End the BS cold war slur by the right. OP ED

[Brian37]

Help spread the word my fellow economic liberals. It is way past time we take away the bullshit cold war argument from the right. It is a bullshit myth that those on the left hate the private sector for merely saying that wages are not keeping up with the cost of living. No sane person should want us to become Stalin's Russia or Cuba. The right has successfully and for far too long have treated the word "Capitalism" as a form of government. It is not. China allows western businesses and the communist party keeps its power selling cheap crap with cheap labor to the rest of the world. The Saudi Royal family owns oil companies and has stock on banks and weapons. Gadaffi was a billionaire who owned stock in GE. Billionaires like Nick Hanauer in the United States understands that the exploding pay gap will kill the feedback loop that makes his class rich. It is way past time the left take the cold war argument away from the right.

[stromboli]

I agree Brian. The whole right fantasy about government from the top and trickle down economy or whatever they cal it now is crap. Democracy has always started and been maintained by an informed middle class. History teaches us that.

I agree with you Brian. And I actually liked Abba back in the day. There, I said it. If I were standing in front of you I would shake your hand. Fuck, I might even hug you. God, I'm so emotional right now. 

[Solitary]

Ditto! Solitary

[doorknob]

Sorry I don't know what the cold war argument is but I agree that capitalism is not a form of government.

[Moralnihilist]

I wouldn't say that its complete BS. I know I have been told on this very forum by individuals that they wouldn't be happy unless they saw my life in ruins having everything taken from me.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

I wouldn't say that its complete BS. I know I have been told on this very forum by individuals that they wouldn't be happy unless they saw my life in ruins having everything taken from me.

Why would anyone say such a thing? We don't always see eye to eye,  but I certainly don't wish such disaster on anyone here.  Now if you were a  a Koch brother it would be an entirely different proposal.
Sadly only a handful of times in history have the filthy rich been stripped of their power to influence the world,  but at this epoch and time they seem to have far to much power and influence with the ability to convince even the poorest people in the nation that they have their backs.. 

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Looks like he's a capitalist to me.

[Munch]

Abooma and his robot Mayans will conquer the world!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEKj4mKSAoQ

[Moralnihilist]

Frankly as an economic centrist I don't think that either the right or left have the correct idea when it comes to the economy. The right want to give everything to the wealthy, and the left want to give everything to the poor.

In my OPINION the current state of the economy is fault of  BOTH the wealthy and the poor.

The fault of the wealthy lies in greed. Plain and simple. Not all of the wealthy are greedy fucks, but there are enough of us to make a fairly decent size impact. 

The fault of the poor is playing the keeping up with the next door neighbor game. Im not referring to people who lost jobs and are unable to find work that pays what they were making and have to downsize. There is no fault of those people. That fault often goes back to the issue of the wealthy. Im not referring to anyone other than the person who struggles to make ends meet and without fail come tax time they have that new tv or other useless gadget to get instead of saving a bit for a rainy day.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

Moralnililist, your point is taken, but picture yourself as a single parent who grew up with nothing and never really got a real chance at any kind of opportunity in life so from a very young age you only knew poverty and tried your best to do the right things. You went to work, college and no matter how hard you try nothing worked out. Suppose you have 3 kids and despite your best efforts your kids do without and suddenly you get a check from the IRS for a thousand bucks. You still have a shit job,  your spouse or ex spouse is completely worthless and your kids have never so much as have ever had a TV worth a shit, no cable, the apartment is roach infested and the couch is full of bedbugs. The fridge is piece of shit and you live in a neighborhood filled with thugs and drugs. 
That's a steep hill to climb. You'll probably want one nice thing in your home so you spend that thousand bucks on a tv for the kids and yourself.
Tell me why this person is so undeserving and spell it out so everyone else can understand it.  I've been down this road myself.
Sure,  perhaps the decision can be better, but often the people in this situation don't even know the question they should be asking because nobody has ever given them the time of day to explain the alternatives.
Now enlightenment me oh wise one and while you're at it enlighten the millions of poor fuckers stuck in the same boat I was once in. 

[Moralnihilist]

Moralnililist, your point is taken, but picture yourself as a single parent who grew up with nothing and never really got a real chance at any kind of opportunity in life so from a very young age you only knew poverty and tried your best to do the right things. You went to work, college and no matter how hard you try nothing worked out. Suppose you have 3 kids and despite your best efforts your kids do without and suddenly you get a check from the IRS for a thousand bucks. You still have a shit job,  your spouse or ex spouse is completely worthless and your kids have never so much as have ever had a TV worth a shit, no cable, the apartment is roach infested and the couch is full of bedbugs. The fridge is piece of shit and you live in a neighborhood filled with thugs and drugs. 
That's a steep hill to climb. You'll probably want one nice thing in your home so you spend that thousand bucks on a tv for the kids and yourself.
Tell me why this person is so undeserving and spell it out so everyone else can understand it.  I've been down this road myself.
Sure,  perhaps the decision can be better, but often the people in this situation don't even know the question they should be asking because nobody has ever given them the time of day to explain the alternatives.
Now enlightenment me oh wise one and while you're at it enlighten the millions of poor fuckers stuck in the same boat I was once in. 

The honest answer is I have no answer. Sure there are options, like a secondhand tv at less than half the cost of a new one and saving the rest but this is from my viewpoint. I unlike the person in your example DID have someone sit me down and explain the alternatives. So in a way it is harder for me to understand someone not knowing the importance of setting something(anything really) aside for a rainy day. Maybe the answer is to teach personal finance is schools, and make it a required course.