The End of American Capitalism? Please

Does History Repeat itself?

It seems to.

History seems to be the stories of civilizations that rose and then declined.

If there is a common thread, it would be that each at the top of its influence and domination attempted to impose its values on the rest of the world.

This ultimately has always failed because humans are basically free spirits and resist herd like behavior.

All religious doctrines are very clear on this point.

People of no religious profession exhibit this behavior most of all.

But even after the great civilizations decline, their remnants remain and often contribute positive influence on humankind.

It cannot be predicted with certainty, but it appears that the most likely next great civilization to replace ours will be China.

Or maybe our experiment was just a chapter in the larger evolution as great civilizations evolve over hundreds and perhaps thousands of years.

And while they may crash suddenly, their remnants remain as part of the total mix and contribute something.

It may be that the dominance is less important to the history and the journey of humankind than the contribution.

Get back to me in a few thousand years on this and maybe we will have a clearer picture.

HillbillyBill of TN @ Oct 13, 2008 06:19:44 AM

As a Leader in Finance, the US has Lost Trust Big Time

After all this mess is done, folks are not going to be looking to Wall St for leadership, they do not want to lead off a cliff again. So the Dollar might become irrelevant as the World moves to the Euro or some other currency with some integrity behind it.

Funny, the US has always had a mixed economy, capitalism with socialist institutions.

The current blend has failed - socialized losses and privatized profits. So we have to move on, and face the fact that Republicans who got us into this mess have pushed our country closer to Third World status, except for a few at the top of course.

Paul of WA @ Oct 11, 2008 20:25:35 PM

bottom/top

Ray,

Who really cares which way it builds just let it alone and it will go on its own. Govt screws up enough stuff why have their finders in the markets as well?

Nate of OH @ Oct 11, 2008 08:01:03 AM

Thanks

Thanks for the supportive words Carlos, the worlds needs more people that feel the way you do. I feel the USA crumbling from the inside and I'm saddened by it.

Nate of OH @ Oct 11, 2008 07:58:10 AM

What is American Capitalism?

Capitalism works when it is based on markets. The essence of markets is customers and how to win them.

Instead of this bottom up version of capitalism, we have a top down version of it where rules and prices are made at the top (in Washington and New York) and then pushed down to "customers" that have fewer and fewer choices.

For Capitalism to work, it has to be honest, and it can be so only if it is bottom to top.

Ray Damani of SC @ Oct 11, 2008 00:19:20 AM

Unbelievable

I cannot believe how defeatist you are becoming and how low you regard your strengths,

how little you believe in the system that made America, the United States, the real wonder of the World. Because there has never been any other wonder that could compare to your nation.

For the first time in Mankind, a People that starting from nothing, created the most prosperous and advanced country in the planet. Based on simple principles of Freedom, civil liberties and respect for the law the new country elevated millions of people from poverty, attracted other millions and gave them all what they needed to succeed: Freedom from the state, from the King, from the tribe, and from all evil ideas that kept humans subservient for thousands of generations.

The USA embodies the hopes for millions of citizens around the world of a better future, of prosperity and freedom. Those things that are denied to all of us that come from South and Central America, Africa and Asia.

But, unfortunately you started coercing freedom, and started denying civil liberties through controls, regulations, unconstitutional laws, and by creating and constantly enlarging a nanny state that is now destroying your country like a growing cancer; and then you blame your freedoms, your liberties, you blame Capitalism.

Now you uphold the ideas of persons such as Noam Chomsky as if they were truths, and at the same time you wonder why you feel that the country is floundering. And you say and write things such as "we'll simply see things settle with America sitting where it rightfully belongs - one among equals" What!!! One among equals??, equals like Zimbabwe?? Russia ? like Sarkozy's France ? or equal to the new Orwellian Britain under Gordon Brown?

No, no, you can delude yourselves. You can deny the very principles of your own Constitution. But the USA has done something that you cannot take away: It has shown us the light, and where the future of Mankind rests. I, and hopefully all the individuals like me around the world will continue the fight for Freedom, for Capitalism, because is the ONLY moral and ethical system. Without it I might as well go back to the caves.

And I am not going to go to any damn Noam Chomsky's caves!!

Carlos Sansoulet

Carlos Sansoulet @ Oct 10, 2008 22:04:45 PM

What is

Hi James,

I wrote about the so-called end of American capitalism too but have a different angle.

Liberty Lover of NY @ Oct 10, 2008 19:25:03 PM