Capitalism may have once been the only viable system of economics to lead Europe out of feudalism and into democracy, but it inevitably realized it could purchase democracy, and with it every thing else. Capitalism regresses back to feudalism when it replaces the system of government. Titles like “Viceroy” and”Lord” and “are replaced by words like”CEO” and “shareholder.” Words like “serf” are replaced by concepts like”wage slave,” but the lives of the commoners are lived in service to the landed gentry upon whose property they are all born trespassers.
The following article is about how privatization is killing our nation. It covers 5 topics:
1. Public treasures sold off for short-term budget needs
2. Infrastructure decaying in the hands of profit-seekers
3. Water no longer available for the common good
4. Our children put at risk with unproven educational methods
5. Colleges gradually being replaced with prisons
Whatever form of government a nation chooses needs markets. This is not a screed against business. But when we talk about free enterprise, “free”does not mean outside the democratic process, for if people are not free to control the quality of their air and water, indeed if they are not free to control the quality of their own lives, then they are not free at all.
When we remember that the words “business” and “corporation” are abstractions, and that only human beings are real persons, then we can realize a basic fact. Either businesses can be free or people can be free, but not both at once.
To read the article:
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/09/17-0
I would add #6: aquifers polluted with carcinogens by fracking. When legislatures such as Ohio’s take away public lands and give them to oil companies, and then take away local rights of saying no to drilling, you get towns like Breckenridge, OH that have drilling in the neighborhood. The company only has to notify you if the rig is less than 500 feet from your house. Here is the link:
http://truth-out.org/news/item/11604-fracking-in-suburbia