My views on Capitalism

First, here's the definition of Capitalism from Answers.com: Capitalism: An economic system in which the means of production and distribution are privately or corporately owned and development is proportionate to the accumulation and reinvestment of profits gained in a free market.

First, you have to wonder what a free market is. Here's Answers.com definition of a free market: Free Market: An economic market in which supply and demand are not regulated or are regulated with only minor restrictions.

Now, you have to ask yourself, is America actually based on a free market? Do you know (I don't) how many regulations are attached to every transaction we make? I don't know any small business owners except my husband's boss. We have been restricted until business are chocked. I took a business class a couple years back and it said that America is actually a mixed market.

And the definition of a mixed economy? Mixed economy: An economic system that allows for the simultaneous operation of publicly and privately owned enterprises.

So, that does explain what we have better. In a free market, if someone fails in their business, they file bankruptcy. They tried, and the market wouldn't support what they wanted to do. They can analyze before they go under and try different things to prop it up. Maybe they picked the wrong product, maybe their prices are wrong, etc. But the point is, the government isn't involved.

Then, there's something fairly new to me: State Capitalism. Here's a definition from Wordnet: an economic system that is primarily capitalistic but there is some degree of government ownership of the means of production

I fear that's what our country is headed to. President Obama was not raised in America, so he's not fond of Capitalism. I somehow think he would love State Capitalism, because his actions say that he doesn't think the American people are smart enough to handle their own affairs. How do I come to this conclusion? He bailed out the banks. If a few banks fail, others will come in and do the job. We won't be left with no banks. He bailed out General Motors. If the people were happy about this, they would not have nicked name it Government Motors. There have been car companies that failed in the past. My dad had a Studebaker (actually 2 at different times). I did a web search and found the following site http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2010/autos/1002/gallery.failed_car_companies.fortune/index.html It lists 6 car companies that failed. The first one they talk about is Crosley Motors (1939 - 1952). He developed a car that was sold in Department stores for $250 and got 50 miles to the gallon. I suppose it wasn't consumer need that made that one go out. It was probably the big 3 squeezed him out of existence. Can't have a car that cheap that gets that good of gas mileage. The rest are the Tucker Corporation (1944 - 1949), Cunningham Motors (1950 - 1955), DeLorean Motor Company (1975 - 1982), and Vector Motors (1971 - 1993). (One was based in Canada, so I left it off.)

Companies come and go. That's capitalism. If you can't cut it, you're out. But for the government to step in and take over the company, and lets not be naive, when they give money for a bail out, they are in control. If someone gives me millions of dollars so my business doesn't fail, you better believe I feel obligated to listen to them. I found one article that said that credit card companies have been bailed out, too. If you have more than $10,000 in debt, they can reduce it because the federal government is paying them. That means that I am paying for someone else's credit card debt with my taxes. That's not a free market, or even a mixed economy. That's socialism and redistribution of wealth.

So back to capitalism. If I want to buy something, lets just say I need the services of a doctor. In a free market, I could pick the doctor that charges the least amount, go to him and pay in in cash, or set up a payment plan with HIM. But, since we are a mixed economy or even edging close to socialism, I can't do that. I have to go to my insurance company who then tells me who is in their system. In my case with military insurance, it's who is willing to accept the pittance of amount of money the government will pay them. The variety of doctors I can go to is getting smaller and smaller.

Using that same example, if the doctors charge to much, no one will come to them, and they won't be able to make payroll. They'll be forced to lower their prices to attract clients.

But this administration (and to be fair, a few previous to this one) are choking us with regulations and restrictions until we are not a free market. They claim that capitalism is dead and doesn't work, and yet, they don't give the proper atmosphere for it to thrive. The definition at the beginning is not in effect now. No wonder we have problems.