Proving Capitalism is wrong.

[Lesaun]

Hello, I am trying to create a paper that is as short as possible(less than a page) that could quickly convince someone who is not aware that capitalism has failed humanity and is taking over democracy across the globe. I'm mainly interested in facts that have a shock factor and are easy to understand.

[tbasherizer]

Read a synopsis of Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine, and maybe a few Chomsky books, then puke the mixed essences of those onto a page. I chose those two because they're widely applauded (at least amongst the liberal part of the media) for the interesting observations that can be chatted about over tapas and wine, so it's nothing too controversial or 'out there'.

[Lesaun]

Here is my current progress
The reason for this media is to quickly convince someone who is not aware that capitalism has failed humanity and is taking over democracy across the globe. Our world is facing a crisis and the vast majority of the population is unaware. We live in a world where the top one percent of the population owns forty percent of all wealth, and where fifty percent of the worlds population lives off of two dollars a month. The capitalistic system that the world runs on was once a great way for humanity to function, but no longer. In order to show that this is true I would like you to look at the world leaders, who are they? Some may say it is the political leaders across the world. Though I believe they would be wrong we are being controlled by the richest top one-tenth of the population. In America we may say we are a country by and for the people due to the fact we vote for those who leads us, but when are current senators outspent their opponents on election campaigns by an average of 200,000 dollars it proves capitalism trumps democracy and the whole system is changed to a government by and for the rich.

[ZeroNowhere]

I don't think that one page of normal-sized text is really going to even be able to explain what exactly capitalism consists of, let alone why it leads to crises, and otherwise will be more or less confined to being the theoretical equivalent of shock rock. That is, being pretty short on content and in this case just fairly empty propaganda with a sentimentalist tinge. At that point, it doesn't matter much what you put in it, because really you're not going to get much further than the liberals have, and have incessantly at that.

[W1N5T0N]

just write in caps "CAPITALISM KILLS BABIES"

that should do.

[Lesaun]

Here is what i have so far.... The reason for this media is to quickly convince someone who is not aware that capitalism has failed humanity and is taking over democracy across the globe. Our world is facing a crisis and the vast majority of the population is unaware. We live in a world where the top one percent of the population owns forty percent of all wealth, and where fifty percent of the worlds population lives off of two dollars a month. The capitalistic system that the world runs on was once a great way for humanity to function, but no longer. In order to show that this is true I would like you to look at the world leaders, who are they? Some may say it is the political leaders across the world. Though I believe they would be wrong we are being controlled by the richest top one-tenth of the population. In America we may say we are a country by and for the people due to the fact we vote for those who leads us, but when are current senators outspent their opponents on election campaigns by an average of 200,000 dollars it proves capitalism trumps democracy and the whole system is changed to a government by and for the rich.

[W1N5T0N]

Maybe you could also say that capitalism tries to commodify all natural resources, taking them away from the poor and then selling it back to them. Making the expropriated work to earn money to have a tiny share of what formerly belonged to them.

[Lanky Wanker]

Here is what i have so far.... The reason for this media is to quickly convince someone who is not aware that capitalism has failed humanity and is taking over democracy across the globe. Our world is facing a crisis and the vast majority of the population is unaware. We live in a world where the top one percent of the population owns forty percent of all wealth, and where fifty percent of the worlds population lives off of two dollars a month. The capitalistic system that the world runs on was once a great way for humanity to function, but no longer. In order to show that this is true I would like you to look at the world leaders, who are they? Some may say it is the political leaders across the world. Though I believe they would be wrong we are being controlled by the richest top one-tenth of the population. In America we may say we are a country by and for the people due to the fact we vote for those who leads us, but when are current senators outspent their opponents on election campaigns by an average of 200,000 dollars it proves capitalism trumps democracy and the whole system is changed to a government by and for the rich.

Was it ever actually a great way for society to function?

[W1N5T0N]

The capitalistic system that the world runs on was once a great way for humanity to function

....However, it turned out a very short while after its initial conception that it was a system putting profit over people, dedicated to grinding out the last of its human resources in order to produce little fluffy green bills, or hand out non-existant ones. Furthermore, it contributed greatly to increasing poverty in a majority of the world, while bringing great riches to a small part (see developed world/developing world).


You might wanna add to that hoarding of capital/screwing people over/funding right wing regimes, seeking to destroy anyone that opposes the system, and generally pointing to the TV and saying "believe".

Cheers!

[thesadmafioso]

Capitalism is not wrong, it is a stage of historical development to be moved away from in the grander dialectical progression of humanity. Yes, it is a horribly perverse system of exploitation and perpetual chaos, but it is still something which allows for the creation of the preconditions demanded of proletariat revolution, thus it is not without its purpose and you cannot unilaterally proclaim it to be wrong without providing the necessary context for such a statement.

[Decolonize The Left]

Hello, I am trying to create a paper that is as short as possible(less than a page) that could quickly convince someone who is not aware that capitalism has failed humanity and is taking over democracy across the globe. I'm mainly interested in facts that have a shock factor and are easy to understand.

If this is your goal, you would be best served by using your one page to simply outline the idea of surplus value and hence the exploitation of the proletariat. This is the central point of a Marxist critique of capitalism - that the working class is being exploited by the capitalist class at all times, and that the situation only gets worse.

If you could find a way to outline this efficiently in one page, then your paper may be coherent enough to make a statement. Otherwise I agree with ZeroNowhere that this is too great a task for one page.

- August

[pastradamus]

Capitalism is an economic process whereby mass labour is used in order to create wealth for a small selective few.

For example, I remember watching a John Pilger documentry on Indonesia where he showed a scene of a rich indonesians' wedding. He made a startling point of fact when he pointed out that "it would take the waiter carrying the tray 400 years to pay for this wedding"....that my friend is what is wrong with capitalism.