Capitol Hill Blue Forums Political Issues Election Issues Wither the Democratic Party

What about outreach to the white working class?

Support the nearest one. If you can't be there physically then send money or see what else they need.

Here is our platform.

Looks good, but where is the part about replacing Capitalism?

There is no nearby BLM movement. Must be a regional thing.

"Money, abusively manipulated by Capitalism, is the root of all evil."

As many of you know, I do think outside the box a bit. But this one has me in a quandary. Just how in the heck do you intend to replace capitalism? Realistically speaking, of all of our institutions, the one most likely to remain forever is, in my opinion, capitalism. It feeds directly into the human desire to achieve security. Nothing else has ever come close.

I really would like to her some ideas on a workable economic system to replace capitalism.

"Replacing capitalism" was a bit hyperbolic, intended to get some attention. (Thank you...)

Step one would be to question capitalism (I know, again?). I think the majority of people think it is 'using money', not suggesting that's your understanding, though. Beyond that, the definition of capitalism is not crystal clear. One basic definition I use is that capitalism is using money to make money. Working in exchange for money does not qualify a person a capitalist.

Using money to make money has many forms. Buying materials and paying labor to build something is one form. Loaning money is one form. Speculating on investments is one form.

Of course, money itself is a factor. It is commonly thought of as having some specific value, but that is far from the truth. The various forms of capitalism that I listed above have varying effects on the value of money at any given time.

Here's my viewpoint on the juxtaposition between socialism and capitalism.

almost everyone agrees that social security is a form of socialism; but have you ever pondered it in terms of capitalism? Here's an exercise for you. Call up a manager of annuities at a bank and ask her how much you would have to invest at age 65 to fund an annuity equal to your SS check (along with all the little bells and whistles that are attached.) If you can get the manager to do some number crunching, you will be absolutely amazed. I haven't done this exactly, but I just went on line and did some looking around.

To fund an annuity of $1500 for the lifetime of a male aged 65 and with a 50% residual annuity for his spouse 10 years younger you would need to put up about $1 million up front. And this is only a poor approximation of SS because it does not include COLAs.

Put another way, that hypothetical person has for his lifetime control of $1 million in assets. In theory he could find someone who would pay him a million bucks for his annuity.

Does that, in effect, make the average joe much richer than he or she thought? I submit to you the answer is yes. And how much of that did he pay in? Assume about 14 percent of salary over 40 years at an average of perhaps $50K a year. $280,000, give or take. And he controls almost four times that for the rest of his life. Of course he is a capitalist, at least in my book.

Capitalism is like FIRE.
You may use it to heat your home, forge your iron or cook your food.
Others might use it to burn down entire villages, but when questioned, act as if they merely wished for a larger fire to keep warm, and the village did not seem to object. Besides, they have grown accustomed to the taste of burnt villagers, so stop restricting "their freedoms".

This is WHY one must insist upon FIRE regulations.
Capitalism, same thing.

Abandoning Clintonomics

From Bobby Mook campaign mailer: