Free Capitalism From Itself

This is a response to yet another con apologist article by David Brooks, who tries so hard to me a moderate, but can't help himself by being wrong all the time!


Brooks is amazing...we have to search for ways to make capitalism work better.  Meanwhile, Republicans refuse to pass a minimum wage increase, refuse to pass any jobs bill, refuse to drop their austerity nonsense.

We finally watched "12 Years a Slave" last night.  Everyone in this nation needs to watch it, some twice.

Here a  few inconvenient truths:   1.  Slavery grew the American economy rapidly, assisting industrialization with cheap textile products, created by slave labor.  2.  Genocide grew the American economy by killing the legal owners of vast areas of land, allowing immigrants to begin their economic lives on land they got for free.  This was an enormous advantage in competing with Europe for economic hegemony.  3.  The Gilded Age, culminating in the Great Depression, proved forever that a free market economy, unregulated, would eventually implode, creating misery everywhere, and eventually resulting in mass warfare and fascism; witness WWII.

Look, slavery was never nice.  Capitalism has an ugly face, that destroys often as much as it builds.  Left alone in a total free market, it will implode!  At its worse, it is very negative.

Brooks is an apologist for this negativity.  He can't bring himself to support even one progressive idea, like simply raising the minimum wage, when history shows redistributing wealth, when it gets greatly out of wack, not only is good economics, but good historical survival.

As we watch other nations deteriorate into perpetual warfare, we could be next.  FDR, in 1932 realized that, and instituted policies that Republicans hate to this day and saved the free enterprise system.  And he is vilified to this day for it.

Brooks talks about the American Enterprise Institute as a "Think Tank".  So is the Hoover Institute.  Neither one of them produce any real breakthroughs, because their ideology is so flawed, so opposed to common sense fixes, and yes sometime complicated fixes,  to the free enterprise system, that they literally cannot think.

Finally, try this one on:  The ACA is yet another idea to begin SAVING the health care system in this country.  Raising the minimum wage is another idea to save the capitalist system.  Passing immigration reform is yet another.  And believe it or not, treating everyone fairly with equal civil rights also saves the capitalist system.  If Arizona foolishly approves their horrible discrimination toward Gays based on "religious freedom to discriminate", they will doom their capitalist system.  Companies will relocate, segregation is the enemy of free markets!

In the 1960s LBJ got that.  As a Southerner, he saw the damage that was produced by maintaining a segregated social and economic system.  Since the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed, that southern conservatives hate so much they actually changed parties because of it, the south has turned into an economic success; still not fair, but way better than before.

Raise the minimum wage.  Ensure Civil Rights for all citizens.  Regulate the free market system when necessary for its own good.  And stop voting Republican until they wise up...