FFXIAH's Thoughts On Capitalism?

I think you are just generalizing again.
But it's not bad, both sides are doing it frequently.
Regardless, both of you are going to have an excuse for every little thing, because it's so easy to justify ones actions by the "implied" inaction/inability/assumed stupidity of others.
i bet you wouldn't say the same thing to these people without them being in the vague land of generalities, where one can refer to everyone, but also be referring to no one in particular.
But again, both sides of the spectrum do this, but it doesn't make it any more correct than the other side.
because you just like them are talking about "some" people that are causing problems, but these some people aren't "all" people in the least that have problems with this.

I just feel like I should have the right to spend my money where I want, not the government decide for me.

I spend about 1000 dollars every christmas on toys for underprivelaged children. I also buy extra halloween costumes for the kids in my daughter's school whose parents either can't afford or don't care enough to give to these children. I also donate loads to local food banks, and invite a couple into my home for Thanksgiving. So saying I am selfish is a little unfair. I just want the ability to continue to give to those I know are in need instead of the government giving to people who abuse the system.

Toy MADE IN ANOTHER COUNTRY?!!!!!
:D.
i'm just teasing.

the government already take away your money and do what they wish with it!
i don't want my tax dollars to pay for bombs but i bet some of them do, so by proxy your tax dollars as well as mine fuel the war in the middle east for both sides with arms deals and generally fund human death over humanitarian aid by leaps and bounds.

Because we live in a country, which is a system. While I know in America there is a hyper-focus on the individual, a system is comprised of individual parts that contribute to the whole. When an individual part is affected, the system as a whole is affected. When a family loses their house, it's not only the family that's affected, that home is returned to the bank, who then is responsible for reselling that home in an effort to recoup as much of the loss as possible in a tanked housing market. As a business, they will pass this loss onto other customers to limit the impact to their bottom line, which then impacts other individuals, potentially putting them in jeopardy. Don't mistake a house of cards for a brick wall.

Also be careful with your pronouns, I live very comfortably.

i think Capitalism is a pretty cool guy, eh eats homeless people and doesnt afraid of anything

Wow not sure I feel like wading through 20 pages of this thread. So I'm going to dump my opinion in here just pretty much in response to OP. Capitalism is not perfect, but it is also a pretty good system. The system is very much like the 4 seasons, theres a down sucky time, a nice upswing, and nice feel good warm peak, the slow down turn back to sucky time. Just seems during winter time we like to *** and complain about how cold it is, and each winter we seem to mess with the system and move further away from a true capitalist system.

America is still filled with opportunity. Is it easy to go from the proverbial rags to riches? No. But this has been the case since the birth of this country.

People are so spoiled here. They think that man, if I work 40 hours a week I should own 2 cars,a house, have cable, internet, the newest iphone, xbox, the dvds I want, a full pantry, and I need to go to some vacaction area at least once a year. And if I'm missing some of these well, there is obviously something very horribly wrong with this whole system here.

People also have a great envy for anyone with money. Sure, there are some rich people who didn't work hard for it. But others have. I've met some of them, they are busy tying up loose ends at the office Thanksgiving night while their wife, kids, and guests have dinner without them. Shame on you for thinking that they should be giving up more of their money for someone else against their will.

Raising minimum wage, even in leaps and bounds will not help. Sooner or later goods and services adapt to this information and the prices of things will rise.

College helps, but it is not always as vital as people think. The key is that in no matter where you are you need to work hard and aim for the top. And never treat any employment as a "temporary" or "I'm better than this job." Yeah some companies are not good to work for, and no matter what you do, you will never climb the ladder, that is when its time to move along. Too many people get content with what they do. As sad as it is to see some guy laid off after working a manufacturing job after 35 years, why would anyone be happy with themselves for working the same job for that long and not making any progress career wise? Reminds me of a conversation I had with someone from one of our sister companies. His family came from Mexico as migrant workers picking fruits and vegetables. He said it always baffled him how his family and friends never aspired to do anything else but being manual labor on a farm. It drove him crazy. He said one morning his father came to wake him up to go work the fields with him, and he told his father no. His father asked him why not? He replied, dad, I got a job. And he never looked back. He busted his butt and now is doing very well.

My parents are the same way. They came here in the 1970's with little more with the clothes on their backs. My dad worked all types of crappy jobs. Didn't want my grandma to have to even think of paying for any type of schooling so he joined the marines and afterwards used their program to go to art school. They in turn sacrificed tons to put my sister and I through school.

What would fix our system the most? Teach personal finance in school. I've been in many sticky financial situations because no one ever really taught me about all the traps and mistakes one can fall into. I obviously don't know any of you guys posting in this thread, so it would be wrong and rude for me to assume anyone is a freeloader/slacker/etc. However I would wager some who think the system is unfair are currently tight on money and not where they would like to be. I would also wager that if they were better with money they would be in a better place. The other half who may be doing well, but think the system sucks r probably refering to loop holes corporations or wealthy individuals use to make themselves richer. I would say a lot of that is as a result of laws or policies put into practice to penalize the rich or advance the poor.

Again it isn't a perfect system. And I'm not saying the typical "if you don't like it gtfo." But look into some other societies, talk to some people, maybe even visit, and you will find all systems and ideas have at least some pimples on them.

Good luck on your pursuit of happiness. All I can say is keep searching.

If one piece of information is ignored in most of these discussions, it tends to be this:

There is a finite amount of wealth within any given scope.

This is the problem with amassing stagnant wealth, or at least one of the only tangible problems that can be realistically discussed. If you have money, and choose to accumulate and just sit on it, no one else can use it. You've effectively removed that wealth from the economy. As long as wealth circulates, there are opportunities for any number of other people to get a piece of it before it returns to the source. Yes, that means other people can get your money. No, that does not necessarily mean you will lose your money; in most places, you're slowly losing it anyway through property taxes and the like. It means there's a chance to maintain the pseudo-balance. The only way to maintain your current lifestyle is to keep changing with the world around you, which involves constantly circulating your wealth.

The reason video game economies "work" so well is that there is no finite limit on wealth. As more people enter the economy, they actually increase the overall wealth of the universe. I think what I'm saying is:

Real life needs NPC vendors.

I recently picked up an audio version of Atlas Shrugged and am about half way through (so far a very bad *** book). There is a speech in the book thats quite long pertaining to money that I thought also fits into this conversation.

You can find the text of the speech here.

Warning, its rather long, so have some time to sit down, read it, and digest it.