He boldly declares:
"Capitalism has failed to deliver for the poor and the middle classes."It disturbs me to see a prominent voice so frequently and so directly arguing in favour of greater statism.
He says that the low and middle classes have been worse off, both under "collectivism" and under "Capitalism". My oh my - things are bad here, but would you _really_ rather have been starving to death in Communist Russia?
But as I have repeatedly stated, the problem is misdiagnosed.
Here we have collectivist education that prepares people to be good little _workers_, yet supposedly a _Capitalist_ economic system. Who is going to be entrepreneurial if the schools have spent the better part of a century teaching people to be cogs in wheels? A large part of why Capitalism is supposedly "failing" is that centralised education (brain-washing) is deliberately preparing people for a life _other_ than as a successful entrepreneur.
Go ask any successful microbusiness owner what they learned at school that helped them succeed in business. Not much, and certainly nothing that couldn't quickly & easily & cheaply be learned without our collectivist mandatory brain-washing institutions called "schools".
But usury and patents are also huge contributors.
With usury, this collectivist schooling system trains our children to think it normal to hock ourselves up to our eyeballs in debt, as slaves paying _someone_ _else_ a truckload of "interest". Tell me, if everyone you know is on balance _paying_ interest, then who is _receiving_ it? Clearly, if everyone you know is on balance _paying_ interest, then someone you _don't_ know is the one receiving it. Are we then that surprised to discover that indeed, since usury favours the centralisation of power in the hands of rich lenders, behold, rich lenders gain increasing power?
The problem here is not Capitalism - it's failed schooling that trains creative young men and women with immense potential, to become beasts of burden in a system that pours money into the hands of usurers.
Blame where blame is due - blame societal acceptance of usury, and blame schools that conform their entrusted pupils to this oppressive ideal.
And patents - the idea that just because I beat you in a stupid game of legal linguistics (called the "patent" system), I get to tell you what you can't do with your business, your property, and your life.
No wonder people think business is risky - someone you've never heard of, and who had no influence on your success, can shut you down because you didn't pay them for "their" ideas, when in fact you legitimately came up with those ideas entirely on your own.
Since when were ideas "property" anyway?
Since never.
Failed schooling that produces cogs and beasts of burden instead of raising entrepeneurs. Societal acceptance of usury and interest-bearing debt. A patent system that induces fear and breeds disinterest in taking initiative.
No wonder Capitalism has "failed".
The real wonder is that Capitalism has still produced 100 billion times better outcomes under these circumstances than its collectivist competitors.
We don't need "the next thing" to replace Capitalism.
Eliminate centralised schooling. Eliminate usury. Eliminate the patent system. Train people to expect to run a successful microbusiness instead of expecting to be a cog in a big wheel they can't comprehend. And we'll see prosperity like we haven't in a long time. _Real_ prosperity. Not this credit-bubble-induced fairy floss fake stuff.
And don't get me started on excessive business licensing laws...
