Do you want to get depressed in time for the weekend? Check this guy's economic assessment for our future -- the total collapse of capitalism!
Total Collapse of Capitalism
In this month's issue of The Gloom, Boom & Doom Report, Marc Faber issued one of the gloomiest, most depressing takes on the financial crisis and its impact. Faber said that the future, "will be a total disaster, with a collapse of our capitalistic system as we know it today, wars, massive government debt defaults and the impoverishment of large segments of Western society."
Faber added that he has a "high confidence prediction" that "total collapse will come." Yikes.
Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/25/marc-faber-capitalistic-s_n_299720.html
6 comments:
Okay, you provide these links, but why not tell us what YOU think? Why do YOU think capitalism should be destroyed? And outline what you'd put in place of it?
No links or quotes, please, you tell us in your own words why Socialism is the way to be, and why we should reject capitalism.
I appreciate that you have set yourself up as a salon hostess, but I do think that, in fairness to your followers, you should write intelligent essays of your own, instead of merely providing links to the websites of others.
Several of us attempt to write *petits essias,* and it's only right that YOU do it too. No fair hiding behind the words of others.
Why do you think Elizabeth wants to destroy capitalism?
She does very well out of it, for one thing, and for another, she's just too nice a person to want to bring the world tumbling down.
My question was not addressed to you, Mel, although it is ever a pleasure to hear your views. My question to your lady wife still stands, and I am very interested to hear her heartfelt opinions, in her own words, not those of some other writer "huffing" on the web.
I love capitalism, just not the unfettered kind. I think the gov't should run the important things like schools, highways, medical care, that are too important to be left to private enterprise.
I want regulation in capitalism.
I put up interesting opinions that I see out there -- they are not always my own. Otherwise, I wouldn't have a Rightwing Corner feature (except the guy hasn't sent me any opinions lately -- must chase him on that).
Also please don't try to set rules for my own blog, thank you.
Miss Mudpie, when you say unfettered capitalism, what do you mean?
Don't mistake my intention in asking, I am just curious. The only thing that I am aware of that can truly fetter capitalism is competition; as J.P. Morgan said around the time of the founding of the Federal Reserve, "competition is sin". The elimination of competition is the institution of monopoly, which is why those men who created the Fed, several of whom were competitors, were so keen to join forces in the bank. They wanted a monopoly on capitalism of the same sort the Bank of England has exercised in Britain since 1692.
Some of the things you mention as best being managed by government might seem that way, but looking more closely it is not so clear that government can best do some of those things.
Take government education for example, instituted supposedly to afford the poor a chance to become educated. One hundred twenty years later in the US it is the poor who still are least served by this system and who still are the least educated.
And roads, it is known that a road encourages economic growth only when it is first built, and that subsequent to that it becomes a diminishing return to the economy- that is why politicians are so loath to spend the money they collect for the roads on the roads. The Crescent City Connection, the twin spans in New Orleans are a prime example of what happens with government involvement with roads. In a couple of weeks the toll is supposed to come off those bridges, but some politicians are pushing for it to be renewed; the bridges have been paid for so the toll is no longer needed. The toll booths collect $140 million a year, but the bureacracy that collects the tolls and polices the bridges spends $176 million a year. Toll collecting has become a very costly jobs program and has greatly extended the amount of time it has taken to pay for the bridges.
The high cost of medical care in the US is due primarily to government regulation, not to greed of doctors or insurance companies. There may be two or three dozen insurance companies in a state that sell medical insurance, but of these only about half a dozen are allowed to do it, creating mini-monopolies that are not allowed to sell their products over state lines.
We should thank our lucky stars for India and China at the moment, if they were not resisting the move to a global currency based on carbon credits we would swiftly see all the world's capital markets under the monopolistic control of US and European central banks. Using government to create protected markets is simply the worst aspect of "unfettered capitalism" as I would define it, allowing a few companies to control the financial destiny of all. It is sold as regulation, but who gets to do the regulating? The banks do. They are given government permission to take our money and loan it back to us at interest. Are they more likely to write regulations favoring themselves, or the public good?
There is no better way to illustrate what "regulation" does to a country's economy than to point out to you that the British pound, once worth one pound of sterling silver, is now worth 1/8 ounce. Where did the other 15 & 7/8th ounces get off to? The public coffers? Or is it salted away in huge commerical buildings, gigantic estates, mines, factories in developing countries, and vast tracts of farm land?
Right now small farmers in America are regulated almost out of business. They have to have a certification both to farm and to buy chemicals; they are told what and how and how much of what to plant. They are not allowed to store and replant seed from gmo crops, that must be turned in at harvest time and each year they must buy new seed. Soybean seed is $200 for 45 lbs., corn seed $400, and cotton seed $600. Government regulation is responsible for this; the consumer pays these annual costs; it is really a planting tax imposed by the government but paid primarily to three large agri-businesses.
If fetters equals regulation in your mind, then surely you must be able to see what a high cost is imposed by fettered capitalism. The shackles are only for the ordinary folk, the aristocrats are running the cartels and currently we are seeing more and more global consolidation.
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