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<H1>Let’s Make Capitalism a Dirty Word</H1></DIV>
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<DIV class=cat-date-line><SPAN class=cat-date-line2><A
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href="http://www.popularresistance.org/category/educate/"
rel="category tag">Educate!</A></SPAN> <SPAN class=cat-date-line3><A
href="http://www.popularresistance.org/tag/capitalism/" rel=tag>Capitalism</A>,
<A href="http://www.popularresistance.org/tag/corporatism/"
rel=tag>Corporatism</A>, <A href="http://www.popularresistance.org/tag/occupy/"
rel=tag>Occupy</A>, <A href="http://www.popularresistance.org/tag/wall-street/"
rel=tag>Wall Street</A> </SPAN><BR><SPAN class=cat-date-line4>By Carl Gibson, <A
href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/carl-gibson/lets-make-capitalism-a-di_b_4904851.html"
target=_blank>www.HuffingtonPost.com</A><BR>March 7th, 2014</SPAN><BR></DIV>
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<P>Immediately upon entering adulthood, Americans are forced to compete
for <A href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/101399845"
target=_hplink>increasingly-scarce employment</A>. The purpose of most
employment isn’t to create value for society or future generations, but to
create profits for a scant few executives and shareholders. In order to be
competitive enough to gain employment, Americans are expected to take on so much
debt for a higher education that most of the income gained in their adult years
will be spent <A
href="http://business.time.com/2014/02/26/student-loans-are-ruining-your-life-now-theyre-ruining-the-economy-too/"
target=_hplink>paying off that debt</A>.</P>
<P>In return for all their hard work, Americans who aren’t executives or
shareholders are paid just enough to meet basic needs like food, clothing, and
shelter. Under the capitalist system, the majority of life for today’s average
American before retirement is spent pursuing profits that will <A
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/13/sunday-review/americas-productivity-climbs-but-wages-stagnate.html?_r=0"
target=_hplink>never be shared with them</A>. And because capitalists
like <A
href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/15/peter-peterson-foundation-half-billion-social-security-cuts_n_1517805.html"
target=_hplink>Pete Peterson</A> and the <A
href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/jun/22/koch-brothers-social-security"
target=_hplink>Koch Brothers</A> are so determined to weaken Social
Security in the pursuit of ever-increasing profits, even retirement is
unstable.</P>
<P>As a system predicated on the need to grow endlessly and never stagnate,
capitalism is doomed to fail. I’ve written previously about how capitalism is
currently <A
href="http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/279-82/15845-the-endgame-of-capitalism"
target=_hplink>in its endgame</A>, similar to the endgame of Monopoly, where one
player has accumulated nearly all of the property and money, and all the other
players are afraid to make any moves at all, lest they land on the wrong square
and are destroyed by debt.</P>
<P>Capitalism is succeeding exactly like it’s supposed to — all the resources
and wealth are concentrating into fewer and fewer hands and corporate profits
are hitting record highs every quarter. The <A
href="http://blogs.barrons.com/stockstowatchtoday/2014/03/04/ukraine-what-ukraine-sp-500-trades-record-high-dow-jones-jumps-200-points/?mod=BOLBlog"
target=_hplink>Dow Jones and S&P 500</A> are doing better than they’ve
ever done in decades. Worker productivity and Gross Domestic Product has
increased at a rapid pace, yet wages are stagnant.</P>
<P>As a direct result of the rise of corporate dominance of government, the
profit motive has become the primary motive of operation not just for private
businesses, but for government institutions. One example is the Department of
Education booking <A
href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/11/25/federal-student-loan-profit/3696009/"
target=_hplink>$41.3 billion</A> in profits off of student loans, even
though the student loan bubble has surpassed the $1 trillion mark.</P>
<P>Groups like the <A href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azSUHpAb_E4"
target=_hplink>American Legislative Exchange Council</A> allow capitalists
to write laws behind closed doors, then wine and dine state lawmakers to pass
those laws in exchange for future campaign contributions from capitalists.
Election laws are now <A
href="http://maplight.org/data-release/data-releasesocial-welfare-groups-dominate-dark-money-spending-on-congressional-electio"
target=_hplink>set up to benefit capitalists</A> who can anonymously donate
millions of dollars to a Super PAC and dominate public airwaves with false
advertising, while grassroots candidates without millions on their side are shut
out of the public conversation.</P>
<P>Capitalists like <A
href="http://prospect.org/article/american-tax-system-brought-you-ge"
target=_hplink>General Electric</A>, <A
href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/tomgroenfeldt/2013/10/30/banks-led-by-citi-lobby-house-successfully-to-limit-dodd-frank-on-derivatives/"
target=_hplink>Citigroup</A> and Monsanto can write legislation with
members of Congress that stacks the deck in their favor while overseeing that
legislation’s passage. Capitalists who own mercenary companies can get paid
billions of dollars in defense contracts while pay and benefits for veterans
are <A
href="http://www.armytimes.com/article/20140304/NEWS05/303040021/2015-budget-released-How-cuts-affect-pay-BAH-per-diem-Tricare"
target=_hplink>cut from the budget</A>.</P>
<P>Capitalists like the Koch Brothers can escape accountability through foreign
subsidiaries despite <A
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/blogpost/post/koch-brothers-company-sold-equipment-to-iran-report-alleges-firm-denies-wrongdoing/2011/10/03/gIQAMBeTIL_blog.html"
target=_hplink>violating U.S trade laws</A>, and banks like JPMorgan Chase
can <A
href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/06/eric-holder-banks-too-big_n_2821741.html"
target=_hplink>escape jail time</A> despite defrauding millions of
homeowners. But homeless people like Gregory Taylor are sentenced to 25 years in
jail for <A
href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/17/gregory-taylor-homeless-m_n_684828.html"
target=_hplink>stealing bread</A>.</P>
<P>During the Cold War era, if people didn’t openly embrace capitalism, they ran
the risk of being called a Communist sympathizer and intimidated out of their
job. But the tables are turning on capitalism as more and more people become
aware of the consequences of capitalism.</P>
<P>In November of 2011, during the height of the Occupy Wall Street movement,
conservative messaging specialist Frank Luntz had a meeting with the Republican
Governors’ Association to teach them how to address the growing populist energy
sweeping the country.</P>
<P>“I’m so scared of this anti-Wall Street effort. I’m frightened to
death,” <A
href="http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/republicans-being-taught-talk-occupy-wall-street-133707949.html"
target=_hplink>Luntz said</A>. “They’re having an impact on what the American
people think of capitalism.”</P>
<P>Luntz’s first suggestion to the Republican governors was to stop saying the
word “capitalism,” as it was believed by many in the country to be “immoral,”
according to Luntz.</P>
<P>The Occupy movement was seen as a failure because it focused too heavily on
critiquing capitalism rather than uniting around a proposed alternative to
capitalism or creating viable solutions. But ironically, the <A
href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/dec/29/fbi-coordinated-crackdown-occupy"
target=_hplink>nationally-coordinated crackdown</A> on the Occupy movement
was one of the best things to happen to the — it dispersed thousands of
newly-trained radical organizers from city parks into cities.</P>
<P>Fast food worker strikes have been organized in over <A
href="http://www.thenation.com/blog/177451/fast-food-strikes-hit-100-cities-thursday"
target=_hplink>100 cities</A>. Occupy Wall Street’s “Strike Debt” project
abolished <A href="http://rollingjubilee.org/" target=_hplink>$14.7
million</A> in distressed medical debt and outpaced FEMA in <A
href="http://gothamist.com/2012/12/01/video_bloomberg_praises_occupy_sand.php"
target=_hplink>disaster relief</A> during Hurricane Sandy. The Occupy
movement has gone from occupying city parks to <A
href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/tiny-houses-helping-with-homeless-problem-in-us/"
target=_hplink>building homes</A> for the homeless, occupying <A
href="http://occupyourhomes.org/" target=_hplink>foreclosed homes</A>, and
occupying city halls – not as protesters, but as <A
href="http://www.occupy.com/article/richmond-california-mayor-occupies-wall-street"
target=_hplink>elected officials</A>. Rather than merely critiquing capitalism,
the movement is actively contradicting and creating alternatives to it.</P>
<P>What will come after capitalism is uncertain. But what is certain is that
there is more than enough wealth in the world to provide basic needs like food,
clothing, and shelter to all people. A United Nations <A
href="http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/"
target=_hplink>study</A> estimated that to end global poverty, provide
basic healthcare and education, combat diseases like HIV and malaria, create
environmental stability, improve maternal health, address the gap in gender
equality and reduce child mortality, developed nations would have to contribute
just 0.7 percent of their gross national income over a 10-year period. For the
United States, that would cost just <A
href="http://www.examiner.com/article/economics-of-ending-poverty-0-7-of-gni-is-all-it-takes#_ftn1"
target=_hplink>$90 billion per year</A>. That amounts to just 8.7 percent of our
current military budget.</P>
<P>Despite such an obvious and easy solution, we all know we currently don’t
have the political leadership to accomplish this, and likely won’t anytime soon
if we depend solely on the Democratic and Republican parties. A new, populist,
explicitly anti-capitalist party must emerge and start organizing at the
grassroots level to build power over time. And this new political party must be
led by and represent the young, the unemployed, underemployed and misemployed,
people of color, people in debt, and everyone else who has been victimized by
capitalism.</P></DIV></DIV></DIV></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>