Why do people think business/capitalism is evil? Please discuss.

[thedreampolice]

"Wow! Seriously? U have no clue? Seriously? Damn....this is where I exit the conversation"

Seriously, who in america can't start some kind of business.

Really, let me know.

 

[dacalion]

Wow! Seriously? U have no clue? Seriously? Damn....this is where I exit the conversation. When a person that I KNOW doesn't need everything spelled out acts as though the NUMBER ONE thing that eats this country....and the world rather, from the inside out doesn't exist...lmao

hahaha, good one! But you gotta admit, he knows gear like nobody else...lmao

 

[2GooD Productions]

"Wow! Seriously? U have no clue? Seriously? Damn....this is where I exit the conversation"

Seriously, who in america can't start some kind of business.

Really, let me know.

yes anyone can start a business, as long as there is consumers. Without consumers there is no business.
But for every successful business how many fail?

 

[thedreampolice]

90% of all franchises are still around after five years. Business fail rate is another myth that we can discuss if you like but most estimates are around 70% of all business succeed after the first two years.

 

[2GooD Productions]

i dunno man, what Im seeing here in the UK is a massive decline in manufacturing and farming, what I see on every high street is the same multinational and national franchises that are on every other high street in the uk.
Small business is taking a nose dive to cheaper imports. With the service sector becoming the uks biggest private sector. All Im seeing is a global dependency being forced upon us. All I know is that the USA and UK are in this together. Its the anglo saxon alliance, I have seen plenty of news that says similar things are happening over there. China has become the worlds manufacturer, in return we feed the now burdgening populations, its a fair deal, but the problem is that its unsustainable. The status quo is unsustainable in the long term, thats an undisputed fact. The worlds population is growing massively right now.
We cant all enjoy a capitalist lifestyle, thats just a fact of life.

 

[thedreampolice]

oh for sure, times are changing. It seems more and more people are moving to self employment over working for a larger company. Capitalism benefits everyone, especially the poor. Look at organizations like Kiva that help the worlds poor by helping them start businesses.

Everyone will have to make a change, but I would argue that capitalism is not broken and is overall a good thing and like everything else can be corrupted but the problem is not the system itself.

I do have to call BS on a few of you who are against capitalism but for the 48 laws of power. Capitalism is WAY more compassionate than that.

 

[dacalion]

90% of all franchises are still around after five years. Business fail rate is another myth that we can discuss if you like but most estimates are around 70% of all business succeed after the first two years.

man I dunno where youre getting your stats from and whats even more incredible is that you really seem to be buying in to them...look around, everything is suffering. Wal-Mart is claiming losses and Im sure that you know that Wal-Mart has put so many businesses out of business that its ridiculous.

Starting a business and starting a franchise shouldnt even belong in the same thread...lol. You went from starting a business money to strating a franchise money...BIG difference. Your 1st question was who cant start their own business and that went to 70% of all business succeed after the first 2 years...well back to your first questiion...who can maintain a business for 2 years in todays economy? and what is the definition of success? a $1 profit after a year? technically you have succeeded but that wont even touch the rate of inflation per year. I too know that you know better than what youre saying...lol. But sticking to your guns is very admireable in some cases.

 

[2GooD Productions]

If the system really worked there would be no world poverty, instead of paying themselves huge multi million pound bonuses they will solve some of the worlds problems, but the problems get worse and the rich get richer, that is what experience has shown us. Capitalism can be fuel to greed.

 

[thedreampolice]

Some franchises cost only a few hundred dollars to get in to. Ok the business fail rate myth is this.

Lets say I have a video production company (i do) and I make 50k a year with that business (I wish) but then I start doing web design and find out I can make 75k a year doing that so I shut the video production business down and move on to better things. Well according to tax's and statistics my video business failed because the government has no other way to categorize it, but what really happened is I went on to bigger and better things. This is why people say 50% of all small business fail. But if you think about it with any kind of logic at all it is simply not true.

I would also say that if you think about people you know that are well of vs people who are not most often the well off people own there own business.

Also I am not coming to this discussion out of ignorance. I have read over 100 books on business and economics as well as taken many classes and ran a few businesses. So come correct!

Good discussion so far, what else you got?

 

[dacalion]

If you cant see whats going on around you then I got nothing else...This reminds me of that time they asked Bush how much was a gallon of gas and he said he didn't know...lol. Our country is on the verge of a full economic breakdown and according to your 100 books and classes, everything is fine (check the publishing dates on those books also)...Watch what happens with gas very soon, watch what happens after it skyrockets again. Its gonna set us back to square one from what happened the last time.

 

[thedreampolice]

"Our country is on the verge of a full economic breakdown"

Not even close.

Read this http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/2009ar/2009ar.pdf

I also NEVER made the case that everything was fine. I did make the case that capitalism is a good thing and you are not evil if you run or own a business.

"check the publishing dates"

I read books that are a hundred years old and books that are 4 months old. Basic business principals don't change.

BTW did you even watch those videos I recommended?

 

[2GooD Productions]

"Our country is on the verge of a full economic breakdown"

Not even close.

Read this http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/2009ar/2009ar.pdf

I also NEVER made the case that everything was fine. I did make the case that capitalism is a good thing and you are not evil if you run or own a business.

"check the publishing dates"

I read books that are a hundred years old and books that are 4 months old. Basic business principals don't change.

BTW did you even watch those videos I recommended?

Due to the way fiat monetary systems work, every dollar in circulation is a debt on the american people.
The money is no longer backed by gold, its backed by taxes. And with the huge bank bailouts that is just a debt on our children to pay for our good times, capitalism has failed. Otherwise there would be no bank bailouts and debts even our childrens children will be paying, its financial slavery. Its not a bed of roses.
The carbon footprint of each american is larger than any other nation. To think that can continue is greedy in itself. Theres only so much pie in the form of oil, and the rest of the world wants its share.

 

[thedreampolice]

The bank bailouts are because they loaned money to people who are not credit worthy, that is an example of how capitalism should not work. That being said you do know that the bailouts are loans the the banks must pay back with interest. And that wells fargo has already paid theres back, so the government made money on that one. I am against the bailout myself, but it is NOT lost money from the tax payers.

It also seems like you are wanting to discuss our natural resource issues and thats fine but I feel that may be a different discussion.

I would ask do you have a job and make a steady paycheck? That is an example of capitalism working.

 

[2GooD Productions]

The bank bailouts are because they loaned money to people who are not credit worthy, that is an example of how capitalism should not work. That being said you do know that the bailouts are loans the the banks must pay back with interest. And that wells fargo has already paid theres back, so the government made money on that one. I am against the bailout myself, but it is NOT lost money from the tax payers.

It also seems like you are wanting to discuss our natural resource issues and thats fine but I feel that may be a different discussion.

I would ask do you have a job and make a steady paycheck? That is an example of capitalism working.

No, its just that the natural resource situation has major implications for the very near future, fuel consuption is essential in almost everything in an industrialised world, with many of our proucts being made with products from the oil industry, from synthetic fibre's, to rubber, to plastics, chemicals, and even pharmaceuticals which rely heavily on chemicals. Its all going to get much more expensive, you cant bury your head in the sand and think things can carry on with everyone chasing the material dream. The dream is about to become a nightmare as far as oil is concerned.

 

[thedreampolice]

We have what 20 more years of oil?

That is an issue, but I really don't see how that relates to capitalism being evil.

 

[2GooD Productions]

Ok, capitalism with checks and balances and accountabilty to the highest levels is not bad.
But when the checks and balances are removed then things turn bad.
Eisenhower said it best...."Beware the military industrial complex"
http://www.h-net.org/~hst306/documents/indust.html

the military industrial complex is not the small businessman, no one ever said it was.
Whats wrong with capitalism is the worship of idols in the form of "Nike", "Macdonalds", "Coca Cola" etc etc
Nike use slave labour, Coca Cola has been a front for the cia for many years.
Macdonalds is making our kids fat.
Is this all good to you?
Is the exploitation of human weakness for monetary gain a good thing to you?
How about the dumping of poisons into rivers and oceans and the huge part of the ocean now filled with our rubbish.
This is all the price of consumerism and capitalism. Because its cheaper to dump it at sea.

 

[Relic]

Before I read everybody elses post I'll respond to the OP.
Capitalism is not "bad" perse, but its about run its course when there is no more freedom because coorporations own everything and control what everyone can do.
The concept of capitalism isnt so much as bad as str8 up greed that makes one completely forget about his fellow countrymen in the pursuit of more and more money.

Now Ill go read.

 

[2GooD Productions]

Before I read everybody elses post I'll respond to the OP.
Capitalism is not "bad" perse, but its about run its course when there is no more freedom because coorporations own everything and control what everyone can do.
The concept of capitalism isnt so much as bad as str8 up greed that makes one completely forget about his fellow countrymen in the pursuit of more and more money.

Now Ill go read.

you have basically said what ive been taking ages to say, in just a few sentences.

 

[Ash Holmz]

pure unrestricted capitalism will always lead to monopoly.

what we have in the US is a highly regulated and controlled watered down version of capitalism. Im not complaining though. Despite what people say, America is one of the few places where its still possible to truly make sumthin outta nuthin.

 

[7thangel]

the bank bailouts was not a result of bad loans to people that couldn't afford it, it was the predatory loans, often targeting certain people due race, ethnicity, and age, even when they qualified for better loans. this has been shown time and time again. and that's still only one aspect for what went down economically around the world.

anyways, i'm out.