Why capitalism fails

We have a 'mixed system'. That's why we have world class entities like SAA, Telkom, SABC, Eskom, etc.
 
w1z4rd said:
Of course there is... who would make such an absurd statement? Oh wait... strawman.... I get it. Its pretty evident communism like capitalism is a failure. Of course choosing one or the other extreme will likely always be a failure. Look for middle ground dude. You can do it!
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Capitalism is the worst form of economic systems except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.
 
Please can anyone give me a shout when free market capitalism is actually put in place. What we have in SA, Europe and the US is NOT free market capitalism.

It is a heavily regulated and distorted market. The US burst bubble and subprime is due to to govt interference removing risk in the subprime market and is a result of Keynsian boom bust cycles.

What we have currently is a form of corporatism - where lobbying groups (finance, health care) are able to lobby themselves market niche's. And you want more control to go to governments and central banks?

What we need is more capitalism, not less. It is very telling that it was the free market libertarians (Schiff, Rockwell) who predicted the collapse of the housing bubble.
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One of about three sensible comments in this thread. Capitalism is beautiful in so many ways. Mostly because it does not need the government.

But of course, the government doesn't like that. So it intervenes, screws things up and then says it's because they didn't intervene enough.
 
Arbiter said:
One of about three sensible comments in this thread. Capitalism is beautiful in so many ways. Mostly because it does not need the government.

But of course, the government doesn't like that. So it intervenes, screws things up and then says it's because they didn't intervene enough.
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QFT

Liberaterianism is the way forward! Screw this socialist agenda BS that's messing up capitalism.
 
timgaul said:
QFT

Liberaterianism is the way forward! Screw this socialist agenda BS that's messing up capitalism.
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But what about "us" not "me" :o


I like socialism. I can eat junk food, smoke, have unprotected sex, laze around all day and when I suffer the consequences the guy next door will pay for my medical treatment. If I'm bored at work I'll stub my toe and take 2 weeks off to recover while the same poor sod next door pays my compensation. What's not to love about socialism :cool:
 
timgaul said:
QFT

Liberaterianism is the way forward! Screw this socialist agenda BS that's messing up capitalism.
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I was sold on Ron Paul when I realized he had predicted the economic collapse WAY in advance. The cause? Gov't interference and stupid policy.
 
Alan said:
But what about "us" not "me" :o


I like socialism. I can eat junk food, smoke, have unprotected sex, laze around all day and when I suffer the consequences the guy next door will pay for my medical treatment. If I'm bored at work I'll stub my toe and take 2 weeks off to recover while the same poor sod next door pays my compensation. What's not to love about socialism :cool:
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I don't think anybody in this thread is advocating socialism in the strict sense of the word.
 
damnyouguyscantalkalotofthingsthatshowyougotnothingbettertodone?
 
Alan said:
What 'kind' of socialism then?
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Social democracy.

modern social democracy has deviated from socialism, and supports positions that include support for a democratic welfare state which incorporates elements of both socialism and capitalism, resulting in a mixed economy combined with a comprehensive welfare state.[2] Social democrats aim to reform capitalism democratically through state regulation and the creation of programs that work to counteract or remove the social injustice and inefficiencies they see as inherent in capitalism. This significantly differs from traditional socialism, which aims to replace the capitalist system entirely with a new economic system characterized by either state or direct worker ownership of the means of production.
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BCO said:
Social democracy.
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Old article but I doubt much has changed.

STOCKHOLM (AP) - Sweden exudes good health and well-being in summer. The air smells of pine trees and people of all ages bicycle and stroll well after dinner under the late-setting sun.

But as Swedes return from country cottages and Mediterranean beaches and prepare for an election Sept. 15, they are grappling with a vexing problem: one of every six working-age Swedes is off work because of illness or injury.

The number of people on government-paid sick leave has doubled in five years, and welfare benefits for the sick and disabled now exceed the government's military and education budgets combined.

In all, about 340,000 Swedes - one in every 26 of a population of 8.9 million - are getting sick pay from the National Social Insurance Board, a third for longer than a year. An additional 470,000 are on disability pensions - early-retirement benefits paid by the government to those who stop working before the retirement age of 65. These often are bigger than regular pensions.

Sick Swedes - and what makes them sick - are one of the main election issues.

The governing centre-left Social Democratic Party, seeking to extend an eight-year spell in office, has commissioned studies and written reports saying job conditions are getting harder and more stressful.[BWAHAHAHAHA]

Opponents, led by the centre-right Moderate and Christian Democratic parties, say the government is looking for a cure in all the wrong places. The problem, they say, is not workers' health but cushy welfare policies that are eroding the work ethic.

Whatever the explanation, the cost - about $12 billion US a year, or 16 per cent of this year's national budget - worries officials.

"I don't think we can accept any higher costs. Then we risk having to change compensation levels and the sickness insurance loses its function and legitimacy," said Rolf Lundgren, chief economic analyst at the National Social Insurance Board, which picks up the tab from the employer after a worker's second week of absence due to sickness.

Sweden has long been viewed by many as a model welfare state, characterized by high taxes, extensive government benefits and a relatively small gap between rich and poor.

Although social benefits were scaled back somewhat during a recession in the mid-1990s, subsidized health care and compensation pay for unemployment or parental leave. The system is financed by some of the highest taxes in the world on income, wealth, property and purchases.

Sick leave amounts to 80 per cent of a worker's pay. The maximum benefit is 623 kronor a day, or about $65. After taxes that adds up to about $1,500 a month - about what many workers get for four 40-hour weeks.

Sick leave pay is subject to income tax, which ranges from 30 to 60 per cent.

Workers who have taken time off contend the pressures and strains of the job are legitimate reasons for going on sick leave.

"The wheels are spinning too quickly," said Anna Eriksson, 29, a nurse who took off for two months last year, calling herself burned out. "The working environment simply has become tougher. You have to do twice the work you did before."

Anbritt Ludvigsson, a 60-year-old payroll administrator who has been on paid leave for 18 months, said a combination of family problems and a heavy work load disabled her.

"I couldn't log onto the computer. I had forgotten everything," she recalled, struggling to hold back tears.

Opponents of the generous policies say that paid sick leave has come to be seen as an entitlement rather than a benefit and that frivolous claims are partly to blame for the abrupt rise in sick leave since 1997, when only about 170,000 Swedes received payments.

Swedes "need to be pampered, placed on treadmills and surrounded by fruit baskets to cope with work," book publisher Helena Riviere wrote in an opinion article for the newspaper Svenska Dagbladet.

Riviere said the generous leave policies invite people to abuse the system by calling in sick simply because they're "fed up with work or dissatisfied with their lives in general."

A recent survey of 2,000 Swedes by the polling institute Temo found that 60 per cent believe it's acceptable to call in sick for reasons other than illness - for family problems or stress, for example.

"If people continue using sickness compensation like this, there won't be much left over for those who really are sick," said Eric Jannerfeldt, a spokesman for the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise, which represents employers.

The business group estimates the value of lost man-hours at $16 billion a year.
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If it wasn't for the weather I'd move there tomorrow :D
 
Is this the same Ron Paul that's calling for seccession? Or have I got my wires crossed?
 
BCO said:
I don't think anybody in this thread is advocating socialism in the strict sense of the word.
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You can call it a Social Democracy, if you want. But then it's not a pure Capitalist country that's failed. It some mutant, inbred retard of an economic system that looks nothing like pure capitalism.
 
timgaul said:
You can call it a Social Democracy, if you want. But then it's not a pure Capitalist country that's failed. It some mutant, inbred retard of an economic system that looks nothing like pure capitalism.
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I was just pointing out that Alan's depiction of a socialist slacker was not really relevant to the discussion in the OP.
 
BCO said:
I was just pointing out that Alan's depiction of a socialist slacker was not really relevant to the discussion in the OP.
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In some countries *cough Britain cough* it's definitely tending to this situation where it's more socialist than capitalist-democracy. And then all the bums come out the woodwork.

Socialist aspects should only benefit those that can truly not work: disabled (though some would not have it at all), aged (though only to a degree, they should have been encouraged or even forced to plan for retirement), children and Julius Malema. ;)
 
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