Reply #8: We agree [View All]

[skeptical cynic]

The majority of Americans are not capitalists, since what little investing they do is by proxy via mutual funds and such.

What I believe we really have is neither capitalism or free enterprise. (I think in a pure sense, capitalism is just a function of free enterprise, but I'm an environmental engineer, not a business person.)

We have a system where big business socializes its losses but keeps its profits private--profit belongs to the few, expenses and losses belong to the many. Sort of a corporate quasi-socialist welfare state that always works to the advantage of big corporations. Small business--the descendants of the merchant class that started the whole thing--are now just part of the illusion of the American Dream, which is sort of like the slot machines in Las Vegas, paying off seldom enough to ensure the house stays in control, but often enough to keep the masses dreaming and playing the game. The Middle Class?--just a buffer between the Few and the Many, given just enough of a piece of the pie to buy into the illusion and support the status quo.

If I could push a button that would bring the whole system crashing down so that something better could rise from the ashes I would have pushed it during the Clinton Administration.