A Reckoning for Capitalism and Socialism

People tend to view capitalism and socialism in black and white terms. In the US, we were conditioned to believe that capitalism could do no wrong as long as you didn't do anything to get in its way. And in the long run, socialism would never contribute anything useful to society because it works against human nature. 

Looking back on it, we realize that those civics lessons were written by capitalists and their apologists. They wanted us to avoid dismantling their convenient profit machine, and we fell for it. 

Capitalism did have the occasional good run, as in first 20 years after WWII, but eventually it tends to get drunk on self-adulation to the point where it throws more gutter balls than strikes. 

Look at Detroit. Look at Cleveland. Look at the real take-home pay of working class American families. The capitalists have shaved every possible penny away from investment and benefits and wages and put it into their personal war chests. Granted, capitalism has contributed a lot to American society, but it has reached the point where the cost of capitalism - capitalism drunk with power and greed - has almost outweighed its positive value. 

I'm not suggesting that we overthrow capitalism; that would cause more problems than it would fix. But it's time to manage capitalism instead of letting it run wild like a group of intoxicated frat boys looking to exploit virgin territory in the women's dormitory.

Copyright © 2016 Daniel R. South 

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