The fallacy of capitalism

Indulge yourself in any discussion with a proponent of free market economics and capitalism and invariably the argument will come to this - you will be asked "OK, you're an idealist, socialism and communism doesn't work. Show me a country where socialism has succeeded". The the capitalist then sits back as you try to justify various political failures (Cuba excepted, which is a decent and workable example).

Ultimately however, the argument is a flawed one. And for two reasons. Firstly, the judgement criteria. Capitalism judges success by material gains and market economics ("look at inflation!" for instance). If you don't value market economics, how can they be a negative factor? I don't mean by this that a country can ignore "the economy", morethat we have to accept that the current thinking on economies is entirely free market oriented and as such solcialism can never succeed. The economy is a structure invented by mankind to support money, itself a false construct. When systems are set up the invariably favour a certain method. Our economic thinking is based not on trade and shared wealth, it's rather based with making profit, with exploitation. Rather, it would be more appropriate to ask questions like "What system values humans more?", "What system represents the people", "What system values mankind and the environment more than profit".

The second plank of this is more simplistic. My answer to the question is this "Show me a capitalist system that has worked!". Loaded questions work both ways, and my criteria is somewhat different to that of the capitalist. Do we value people in this country? In the US? When hurricane Katrina hit the US, why were the poor hardest hit? Why in this country are people less important than corporations? Why can human lives be wrecked when profitable companies decide that money is is more important than workforce? If these are signs of a successful society and political system then it's not one I wish to be associated with.

Unless I'm very much mistaken we are at the vanguard of wastefulness and greed. We are abusing the earth as a matter of course, we abuse animals, torture them before killing them in any inhumane way we like to maximise throughput, we abuse our fellow humans in the name of profit. Is this really what we regard as success?

When politicians promise the earth

You can guarantee they are pandering to your greed, not the greater good.

David Cameron, the leader of the Conservative and Unionist party (the Tories to you and I) has promised increased spending on public services and tax cuts! Sounds good, eh? until you examine the small print. The weasel words sound great but the substance is somewhat flawed. Take in less but spend more? It doesn't work. He talks about "sharing the wealth" - If he was sincere he would address the fact that now less than 7% of the population control over 84% of the wealth. He would be talking of tax increases on the most wealthy and tax relief for the poorest.

If he believed in sharing the wealth...truly believed it he would dismantle the current state structures, would impose a maximum wage and would bring many privatised services back under the control of the state. After all, how does Centrica making a profit help share the wealth between state and citizens? How does Thames water making massive profits whilst leaking away a third of our water and making massive redundancies share the wealth? Our employment laws enslave our workers. Our pensions impoverish them and our laws imprison them.

On the bright side, it's not difficult to see through Camerons prostituting himself for votes. His policies change with the weather, constantly shifting in a never ending quest to attract voters. If the Labour party weren't so institutionaly corrupt it would actually be funny. Look out any day now for the bold David to promise "each and every voter in the country one million dollars" if the Tories are elected. It's the level of desperation they are reaching. He's becoming a caricature - like Doctor Evil in Austin Powers, a guy who has utterly lost the plot in a quest for power and the more he wants power the more ridiculous he becomes.

If you want to examine further just exactly how hypocritical both of our main parties are, examine their environmental policies. You'll hear phrases like "tax motorists", "carbon trading" and a whole host of buzz words. Look more closely - what cars do David Cameron, Tony Blair, Prescott etc drive? Do they drive cars that reflect the fact there are typically only two people in them? Or even big cars with low emissions? Hybrids perhaps? Nope! Take a look for your self. You'll find that "wealth sharing" actually meants nothing more "What's yours is mine, and what's mine is mine" One rule for you, one for them. Democracy? Equality? Liberty? Only if you're in government, royalty or super rich.