The Probelm With Capitalism

[slightlv]

19. but it didn't use to be this way

Big corp used to have obligations to the Shareholders, not the stockholders. Shareholders included workers, investors, and the community around it. We're used to being told about obligations to stockholders, but remember, it doesn't have to be this way... and it wasn't prior to this.

Big Corp could be pressed to pay livable wages, give back a certain amount to the community, as well as to investors; they all had to shared the profits. The one thing that WAS really different was the amount of difference between the highest paid worker and the lowest paid "official." The difference was much, much, much less than it was today -- and these fatcats did just fine back then.

Big Corp also had rules and regulations it had to follow. I'm not totally against capitalism; I'm against the laisses faire capitalism we have today. Reagan started stripping regs they had to follow; what WE all understood was it meant WE would pay more for any service or product Big Corp workers produced, while, with inflation under Reagan, we had to accept lower wages to stay employed, while paying more for everything else. And the air and water would get worse around us. Did you know even Nixon tried to get Healthcare revamped? His most notable, to me, was trying to institute an HMO - where when you go in, no money out of pocket would be demanded, and no bills to follow. I remember this 'cause to me it made sense, and was modeled on the medical service of the military at that time. Now, they've even outsourced the military health care!

This is why you'll see that regular workers have not advanced in salary, vis a vis, then and now. Reagan was the beginning of Ayn Randian libertarianism -- i.e., "every man for himself" and "all of it for me." Horribly, those pulling the strings and policies behind the scenes for Reagan are still around today. IMO, THESE guys are the "deep state" everyone should be concerned about -- Cheney, Feith, Greenspan (altho he did have a somewhat "come to Jesus" moment), as well as ALEC, Heritage, and the other Dark Money groups.