You are currently browsing the tag archive for the ‘Capitalism’ tag.
I’m not a big fan of Capitalism, nor its ideological bretheren libertarianism and objectivism. And to my critics, yes I know…markets are wonderful they give us lots of choice blah blah, free market blah blah blah.
It would be all good if we could get away from the tremendous income inequalities that are endemic to capitalism. Exploitation of the working class, the environment and even the state itself are all corollaries of the capitalism we know today.
Spare me the tales of the working business man fettered by government regulations and taxes. Without the superstructure the state provides, you would not even have a business. When discussing economic systems it never fails that I must cut through the glowing capitalist mythology to get even remotely close to what is really going on in the world.
I assume that it is why it is so difficult to debate Libertarians and Objectivists because their respective points of view dovetail so succinctly with capitalist ethos. Greed is good, and if I am doing well then by that virtue others will benefit when I accumulate more wealth.
Whoops, more free market mythology. It grows on ya, like ringworm.
What galls me more is the impertinence of the business class. Privatizing the profits and letting the public assume the risk seems to be the grand strategy and sadly we let them get away with it. Consistently.
The Chicago School of thought is opportunity capitalism at its finest. Naomi Klein wrote about how that if no crisis exists then state actors will often create a crisis to get the public to accept changes that during a non-crisis period they would not accept. The Shock Doctrine is an important book that is definitely worth reading to gain a better understanding of how the world works.
Furthermore, it goes a long a way to answering the question: “Why do they hate us so much?”. Our policies toward other nations can be quite horrific at times as we encourage profit over people almost in every case. Klein’s detailed analysis should make you feel a little ill by the time you are done with the book.
See the film short about the Shock Doctrine on ytube.
Newsflash: Deregulation does nothing except help the energy suppliers. Consumers are generally out of luck and almost always get the short end of the stick.
The Conservatives in Alberta have deregulated the power distribution system. Has the market pushed down prices? NO. Alberta energy prices are some of the highest in the country. I am not sure how many times this has been said, then patently ignored by the alberta tories. Deregulation hurts consumers.
The Edmonton Journal occasionally squeaks its disapprobation at the most ludicrous government policy. For once they got it right…read the whole article below the fold. I’d link the article itself, but the Journal insists on some digital PDF nonsense.
Former chief consumer advocate
speaks out
Energy contracts shopped doorto-door in Alberta are a “ripoff” because consumers are being charged too much for electricity and natural gas, and have to spend hundreds of dollars to get out of them, a former official with the Utilities Consumer Advocate says.
David Gray, who last month stepped down from his post as the agency’s executive director, said Monday only 30 per cent of the province’s one million retail electricity consumers have switched to contracts.
“The biggest number of complaints we had at the Utilities Consumer Advocate were from people pressured into a contract at their door … and realizing after they got their bill what happened to them. Instead of saving money, their bills went up considerably, and if they wanted to cancel their contracts, they faced enormous penalties.”
The CBC article sounds innocuous enough; full marks for making the pillaging of public good sound palatable.
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Privatization, as always, is still on the move in Alberta. As usual, it will be a wild success, for the private investors at the cost of the public good.
This is being marketed as a way to increase capital so Epcor can continue to expand its operations across North America. In reality though this is just another move toward privatizing a public good for the benefit of the business class.
bleatmop
Mystro
Dead Wild Roses 
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