Sharing and documenting capitalism's slow decay and general frustrations about capitalism.
Where to capitalism?
I am deeply involved in trying to make capitalism more accessible to the ordinary men and women of my and any other society. Part of this engagement is to have formed a political party in my country (first time ever I have said "my country") - ie South Africa. We advocate a form of direct democracy, a single tax system (Total Economic Activity Levy or TEAL) to replace all other forms of tax, a Basic Income Grant and a Sovereign Wealth Fund, both the latter available to all adult citizens. You can see more about this at [http://ddforum.co.za] and at [http://www.tealtax.co.za]. I hope those links work out.
I'm happy to debate these issues (TEAL, BIG and SWF) with anyone interested. I believe that without some sort of initiative along those lines capitalism will self destruct. I don't want that to happen because the alternatives are too dismal to contemplate. We have to make capitalism work for everyone so as to avoid other forms of despotism.
Very nice to be here and I hope for some interesting interaction from fellow imzyites




is it capitalism you care about or markets? you can have one without the other.
Hi. Interesting question. Thank you. Let me say that I believe in capitalism, in the sense that capital should be privately owned (that you and I as ordinary citizens should have access to capital and the capital markets and to ownership of private property) and that the means of production and control of markets should also be held privately. When I say privately I mean that it should not be held by the state or any other monopolistic entities. In order for all that to be possible, there needs to be a free market economy and market competition, as opposed to a centrally controlled economy, whether by the state or bunch of oligarchs and corporates.
When capital and control of markets become the exclusive preserve of the few it matters not who the few are, whether a socialist or a capitalist cabal. They are barely distinguishable the one from the other.
So the short answer is that I care about capitalism and the free market and believe that there is a mutual dependency between the two. So I would be really interested to hear how you believe the one can exist without the other or vice versa.
markets can exist in a collected system of control that enables workers to democratically control the workplace this is called mutual ism and also supports well being for all to ensure that the market is fair and balanced providing a fair basis for anyone's growth being that everyone gets a fair share of the work people do capitalism however is not capable of supporting fair and even markets the nature of the situation supports the developments of monopolies over resources and markets as it is the most effective method of producing profits. also because the means of production are owned by individuals or a small group of individuals rather than the full company it is in the interests of those people to maximize the profits that they revise to the detriment of workers who actually produce profit for the company. things like governments are necessary to stabilize capitalism without the protection of property capital will be expropriated by the masses who should own them. fortunately capitalism's failure will provide ample opportunity to experiment in political ideas and economies
Hi personwithmanynames. It seems to me that you are advocating a system of decentralised control of the economy, including but not limited to capital, the means of production and distribution of goods and services. Emphasis on the word control and probably well intentioned in the interests of the greater good. I am sorry to say that this has been tried before under various guises, including collectivism and cooperatives and most attempts have failed, largely because man is generally more interested in his own betterment than in the betterment of the group of which he is a part. Also, the moment you remove the freedom of individuals to choose their destinies, however much they may fail or succeed, they will kick over the traces of what they see as oppression. Idealistic but impractical. Imho.
But in a free world, everyone should have the right to freedom of opinion. We have and are both exercising that right, right now in this exchange of ideas. Imagine if, in your tightly controlled world over who gets what and how they get it, someone in the interests of the greater good decides and has the power to enforce his opinion, that this discussion is not in the interests of the greater good, and closes down Imzy or even just this exchange. How would you feel about that? And, by the way, this has happened to me on the internet in various forums on at least three separate occasions.
I urge you to read Milton Friedman's book, Free To Choose. Taken with Adam Smith's The Wealth Of Nations, they take a lot of beating as a template for economic liberalisation of all members of all societies. Unfortunately, the big bogey men of liberation, the oligarchs, have corrupted the free market systems espoused by these two great thinkers to mean free to grab all you can and monopolise economies, including capital, the means of production and the distribution of goods and services, for their own profit. And it works for them.
What we really need is a system that allows all to share in their successes and profits. A system of equitable taxation, a basic income grant and a sovereign wealth fund, taken together, can go a long way to sharing in the successes of the capitalist system without undermining anyone's freedom to choose. You can see one example of those sorts of proposals at http://ddforum.co.za. Perhaps there are other ways of achieving those same objectives. I would love to hear of them. Your proposal is one such alternative. I just don't think it very practical or liberating and there are lots of historic examples to illustrate that point.
Of course, there are some notable exceptions. There are some very successful examples of cooperatives all around the world. As an alternative to the corporatisation of capital, they have their place in economies. I'm just not sure they should be the only form of gathering capital for commercial or industrial uses. You will find a list of coop ventures at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cooperatives. But please keep on probing away. Eventually someone will come up with a grand plan that will have everyone a winner and none a loser and which will not hinder anyone's rights to be free to choose.