Monday, March 15, 2010

Capitalism...a rant of sorts

OK, been a minute I since posted and thought this was well overdue. I'm aware I've been lagging on my blog posts. It's something I hope to correct.

So lately I've been catching up on a whole bunch of shit that I've downloaded but never watched and over the next few posts I just wanna touch on something (no homo).

Firstly the latest offering from serial pest as he's is often known, Mr Michael Moore. His new movie Capitalism, and all I can say is Wow, if you haven't watched it-download it. He wont care, in fact I'm pretty sure he's into it (no homo again).

OK so the premise of the film takes the viewer through the rise of the great concept of capitalism, they talk about freedom of choice, free market economies, consumerism, and of course greed and the insatiable appetite that it creates.

Now I should mention that in this movie/documentary that the focus is mainly North America but the same formula could be applied to any modern western economic situation, after all we are capitalists right?
No I'm not going to quote slabs of Karl Marx and the communist manifesto. I like capitalism - well at least some of the concept of it I think. What really incites me is the nonsensical greed that blinds us all, to constantly create must haves and needs out of desires and wants - they are polar opposites.
I digress, however the movie takes us through the sub prime mortgage crises, shows us how this came to be... again greed masked as capitalism, google it if you don't believe me!

Life insurances policies taken out by companies for employees that the worker and their family have no knowledge of, except if they die. Then, the company stands to make a HUGE payout. In Australia we do they same thing- it's something called (traded policies) - it can be bought by you and I.
It's basically like trading a security; you buy someones life policy from them at a premium and when they die you get big money! Many, many, many life insurance companies, when changing a customers policy, will offer to purchase their old policy as part of a rebate for the new life policy or give them cash. They (the life company) never pay the premium on the new policy they acquire and when the person dies the insurance company gets a payout. Subract that from the years of non-payment of premium, channel it through some very effective taxation strategy and BOOM...they are all living in the Wu Tang! C.R.E.A.M. Gnomesayin?.

It's all legal, albeit somewhat macabre and very immoral which then brings me to my next point.

Where does it say that being good at business means you should be a good person? In fact, if you look at every motivating aspect to move a companies profit line further, it almost always will fall into a moral grey area.

So should we question the virtues of capitalism?
I want to have my cake and eat it too!
I want to have a different job than my neighbour or choose to wear different coloured shoes or a shirt, should we rewrite the book to include some form of socialism into what we now embody as modern day capitalism?

I don't have all the answers but I do know we need to ask questions to those who should, also question the motives of those who seek to undermine the disadvantaged to turn a company profit. I mean, what ever happened to corporate social responsibility? Free trade coffee beans and no blood diamonds...

Do we really know what capitalism is or has it deteriorated into a depraved form of greed that we are so blinded by that we can't call it as we see it?

Thanks for tuning into another rant... 'till next time.

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