tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5430866.post5259256660015491962..comments2024-01-02T08:54:14.406-05:00Comments on Peter Bromberg's UnBlog: Obscene Wealth – Myths About Capitalismpeterbromberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18173639411723574123noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5430866.post-39847292936894771922010-12-02T22:57:46.630-05:002010-12-02T22:57:46.630-05:00Unregulated Big Capitalism is evil, that is all th...Unregulated Big Capitalism is evil, that is all there is to it. For example, when Windows 95 came out, "Ah, Wordperfect does not work with Win95!" "Too bad!" Now, MS Word stinks, we all know that, and Wordperfect is very good, we all know that. Netscape was good, too. But the MS monopoly wiped them out. This is evil. Intel paying Dell $1 Billion to NOT use AMD processors is "legal", but evil. The U.S. media completely owned by 5 humongous companies is evil. See, we need regulated capitalism, 'cause big Corp. is just as evil as big Gov.<br /><br />AAGUnknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01893688647367379678noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5430866.post-79279450400774317462010-04-24T08:04:23.398-05:002010-04-24T08:04:23.398-05:00True, when the rich get richer the poorer don'...True, when the rich get richer the poorer don't HAVE TO get poorer. When capitalism is rooted in innovation and progress then poorer in fact get richer by virtue of having increased possibilities and market capacity. Case in point, recent iPad’s release is something I’ll call capitalism done right, it broke new ground, created new markets, increase completion, and in some scenarios increased productivity. And that’s a win-win, also the poorer got richer in the “opportunity cost” sense of having a technology that might have been out of their hand previously is now less so. <br /><br />On the other hand, there is a face of capitalism that is rooted in greed and deceit. And you can look no further than Goldman Sachs’s recent case of pitting a portfolio which was designed to be shorted as a winner to its own client. What did it achieve, well other than Goldman Sach’s making a decent cut, it just transferred wealth from the defrauded investor(s) to the seller. This is capitalism done at someone’s expense, Goldman Sachs did not invent or produce anything, they cooked books and fabricated fudge. I identify-with and welcome services industries when they incrementally add-value or serve some purpose (like increase efficiency or reduce cost via pooling etc.), but here it’s one group taking advantage of information it had and yielding misinformation to profit. <br /><br />Also as much you can/should aspire to great principles, understand than markets/companies don’t exist in a vacuum – as history shows, a point inevitably comes where the some of the rich leverage their power/position to game the system against everyone else. This can take the form of generating algorithms to root out Breast Cancer suffers or buying political influence to dilute legislation that might them more competitive. And if you think the answer to this is crying socialism, then I don’t think it’s worth having this conversation. And honestly, the least socialist country in the world is Somalia, not only do you have minimal Govt. interference but you also have the unbeatable tax rate of exactly zero. If you truly believed in capitalism, I’m looking forward to your migration in the capitalism-paradise else check your rhetoric.<br /><br />If America has come so far in 250 years, it more because capitalism was exercised in more or less the spirit of fairness, and if there is sustained and malevolent attack on that underpinning then correcting it is more important than clinging to some cherished principle on Govt.’s role. Lastly, have you thought about the opposite of what Michael Medved said – if you believe that helping the truly impoverished and poor is done at the expense of capitalism, then you believe that decreasing poverty reduces wealth and you’re are an idiot too.. <br /><br />RishiRishihttp://www.orktane.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5430866.post-22221954550734889582010-04-24T06:28:55.038-05:002010-04-24T06:28:55.038-05:00@Marc you aren't talking so much about Capital...@Marc you aren't talking so much about Capitalism as you are about human nature. <br /><br />Capitalism, like any other system, can be abused by unchecked greed and fear to the point where the results make it *appear* that the system is broken when in fact it's not.<br /><br />In fact is was our own government that precipitated the recent dot-com and housing busts because of Fed policy. The "Fat Cats" simply took advantage of the goodies being heaped on their plates. That's human nature.peterbromberghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18173639411723574123noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5430866.post-54166646047519069382010-04-24T00:00:25.780-05:002010-04-24T00:00:25.780-05:00"If it ain’t broke, then don’t try to fix it...."If it ain’t broke, then don’t try to fix it."<br /><br />LOL, it is broke my friend, wake up. It's what got us here today. Those in finance have the motivation of improving profits over the short term or even mid term. Those kind of incentives lead to short cutting just about everything possible while ignoring the long term effects. After the .com crash in 01 they shifted their speculation to housing and crashed that as well. <br /><br />Capitalism can be good, as long as the bottom line has and altruistic purpose where the XO's are invested for the long term.Marcnoreply@blogger.com