11-26-2020, 01:47 AM
(11-23-2020, 01:03 PM)David Horn Wrote:(11-20-2020, 09:35 PM)pbrower2a Wrote:(11-20-2020, 02:39 PM)Bob Butler 54 Wrote:(11-20-2020, 01:27 PM)Einzige Wrote: The morality, or lack thereof, of individual capitalists or irrelevant. Capital is a systemic totality to which everyone, including the individual capitalist, is yoked.
Unfortunately, the Marxist revolutionaries come to own the means of production, and just come to replace the capitalists in exploiting the worker. If in some way (such as democracy) you could keep enabling the worker to put limits on the elite class, I might listen. Alas, the Elites provided the money during the recent unraveling, the racists provided the votes. Potentially, we could return to a newer deal configuration. The right promises were made. We will see if they can be kept.
... The survival of capitalism is far more likely when capitalists act in accordance with some moral compass. The first rule is to not do evil. The second is to not tolerate it. The third is to turn a profit. Mafia-like syndicates put the latter first, do evil, and corrupt the entire system.
Capitalism does not include morality or ethics. They are only there when imposed externally. Since we have allowed the image of "friendly capitalism" to flourish, it will be a hard slog getting the exploited to recognize their fate. For now, they blame government and "the others", whoever that may be at any given time. Until that changes, nothing else will either.
Operating without a moral compass is one way to bring about shame, disgrace, and financial failure. Corporate bureaucracies obviously attract and even select narcissistic personalities who of course reinforce the tendency. Narcissistic personalities invariably treat subordinates and customers badly; this is the source of much of our economic and social distress.
I obviously dissent with Einzige because 'socialist' bureaucracies are as vulnerable as corporate and non-profit bureaucracies in promoting dismissive attitudes toward the rest of humanity by default. Maybe the MBA schools created much of the culture of Corporate America that we now know. I remember what America was like before the MBA grad became the norm for practically anyone in in a managerial position in Big Business (unless one speaks of an "assistant manager" in a retail store or restaurant who is simply an overworked and underpaid assistant. We have developed a narrow way of entering the middle class as an employee in most entities...
American business operated better when most businesses were owner-operators who had to do some of the work, including dealing with customers. As American capitalism increasingly adopts the bureaucratic model of Soviet-style organizations, we get the worst of both capitalism (the greed, selfishness, and economic elitism) and bureaucratic socialism (irresponsibility and inertia).
It may continue until the next Depression, when people find few jobs and that to get work and income one must start a shoestring business, especially if we stick to the neoliberal model as the only game in town.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.
