually deluded enough to believe that individual humans can regain their rapidly disappearing moral fiber.
Humans are far less moral than any other animals in the kingdom at this point, however.
No valid definition of capitalism includes "an absence of government interference". That is not and has never been a thing; that's just some nonsense ancaps started saying a short time ago.
Actually the only truly valid definition of capitalism is the one Marxists have been using since their contemporaries coined and popularized the phrase. It's their word, so theirs is the correct definition.
ancap is one of the most ridiculous ideas I have ever heard. I think libertarianism is the same thing. There is no way to be an anarchist and a capitalist at the same time. I don't think it would make sense to be an anarchist and a communist at the same time either. I consider myself an anarchist most of the time; I have read a lot about anarchism and, to me, it makes more sense than what is happening in the world now. As Emma Goldman says, communism is nor the answer, but it is a step in the right direction. That is not a direct quote, just a summary of what she said in one of her books.
"In the theoretical concept of
'true capitalism' (also known as pure or laissez-faire capitalism), government interference is by definition absent or minimal. However, in reality, all existing capitalist systems feature some degree of government involvement." - Google
As the ancaps, and I am one, say, you are seeing "crony capitalism," or "corporatism."
Stop correcting people for using a word you don't understand.
Nice.
You don't get to manipulate established historical definitions to justify referring to yourself as two opposing things. Not without criticism anyway.
Words have meanings. People are out here just putting any old words next to each other and calling it a thing, and expect the world to bend around it.
Which is exactly how Marxists behave, ironically.
"Crony capitalism" or "corporatism", also known as "capitalism".
see above
For what?
Pretty sure that Adam Smith predated Marx by some wide margin, actually. The term refers to the Liberal concept of "You own your own labour", in juxtaposition to what came before, IE Feudalism, where your labour could be owned directly in slavery, or forced indenture, or Serfdom.
Capitalism divides into two paths, worker-owned companies, ie private, for-profit cooperatives - purest form of free market capitalism, and what lifted Denmark out of deep poverty, and minority-ownership Capitalism, Ie Corporatism.
Socialism is where either taxes are collected to spend on social welfare, lifting the poorer into the ranks of the middle classes, or where the State/Party assumes ownership and control of the economy.
They are not actually opposed, as even Marx recognised.
What you are deriding Caitlin as "Capitalism" is actually a new form of Feudalism - Technofeudalism, the inevitable result of disgusting Neoliberalism in a technological society.
In a private, shared-wealth society built on cooperatives, there is no need for authoritarian States - in minority-control, such as Feudalism, techno-feudalism, or top-down communist systems, the regime HAS to be scared of the public, as they could lose their power and privileges by an uprising.
From that fear, everything else flows.
"And socialism has never worked"
Horse putty. Plenty of Democratic socialist countries are doing just fine. And their citizens aren't going bankrupt because of medical bills. And their education systems don't stink. You know why, because they're not privatizing everything in sight for a bunch of sociopathic billionaires and their paid for loser sycophants.
Nah, socialism has never worked, whether you think it has or not. It would be great if NYC would become a paradise. But will you need to see it with your own eyes? It will not prosper; evacuation of wealthy people and companies is prevalent and rapid. (Capping rent is a disastrous idea.) Seattle too. Chicago has no hope anytime soon, if ever.
"evacuation of wealthy people" "no prosperity"
That's all guys like you got, the fear you spread. Like once the billionaires leave the city, it will collapse. What a load of hokum, including the fact that the majority of them ain't going to leave. They rarely do. They'll just continue doing what they are good at: bribing US politicians and breaking laws they can get away with.
Your big lie - that billionaire sycophants like you always push: government itself is the big evil. Meanwhile, you completely ignore wealth inequality, worker exploitation, and the lack of regulations in a market place that is increasingly becoming completely rigged. Nothing about your arguments is ever done in good faith. You listen to no one but yourself, and that's the hallmark of fanaticism (not patriotism).
Let me guess: when NYC sinks to newer lows, you will not consider it the fault of the socialist mayor and his enacted policies, will you?
Come back and flaunt it if I am wrong. I'll be here.
I love how "capitalists" don't know the difference between socialism and "democratic socialism", the latter being capitalism with social safety nets.
🎯 Yes! Thank you for that Brucker. Democratic Socialists (like Bernie Sanders et. al.) are STILL Capitalists, though people keep confusing them (intentionally or unintentionally) with Socialism.
More threats. More fear. That's all you and bullies like Trump have ain't it? You wouldn't know what it means to have a free, civilized society if it smacked you in the face.
I'll be here when you beckon. Have a nice evening.
And when NYC thrives? Where will you be then?
Jink,
“ Socialism has never worked”… Socialism is just a word . What’s wrong with being social? Isn’t that the root of the word. Socialism. Unfortunately, words can only express a partial perspective of its image.
Why limit yourself to other people’s perspectives….. which all too often deny the progression of ideas from those who do not impose limits on themselves??
Everything in moderation. It’s the answer to many problems
Let's start with the trillionaires then.
Funny that democratic socialism is alive and doing very well in places like Finland, Norway et al. Just because you don't understand what socialism is, doesn't mean it's not working in more sane places than the USA.