12-16-2016, 08:53 PM
(12-16-2016, 02:47 AM)Warren Dew Wrote:(12-15-2016, 04:27 PM)David Horn Wrote:(12-15-2016, 12:16 PM)Warren Dew Wrote:(12-15-2016, 07:58 AM)Bob Butler 54 Wrote:(12-15-2016, 04:40 AM)Eric the Green Wrote: That is the big lie. Socialism is not our problem; capitalism is our problem. Always has been.
I'd say the problem is elite classes gathering too much power, unchecked by the working classes. This problem manifests under either capitalism or socialism. The communists took it to quite an extreme, but the capitalists are working on it.
The capitalist extreme is fascism, where the free market is displaced by government sanctioned oligopoly. That has been tried too.
The crisis cannot be resolved from the top down, not intentionally. At least some of the elites must be cut down to size, one way or another. It's not going to happen voluntarily.
Finally. a point of agreement! Yes, the elites have to be reduced in stature -- especially the moneyed elites. Lets assume that the French and Russian solutions are off the table, what do you suggest?
I'd say "especially the political elites". I'm not sure we get that much of a choice, though.
From a personal point of view, I rather hope the U.S. takes the Queen Victoria solution, or at least the US in WWII solution: let the crisis come to a head overseas so it doesn't kill millions of people here. That would probably mean overseas elites take the brunt of the blow, too.
If that's off the table, a massive and long term stock market crash that destroys the investment elites might do the trick, if we can figure out how to get there from here. With the production elites in power, they might decide it's in their interest to destroy the investment elites. The trick is for the production elites to stay in power after the crash to ensure the crash is a long term thing.
Massive government deficits might do the trick as it would raise interest rates and depress asset values, though it might also cripple the government for a few decades. Come to think of it, that might be a win-win.
The elites in America are not the political officeholders; they are the big business interests. They own the country and the people.
The Crisis is happening here, in the USA, and it's the USA that will feel the brunt of it. There will be crises overseas too. It's one saeculum now, everywhere. The result of letting things come to a head is, as we've already seen in Syria, even more chaos that will bite us at home.
An economic crisis is likely toward the end of the decade. This could hurt the Republicans. There's no difference between "production elites" and "investment elites." Where do you get such an idea? Capitalists are capitalists, and their activities overlap.
Crippling the government is a lose-lose. Crippling Republican power is a win-win.