Capitalism

What is Capitalism?

To a poor man or woman, it is the unattainable.

To Karl Marx, it was greed.

To the wealthy, it is the reward for hard work and unfettered risk taking.

To politicians, it is the answer to all society's ills--albeit through very different lenses.

In truth, Capitalism is none of the above.  It is, first and foremost, an unruly system thrust into the hands of human beings without instructions or guideposts.  It is, to paraphrase Adam Smith, an "every man/woman for him/herself" kind of system.  And because it is a System, it has no feelings, no desires, no disappointments and no worries.

In most every other human interaction systems are governed by human being.  Not so with Capitalism.   Capitalism is the ruling Monarchy, the disguised dictatorship, the golden goose, the brass ring, the winner takes all, the no holds barred.

You get the picture.

When a pro athlete signs a 145 million dollar, three year contract and a pro golfer takes home nearly 2 million dollars for five days of sport, while 20 percent of Oregon's children live in poverty, one must ask, what is money, really?

When an employer says "this is all I can offer you," and yet that employer takes in millions, perhaps, billions of dollars a year over and above its expenses, a wide-awake human being should be appalled.

Yet, everyday people take poverty level, minimum wage jobs--which seem to be growing by leaps and bounds--the very same people who keep our corporations going from the ground floor up, and without whom these same corporations would have to close their doors.

I believe the day is coming when major world economies will crumble into giant heaps, buried under vast debt and speculation, immense greed and unrealistic ideals.

No one is worth 145 million dollars when over 1 billion of our world's children still live in poverty. One person living in poverty one single second longer is one second too many!  Charity cannot not sustain them.  Soup kitchens and food pantries do not give them lasting security.  They provide a meal for a day with no promise that another will be forthcoming tomorrow or the day after.  In turn, no one with a job today is guaranteed it will be there tomorrow.  And if you can't afford the necessities, you must chosse debt or go without.

How can we so idolize such a system?  Why are our greatest minds not focused on a new, more realistic one?  One that sees money as merely a tool to providing life's needs in equal measure to all.

A world built on debt and speculation, on mega corporations and the race to become billionaires so that we can possess more of the same and dispose of it with abandon, cannot stand forever.  An equilateral triangle will hold its point erect in perpetuity.  But in economics, that same triangle, with the wealthiest at the top and the poorest at the bottom, will eventually wither away at its roots until even this indestructible system must decay from lack of care.