An Indefensible Economic System

Someone needs to explain to me why there are so many Americans making average or even substandard wages who continue to defend the capitalistic status quo. I think this is where Robert Reich is correct, that people are simply afraid. In a labor market where employers have all the power, people just feel lucky to have a job.

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The Rich Are Rich Because They Deserve It? Krugman Responds To Brooks

Is the affluence of the wealthiest Americans entirely earned, or is there a level of luck, timing, and in some cases, family inheritance involved? Or to ask it a different way, can people honestly make the case of one human being that is deserving of such massive wealth (like that of the .01%) on the merits of his or her productivity? Is there any single human being who deserves to be worth more than the combined wealth of millions of fellow citizens?

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Talking Absolutes: The Language Of Free Market Conservatives

Free market conservatives say government cannot address the problem of poverty. They say government can’t create jobs. They assume all people who are not making a living wage must not be working, or working hard enough, and so that means they are undeserving of any government assistance. And they say government cannot give to someone unless it has taken from someone else.

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The Free Market Has Spoken, And It Had Nothing To Say About Economic Inequality

One of the tenets of free market ideology is consumer choice. The idea goes like this. Empower citizens to make their own decisions and they will have greater freedom, greater prosperity, and businesses will live or die at the will of the consumer. Therefore, corporations and executives are in effect beholden to the consumer. Sounds good right? Who could be against that?

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The Stock Market Soared In 2013, So Where Are The Jobs?

Free-market capitalists, which apparently is just about any Republican these days, tell us government is too burdensome to businesses and we need to cut taxes. Their standard message for how to get the economy moving is to cut taxes and get government out of the way. There’s just one problem, the economy, at least as measured by the major stock indexes, finished 2013 with tremendous gains, and that means the personal economy of so-called “job creators” is doing quite well. How’s your personal economy coming along?

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Obamacare: Why Free Market Health Care Is Not The Answer

Just hours after mildly defending Obamacare, which was mostly a rebuke of Republican obsession with Obamacare repeal, I will now tell you why free market health care is not the answer. And yes, Obamcare is a capitalist solution to universal health care. Don’t get me wrong, the Affordable Care Act has great protections and benefits for people — rebates when health care insurers do not spend at least 80% on medical services, no denial of coverage for pre-existing conditions, and no more lifetime caps on health care expenditures. And tens of millions more Americans will have a chance to access more affordable health care when health care exchanges start going online next year.

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Dow Jones, The Kenyan Socialist, And A Thousand Years Of Darkness

On Tuesday, January 20, 2009, the Kenyan socialist, also known as Barack Obama, took the oath of office and became the 44th President of the United States. His presidency was only made possible by the massive fraud committed by ACORN, oh, and the lone Black Panther. On that lowly day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) closed at 7949.09, and the first anti-American, anti-capitalist president set forth a plan to ruin the fortunes of CEOs and top executives. You know, the “productive class” in our society. The people who do the heavy lifting and throw a few scraps at the rest of us when they are feeling generous.

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