The problem with capitalism is very simple: when things are looking up, its great. When they're not, its always the people at the top, the ones who are responsible for setting policy and reap the huge salaries, perks and bonuses that get off scott free wih their golden parachutes and multi-million dollar payouts. Everybody else gets to suck hind tit-- which is to say they get nothing.
How would all those high execs get all that loot if it wasn't at the expense and exploitation of the poor working schlub? The gal or fellow who gets up at 4:30 in the morning so he can get to work by 6:00, punches the clock for 8 hours a day with two 10-minute breaks and a half hour for lunch and barely brings home enough money to make a difference.
THAT guy or gal is the true capitalist hero, the anonymous worker bee whose labor is exploited by the slick and crafty and then discarded on a whim at a moment's notice. Whenever there is a downtick in the market, those chumps lose out. But not the higher ups-- no way-- they've got it all worked out. They get expense accounts, company cars and drivers, regular bonuses and six figure salaries. When the going gets tough, they lay a few people off to trim their margins and everybody's happy again-- in fact, they get more bonuses.
Some people think that's the way it is or has to be in America. We're a capitalist country and that's the basis for the American dream. For far too long big companies and corporations and their fat-fucking lobbying lapdogs have tried to sell us on the notion that things are the way they are, that's the natural order of things, and they can never change.
I say "Bullshit." Pure and simple. We're PEOPLE, American people. We have hopes and dreams and desires of our own. Companies *exist* for the needs of people and NOT the other way around.
This country was founded on the principle that all men are created equal, that everyone has an equal opportunity, that the government shall come from the people, and its purpose shall be the goals of the people, and it shall run with the will of the people. Those are the words and ideals expressed in the founding documents. And yet, those ideals have been twisted and perverted by rich and powerful interests a little at a time, over time, to create an edge and a bulwark for big corporations and wealthy elitists to lord over and control "the little guys".
I say "Fuck That." Enough of that. I don't know about anybody else, but *I* want my country back.
I worked hard. I started a company. I watched it grow and prosper and I reaped the rewards. It wasn't hundreds of millions like a lot of those huge companies, but it was big enough for me and my family and the people who worked with me and helped grow the company and make it profitable.
And then I made the mistake of investing it in the large solid growth companies-- the ones that have a proven track record and have a real core business and pay attention to the fundamentals-- companies like Enron, MCI-Worldcom, AT&T, and others. I knew better than to stay away from the "dot-commers".
My broker, you know the one with the big BULL out front, advised me and guided me-- until all the money was fucked away. Guess where all the crooks were hiding? Turns out that broker's building with the big bull out front was filled to the brim with bull SHIT. We lost almost everything. Had to start completely over. The people who stole the money? For the most part they've gotten off scott free. Except for Ken Lay who committed suicide-- er, I mean had a convenient heart attack, and Bernie Ebbers who was hung out to dry. But everybody else- they're fat and happy. Me? I've never been able to recover a dime. All those Bernie Madoff folks are lucky-- they'll at least be able to get something back, for some unknown reason.
But while that experience stung (and still stings), that's not the real reason why I'm down on capitalism and big corporations, though it did open my eyes quite a bit to the severity of the situation. Its watching all these corporate execs and rich bastards constantly and continually fucking people over, exploiting them like so much cattle-- paying them comparative slave wages (compared to their own) and then having the temerity to suggest that they somehow "deserve" more and are "entitled" to what they get.
Let me see if I can figure this out.... we do all the work... you're entitled to the big salary and all the perks....
...hmmm....
...thinking...
Big salary for you, nothing for me....
...I have to work.... you get the country club...
(Wait a sec, I'm still trying to get a handle on this)
I give up-- I just don't get it. I suppose that's my problem. I'm just a poor schlub and not one of those higher-up executive types so I just don't have the perspective to understand the full depth and subtle nuance of the equation-- we do all the work, you get all the glory. I'm sure the correct answer is there someplace-- I just don't have the whatever it is that's needed to understand the answer.
That must be why I'm a worker bee and not an industry exec.
Oh yeah-- that and I have a conscience and I actually give a fuck about other people.
So you've waded through this whole diatribe waiting for the punchline-- the answer to the teaser-- the problem with Capitalism. So okay, here it is, the problem with capitalism. Capitalism is great when things are looking up. So what those guys at the top get all the bonuses, they toss us a bone or two now and then and we're happy with that. But when things go sour-- the workers are the first ones laid off, who take it on the chin (and straight up the ass), while the people who laughed and partied and made out like bandits and carried off all the loot in buckets and wheelbarrows, are free and non-accountable. Nothing ever happens to them. Nobody ever says "Wait-a-minute! How did we get here? Why are we letting all those bastards who did this to us get away with it?"
That's the problem with capitalism. Its open-ended and the people who get rewarded because they have the supposed "responsibility" never take any and are never held "responsible".
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Amanda Gulledge
a woman somewhere
Sally Swift
Robin Sneed
KristyCC
FirthofForth
Salon.com
Comments
You don't have the job and perks because you didn't do what was needed to get the job. It's a trade off. I want the job, but it's not worth what I would have to do to get it.
My worker bees didn't put everything they owned to start the business. If I fail, they lose their job. I lose everything.
My worker bees punch out and go home. Me I work 12 to 20 hours a day, 7 days a week. I don't get to hit the clock and go home at a certain time. I don't even go home when we are closed. It's that time when I took care of other stuff like paperwork.
The payoff comes to those who are willing to take the risk and do whatever it takes to make it happen. It will never come to those who want to be worker bees who blame somebody else if everything is not perfect.
I too struggled very hard against long odds to make my company successful (and its still successful today, I just don't own it anymore). And I felt very good about every day I put into it knowing that I was making a difference, the things I did mattered, and there were people who had good paying jobs because of my efforts.
And I would like to disagree with your other comment. You don't know me. You don't know what my education and background is. You have no basis for your comment. Furthermore, I *DO* know quite a few of the people "at the top" and I can say quite for certain that its who you blow more than the sacrifice you made to get there.
The problem is not that the public doesn't hold these people accountbale. It's that these big execs are allowed to get way to powerful thanks to ten finger steps their friends in the government gives their companies. Oh, Mr. Mayor, our company is going to bring so many jobs to your area, please give us a subsidy. Those add up creating these artificial megacompanies. They cycle turns into this you-help-me-I-help-you system and despite all the grandstanding, we KNOW these CEOs are protected by their friends in government.
With all the options of the 90s, some people (very few) made millions, a lot made a little and some lost their houses, all on options that were worth, on paper, millions at one point in time.
I remember my husband showing me a newspaper article about our net worth and being flabbergast. Wouldn't it be nice if it were true? he said. They counted our chickens before they hatched. When the options vested, the stock had tanked and the chickens never hatched.
Yeah, some people are lucky, but not as a class. Newspapers never report the people who lost their jobs for no good reason and spent the next few years desperately seeking consulting gigs.
"You don't know me. You don't know what my education and background is. You have no basis for your comment"
You are right. That came out as against you when it was meant to be a general statement against people like my wife who is happy with where she is but complains about not being the boss when she puts no effort into doing what is required to be the boss.
Sorry I said that wrong. From reading your work you can tell you're not just a worker bee.
So anyway, apology accepted.
Do you think the problem is with the CEO who is looking after his own self interest, or is it the board of directors who are not pulling the chain on the self interested CEO?
Your article's topic was what attracted me to this blog. I happen to think we haven't had enough capitalism, and what we have in the U.S.A. is a faux capitalism where there has been too many regulations favoring large entities at the expense of entrepreneurism. The government, because of campaign donations and special interests have created entitites that are too big too succeed. Authoratitive power has gotten into the hands of big CEO through artificial means versus a system of growth based on success.
You mentioned it's who you blow that gets you to move up, and I happen to think that is true. But I think there is too much politics in business. A more socialist system would actually cause more of the problems of which you speak, in my humble opinion.
Chances are if a company makes bad decisions and gets too big for itself to manage, it will need to sell off some of its assets.
I think this whole notion that the markets have gone unregulated and government has let it get out of hand is a myth. Government can police, which what they failed to do effectively in the Nadoff situation. But government shouldn't shouldn't restrict the markets with rules, becuase it'll usually favor their special interests.