21st Century Capitalism!

[rastaman]

I've never agreed with the endless printing of money by the Fed and the power and influence of their regional banks. But I think what’s missing here is the negative impact on the economy illegal offshore tax heavens has stolen from the treasury. At last estimate were talking $100 billion per year that’s cheated out of the treasury.

Over the last 26 years Reagan and Bush II passed legislation for taxing income over $5 million dollars was decreased from 78% down to 28%, and we haven't started talking about the loop holes.

This radical change in the tax codes-rates has estimated to have cost the treasury btwn $200-$300 billion per year over the last 26-27 years! That’s $7.8 trillion dollars! Which has stayed in the hands of the wealthy and the Trans global NWO entities. When the wealthy has this much money to burn, they take this money-capital to invest in the ponzie scheme derivatives and to speculate in the shell game commodities markets; thus corrupting and destroying wall street and investment banks.

This has allowed the wealthy and corporations to accumulate and amass obscene levels of wealth and to buy influence in congress to pass laws to give them unfair leverage and power over the working masses in this country.

The wealthy and the corporations have taken their wealth and have formed into corporate-monopolies to where they are BIG TO FAIL! If they fail, they take down the entire economy with them!!!

Lastly, America no longer is an Industrial product or manufacturing based economy---we have become a service sector economy. Outsourcing to 3rd world countries to exploit the workers in those countries.

Reagan repealed import tariff tax laws that has made it lucrative for American Companies to un-employ workers in America and take good paying jobs with them. The treasury can no longer tax high paying blue and white collar salaries to replace badly needed revenues.

The service sector jobs salaries have not kept pace with inflation for workers even though productivity and corporate wealth has increased dramatically over the last 28 years.

Question is, in a country that has had on average a GDP ranging btwn 12-16 trillion dollars every year over the last 28 years.......I have one question, where has all the money gone! And why is this country on the verge of becoming a 3rd World Financial-Bankrupt Basket Case???

Is it time to ask the question...."Has Capitalism Failed"??? I think it’s safe to say that we are witnessing 20th Century Capitalism in its DEATH THROES.

Now the task at hand is to find a way for a 21st Century Capitalistic model that will allow all who participates from the minimum wage worker to Bill Gates to prosper from and enjoy the fruits of CAPITALISM.

[Odysseus]

Assuming this is correct how do you convince people who have the money, power, influence and congressional pull to relinquish any of this?

Assuming this is accurate who would be an authority large enough to make any of this stick?

[gyldenlove]

Most of the money never existed in the classical sense. As soon as someone would come into large amounts of wealth, instead of buying a kingsize bed and stuffing the mattress they would put the money back in circulation in stocks, equity, venture capital or futures, then the value of those assets would increase making it look like the person had made a ton of money, but since those increases were not realized, when the values dropped, the money no longer existed.

If you have 10 dollars, and you keep it, you have 10 dollars at any given time.

If you put your 10 dollars in say apple futures, believing the apple harvest will fail, you own some hypothetical apples, then if the harvest does fail your futures are worth 20 dollars, if you then sell you have 20 dollars, but if you let it ride, and the harvest turns around, you only have 5 left. So it will look like you lost 15 dollars, but the 20 dollars your futures were worth at one point never actually existed. The same is true for most of the money rich people have, the money doesn't exist, it is tied up in assets of variable (arbitrary) value and is never realized until the entire value is gone or it is moved to another asset.

[rastaman]

Assuming this is correct how do you convince people who have the money, power, influence and congressional pull to relinquish any of this?

Assuming this is accurate who would be an authority large enough to make any of this stick?

I can understand if you have doubts but this is why research is so important and although hours of research is not fun, connecting the dots of how we as a nation have found ourselves where we are today as a country must be done.

The citizens in this country both Dem's and Repubs who are in the income brackets of minimum wage to 85K have allowed themselves to be conquered and divided over wedge issues.

Meanwhile these powerful entities have used their amassed fortunes generated from 29 years of the Reagan tax cuts to buy influence and lobby Congress and our govt to have laws, policies, and legislation to benefit corporations, wall street, banks, and family oligarchies.

[rastaman]

Most of the money never existed in the classical sense. As soon as someone would come into large amounts of wealth, instead of buying a kingsize bed and stuffing the mattress they would put the money back in circulation in stocks, equity, venture capital or futures, then the value of those assets would increase making it look like the person had made a ton of money, but since those increases were not realized, when the values dropped, the money no longer existed.

If you have 10 dollars, and you keep it, you have 10 dollars at any given time.

If you put your 10 dollars in say apple futures, believing the apple harvest will fail, you own some hypothetical apples, then if the harvest does fail your futures are worth 20 dollars, if you then sell you have 20 dollars, but if you let it ride, and the harvest turns around, you only have 5 left. So it will look like you lost 15 dollars, but the 20 dollars your futures were worth at one point never actually existed. The same is true for most of the money rich people have, the money doesn't exist, it is tied up in assets of variable (arbitrary) value and is never realized until the entire value is gone or it is moved to another asset.

So is this to say the National Debt and trade deficits don't really exist as well? Can you not just say screw it....were not going to pay it anymore? What happens if overnight the U.S. decides to pull out of NAFTA, CATA, and the WTO. After all these agreements are not etched in stone.

[gyldenlove]

So is this to say the National Debt and trade deficits don't really exist as well? Can you not just say screw it....were not going to pay it anymore? What happens if overnight the U.S. decides to pull out of NAFTA, CATA, and the WTO. After all these agreements are not etched in stone.

Trade deficits do exist, they are in fact very real. A certain amount of stuff comes in, a smaller amount goes out, you have a deficit.

National debt exists as well, someone at some point gave you money. If you give me 100 bucks, I have to pay you back 100 bucks, even if I spend the money.

What doesn't exist is capital gains and losses. If you buy 100 apples, for your money, you have 100 apples, prices of apples may vary, but the amount of apples and the inherent value of the apples remain constant (if you store them well). You don't more apples as the monetary value changes and you don't get fewer apples as the value drops, only if you realize the change in value and get money back do you have an actual gain, unfortunately for someone else that means that they will have a loss since the value will come back down again, since 100 apples is still 100 apples.

Stuff is constant, it changes hands, but it is constant. Value changes, but value is arbitrary.

[BroncsRule]

No, "Stuff" is not constant. We keep making more stuff. Ergo, the total amount of stuff, and therefore the total value of all the stuff, keeps rising.

What really has us in a bind is that over the last generation or so, the stuff we produce in this country has changed dramatically from durable goods (actual, tangible stuff) to services and intellectual property (imaginary stuff). In addition, some supposedly really smart people started fractionalizing stuff and reselling it more than once. They were making so much imaginary money selling this imaginary stuff to each other, that they started to rely on these new imaginary income streams.

Then, a few too many of the poor bastards who were on the hook for the original mortgages started defaulting on their loans, and the house of cards collapsed.

And here we are. Staring down the barrel of peak oil, the commercial real estate collapse, runaway inflation and rampant unemployment.

When your neighbor looses his job, it's a recession. When you loose your job, it's a depression.

[BroncsRule]

6 million Americans have lost their jobs since last labor day. Approximately 15 million Americans are struggling to find suitable work (unemployed plus underemployed plus discouraged job seekers).

- from the ABC news broadcast this evening.

Happy Labor Day everyone!

- Go Broncos!

[Odysseus]

Stuff is not constant. Values are not arbitrary. Stuff has changed quite a bit in terms of becoming more service oriented. We were sold magic bean stories regarding our stuff.

Right now we have, in essence, too much stuff. China was hailed as salvation for the West in terms of a new market but China got into the "stuff" making business and became competition instead of our market. They make "stuff" we buy "stuff".

Consumerism, the driving force behind the economy, has failed. China makes stuff that nobody has the money, credit, or willpower to buy.

15 million people out of work? Happy Labor day indeed.