Capitalism Denial

[Hydra]

Ok, after several arguments today I would to ask the esteemed experts of DU a question. Many people are saying that we are not living in capitalist society, but rather in a corporatist society. I disagree, because from what I can see, corporatism is simply a growth stage in capitalism.

Given that fact, I became curious. So I ask all of you:

What precepts of pure capitalism does our current system actually violate?

[OHdem10]

1. Capitalism is an economic system that can be used for good or

for evil.

For Capitalism to serve well in a Democracy, it must be
regulated. Unregulated Capitalism can over time be about
as damaging as the dreaded Communism.

Corporatism is the merger of State(Government) and Business.
Business ends up with the power and practically running the
country. Unregulated Capitalism. Mussolini equate Corporatism
with Fascism. Hitler was the most Business Friendly Tyrant
ever.

Bear in mind with proper regulations FDR saved Capitalism
and saved Democracy. (Built the Middle Class) No middle
class means no Democracy. That is why we must fight
to help save our Middle Class now. Regulated Capitalism
is the key.

[Hydra]

2. Good points

But I have a problem with the middle class- they want what the people up top have(legal immunity and tax immunity) and have little regard for people who are having trouble surviving in the system.

I suppose if we could have everyone in the middle class, that would fix part of the problem.

[Oregone]

6. "Mussolini equate Corporatism with Fascism."

Its likely he didn't actual at all. Besides, fascism is not the same as corporatism, by any right.

If you will, read this: http://www.publiceye.org/fascist/corporatism.html

[The Northerner]

3. What we have now is corporatism

True capitalism would be a system in which all private industries compete on a level playing field against each other for people's demands.

When big corporations and politicians rig the system to benefit certain big businesses over other smaller ones, what we end up with is the corporatist system we have today.

[Hydra]

4. See, and this is where I get a little confounded

To have a level playing field, you need regulations, right?

Otherwise if you don't have legal protections, you do indeed have the big ones crushing the small ones: legally, financially, or even physically.

But such legal protections are not actually a part of the capitalist paradigm, right?

[Oregone]

5. The only place pure capitalism has ever existed is in a book

This is real world capitalism. People need to face reality and deal with it. Structural flaws inherent in capitalism prevent "pure" capitalism from ever being implemented.

It seems a variety of apologists would rather dress up the current system with fancy names than realize the inevitable trajectory of a capitalistic system. They want to cling to the promising, Utopian ideals espoused by Smith, and ignore the cold, hard observations of the system in practice made by Marx. Its far easier calling a spade a spoon, it would seem

[Ozymanithrax]

7. More important is what in our modern system are attributes of corporatism...

From "Oxford Concise Dictionary of Politics" by Iain Mclean. Oxford University Press. 1996

"The central core of corporatism is the notion of a system of interest intermediation linking producer interest and the state, in which explicitly recognized interest organizations are incorporated into the policy-making process, both in terms of the negotiation of policy and of securing compliance from their members with the agreed policy." (pg. 112)

Now, if you examine how legislation is written...

The mania for deregulation under Reagan, Bush I, and Clinton (particularly pushed by the Republican Congress) was done at the behest of privately owned corporations who worked with government entities to remove legislation that inhibited their business practices.

Until the late 80's and early 90's most electricity was made by city, county, and state facilities. Deregulation turned this production of energy over to private corporations, that were then invited into the legislative process to inhibit any tendency to regulate them.

Cheney's meetings with the heads of the energy companies in 2001 and the legislation and deregulation that followed.

Bush and Cheney's administration was a who's who of energy and big oil

Both The Bush Administration and the Obama administration tapped major executives of the banking industry to run their economic policy.

The Senate worked with Health Insurance companies in writing the Health Care Legislation.

These are just a few examples of the Legislative process working in collusion with the the Legislative Branch.

This type of collusion between government and business is not a tenant of Capitalism.

Capitalism is discussed in the "Oxford Concise Dictionary of Politics" on pages 54-56. It is defined by McLean as "A term denoting a distinct form of social organization, based on generalized commodity production, in which there is private ownership and/or control of the means of production." (pg. 54).

He also discusses capitalism as defined by Werner Sombart and Max Weber. (54-55)

"Sombart describes capitalism in terms of a synthesis of the spirit of enterprise with the 'bourgeois spirit' of calculation and rationality." (54) and Carl Marx (55-56).

Sombart and Webber both thought Capitalism the most advanced economic system ever created, but neither of them took the means of production and placed it in that required marriage with government.

"For Marx capitalism is a historically specific mode of production, in which capital (in its many forms) is the principal means of production. A mode of production is not defined by technology but refers to the way in which the conditions of production are owned and controlled and to the social relations between individuals which result form their connection with the process of production. Each mode of production is distinguished by how the dominant class, controlling the conditions of production, ensures the extracting of the surplus from the dominated class." (55) For Marx it is all about classes and who owns capital. Mars advocated the ownership of the means of production by the people (managed by their government). But Marx would have been appalled by a unity of public government and privately owned production.

IN none of those definitions that are way to lengthy to type into this post is the combination of corporations and government mentioned. That is why we have a Corporatist economy. We are not capitalist. Capitalism, as the system was approximated here in the U.S. is long dead. Corporatism wears its mask to keep us fooled.

So To Answer Your Question:

It is the legislative ties between production (corporations) and the Legislative and Executive Branches of our government that violates a basic tenate of Capitolism, in accordance with the "Oxford Concise Dictionary of Politics" and Oxford, University.