The year was 1945, two forces joined together to beat the biggest threat in the world, fascism. To put it in simple terms, fascism was a form of government used by Nazi Germany. The forces that joined together were communism and capitalism. In today's world this would seem to be an impossible mix of ideology due to the "Cold War".
Nuclear wars were almost started as the two countries tried to prove to one another that their form of government was best for the world. Communist believe in everyone have the same or equal and capitalist believe in free-markets and only the strong and hard-working will thrive. At least this was the theory.
The "Cold War" ended in 1989 as the USA out spent the USSR in the Reagan military build up. Because of economic pressure the USSR final gasp came with the defeat in Afghanistan. The Berlin Wall soon fell after.
With the USSR style of communism defeated, all eyes were on the free-market capitalism. In the '90s the US economy boomed, and the 2000s the economy continued to grow but a new trend was starting to happen. Job creating wasn't the main focus, but making money off money was the main way of making money. The term "jobless recover" begin to be the new norm. This trend started under Ronald Reagan administration theory of trickle-down economics.
Now, the year is 2012 and in the presidential elections capitalism is on display. Republicans argue an attack on capitalism is now an attack on America as a whole, at the same time the country is witnessing the greatest unequal distribution of wealth in its history.
To help form the argument, people are now focusing on two types of capitalism "stakeholder capitalism" and "shareholder capitalism."
Stakeholder capitalism theory is stated by CNN as:
corporations are and should be quasi-public entities with responsibilities to the nation-state and to the communities in which they are embedded. The corporation should make a profit and provide a fair return to investors. At the same time, workers who contribute their labor to the company have a legitimate interest in it as well as investors who provide capital. Managers serve the company and the country, not merely the investors.
This form of capitalism would seem to be the best for a country. Corporation who care about the community is moral. The combination of stakeholder capitalism, with community churches could really boomerang this country. The poverty rate could be lowered and the middle-class could blossom under stakeholder capitalism
The theory of Shareholder capitalism is:
the corporation exists solely for the purpose of the investors, whom the managers serve as agents. In shareholder capitalism, short-term profits are the only goal, and if that means laying off workers instead of retraining them or reassigning them, breaking up the company and selling the assets to enrich private equity partners and shareholders, so be it.
This form of capitalism seems to be un-American, but Wall Street love this type of capitalism. This is the main problem for this country, outsourcing jobs to cheaper labor. Some people call this modern-day slavery. This proves that all capitalism isn't good for the country.
All capitalism isn't good for a country just like all communism isn't bad. China is a communist country and many US companies love to do business with China because of the cheap labor. Times has changed.
The moral standing in this country is under attack as the rich refuse to accept their role in society. This is why occupy wall street will continue to grow, a nation without a middle-class is a country with no class.
Jerome Furlow lives in Los Angeles CA after moving from Indianapolis IN in 2008. He's an internet entrepreneur, political freelance writer and political blogger who studied political science and history in college. Jerome is very passionate about this country and the direction it's heading. His website is http://www.everythingispolitics.org/. The content he writes about is clean-cut & informative. In the future he hopes to draw a sizable audience for an informative conversation.
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