Capitalism is EVIL.

[PureX]

My opinion is that capitalism is okay as long as it's practiced ethically. The problem is that it's often not.

The problem is that capitalism is fundamentally unethical. So that never happens.

 

[Father Heathen]

The problem is that capitalism is fundamentally unethical. So that never happens.

So if I bought a junk bike for $30, repaired it, and then sold it for $65, that would be unethical?

 

[Father Heathen]

That's because capitalism is inherently amoral (if not outright immoral). It needs an external, ethical control.

Right, such as regulations that protect workers, consumers, the environment, etc. and somethings shouldn't be privatized/for profit at all, such as healthcare. As you know, it's a ghoulish predatory racket in the U.S. that either drives people into debt or into the grave.

 

[Father Heathen]

I don’t think capitalism existed in his day. Although Marx got a lot of his ideas about history - “All history is the history of class struggle” - from reading Livy, who was a contemporary of the Gospel writers.

Of course it did. There was currency, merchants, money lenders, etc.

 

[Yerda]

It's not ideal but "evil" isn't the right description. I certainly prefer it to fuedalism or soviet style communism. I think the capitalist is quite right to ask, what system is better?

 

[PureX]

So if I bought a junk bike for $30, repaired it, and then sold it for $65, that would be unethical?

That's not capitalism. That's just free enterprise. Capitalism is an economic system that gives total control of a collective commercial enterprise to the capital investor.

 

[Audie]

Capitalism is a product of the material mindset.

Regards Tony

Superstition and poverty is what
anti "materialism" has to offer.

 

[Rival]

I'm a capitalist.

I'm also religious.

I guess we disagree!

 

[Audie]

That's because capitalism is inherently amoral (if not outright immoral). It needs an external, ethical control.

Kind like religion that way.
But a lot more useful.

 

[RestlessSoul]

Of course it did. There was currency, merchants, money lenders, etc.

The term “Capitalism” refers to the economic system which evolved out of mercantilism in Renaissance Europe, coinciding with the development of private banking houses in Italian city-states. It went on to become the dominant mode of production during the industrial revolution.

Ancient economies were predominantly agrarian. Wealth meant land, and property was generally inherited, or granted by kings, emperors etc. Large numbers of people including many agricultural workers, were either enslaved or otherwise beholden to the landowning classes.

Of course there has always been trade, but the existence of merchants doesn’t in itself constitute a capitalist or free market economy.

 

[Link]

If you remove greed as a motivator, you have to replace it with something else. That is possible, but not without the right basis to love as a motivation. That needs enlightenment.

We can't stop killing each other, so let alone, treat each other equally with love and serve society for a motive other then greed.

I believe Imam Mahdi (a) will remove the crookedness between privileged and non-privileged.

 

[MikeF]

There isn't a whole lot the religious and myself can agree upon. But when it comes to capitalism being evil, we are in total agreement. To that end, I have a clip from the documentary, "Capitalism: A love story" to show you. (The whole thing can be seen for free on youtube) It shows what some religious people have to say about capitalism. Heed what they say.


Capitalism, A love story, clip - 100FREE Best Video Sharing

In my view, 'evil' is a concept born out of religious myth and as such is not actually a thing. As a result, capitalism (nor anything else) is evil.

 

[Pete in Panama]

Capitalism is a product of the material mindset.

Regards Tony

Please help me undertand what you mean by the word "capitalism".

Are you talking about people buying & selling things in the open market? That exists but it seems so basic to our humanity that it would be hard to disagree. Are you talking about those evil money mongers who scarf up every penny lying around so they can run back to their 7-story money bin and scream "I'M RICH I'M RICH!!!". That only happens in comic books.

 

[Pete in Panama]

If you remove greed as a motivator, you have to replace it with something else. That is possible, but not without the right basis to love as a motivation. That needs enlightenment.

We can't stop killing each other, so let alone, treat each other equally with love and serve society for a motive other then greed.

I believe Imam Mahdi (a) will remove the crookedness between privileged and non-privileged.

Green and envy are mental errors to the psychologists, business people, and a sin to the religious. Instead what we want is people living happy and loving lives w/ their families and they can sleep when they're tired, eat when they're hungry, and they can buy/sell when they need to exchange some of their possessions.

 

[Revoltingest]

My opinion is that capitalism is okay as long as it's practiced ethically. The problem is that it's often not.

Socialism has the same problem.
But even worse, it's never efficient.

More money fun....

 

[Pete in Panama]

In my view, 'evil' is a concept born out of religious myth and as such is not actually a thing. As a result, capitalism (nor anything else) is evil.

huh, I'd have thought it was born out of a atheist myth but perhaps in reality the problem of evil is not contingent upon denominational belief. My preference is to use the approach of many that evil simply does not exist in the real world. What we really have are a variety of good choices and better ones.

 

[Revoltingest]

More money fun....

His most famous act....

 

[MikeF]

huh, I'd have thought it was born out of a atheist myth but perhaps in reality the problem of evil is not contingent upon denominational belief. My preference is to use the approach of many that evil simply does not exist in the real world. What we really have are a variety of good choices and better ones.

Not sure how you have the concept of evil arising from an atheistic view, mythical or otherwise, but ok.

If many say that evil does not exist in the real world, how many constitutes many, in your view? Perhaps given in terms of a percentage of population might give us a clear picture of how many many is for you. Regardless, would it be correct to assume, then, that these many agree with me that evil is not a thing, or do you see their problem with the term as different from mine? Your post has a tone of disagreeing with me, I'm just trying to figure out how exactly.

As to choices, are there no ill-considered, erroneous, bad, or unfortunate choices in life?

 

[Heyo]

So if I bought a junk bike for $30, repaired it, and then sold it for $65, that would be unethical?

That's not capitalism.

 

[Quintessence]

"Evil" is a word I am very cautious in deploying. It's not something I typically deploy onto an ideology. I deploy it only on actual human persons.

I'm not willing deploy it on capitalism as an economic system. Certainly, poorly-regulated or unregulated capitalism facilitates behaviors that put the wants of a few above the needs of the many... especially the needs of the greater-than-human world. That which poorly-regulated capitalism has touched, it has destroyed (see: U.S. health care system). It's costs have vastly outpaced its benefits.

I am willing to deploy it on specific individuals who are capitalists. The cock brothers come to mind, specifically (yes, I misspell their name very deliberately). They and others like them are disproportionately responsible for such grievous crimes against not only humanity but our entire planet that "evil" frankly isn't strong enough of a word.