{"id":8620,"date":"2013-01-26T08:57:17","date_gmt":"2013-01-26T15:57:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/?p=8620"},"modified":"2013-01-26T09:07:44","modified_gmt":"2013-01-26T16:07:44","slug":"capitalism-devil-or-angel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/capitalism-devil-or-angel\/","title":{"rendered":"Capitalism: Devil or Angel?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Extremist Cult of Capitalism<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
by\u00a0Paul Buchheit<\/a><\/div>\n
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\"\"A ‘cult,’ according to Merriam-Webster, can be defined as “Great devotion to a person, idea, object, movement, or work..(and)..a usually small group of people characterized by such devotion.”<\/p>\n

Capitalism has been defined by adherents and detractors: Milton Friedman said, “The problem of social organization is how to set up an arrangement under which greed will do the least harm, capitalism is that kind of a system.” John Maynard Keynes said, “Capitalism is the astounding belief that the most wickedest of men will do the most wickedest of things for the greatest good of everyone.”<\/p>\n

Perhaps it’s best to turn to someone who actually practiced the art: “Capitalism is the legitimate racket of the ruling class.” Al Capone said that.<\/p>\n

Capitalism is a cult. It is devoted to the ideals of privatization over the common good, profit over social needs, and control by a small group of people who defy the public’s will. The tenets of the cult lead to extremes rather than to compromise. Examples are not hard to find.<\/p>\n

1. Extremes of Income<\/strong><\/p>\n

By sitting on their growing investments, the\u00a0richest five Americans<\/a>\u00a0made almost $7 billion each in\u00a0one<\/a>\u00a0year. That’s $3,500,000.00 per hour. The minimum wage for\u00a0tipped workers<\/a>\u00a0is $2.13 per hour.<\/p>\n

Our unregulated capitalist financial system allows a few well-positioned individuals to divert billions of dollars from the needs of society. If the 400 richest Americans lumped together their\u00a0investment profits<\/a>\u00a0from last year, the total would pay\u00a0in-state tuition and fees<\/a>\u00a0for\u00a0EVERY college student<\/a>\u00a0in the United States.<\/p>\n

2. Extremes of Wealth<\/strong><\/p>\n

The combined\u00a0net worth<\/a>\u00a0of the world’s 250 richest individuals is more than the total annual living expenses of\u00a0almost half the world<\/a>\u00a0– i.e. three billion people.<\/p>\n

Within our own borders the disparity is no less shocking. For every one dollar of assets owned by a\u00a0single black or Hispanic woman<\/a>, a member of the Forbes 400 has over\u00a0forty million dollars<\/a>. That’s equivalent to a can of soup versus a mansion, a yacht, and a private jet.\u00a0Most<\/a>\u00a0of the Forbes 400 wealth has accrued from nonproductive capital gains. It’s little wonder that with the exception of Russia, Ukraine, and Lebanon, the U.S. has the highest degree of\u00a0wealth inequality<\/a>\u00a0in the world.<\/p>\n

3. Extremes of Debt<\/strong><\/p>\n

Up until the 1970’s, U.S. households had virtually\u00a0no debt<\/a>. Now the total is\u00a0$13 trillion<\/a>, which averages out to $100,000 per American family.<\/p>\n

Debt appears to be the only recourse for 21- to 35-year-olds, who have lost, on average,\u00a068% of their median net worth<\/a>\u00a0since 1984, leaving each of them about $4,000.<\/p>\n

4. Extremes of Health Care<\/strong><\/p>\n

A butler in black vest and tie passed the atrium waterfall and entered the $2,400 suite, where the linens were provided by the high-end bedding designer Frette of Italy and the bathroom glimmered with polished marble. Inside a senior financial executive awaited his\u00a0‘concierge’ doctor<\/a>\u00a0for private treatment.<\/p>\n

He was waiting in the\u00a0penthouse suite<\/a>\u00a0of the New York Presbyterian Hospital.<\/p>\n

On the streets outside were some of the\u00a026,000 Americans<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0who will die this year because they are without health care<\/strong>. In 2010,\u00a050 million Americans<\/a>\u00a0had no health insurance coverage.<\/strong><\/p>\n

5. Extremes of Justice<\/strong><\/p>\n

William James Rummel<\/a>\u00a0stole $80 with a credit card, then passed a bad check for $24, then refused to return $120 for a repair job gone bad. He got life in prison.<\/strong>\u00a0Christopher Williams<\/a>\u00a0is facing over 80 years in prison for selling medical marijuana in Montana, a state which allows medical marijuana. Patricia Spottedcrow got 12 years for a $31 marijuana sale, and has seen her children only twice in the past two years. Numerous elderly Americans are in\u00a0prison for life<\/a>\u00a0for non-violent marijuana offenses.<\/p>\n

Banking giant HSBC, whose\u00a0mission statement<\/a>\u00a0urges employees “to act with courageous integrity” in all they do, was\u00a0described<\/a>\u00a0by a U.S. Senate report as having “exposed the U.S. financial system to ‘a wide array of money laundering, drug trafficking, and terrorist financing'” in their dealings with\u00a0Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel<\/a>, which is considered the deadliest drug gang in the world.<\/p>\n

HSBC\u00a0received a fine<\/a>\u00a0equivalent to four weeks’ profits. The bank’s CEO said, “we are profoundly sorry.”<\/p>\n

In the words of Bertrand Russell, “Advocates of capitalism are very apt to appeal to the sacred principles of liberty, which are embodied in one maxim: The fortunate must not be restrained in the exercise of tyranny over the unfortunate.<\/em>”<\/p>\n

Accurate to the extreme.<\/p>\n

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\"Paul<\/a><\/div>\n
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Paul Buchheit is a college teacher, an active member of US Uncut Chicago, founder and developer of social justice and educational websites (UsAgainstGreed.org, PayUpNow.org, RappingHistory.org), and the editor and main author of “American Wars: Illusions and Realities<\/a>” (Clarity Press). He can be reached at paul@UsAgainstGreed.org.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Extremist Cult of Capitalism by\u00a0Paul Buchheit A ‘cult,’ according to Merriam-Webster, can be defined as “Great devotion to a person, idea, object, movement, or work..(and)..a usually small group of people characterized by such devotion.” Capitalism has been defined by … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8620","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8620"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8620\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8623,"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8620\/revisions\/8623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}