Why is Capitalism seen as a system of oppression?

You should reread Marx. Capitalism is oppressive because it is about the accumulation of capital by exploiting the workers. In its final stages capitalism seeks both resources and markets to expand its wealth. King Leopold I of Belgium murdered 10 million Congolese people for capitalism's sake. Rubber plantations were big business then. There are huge atrocities committed by capitalists both in the past and in the present but the apologists are doing a good job of passing the buck to other causes. The so called free market economy is just the old brutal capitalism in a clean suit and a little deodorant and haircut. 30 years ago they would gasp at the thought of stripping workers of their union rights or pension plans. Or outsourcing their jobs or canceling their medical care. But now that the USSR is dead there's little reason to coddle the workers anymore. Who needs a worker who won't work 70 hours a week for 40 hour pay?

 

I understand most of what Marx said about capitalism. I just can't think of any better system, though.

 

In the 1930s there was a discussion about the pros and cons of fascism. Promoters of fascism pointed to Mussolini made the trains run on time and of course Hitler made Germany an industrial and scientific powerhouse. Even Lindbergh was impressed. In 1945 people felt differently. Capitalism's main mantra is "Greed is Good". "What's good for General Motors is good for America". Ayn Rand codified these beliefs in her writings promoting the individual over the community. Seeing charity and compassion for the weak as shameful. I am surprised that anyone would not question this attitude after 2010. Using capitalism to generate national wealth is like riding a tiger. If you do not remain alert and firmly in control of the beast you may end up inside the tiger.

 

Well done first you tell me that I am wrong and then proceed to demostrate that I was indeed correct. Thank you for your unintended support.

 

Because they hoard all the money and deny services, preferring to send the money and jobs overseas? Come on now, I thought you were one of the smarter users here.

 

Perhaps that's because there is too much vested interest in the current system. Many southerners before the civil war saw slavery as unjust but the textile industry relied on it. They couldn't imagine another system replacing it. Even after the war capitalists did what they could with jim crow to turn chattel slavery into wage slavery. The same masters remained in power. The same thing happened with the collapse of the USSR and the transition to current Russia. The nomenklatura remained in power.

With our modern understanding of human social systems, urban planning, technology, biology, politics, and psychology we could probably formulate a better system for human prosperity and well being. But good luck on the vested political and economic interests allowing such a social system to survive. Remember what happened to something as modest as employee stock ownership programs. An experiment for a new economic model would have to start somewhere far from the halls of current power. Greenland perhaps?

 

The better system is to tax state created monopolies heavily and leave productive enterprise, trade and productive labor untaxed. If it is productive and competitive then don’t tax it. If it is non-productive, uncompetitive, and/or harmful to the rights of others, then tax the crap out of it. Your research can start here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgism

 

It does, actually. Consensual exploitation isn't really exploitation. Because you're choosing to be "exploited." It's the same way that masochism isn't really pain. It's pleasure. Because it's a voluntary action from which one derives joy.

I'm not sure you really know what you're talking about.

Yes. Every single person can acquire the funds necessary to start up a business venture. And with the advent of the internet, technically, you don't really even need anyone working for you anymore. You can do it all yourself. Although, you'll still have no shortage of people interested in working for you. Because as I've already pointed out, most people would rather be a cog in someone else's machine than build their own machine. Because there's less risk and it feels "safer."

Then he appears to be a minority. If you can't provide some other verifiable examples here, then your claim is rather empty.

 

A free market can not exist because humans are greedy. They always want to rig the system in their favor. That is why we have to have laws to protect the consumers, and even the market itself, from corruption. Sadly we don't have laws to keep the lawmakers themselves from corruption.

 

1. The free markeet does not exist. Tax cuts for certain companies (oil, farming to name just two), lobby groups influencing government policy, etc... ensure the free market is a myth.

2. Capitalism as we think it should be does not exist, corporatism does.

 

Because the people who produce the wealth (workers) do not receive even close to the full value of what they contribute. Capitalists consume literally thousands of times more wealth than they produce.

A conservative will argue that capitalism is not oppressive, as people can "choose" who to work for. This is beside the point. We should not have to work for capitalists, we cannot choose to reform the system peacefully as it is protected by the state. If a genuinely anti-capitalist party were to be elected the military will side with the capitalists - this actually happened in Chile with the military coup.

Any reasonable person should be able to see that for most people "opting out" of capitalism is not an option. Many on the far right would have us believe that people work in Indian sweatshops because they think it would be an enjoyable thing to do. Obviously these people can't "opt out" of working. They're working in horrendous conditions because they have no choice. Selling yourself to a capitalist is only quasi voluntary, the same way the choosing to breathe in air is voluntary.

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Corporatism is a form of capitalism.

 

How's about the Zapatistas in Mexico?

 

"Exactly what we deserve"? How did you come up with that brilliant moralization.

 

This of course is capitalist-romantic-clap-trap.

Africa has an abundance of natural resources, which have been exploited and capitalised upon by the West and now the East for hundreds of years. Their abundance has been fruitless to them, because the free market is a myth, the market is controlled by a very small group of people, who've consistently used bribary and force to push their own agenda.

 

You could see it another way. Human beings are all ultimately governed by time, how much time they have as individuals on this planet. In this term, from a philosophical persepective, all man's time is equal in value, regardless of what they do with that time.

 

Don't forget aggrievement.. Blame & envy seem to be other major factors, too.

 

I think very few people say this. Most people you speak of want to return to a more reasonable form of capitalism, one where cronyism, old boys clubs, lobby groups etc... are removed and the American Dream of hard work yielding results will return. At this moment this is so far from the truth, anyone speaking of the American dream, is dreaming romantically back to the 60's as they say it.

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It's a bastardisation of it.

 

That sums it up nicely, IMO.

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You are speaking the truth.

 

Of course. Who does not see what you have said? (Unfortunately, too many ignore or are actually ignorant of the same.)

 

Monopolistic attitudes by the wealthiest amongst us... is truly a massive problem. The things you have mentioned don't even come close to causing the negative effects we are seeing in this era.

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You are SPOT-ON!! Some given to greed and avarice... will ignore virtually all that you've said.

 

I'm convinced those without a shed of empathy towards their fellow man do not see this, they do not want to see it, so the blinkers go on and the excuses start to fly.

 

Capitalism is seen as a system of oppression because it oppresses everyone except a few greedy inhuman scumbags. Next question.

 

Yep. Some a re the worst kind of SELFISH. And are either desensitized to or ignorant of the literal effects of what greed and avarice have often led to.

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Pretty much.

 

Never in the entire history of the Western world, has some much wealth been accumulated by so few. Are these few the only hard workers on the planet? Are the billions living in or near the poverty line simply "lazy"? Or are they locked into an abusive global system of monetary control, where they are at the bottom rung?

 

None of those can be helped, but the two I mentioned can. And while perhaps poorer people may be better off under, say, socialism, it would be at the expense of everyone else. In other words, not worth it.

Capitalism is the best system we can come up with. So far, none of the alternatives people continue to praise have been proven to work as well.