We all know the names -- that seem to be able to manipulate our political system to their end, no matter which party is in power....
Citigroup. ExxonMobil. Pfizer. ConocoPhillips. GlaxoSmithKline. JPMorgan Chase & Co. Shell/Royal Dutch Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. ING Group Dow Chemical McDonalds Procter & Gamble Capital One KPMG Novartis Chevron The Coca-Cola Company UBS Halliburton Virgin Group. Johnson & Johnson. The Walt Disney Company. American Express. Boeing.
etc etc etc etc
We no longer live in the age of Mom and Pop shop capitalism. This is Corporate Capitalism. A socialistic approach of breaking up some of that 1% wealth -- and re-distributing it among the lower 95% is now in order I think.
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I am not here to write a simple polemic on the evils of our current capitalist system (I think I've done that elsewhere). I am here to try to honestly figure the damned thing out -- and if this system is really a just and equitable one.
another pile of horseshit from our resident horse rectum.
Trinitom, i find it amusing how you decry the "evils" of our corporate and capitalist system...you then go on to list a variety of companies, supposedly representative of our evil system...interesting, how you failed to note, that several of those companies "whose names you know" (well obviously you know their names, but not who they are) are not even American companies, but i guess are emblems of other evil capitalist systems around the world.
for example:
Royal Dutch Shell Petroleum is of Dutch and British extraction
Glaxo - is British
ING is dutch
KPMG is dutch/british in origin
Novartis is Swiss
UBS is Swiss
Virgin is British
the age of "pure" mom and pop capitalism have been over for decades. corporate capitalism has been around for ever, and of course, in your predictably usual slipshod manner, you manage to completely ignore "small business" and "midsize business" two massively important sectors of our economy.
mom and pop stores are generally described as having under 10 employees.
small business in the USA is described as being under 100 employees.
mid size is under 500 in the USA
small business as of 2005, employed fully *HALF* of all american workers, or roughly 116.3 million people.
as for your absurd notion of mom and pop stores, here is another tidbit you of course did not know.
in 2003, mom and pop corner stores or home-based businesses, comprised more than 70 percent of all businesses in the USA.
there are 18.6 million "nonemployer" businesses in this country and they are the backbone of this country.
5.3 million is the Number of business establishments with fewer than 10 employees in 2003. Among those, 3.9 million employed fewer than 5 people.
mom and pop stores are still doing just fine.
every day i start my day with a bagel from the same mom and pop deli here in NYC in my neighborhood. they have been here for 55 years.
the fact is, that even all those naughty and evil corporations you seem to hate so much, have a purpose. none of the many luxuries you enjoy today can be achieved in areas without massive budgets for invention, production and R&D.
A mom and pop store cannot drill for oil, or run and maintain a continental wireless network...or produce lifesaving drugs, or heat a city. it cannot insure cities against disaster. it cannot produce movies, music, etc on a massive scale. it cannot build airplanes or automobiles.
so once again you show your myopic view Trinitom...just like your blinkered pal on the far right. you two are a match made in heaven.
oh and you "socialistic approach" to "breaking up some of that wealth and redistributing it"....is really a cute way of saying you want the government to seize, by force, that which is not yours, and give it you, because you think "it is in order".
as for you trying to honestly "figure this damned thing out", don't bother...it is clearly beyond your mental grasp.
and whoever told you this system was supposed to be a "just and equitable one"?
equitable can be defined as "Just to all parties"
and that is not at all what capitalism is or what it is designed to be, nor was it the principle that the USA was founded on.
"Equal and Just" economic or material outcomes are nowhere guaranteed, or even implied when you enter into the United States.
if you want that, move to a commune, where everyone shares everything equally.
as of now, you earn more money than most of the working and non-working poor.
that is not "equitable" is it? i think, you should give away your money to 3 other people who have less than you, so you all have the same amount.
sound good?
of course not...because it is *YOURS*. what you earn, you deserve to keep after you have paid a reasonable taxation.
the "rich" already pay far more in taxes then anyone else....and guess what?
the rich *ALWAYS* get richer. for a variety of reasons....most not having to do with things that are unjust. the rich can afford to invest more, hire investment professionals, are usually better educated and in many cases, simply more driven to earn and continue to perpetuate that wealth.
this system is not equitable...but it is just. you only receive in compensation what you are worth in terms of your replacement value in the system.
a person who takes tickets at a movie theater is a drone. easily trained, easily maintained, easily replaced. In pure economic terms, that person simply does not matter in the grand scheme of things. that job can be done by a 10 year old or less with adequate training.
a lawyer, requires significant time investment, intelligence, training, schooling, and produces far more for society.
that is just the way it is.
too bad.
the fact is, you do not want "justice"...you want equal or near equal outcomes....that is neither equitable or just to the smarter, or harder working, or more innovative etc.
you do not pay a benchwarmer the same amount of money you pay LeBron James....and you also do not expect them to score the same amount of points.
you do not want justice...you want economic vengeance.