Cracked article dispels right wing economic myths...

[RadioRaheem84]

....while at the same time promoting the liberal economic hype that the economy is actually doing quite well and Americans are just trapped in a state of arrested development.

http://www.cracked.com/article_20454_5-scary-myths-you-probably-believe-about-economy.html

I like the article for arguing against the right wing doom crisis myths about the economy and how "socialist" Obama will ruin the nation. But I get the impression the guy is also trying to tell Americans that the fear they have about the economy is just paranoia and that capitalism is still safe.

Your thoughts?

[cyu]

#5. No, China Isn't on the Verge of Owning America

http://terrishea.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/distribution.jpg


#4. American Manufacturing Isn't Dead
It just takes fewer people to make all of that stuff because of robots. If you want to get mad at somebody, get mad at them.

Luddite fail. Who grabs the output of the robots? Capitalists guarded by armed men. It's not the robots to blame, it's those who claim the capitalist deserves the output more than the rest of the country.


#3. Illegal Immigrants Appear to Be Helping the Economy
illegal immigrants are taking jobs that Americans just won't do

If slaves are doing work that other Americans won't do, would it be alright then? But it's no more the slaves' fault than the fault of poor whites who don't feel like competing with slave labor. Slavery was abolished over 100 years ago and it's high time we abolished capitalism as well.


#2. Deficits Aren't Always Bad

Deficits are only bad if you plan on repaying wealthy capitalists and giving them the power to push the country further into plutocracy. If you can bleed them dry, restoring some semblance of balance to the country's power structure, your people will be better off for it.


#1. America Doesn't Have a Debt Crisis (Not Yet, Anyway)

Again, debts are only bad if they are used to make the rich even richer. If your country as a whole refuses to pay up, what are the capitalists going to do? Launch an invasion? They can't even leave their homes if limo drivers go on strike. Debt (and money) mean nothing - they are just a means of accounting. Whether you have a lot of cash or debt only matters if you're still playing by the rules of the existing accounting system. If you stop playing by those rules, then it doesn't matter how much of either cash or debt you have - what matters then is what has always mattered - raw materials, equipment, production facilities, and the people who can use them.

[RadioRaheem84]

I need points 4 and 5 explained a bit more. The first topic was on china but you posted a pie chart on wealth disparity. Second point was on manufacturing still being alive. We're you saying that it doesn't matter if manufacturing output is on the rise what matters is who is getting the rewards of that output?

In essense the article is trying to say the economy is fine and dispels the right wing notion that its in total ruins and needs a libertarian restructuring in favor of business, but the article fails to mention how even though the economy is not in ruins how it still does not favor workers?

[Clarksist]

#4. American Manufacturing Isn't Dead
It just takes fewer people to make all of that stuff because of robots. If you want to get mad at somebody, get mad at them.
Luddite fail. Who grabs the output of the robots? Capitalists guarded by armed men. It's not the robots to blame, it's those who claim the capitalist deserves the output more than the rest of the country.

I think the writer at Cracked was just doing a set up for the robot takeover joke that immediately followed that.

The automation of drudgery is part of what communists rely on capitalism to lay the groundwork for. At least according to Marxist economics, the increase of constant capital at the expense of variable capital will lead to the fall in the rate of profit and the increase in the reserve army of labor will lead to a crisis of realization. These are confluent factors for proletarian radicalization... or so the orthodox Marxist theory goes. It's hard to be too certain.

I think you are spot on about the blame, but this is one of those sticky points where Marxists can start arguing over the benefits of accelerating decay or real world immediate benefit for workers. I tend to side with the latter, but the former seems somewhat essential for the Marxist project.

[Crabbensmasher]

Haha, I don't think Cracked was expressly trying to further a libertarian free market agenda. I kind of applaud them for dispelling these insanely over-hyped myths about the American economy. Sensationalism is bad no matter what it's about.
The real thing I hope people know though, is that capitalism is always an up and down cycle. There will never be clear sailing. And although you may to think the US economy is on the brink of collapse, that's just unfortunately not the case. At the same time though, it's not going to get any better. AND there will be further recessions in the future, quite possibly worse than in 2008.

[cyu]

The first topic was on china but you posted a pie chart on wealth disparity

Yes, the point is that capitalists own America. They may be Chinese capitalists, they may be American capitalists, but it makes no difference. They are capitalists none-the-less. In the same way, capitalists own modern China as well - and not your average Chinese man on the street.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_income_equality shows China is "communist" in the same way that America is "democratic".


We're you saying that it doesn't matter if manufacturing output is on the rise what matters is who is getting the rewards of that output?

Yep, if capitalists demand that they be allowed to grab everything, what's the point of increasing economic output by a million percent? So we can get down on our hands and knees and beg for some trickle-downs?

[RadioRaheem84]

Then is the a crises of wages and wealth concentration? There is really nothing wrong with economy per se? Uts the deliberate actions of business?

[cyu]

As much as capitalism is a deliberate action of business, then yes, those who currently control businesses, in capitalist economies, try to prop up capitalism. The fact that the poor suffer under capitalism is simply due to the fact that the wealthy control capitalist economies, and thus don't give 2 $#!+s about the poor. The ruling class simply attempts to redefine failure as "natural" - that is, the fact that people are poor and suffering, they attempt to justify it as a natural part of the workings of the world, and not a failure of capitalism.

Capitalism may have its own ups and downs, but pro-capitalists will always be responsible for the death of the poor somewhere. Whether it's failing or "succeeding" isn't really a question - it's always failing - it's just a matter of how many people it's failing.