Category: Economics
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Is It There Own Damn Fault?
Regarding the homeless and other impoverished people in the US, please don’t try to use the tired old “it’s their own damn fault” excuse. First of all, to keep upward pressure on wages low, our country requires some level of unemployment and will do whatever it takes to maintain that level, even if it means…
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US Capitalism Is In Trouble, Part 7 of 7 – Solution 2 – Capped Capitalism
From the above discussion, it is hopefully clear that a large part of the problem with US capitalism is that we allow wealth, scope, and power, for both individuals and business entities, to become unduly concentrated, and that the concentration benefits the few to the detriment of the many. In order to correct this, we…
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US Capitalism Is In Trouble, Part 6 of 7 – Pillars Need to Crumble
To get to an alternative solution, we need to make a set of related arguments that are sure to be wildly unpopular because they go against sacrosanct pillars of our modern economy. The arguments are that the benefits of maximum economic efficiency, ever-increasing labor productivity, and rapid economic growth have come to an end. Labor…
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US Capitalism Is In Trouble, Part 5 of 7 – Solution 1 – Operate in a Mature, Just, and Equitable Manner
When you think about it, there are four main things a company can do with its profits, assuming it doesn’t just stuff them in a mattress overseas somewhere to avoid paying taxes: (1) expand, (2) offer lower prices, (3) pay employees more, or (4) pay themselves more (by simply keeping the money, in the case…
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US Capitalism Is In Trouble, Part 4 of 7 – It Simply Isn’t Fair
So far, we’ve talked mostly about business entities and how they can successfully exploit a small imbalance to grow their advantage bigger and bigger in support of their self-interests. But the same also happens for individuals, and we as voters are letting it continue. This is evidenced by the several billionaires in the US. Some…
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US Capitalism Is In Trouble, Part 3 of 7 – Persistent Life Support Required
As of this writing, the US government debt (the total amount the United States government owes, excluding some obligations) is about twenty-five trillion dollars, and rising rapidly. Twenty-five trillion dollars is 25 with 12 zeroes after it. With that many zeroes, it starts getting hard to wrap your head around just how much money we’re…
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US Capitalism Is In Trouble, Part 2 of 7 – Why Do They Do This? Because They Can
Why do businesses act this way? At the core, as we’ve already said, it’s to advance their self-interests. But it’s also because we let them. Like it or not, we as individuals and the businesses we create are inextricably linked with our government. The question for us at this point is whether our government is…
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US Capitalism Is In Trouble, Part 1 of 7 – Self-Interest Usually Wins
Adam Smith, the founder of modern economics, suggested around 1759 that there is an “invisible hand” that works in our economy. What he meant by that was that as people act in their self-interest, as people are prone to do given human nature, it will have the unintended consequence of benefitting society as a whole. …