Thoughts on "free market capitalism"

[SHRED]

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Capitalism is predatory and monopolistic. It renders wealth into the hands of the few at the expense of the many. We are seeing that now.
Capitalism is at it's best with strong governmental regulation and oversight to make sure the playing field is open and fair for all players including small businesses and start-ups.

What we have had under the "free" or "trickle-down" ideology, which has ran rampant since Reagan, is the destruction of competition and fairness. An era where anti-trust laws are not enforced. Monopolies have sucked up the capital and there is little left for the consumers (us).
This form of laissez faire capitalism has just about devoured the USA and is moving on to places like China.

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[Fovea]

1. Now how do we get to a healthy mixed economy

from here without killing and imprisoning the NeoCons?

We are already being told by the repugs that the country is still really center right.
I thnk the transition from 'free market laisser faire" to 'Fair trade Social Democracy"
will not be pretty, I suspect.

[elleng]

4. Not necessarily, realp,

if we can remain civil.

Reasonable Regulation, enforced reasonably.

[Fovea]

7. Remaining civil will be the challenge

2009 is going to be a difficult year in American history.

It will be like 1932 in Oklahoma, 1961 in Oxford MS, 1968 in Chicago, 2008 at the fuel pump and 1973 Vietnam in Afghanistan.

We are locked in a struggle to convert from free market trickle down YOYO America to an actual society again-- a modern society with an economy based on something besides speculation.

We already see how pwned congress is when their wall street overlords are distressed.
Now watch the current congress tell the remaining industrial economy to go Cheney itself.

This thing is not going to turn on a dime.

[elleng]

9. No, its not going to turn on a dime at all.

With a good leader, VERY good leader, we might do better than just survive.

[Two Americas]

10. there needs to be a Left

In the 30's, there was a Left. Without a Left to counterbalance the right, the "middle" winds up way over to the right, farther to the right than Republicans used to be.

But for some reason, there is an aggressive and domineering faction within the party that spends as much time and effort trying to destroy the Left as they do the right wingers.

The public has moved dramatically to the Left. The activists - along with the insiders and the pundits - are resisting that and fighting on the reactionary side now.

The public has - finally!! - turned on and utterly rejected Reaganomics. But we can't. We are held hostage by the 10% or so among us who are fighting tooth and nail for conservative economics.

[elleng]

2. "Free markets,

in order to be free, must be properly regulated."

Wes Clark

[NOW tense]

3. Ethics

Ethics is what is lacking in our world. All economic theories are possible with ethics. Capitalism would work if everyone had ethics, unfortunately most do not have ethics. Communism would work too if people had ethics but we don't. We as animals in listening to our human instincts do not have ethics. Ethics are the stumbling blocks of all Utopias.

[Mr Rabble]

5. Here is the single best explanation available:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgFlJjnULh0

This will explain exactly what our economy is, without the associated lies and deceit.

[Solon]

6. Technically, no market is ever free, so the term "Free Market" is a misnomer...

Markets, all of them, are regulated, what matters is how they are regulated, and to what extent. What we have seen are markets that are not regulated enough, and in the areas where they are regulated, the regulations themselves are actually in place to benefit the rich at the expense of the working class.

[DailyGrind51]

8. "Free-market" has become oxymoronic, like "business-ethics"!