John Benante
Sep 5, 2018 · 1 min read

Interesting ideas which do have merit. The one part that through me for a loop was the statement that Capitalism was small-time in the 1950s and 60s, with soda shops, auto repair, and so on. And that it suddenly became corrosive in 1971.

From my understanding of US History, Capitalist Robber Barons were around long, long before the middle of the 20th Century. There may not have been super-large multi-national corporations, but there were certainly very wealthy, prominent owners of capital who exploited land and employees with little regard for anything but their own profits. Coal mines are one of a number of examples.

I agree that Capitalism has become toxic in a number of ways. However, I’m not sure that our “experiment” has tested “absolute Capitalism.” For me, “absolute Capitalism” would entail the privatization of every single service in the US, including the military, education, maintaining of national parks, veterans administration… every single thing. Certainly, there *are* folks who absolutely love that idea and who would like nothing better than to see that happen. And privatization has made some inroads into these areas. Blackwater. For-profit public schools. And certainly, there are aspects of Socialism melded with our Capitalism.

Other than those parts of the article that bothered me a bit, I also view Capitalism as self-destroying and unrelentingly ravenous.

Problem is… what do do about it in a country like the US in which so many people worship Capitalism with religious fervor?