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Subscribe to RSSCapitalism, you aren’t as popular as you used to be.
The economic doldrums of the last five years has eroded the global popularity of the economic institution of the free market economy, a new report from Pew Research Center finds.
Americans are slightly less likely to support capitalism than they were five years ago. The report found that 67 percent of people completely or mostly agreed that most people are better off in a free market economy even though some people are rich and some people are poor.
That’s down from 70 percent in 2007, the year the U.S. economy officially fell into recession.
But capitalism’s reputation has really tanked in places like Italy, Spain, Poland, Britain and Pakistan.
Just 50 percent of Italians agree that people are better off in a free market economy, down 23 percentage points from 2007. In Spain, less than half of those surveyed agreed people were better off in a free market. Both countries have been plagued by economic problems in recent years.
Related: Do you make $30,000 a year or less? We want to hear from you
In Poland, where citizens are relative newcomers to free market ideals, 53 percent of respondents said people were better off in the free market system, down 15 percentage points from 2007.
The free market economy also isn’t winning any popularity contests in Pakistan and Japan, where the Pew report found that less than half of those surveyed thought people are better off with the system.
Capitalism did gain a few fans in Germany and France. Leaders from both those countries have been shouldering much of the burden of dealing with the financial problems dogging the European Union.
The survey of 26,000 people in 21 countries was conducted between March and April of 2012.
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67% to 33%.... not surprisingly, about the same ratio of productive people to deadbeats in this country.... duh, who on the left doesn't want socialist handouts....
Couldn't agree more on the deadbeats in this country. Once they get used to that government check, it's hard to let go. If this country were to ever go the way of socialism, we would be in the same boat as everyone in the European Union, sans Germany. How smart do the British appear now by not joining that colossal turd.
Relax Fed Up.
Americans will never accept socialism until the vast majority of them finally realize that capitalism does not work for them. Hopefully, that will be sooner than later.
Americans...true americans will never except socialism or communism ever.
Socialism (communism w/o guns) & communism will always have to be forced on free independent producers.
Only those looking for a easy free ride from a government embrace the other, what they wind up with is another matter entirely. Which is probably why so many defect/escape to a capitalist society.
hmm.... what mythical capitalist society is this you are referencing?
I can't think of one.
America is not a capitalist society. There are forms of capitalist structures in America but it sure isn't a capitalist society.
There is no such thing as a capitalist society
pasted from wiki
OWS Declaration - Corporations have...
What part of something for free is in this statement? We are willing to fight for what we believe in.
It simply amazes me how ignorant Americans are. They know only nothing but Capitalism, yet they would prefer something else. I have experienced both communism and socialism, lived through it, and would prefer capitalism over the other options any day of the week. All Americans do is hear about socialism from the biased news media (i.e. television, internet, and print) of how great it is, yet once you live it, you want to run away as fast as can be.
Hey TJ,
As far as I know, there has never been a communist country in the history of the world. Please enlighten us on where and when that was?
Really.....you have never heard of a communist country...ever? Your teachers must be proud of you.
Google is your friend, Azrancher.
Wikipedia, "Communism" entry, first sentence:
Communism (from Latin communis - common, universal) is a revolutionary socialist movement to create a classless, moneyless, and stateless social order structured upon common ownership of the means of production, as well as a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of this social order.
Can you cite a single "communist" nation that had no government? No currency? Communism as envisioned by Marx has never, and will never, exist due to the inherent selfishness of human beings.
Indeed.
It seems that there are a lot of ignorant folks out there. Recessions are a normal part of the economic cycle. We've had 20 recessions in just the last 100 years. ALL, repeat all economic systems have recessions. They cannot be avoided. If you want to see how bad it can get under socialism, check out Greece.
Greece is not bankrupt because of socialism. It's bankrupt because the worldwide financial crisis and mismanagement (under the conservative government which was in power at the time). Many socialist countries in the world are doing fine.
Nice spin however..
If that's the case, why aren't more capitolist countries bankrupt?
There's no such thing as a capitalist country, it's all GOP smoke and mirrors to hide their own fascism.. see 24.4
Unregulated capitalism always leads to unlimited corruption. Capitalism only works if heavily regulated with enforceable punishment. Our government is totally owned and corupted by our capitalist masters.
Capitalism is a failed process.
The capitalists become like greedy pigs every twnety or thirty years and we have a recession. It happens without fail and is a pattern.
Not sure of a better system to keep the greedy pigs from stealing regularly.
Socialism has promise but will not work with the greedy pigs in charge.
Socialism works until you run out of other people's money to spend. Why work when you can get everything you want from the government???
@Peter17,
Try studying a little about economics before posting.
Socialism is not about "people not working and getting everything from the government". It's about working together for the good of the everyone in society.
Ok, let's be socialists! I'll quit my job. Now send me my check!
Thats communism. Everybody works for the good of the whole. Hippies tried the "commune" style in the 1960's. Know what they found out? The ones who worked to provide got sick and tired of giving everything to those who refused to work and provide. They left to help themselves and the commune fell apart.
Political communism always leads to an oppresive government which takes whatever it wants by military force.
@Azrancher,
"He who does not work, neither shall he eat." - Karl Marx
I hear the Gop telling disabled people that every day.
The problem isn't in Capitalism. The problem is that there is no penalty for failure anymore. If a company fails, cheats or abuses their power the taxpayers are there to bail them out. If a worker doesn't want to work the taxpayers will feed and house him. Where is the penalty for failure? The best way to insure success is to have the fear of hunger. There are way too many people that rely on the social programs that are funded by the taxpayers. The Game and Parks office will tell you not to feed the animals because they will become dependent on the free handouts and will not be able to feed themselves. The taxpayers are feeding more people with food stamps than any other time in history. Hey, maybe we can draw a connection here!?!?!
The problem is that corporate failure is always the fault of its management yet it is the worker bee that gets the shaft while the failures get golden parachutes, THAT IN A NUTSHELL is what is wrong with capitalism.
When you have a culture that allows the institutionalized boffing of children by Penn State Management to continue for years - when you have wall street ponzi schemes raping the retired worker - when you have teachers teaching how to pass tests instead of actually teaching facts - when you have English teachers that can not string 5 words together and make a sentence and then can not spell those 5 words - when you have a storm come through your area and cause widespread damage and all you can do is bitch and not pitch in to help clean up the mess then we are lost as a nation.
The free-market nuts would have us go back to a world like Charles Dickens wrote about: child labor, no rights for employees, and domination by the rich and privileged. No thanks. Only regulation and the rule-of-law can curb greed and unfair business practices in capitalism. Been that way since money was invented.
We are getting close. We are already putting people into jail for not being able to pay their bills. It is only a small shift back into legalized slavery.
I always have to laugh when I hear about "no employee rights". Unless you are working in a country which allows slavery and some one holds a gun on you to force your labor.....employee's have the ultimate right.......
The right to quit and walk off to seek better elsewhere.
If a business can not keep employees, then it will fail and its the owner/investor who loses money. If someone willfully remains at a job they hate and earn no profit from then who exactly is at fault?????
Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of happiness. QUIT and pursue happiness and quit going to work and whining and crying about how much you hate it. Thats a RIGHT.
IF you want more say in the company or more profit....invest in it and buy a say, or better yet go off with your own money and start your own business and run it the way you want to. Thats also a right.
If real life was only that easy..geeez
Capitalism is the best economic system a country could have.
The problem in America is that the religious fundamentalist who hate having a black president because it has change the social structure of America which has always been based upon a white only leadership mentality which is based off of the Bible of whom all of the leaders were white men has been changed.
Such groups in America want the country the way it was so the religious fundamentalists can be made to feel powerful and glorified based upon white people being in charge.
Jesus didn't die on the cross for such a mentality. Jesus died on the cross so that one day any person chosen by the People would be elected as President of the United States.
Blame those who president Obama for the being elected by the people because of their faith in him as Jesus taught people to have faith.
You can also blame those in others countries where jobs have been outsourced too that still live in America instructing such assets to cause problems so that the economy here in America will be effected thus causing President Obama to be made to look bad.
Capitalism is bad right now because there are villians called Anonymous and Lulzsec that have made Americans fear using credit cards to make purchases for fear of their information being collected and sold.
Which in an age of Internet business if you want your company to succeed you have to use the Internet.
Get rid of Anonymous and Lulz Sec and consumer confidence in purchasing online as well as starting a business that uses internet services will increase.
I'm white and I'm Christian. I didn't vote for Obama because he wants to raise taxes, has increased the deficent (and yes, Bush did too), doesn't believe people should have to show a photo id to vote cuz it's too expensive but says you must by health insurance. There are too many reasons to mention. Conservatives don't like Obama because he is a socialist. He may even be a Communist. How one could have missed that is a wonderment to me. What that has to do with religion is beyond me as well. I think the problem is you guys don't understand what conservatism is. You think 50% of Americans are evil. You should know better than that. That's not realistic. If your ideology depends on a statistic like that you should reproach it.
As a libertarian it's somewhat comical when conservatives accuse Obama of being a "socialist" or, even better, a "communist."
Last time I checked, the Republican party also supports programs like Social Security, Medicare, the GI Bill, and Tricare for military members. I think that counts as socialism as well. The argument that recipients to these programs "earned" their benefits is irrelevant, since they're still mechanisms of forced wealth redistribution.
It's called "civilization." You may get to that course next year...or not.
It's shocking to me that as a caplitolistic democracy we've been the most successfull country in the world and then people want to abandon that system and go to a system htat the most depraved countries in the world have. I wont even mention how many U.S. soldiers died fighting communism in Vietnam and Korea. I visited the Soviet Union in 1982. OH.MY.GOD. I understand that most of you were probably educated in a very leftist school system but I promise you, Communism is awful beyond imagining. Take any product of any kind and compare it to the communist counterpart. 1. the product may not even exist. 2. poor, poor, poor quality. 3. In a communist country, you won't be "given" one.
America isn't a capitalistic democracy, its a democratic republic.
You know what I mean: yes, a republic, a representative government, not a true democracy. The economic system is regulated capitolism. I would like to add too that capitolism is not a system. It's the lack of a system. It's just nature. For public safety, fairness, etc. it's regulated. Socialism/communism is a system that has to be implemented, installed, enforced upon a nation. I mean in a communist country, you would get in trouble for setting up a fruit stand. Of course, in a free market you would get in trouble for taking something without paying for it, lol.
Day,
We are becoming less a regulated capitalism and entering more into the realm of laissez faire economics with each regulation revoked. People are not against capitalism in general, they are against laissez faire capitalism where the rich get to do whatever they want are the expense of us lowly peons. 2008 was a prime example of what laissez faire styled economics gets you.
Capitalism sucks but it's the only game in town. The American right worships it like it was handed down from Sinai, but it's only a theory. Only a theory. Capitalism needs to be regulated and equal opportunity offered to all, since all are created equal, regardless of what National Review says
People are not created equal. People have equal rights in this country, but people are not and never will be equal. It Vietnam the communist government destroyed the paper money and printed new paper money. Within 2 yrs. there were rich and poor people once again. They did it 2 more times. Same result. And this was in a communist country. It's just human nature. Smart/dumb, good with money/bad with money....It best to just find a good way to earn a living and build a strong family to shoulder your own burdens. A little prayer goes a long way. Inventing a social/political/monetary system is far more daunting, don't you think?
Ever hear of the Declaration of Independence? I suggest you read it sometime. Might surprise you. Yes, all people are created equal.
Like I said, equal rights for all, but all people are not created equal. Different talents, skills, etc. Some more successfull than others. That will be the case in Socialism, Communism, or Democracy. I think you're thinking of rights, as in The Bill Of Rights. I'm talking about productivity. I'm talking about the difference between my two cousins. One is a dentist, one is on welfare. The three of us grew up together. Why is one lazy and the other two productive? Because we are not equal. We're different. That's the only point I'm making.
Day you misunderstand what created equal means. It means that regardless of our personal pros and faults we are all people equal in their value to society. It means that Americans are not worth more then Pakistanis. That Christians are not worth more then Buddhists. That Blacks are not worth less then Whites.
What you are talking about, worth based on contribution, is an ideology based on pure capitalist ideology. Those that produce nothing are worthless and should be left to their own devices while those that produce things should be worshiped (okay that is a little extreme but you get the point).
The second ideology is as wrong as wrong can ever be. "deadbeats" are not worth less to society then some Foprtune 500 CEO. It is not what we produce that matters it is our actions. Some CEO's are worthless to society then the deadbeats are. Any CEO that has taken a pay raise while also firing employees to cut expenses is worth less to society.
However intrinsically, everyone is worth the same when they are born.
Capitalism: I am free to dream and recognize a need for product/service, free to work and provide the product/service and free to profit and live off of my own hard work.
Others are free to compete so no one person has a monopoly over others which offers choice (more freedom) for consumers. Offers employment. Gives incintive for motivated workers to branch off and become owners.
Free Enterprise is the excercise of FREEDOM and incintive.
The alternative is government control which always leads to oppresion and enslavement.
You completely ignore enslavement by corporations or enslavement by goverment run by corporations.
That is why I do not understand the party that claims to be for the worker not enforcing the single most important law that protects the worker.
Capitalism is fine as others here have suggested as long as it is regulated. Probably the 2 biggest reasons for our economy right now other than the lack of regulation that allowed for the housing crisis etc, is the internet and technology in production.
American companies are producing more than ever but because of robotics and production systems , you just need less people. The other part of this is the internet. I can buy something, me personally, from China right now online, give them my business AND not pay any sales tax on it. So our country loses on the production of that item and we now have to find a way to replace that lost revenue in some other way. The amount of revenue lost on the internet from sales tax is enormous and it was money that the government saw 100% of at one time. As much as I dont want to see it, they need to tax on anything bought from and coming into the US. The chinese company needs to charge the tax and they need to pay the U.S. that collection.
Name one thing invented by or developed in a communist country.
Obama's philosophy.
And here we have Wall Street mercantilism. How's that working out for the US?
Incredibly, unbelievably successfull. I suppose more success could be achieved somehow. We're the most successfull nation on Earth and we're one of the youngest. We're wealthier than nations that have been in existance for thousands of years. When I was 18, I was a lazy, pot smokin guitar player and even I live very, very nicely now. Of course, I finally decided to work hard about 25 yrs ago, when I was 24. If you can't beat them join them. Participating in a thriving free market is incredibly beneficial to the average person. I now support my family, put a son through college (a couple of times!), help other people and family members financially and for myself, I have a big house and a room full of guitars. If you're frustrated with capitolism, play it to your favor. Develope a marketable skill. Marry wisely, men. Don't marry someone who will destroy you. I recommend Asian or South American women. They have a more realistic value system. Also, pray. Cheers people, have a good weekend, wish me luck in keeping my bar tab somewhat lower than my band pay!
In a socialist country, taxes are high. So you make less money. So you decide it's not worth it, I'll stay home. Send me my check. Where does the money for my check come from? For the life of me, I can't get a grasp as to how this system would work. Do you force people to work? If you get your food from the government, then does that mean you have to do whatever the government says or you'll starve? Do you protest the same government that gives you your food? That wouldn't be wise, would it? Especially if that government also provides EVERYTHING.
communistic countries work on the same thing as capitalistic countries work on... faith. If the population doesn't have faith in the merits of the system, they'll either abuse it or avoid participation.
Capitolism does not work on faith, man. I got to work for a pay check, no other reason. I have this job because they pay me alot more than my previous job. I have some faith in them or I wouldn't work here. They have some in me or they wouldn't have hired me. But the reality is, I'm here for a paycheck. That's the exact reason companies create really cool products. Because people will pay money for them. Not just to be nice. In capiltolism, if your product gets outdated and sucks, people won't be it anymore. Look at Russian cars, horrible. That's because they didn't have to make cool cars to stay in business. Their cars suck. All of their products, which aren't many, suck total ass.
Capitalism can work well. However, we no longer have anything resembling a free market in the U.S. Wealthy corporations and individuals use their ill-gotten wealth to influence local and national elections and bribe elected officials in order to reap tax breaks, exclusive markets, subsidies, bailouts and other advantages in return. Meanwhile, smaller businesses and less wealthy individuals face a playing field that is stacked against them by their government. Unless we find a way to limit the excessive influence of money in our governance, we are destined to become a 3rd world country (like some countries in So. America). One person, one vote!
jrr45. Your post is one of the most well written and insightful that I have ever read. I could not agree with you more. I believe that your post should be read, marked and inwardly digested by every red blooded American who wants this Country to once again be great. One vote and one term!
This is still the best system, but unfortunately, like all economic systems, greed and corruption destroys. When ownership of a business starts to establish ownership of the system, we end up in precisely the place we are at now....Reverse socialism in which a small group of individuals control the government.
We need to ban all subsidies and loopholes.
If there are not huge rewards in buying the government, the government won't get bought.
Capitalism has been bastardized from the original concept of Adam Smith. Adam Smith was a professor of morals more than economics and the original capitalist theory was for the benefit of mankind not the benefit of money or the rich. Those who would want you to think that current capitalism is the end-all economic theory had better read the original and heed the warnings of Adam Smith. "profit is always highest in the countries which are going fastest to ruin"
We seem to have done pretty well since our Founding Father's led the way over 200 years ago. I think I'll stay with capitalism. It has its flaws, but it works far better than any other system ever devised.
No one invented capitolism. It's trade.
whats currently being fertilized is fascism not capitalism
So, you're suggesting that living in the U.S. today is comprable to the death of 57 million people and the destruction of Europe? I think WWII was slightly worse than paying high concert ticket prices.
I agree. Left to its own, greed will consume everything in its path. Read post #39. You two have been enlightening today, and I absolutely agree to the fullest. Thank you for your thoughts for what it is worth.
Lorenzo, it seems to me some socialist countries are also going very fast to ruin.
Tom, greed exists in Socialism also. All the spending with are doing and charging our kids , I consider very greedy. That will consume everything in its past.
I believe Socialism would have all the same problems as capitalism and more. I would think the free market system with the proper sensible regulation is best.
With Socialism, politicians would run most everything, and they have an extremely poor track record for management, particularly money and waste. I would would expect with Socialism , we will follow Greece down the toilet much sooner.
Let's see you fellow dems and indys that voted for Obama, did your conservative relatives say to you before he beat McCain - Don't you think he will make us Socialist? Then over last 3 years they keep saying - You must be a socialist if you still are voting for democrats. Well if they are not too old to hear this to avoid heart attacks or fainting, ask them "so you think moving just a bit towards Canada or Britain or Germany (and about every other modern country who is a good ally backing our military in the world) in some policies will make you a socialist or worse as many of your repub leaders say a communist - then dear relative/friend prove to me you really mean your BS coming from your mouths by going up to a Canadian (make it a Royal Mountie or Hockey Player) or equal of Germans, Britains, etc. and tell them they are a commie or socialist wussy wanting to be taken care of by their government because they are lazy butts. We will call the ambulance for you now if you have the bravery to do that.