Over at OlyBlog, what began as a discussion about Mal*Mart and the externalization of health care costs has now morphed into a wide ranging discussion about capitalism, business ethics and general economic principles. If such topics are the kinds that get you salivating, then why not hop on over and put in your 2 cents worth?
Who knows? Maybe we can solve all the world's economic problems online.
Who knows? Maybe we can solve all the world's economic problems online.
I can't bring myself to jump into that debate. The heartlessness implicit in arguments for completely unregulated free market capitalism just bums me out to no end.
ReplyDeleteI've had discussions like this with SO many people, a significant number of whom I am close to, care about, and agree with on other issues, but as soon as they start in on government having no right to regulate businesses, even if the system keeps millions of Americans in poverty, keeps millions in poverty in other countries, destroys our planet, while fattening the wealthy few, I just can't get through to anyone who can't see the simple truth.
Speaking of the heartlessness inherent in the defense of the U.S. economic system, I just heard a great old Nina Simone song, with lyrics by Langston Hughes, that really captures the sentiment of those who free-market capitalist system leaves behind, with the undercurrent of the violence that can flare so easily from this paradigm. It made me cry, especially thinking about the Gulf Coast and how relevent the song still is, with the disproportionate percentage of Americans killing and dying in Iraq coming from impoverished backgrounds.
ReplyDeleteBacklash Blues
Mr. Backlash, Mr. Backlash
Just who do think I am
You raise my taxes, freeze my wages
And send my son to Vietnam
You give me second class houses
And second class schools
Do you think that alla colored folks
Are just second class fools
Mr. Backlash, I'm gonna leave you
With the backlash blues
When I try to find a job
To earn a little cash
All you got to offer
Is your mean old white backlash
But the world is big
Big and bright and round
And it's full of folks like me
Who are black, yellow, beige and brown
Mr. Backlash, I'm gonna leave you
With the backlash blues
Mr. Backlash, Mr. Backlash
Just what do you think I got to lose
I'm gonna leave you
With the backlash blues
You're the one will have the blues
Not me, just wait and see