The Sheer Insanity of Capitalism

 

By Steve Halpern

Today there is a growing disconnect between political office holders and the majority of the population. The idea that politicians support the interests of working people is growing very thin. So, I would like to look at the seeming insanity of what the normal functioning of the capitalist system looks like.

The insanity

First, employers hire workers for one reason. That is to gouge out profits. Although the government doesn't directly generate profits, history has shown that government officials have consistently supported capitalist interests. The so-called "non-profit" organizations rely on funding from profitable corporations. So, in one way or another, we all work to enrich some of the most affluent people in the world. 

In order to understand the totality of capitalism, we need to look at a few facts. Yes, employers are in business to generate profits. However, employers generally have expenses that add no value to the goods and services we want and need. These include: interest payments to banks, insurance premiums, advertising, corporate law firms, landlords, and the so-called "war or defense department."

Thinking about this reality, we might make a basic conclusion. Working our entire lives so employers might profit, should be enough to provide for our basic needs. Well, that's not the case. 

In addition to generating profits for employers, we need to pay taxes. Since the government works to support employers, we need to ask the question: In reality are we paying taxes, or are taxes, in effect, unpaid wages? 

Is this a "democracy"?

The the so-called "news media" argues that government officials are elected, and therefore the actions of the government are ultimately the result of a "democratic" process. 

However, there are many political parties that run in the elections. There were about 15 parties that were on the ballot in several states in the Presidential elections. However, the news media consistently ignored the campaigns of all these parties except for the Democrats and Republicans. These happen to be the parties that have consistently supported capitalist interests. 

One of the priorities of these candidates is to fund the police and the Defense or War Departments. They argue that we need to fund these agencies so we can be safe. 

So, there are the local, state, and federal police forces. Then, there is the National Security Agency that keeps an eye on everyone here. There is the Central Intelligence Agency that keeps an eye on nations around the world. The military in this country has been used for aggressive military actions all over the world.    

But all these investments are inadequate to keep us safe. We need to pay astronomical amounts of money to insurance companies, just in case something might happen. Before we pay out this money, we all know that insurance agents will never directly give us health care, or repair our automobiles, or rebuild a damaged home. No, insurance companies are in business to profit from the uncertainty that is a constant feature of the capitalist system. 

So, since this system makes no sense, why do people put up with it? In answering this question, first it is useful to look at nations where people overthrew governments with political revolutions. There were revolutions in Russia, China, Vietnam, and Cuba. In these nations, masses of people began to realize that the political system they lived under was no longer tolerable. That sentiment, combined with a competent leadership allowed those revolutions to erupt.

The irrational justifications of capitalism

The capitalist system needs to continually grow. We see this every day in the increasing stock market prices. Banks only invest money because they can get a larger return on their investments. 

This need for capitalism to grow partially explains why there have been significant improvements in the standard of living. The other reason has to do with the labor, civil rights, and women's movements demanding improved living standards, as well as equality. 

Workers understand the profound injustice of working so someone else can profit. However, when the standard of living was improving, many workers tolerated this obvious injustice.

For the past fifty years, the standard of living has been deteriorating for the majority of the population. Millions of manufacturing jobs were automated or left the country. Prices for health care and education have skyrocketed. Yet the stock market is at an all time high.

Some people were attracted to Donald Trump when he argued that he wanted to, "drain the swamp." However, after he became President, his basic policies were in fundamental agreement with the mainstream of the democratic party. He adamantly supports Israeli organized genocide. He aggressively works to deport people who were born in other countries. 

Clearly, Trump's tactics are more aggressive than the democrats. However, Trump and the democrats are both in favor of the economy that enriches billionaires while subjecting millions of people to struggle in abject poverty.  

While Trump and the democrats are agreed with maintaining the gross inequality here, they work to glorify this country and its history. Trump has gone to the extent of posting signs at museum entrances warning visitors of "inaccurate information." Then, there is James Loewen's 1995 book titled, "Lies My Teacher Told Me."

In 2008, the stock market crashed. The investment companies Bear Sterns and Lehmann Brothers went out of business. This crash didn't happen because of mistakes or insensitivity. That crash, like the one in 1929, were inevitable because the contradictions of the capitalist system cause the system to explode.

We are the working class of the world

One of the ways capitalists maintain their power is to create divisions in the working class. They create divisions between Black and white workers, women and men, citizens and immigrants etc... 

Capitalists also want us to identify with the United States. However, the owners of corporations profit from workers all over the world.

The facts are that our interests are in common with workers in other countries. We all need a place to live, food to eat, health care, and transportation. Yet capitalists profit off of all those goods and services. 

This means that we have a real interest in identifying as workers of the world, and not as citizens of one or another country. Looking at politics from this perspective, working people have a real interest in fighting against all racist and sexist discriminatory practices. Immigrants aren't a problem, but our sister and brother workers. An injury to one is an injury to all.

The working class of the world is a sleeping giant. Since we produce all the goods and services, we have real potential power. As capitalism continues to deteriorate, we can use that power to end the sheer insanity we live with every day.