It is becoming clear that Capitalism as it exists today in
the United States is no longer satisfying the evolving needs of a great many
Americans. It is resulting in widening wealth inequality, failing schools,
deteriorating infrastructure, poverty --nearly one in four American children goes
hungry -- and high unemployment. Temporary work has become a mainstay of
the US economy replicating the feel of Mexico or Guatemala.
The unbelievable accumulation of wealth by the top 1% is
fostering the call for a real revolution to correct the imbalance and address society's
mounting problems. The situation is fast becoming permanent and irreversible. There
is an urgent need to redress the great imbalance in fortunes between the very
wealthy and the poor.
Life in the United States could hardly be described as a
democracy anymore. The rich have everything including health, happiness and
political power. The poor have almost nothing. It is unclear why any one person,
or family, needs to have or inherit billions of dollars. What would anyone do
with these vast amounts of money anyway? You can't eat two chickens at the same
time. The idea that the very rich are the ones who create jobs for the needy has
long been disproven. Most of what the rich do these days with their money is to
rent it in various ways and avoid paying taxes. History tells us that the
existence of islands of extreme wealth in a sea of poverty often leads to
catastrophic events and revolutions.
At the very minimum, we need a new economic and tax system that
addresses those glaring disparities. To keep our economic vitality however, we
should at the same time also try and preserve the capitalist mentality that is the
engine of our prosperity and development. The details of any new system will
need be worked out through national discussion and review. This article
presents one proposal. I shall call it Fair-Capitalism in an effort to ignite
the dialogue.
Capitalism
in America:
Capitalism in the
America is as old as the country itself. The original settlers built their
fortunes under severe and challenging circumstances. They fought the natives,
the environment and each other to secure a foothold in the new country. They suffered
a lot from fear, hunger, disease and war. They were rugged individualists in
the truest sense of the words. They cared mainly for themselves and their
families and defended them against mounting and persistent dangers at all costs.
This unrelenting fight for survival did not give them much opportunity to
develop socially integrated and interdependent communities. It was everyone
for himself. They could not pay much attention to the unfortunate, the poor,
the sick or the different. The ones who did not, or could not, carry their own
load were considered lazy, morally deficient and undeserving. The economic
system rewarded hard work and initiative and looked negatively on the weak, struggling
or different. That individualistic attitude still persists today in the minds
of many Americans.
However, that was
the past. Today, America is a very different place. The white Anglo-Saxon Protestants
who originally settled the land are now in the minority. The huge industrial
and manufacturing base they worked so hard to establish, is slowly moving
elsewhere. The wildly expanding economy that provided opportunities for all is now
a fading memory. Today, many educated Americans, willing to work and
participate in the economy cannot find the jobs they need to feed and clothe themselves
and their families. The job market is changing so dramatically (and possibly
permanently) that it may never be able absorb all those who are presently unemployed
or underemployed.
Now, to keep our
country safe and prosperous, we need to care more about the poor and sick among
us and understand that they became that way mostly through no fault of their
own. We need to do this, not only because it is the moral thing to do, but also
because doing so will help all of us, both rich and poor. We need to think of
ourselves more as an interdependent society with shared interests, desires and
responsibilities rather than a bunch of separate and independent individuals. Measures
such as social security, Medicare and Medicaid were great when they were enacted,
but they are not enough anymore. The needs of our society grew and our
responses need to be upgraded. This is especially true when so many in our country
want to end those benefits designed to help the poor and the unable.
The Problem of
Poverty:
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