Richard Wolff: Question Capitalism
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Recently the Occupy Wall Street movement has gone international. Many believe that these uprisings are a part of a growing concern for a change of governments. What are the real alternatives to current government systems? Will the Occupy Wall Street movement make Americans question capitalism? Richard Wolff, talk show host at WBAI Radio, digs deeper.
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Sep 22, 2012 12:06 AM
Re: Richard Wolff: Question Capitalism
I guess the next move will be for the government to throw people a bone and give the leash a slight loose... so they stop complaining and the exact same shit leading to these situations can keep going a few more years until the next protests. At least, that's how they do in Europe.
By: NEU-NEU
Re: Richard Wolff: Question Capitalism
I appreciate the effort of the protestors, but it ultimately won't matter much. Yes, the gap is growing between the haves and the have nots. I think mainly because the population is growing and as the population grows our resources become more and more scarce. One of my economics instructors taught me one of the basic principles of economics is that scarcity fosters greed. People will continue to try and find ways to gain more and more resources through education and risk taking moves like starting small business and try to grow those small businesses into bigger businesses.
The problem isn't going away any time soon, but if you do nothing to improve your own way of life, you will surly fall behind in the quest for more resources. Life isn't fair and it never will be. So, keep trying to carve out a comfortable place for yourself and your families and you most likely find that you are not a failure if you put forth some effort and try to better yourself. The key is to keep trying and keep learning. Don't give up just because the one percent live in a lavish world that the other ninety-nine percent of us will never see. Strive to become a part of your community and take ownership and responsibility of your actions and you will find that living the mediocre life isn't so bad.
With more money comes bigger problems. Embrace the happy medium. Living on 50 or 60K isn't the worst thing that has ever happened to me. I live in an air conditioned house and play guitar for my family and we are fairly happy.
The problem isn't going away any time soon, but if you do nothing to improve your own way of life, you will surly fall behind in the quest for more resources. Life isn't fair and it never will be. So, keep trying to carve out a comfortable place for yourself and your families and you most likely find that you are not a failure if you put forth some effort and try to better yourself. The key is to keep trying and keep learning. Don't give up just because the one percent live in a lavish world that the other ninety-nine percent of us will never see. Strive to become a part of your community and take ownership and responsibility of your actions and you will find that living the mediocre life isn't so bad.
With more money comes bigger problems. Embrace the happy medium. Living on 50 or 60K isn't the worst thing that has ever happened to me. I live in an air conditioned house and play guitar for my family and we are fairly happy.
By: hmonroe
Re: Richard Wolff: Question Capitalism
The advice part of your comment could, with some modification, just as easily be directed at the rich and the super-rich. I think it's awesome advice and not at all controversial. But the fact that you direct your words of wisdom and your skepticism at only one layer of society sort of shows me that you don't have a strong international, historical perspective. Do you actually believe that things won't get worse if people don't join forces to fight these sorts of turf wars? The absolute fact that things could be much worse is exactly the reason why organizing resistance against the culture of unmitigated greed and corrupt governance makes perfect sense. I... How can anyone not see this? Fuck
I don't know if you're familiar with ZeFrank. That guy made an argument which is very similar to your premise. It goes something like this : "humans value fairness, but inequality is almost like a constant of nature; battling it, however noble, yields few gains. Still, I foolishly try" I hated that video. If you don't fight for the well-being of those who live in (far) worse conditions than you, then you're contributing to needless hardship and suffering. It is undeniable that the upper class in America is guilty of this. This sort of behavior can be battled. Western Europe, by and large, has a superior social system, underpinned by a more robust democratic infrastructure, while countries like India have are far inferior in these respects. Take your pick. Oh, and I see no reason to accept the premise that vast inequality or failing public institutions don't adversely affect the wealth of the majority.
(Democracy and capitalism, while clearly not incompatible in every single way, are not friends. One is at its core about private tyrannies, the other about the rule of the majority. Even if you consider them both vital, one will gobble up, or hollow out the other if you don't take care to keep those rich tyrannies in a head lock.)
I don't know if you're familiar with ZeFrank. That guy made an argument which is very similar to your premise. It goes something like this : "humans value fairness, but inequality is almost like a constant of nature; battling it, however noble, yields few gains. Still, I foolishly try" I hated that video. If you don't fight for the well-being of those who live in (far) worse conditions than you, then you're contributing to needless hardship and suffering. It is undeniable that the upper class in America is guilty of this. This sort of behavior can be battled. Western Europe, by and large, has a superior social system, underpinned by a more robust democratic infrastructure, while countries like India have are far inferior in these respects. Take your pick. Oh, and I see no reason to accept the premise that vast inequality or failing public institutions don't adversely affect the wealth of the majority.
(Democracy and capitalism, while clearly not incompatible in every single way, are not friends. One is at its core about private tyrannies, the other about the rule of the majority. Even if you consider them both vital, one will gobble up, or hollow out the other if you don't take care to keep those rich tyrannies in a head lock.)
By: wadadde
Re: Richard Wolff: Question Capitalism
I appreciate your rebuttal.
I am familiar with ZeFrank. I'm not sure if he is trying to capitalize on his random thoughts captured in video and broadcasted out to the world, or if he is trying to something of greater value than the junk people find entertaining and amusing on youtube and places like that. While I'm not a follower of his ideas, I still watch what is posted on this site because I appreciate what the owner of this site finds of value to use as entertainment and some enlightenment.
How do we keep the rich tyrannies in a head lock? I'm perfectly willing to join your side if your strategy makes sense and it truly benefits those of us who lack the benefits of the one percent.
I've tried voting. That doesn't seem to work.
I am familiar with ZeFrank. I'm not sure if he is trying to capitalize on his random thoughts captured in video and broadcasted out to the world, or if he is trying to something of greater value than the junk people find entertaining and amusing on youtube and places like that. While I'm not a follower of his ideas, I still watch what is posted on this site because I appreciate what the owner of this site finds of value to use as entertainment and some enlightenment.
How do we keep the rich tyrannies in a head lock? I'm perfectly willing to join your side if your strategy makes sense and it truly benefits those of us who lack the benefits of the one percent.
I've tried voting. That doesn't seem to work.
By: hmonroe
Re: Richard Wolff: Question Capitalism
achieve is the word I left out between the word to and something. The inference is there, but I just wanted to clear things up.
By: hmonroe
Re: Richard Wolff: Question Capitalism
See, I don't accept that what I've said is about strategy. The most important law of power is that those who have it don't part with it willingly. Congress and the presidency are tools that allow the majority to force the powerful to part with their wealth peacefully. If you agree with the statement that voting for the least crappy candidate makes some amount of real world difference, then you agree that retreating from this unique arena makes no sense. Voting and being active in party politics is only one of the ways in which people can make a difference. I just don't see why anyone would think that it's an either/or thing. If you won't protest or vote simply because these things don't always guarantee 100 percent positive results, then why bother doing anything at all? Does anyone really think there's some holy grail of society improvement out there that countless generations have somehow missed? No. It's political activity (sometimes violent) that achieved what we have today. I already said last time that the current reality didn't materialize out of some law of nature. For virtually all of the history of civilization tyranny and extreme forms of exploitation were the norm. What changed? Well, knowledge, ideals, awareness, countless revolts... They really got to you if you're cool with giving this shit up without a fight. That's like a farmer who considers giving up farming, simply because it seems to be a law of nature that weeds keep materializing among his crops. Maintenance is laborious. Deal with it or suffer the consequences.
By: wadadde
