According to a Bloomberg article, “‘Capitalism is an ideology of capital–the most important thing is the concentration of capital and to seek and maximize profit,’ Ocasio-Cortez said. And that comes at any cost to people and to the environment, she said, ‘so to me capitalism is irredeemable.’ Though she said she doesn’t think all parts of capitalism should be abandoned, ‘we’re reckoning with the consequences of putting profit above everything else in society. And what that means is people can’t afford to live. For me, it’s a question of priorities and right now I don’t think our model is sustainable.’” I understand why RepubliKKKlans and MAGA morons deride AOC because she is fearless and usually more right than wrong.
Capitalism 101: What is the ultimate goal of a capitalistic system? To what do individuals (people and firms) aspire in capitalism? Anyone? Anyone at all? Hint: a famous board game was created based on it. I realize that I am back in remedial 090-level college thinking for most Americans. The correct answer is a monopoly. In theory, free and fair markets should always be in direct competition, and the ability for everyone and anyone to be competitive according to their endeavors and industriousness should keep any one individual (or firm) from monopolizing. This is supposed to be the theory, at least! Clearly, we live in a different reality. Individuals and firms all too often do achieve monopolistic competitive advantages when markets are not well regulated — and even when they are. In short, our society thrives and prides itself on amassing more wealth (capital) than the other person. In some sort of demented fascination with wealth, stupid America admires and aspires to be like billionaires and mega-monopolies at the expense of others and, ironically, at their own expense. We are a society bent on self-centered greed, and capitalism is the perfect rat-race vehicle to achieve such aims because everyone thinks they will be the next Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos. Everyone thinks they are the exception to the rule, not realizing American capitalism is doing more to keep them poorer than make them richer. This country relishes and rewards the zero-sum game. This is why the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer; this is why people want politicians to keep their hands off their capitalism, despite capitalism more generally failing them, and they are clueless as to why. But this is stupid f***ing America!
Capitalism can be saved, however. Democrats try to save it every 4-8 years, yet they are usually feckless attempts. RepubliKKKlans and MAGA morons ensure that America’s version of capitalism remains unfair and unbalanced. Conservatives want the average American angry, fighting amongst each other for scraps of the American dream, and fearful that a poor person is coming to grab that piece of bread from their hands, while RepubliKKKlans give more tax breaks to billionaires and corporations. RepubliKKKlans have the average American moron convinced that sh*t somehow rolls uphill. It’s not the rich and powerful making one’s life miserable and more difficult; it must be the fault of the poor and powerless beneath them. Welcome to stupid America, where voting against one’s own self-interest is raised to an art form that even Adam Smith would find astonishing!