Wednesday 22 February 2012

The world According to JJ (JJ!)....plus...Capitalism


Well, Internet JJ (JJ!)'s gotta apologize.  I don't really want to talk no politics.  Why? Well, to a large extent because JJ.  Just. Ain't. That. Smart.  I am happy to let the smart folks figurafy on this stuff.  But the "occupy such and such" folks seem to really have put some bees in some bonnets.  Makes one just want to talk about how they feel. In a rambling, nonsensical rant!


Well, Ole JJ (JJ!), you might think the worse of him, and he is ok with that, but he does actually believe that capitalism is the way to go, at least for this period in us human folk's existence.  Why?  Because humans...well...they be selfish animals.  As Mr. George Bernard Shaw put it:

“Capitalism justified itself and was adopted as an economic principle on the express ground that it provides selfish motives for doing good, and that human beings will do nothing except for selfish motives”


I mean seriously! Nailed it!  Don't get me wrong, maybe we will one day evolve into beneficient beings, that groove to helping other folks out.  But for now?  No way, man.  Out of my way, I'm going to get mine.

And I think that's ok.  Look at life now, you are telling me that its not better than a hundred years ago? Or two hundred years ago?  Would you want to go back?  Live until you were 50?  Not listen to your iPod while playing Call of Duty?  (At least in the first world countries - I suppose if I asked folks from a lot of third world countries to do the same, they might be pretty "meh".)  Think of the advances in medicine.  And scientific knowledge of the world around us.  Amazing!

Ok.  Capitalism good.  But is capitalism perfect?  NOOOOOO!!!!! It's not! I get that!  Rampant consumerism? Capitalism!  Using the natural resources of the Earth to create a toy that comes with your hamburger and which is immediately after the meal destined for a landfill?  Capitalism!  Selling stuff containing poison because it makes it last longer which improves profit margin? Capitalism! Inventing super-complicated financial instruments and marketing them to middle-class investors you know will not understand how they work or the risk involved in holding them?  Capitalism!

And by capitalism's very nature, some folks get left behind.  They are not able to "pull themselves up by their bootstraps" and be successful. 

I guess what I am saying is that capitalism is a good tool for incentivizing people to do stuff.  But making profit the main goal of life does not come without its perils.

But that's where government comes in!  Enforce the rule of law and hold enterprise responsible for the products they sell.  Ask the folks that can be successful within the system to kick in a little to support those who can't.

That's what JJ can't quite figure out about these tea partiers.  "The problem is too much regulation!"  "Why are we giving handouts to these lazy deadbeats!?"  Like do you really think a completely unrestrained free market is the solution?  Really?  Like in China?  And no social safety net?  Every man/woman  for themselves?

I mean I get being afraid of losing what you have.  And I get being scared that the US's time in the sun may be fading.  But wow.  I am just not sure they understand to what extent they may be acting against their own self-interest.

Anyways.  Self-indulgent rant over!






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