Capitalism

© 2006 by Peter Jude Fagan

part one || part two || part three || part four

The following is my opinion of capitalism. I got it off the Internet but changed the wording a little bit to make it more “family” orientated.

Overhearing his parents talk about politics one evening, a little boy goes to his father and asks: “Dad, what’s politics?”

His dad answers: “Well son, let me try to explain it this way. I’m the breadwinner of the family, so let’s call me capitalism. Your mother, she’s the administrator of the money, so we’ll call her the government. We are here to take care of you and your needs, so we’ll call you the people. We’ll call the maid the working class. Now think about that and see if it makes any sense to you.”

So the little boy goes off to bed thinking about what his father has said. Later that night he gets up to get a drink of water. He goes to his parents’ bedroom and finds his mother sound asleep. Not wanting to wake her, he goes to the maid’s room but finds the door locked. He peeks into the key hole and sees his father in bed with the maid. He gives up and goes back to bed without his water.

The next morning, the little boy says to his father: “Dad, I think I understand the concept of politics now.”

The father says: “Good son, tell me in your own words what you think politics is all about.”

The little boy then tells his father his own concept of politics as it exists in the United States and other capitalistic nations today.

“WHILE CAPITALISM IS RAPING THE WORKING CLASS, THE GOVERNMENT IS ASLEEP AND THE PEOPLE’S CRY FOR HELP GOES UNANSWERED.”

Although the preceding is a satire of capitalism, it parallels my feelings toward what capitalism and the mega-corporations (A.K.A. big business) of today have become. It is my belief that the billion dollar a year mega-corporations are raping the working class and that the government is doing nothing to stop this.

What’s even more pathetic is that the upper management of these same mega-corporations – the Corporate Executive Officers and board directors (the CEOs) – honestly do not believe that they are doing anything wrong. Nor do the government leaders believe that they are doing anything wrong by not trying to control big business.

They are all too filled with corruption and their love of materialism to perceive the truth. They all honestly believe that their economic and governmental policies are helping the world become a better place to live. But they are all drunk with materialism.

Just as someone who is driving while intoxicated cannot properly control his vehicle, they are so drunk with their love of materialism that they cannot see what they are doing. They cannot see that their policies are helping to destroy the world.

The reality is that their policies are slowly returning the working class to the type of life that existed for the average person during the Middle Ages: The rich on one side and the poor on the other. They are creating a society of haves and have-nots.

Their policies are doing two things to the people. They are slowly taking away the freedoms that are guaranteed to them in the Bill of Rights, so that what the children of God end up with is ersatz freedom.

Second, they are creating an atmosphere where the people must work long hours everyday for most of their lives just to persist at a modest existence – to all intense and purposes turning them into slaves of the economic system, an economic system that favors the rich at the expense of the poor. Their economic system keeps the working class in debt most of their adult lives.

But more than that, their policies are putting money above truth and justice. In effect, their economic policies are worshipping a false god.

This is not to say that there is anything wrong with seeking materialistic goals, even the greatest of materialistic pleasures: sex. But too much materialism blinds one to the word of God. Too much materialism prevents one from properly understanding and doing God’s will.

Just as too much alcohol can prevent one from properly operating an automotive vehicle, so also too much materialism can prevent one from doing God’s will, which is to bring truth and justice into our lives.

One of the main areas big business is raping the people economically is through their false and misleading advertisements. There are virtually no advertisments that are not false and/or misleading. Almost all advertisements are designed to deceive the unwary consumer.

Their advertisements tell us how superior their products are compared to their competitors. In reality their products are worthless garbage. Their products frequently do not measure up to the claims made in their advertisements. Their advertisements are aimed at one thing: Getting the trusting, unwary consumer’s money.

Getting money from the consumer is all that big business cares about and there is virtually no low that they will not descend to in order to get it.

I answer their misleading advertisements with a simple statement of truth: If a person must lie, cheat or deceive in order to sell his product then the product is not worth buying!

They offer cheap gimmickry, tawdry gadgets and meaningless devices in order to induce the consumer into buying their products. They make outlandish claims about what their products will do. They offer empty promises along with their products, when in reality their products will only take one’s money and leave one with unfulfilled dreams. Their advertisements have induced the unsuspecting consumer into believing in lies.

Then to top off their deceitfulness, they have convinced the Federal Communications Commission that it is more dangerous to the morals of society to have sex, profanity and nudity on television and in other communication media than it is to deceive the consumer by propagating lies and deception in their advertisements. When in reality it is their philosophy that is backwards and perverted.

Further, they have their lobbyists influence legislators into passing laws that are beneficial to their corporate goals.

A classic example of this is in the making of seatbelt laws. Under the disguise of saving lives, corporate insurance companies have succeeded in getting state legislatures to make it against the law to travel in a car without wearing a seatbelt. Corporate insurance companies do not care about saving lives! They care about increasing profits by lowering the medical costs of those injured in auto accidents.

It is true, wearing a seatbelt will probably prevent one from becoming injured in an auto accident. Also, getting everyone to wear a seatbelt is a worthy goal. But this is not the point! The point is: One does not use the legislature to help one’s company make a profit! Nor does one use the force of law to make another person follow one’s philosophy, for such is an infringement on that person’s freedom of choice.

The only proper way to get someone else to follow one’s own philosophy and beliefs is by gentle, peaceful persuasion. That is, one must convince another with one’s own words. Peace cannot be found at the point of a gun or the force of law!

This is to say nothing of the fact that government does not exist for the purpose of helping big business make a profit. The purpose of government is to help and defend those who cannot help or defend themselves.

Let’s continue with the automobile as an example. Auto manufacturers are putting useless lights, buzzers, bells, and other gadgetry in automobiles for the express purpose of enhancing the sale of their vehicles.

An excellent example of this is in automatic door locks and automatic alarm devices. Remote door key gadgets are extremely expensive to replace, while a normal door key is an extremely inexpensive thing to replace. Yet one cannot buy an automobile today without and expensive remote door key. If one’s remote gets lost or broken one must go to the auto dealer to get another one. One cannot go to a local hardware store and have a new inexpensive key made.

These remote locks are ostensibly there to prevent auto theft. But this is ludicrous because the vast majority of cars are never stolen. In all my life I have only known of one person that had their car stolen. The thief was able to steal car because he had a remote key that opened the car door.

I am not saying that we should not have remote keys and other types of devices. What I am saying is that all the useless lights, buzzers, bells and other gadgetry should be optional equipment.

Then their advertisements tell us about the smooth, wonderfully quiet ride one can get in their autos. But this is nothing more than a magician’s sleight of hand trick meant to deceive the unwary consumer.

Their advertisements have drawn the consumer’s attention away from one of the major causes of the high cost of the automobile toward a relatively unimportant aspect of the auto. The consumer’s attention has been focused upon the exterior of the automobile when attention needs to be focused upon the inner construction of the auto and the high cost of auto maintenance and repair.

Instead of universalizing the various parts of their automobiles, auto manufacturers are constructing their vehicles with special parts that are unique to that type of automobile, making every part of every different type of auto unique. They are putting computer chips and specialized parts into their products, forcing consumers to return the vehicle to the dealer for repairs. This keeps the cost of the auto and the cost of repairs at an inflated price.

With universalized parts the cost of assembling and warehousing the parts would go down. This in turn would eventually lower the cost of the auto, the cost of repairs and the cost of insurance.

It may be argued that different styles of autos need different parts. This is true, especially for the exteriors of autos. But there is no reason not to have some parts universalized for all autos.

There is no reason not to universalize tires, rims, batteries, starters, alternators, water pumps, air filters, oil filters, fuel filters, lights, break pads, fans, fan belts, radiators, distributors, mufflers, exhaust pipes, tail pipes and many other parts of the auto.

Instead of having hundreds of different parts for hundreds of different types of automobiles, these parts should be reduced in number to a few different types for small autos, medium sized autos and large autos, pick-up trucks and vans. Universalizing the basic inner structure of all automotive vehicles would be a big step in lowering the cost of all automotive vehicles.

Nor should the universalization of parts stop there. Manufacturers all over the world are making their products unique and thus keeping the cost of their products at an inflated price. There is no reason why ALL manufacturers of ALL products cannot work together to universalize some of the basic parts of their products. This would go far in lowering the costs of all goods and services to the consumer.

As for all the lights, buzzers, bells and other gadgetry, I will only say this: Would you rather fly in an airplane where the pilot was depending upon a buzzer or bell to tell him that something was already wrong with the engines, or would you rather fly in an airplane where the pilot was depending upon gauges that he could read to tell him how the engines were functioning before something went wrong?

Special equipment, lights, buzzers, bells and other gadgetry are all fine for those who want such things and for those who do not mind paying the extra repair cost for them. However, such should not be standard equipment in the automobile.

The cheap gimmicks, tawdry gadgets and useless devices added to products by manufacturers for the sole purpose of enhancing the sale and repair costs of their products should be replaced with something more useful to the consumer or done away with altogether.

Further, there is no reason why ALL manufacturers of ALL products cannot keep their uniqueness, while they universalize some of their basic parts and thereby keep down the cost to consumers. By not doing so, they are keeping the costs of their products at an inflated price and raping the working class.

part one || part two || part three || part four

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