On the Color of the Clouds

Definitions for a Beginning Student of Economics

By JV Deacon Earlier, I had mentioned that all the economic isms are the same. They are not. To me there is and has been only one system that has been used in actual practice and it has been called by many names. Sometimes it is just a way to describe how the system is administered and how much participation the laborers are allowed in the decision making aspects of the system and how much freedom they are allotted by the ruling plutocracy. I do mean PLUTOCRACY. One major mistake that I constantly hear made concerning the interactions of humans is that we are a social animal. There is a warm little fuzzy feeling about this accolade. With it, there are connotations of people being good, working together, and helping one another without expectation of a return. It is done for the greater good. It is done without having to be taught and without question. It is not what we are. We are a pack animal. We have a need to stand out. We have a pecking order. We have plutocracy. Up until the American Revolution and the creation of the United States Constitution, things were very simple and much more obvious. Those who controlled the factors of production made the rules. For much of human history, the main factor of production had been the land and the communities located on it. Smaller owners would team up with larger owners swearing allegiance to one another. This was feudalism. Smaller owners would want to grow to gain more and to do so they needed the help and protection of the larger owners and in return, the larger owner would be able to count on the help and tribute of the smaller owners. This is actually pretty prevalent in the business world. An established manager will call on the obedience of his subordinates to push his plans through. These are plans that are designed to ensure the established managers continued elevation up the corporate ladder. In return for their loyalty, the subordinates are protected by the established manager and have the opportunity to ride on his coattails for playing ball loyally. Information to the subordinates is skewed to shine a bright light on their manager. Feudalism is nothing more than a way of administering and protecting interest in a purely capitalistic system; which brings me to the only two true isms I can think of which are capitalism and communism. These are the only two true isms to me because they are the only two true ways of thinking on and executing the subject of economics. Michael Moore did a great job trying to explain capitalism in his latest film Capitalism: A Love Story. He did a fine job of shedding light on causes of the recent economic woes and he did sort of address the true reasons of the collapse; capital flight, but did not truly focus on it very well. Michael Moore has a good understanding but he is not an economist. The best way that I can explain capitalism is the question of what is in it for me? Everything is designed around personal greed with the emphasis on me. What is in it for me? Xerxes even asked the question prior to leading his army into Greece to punish the Athenian, Who are these people who have created a special place (marketplace) to cheat one another? Capitalism is usually associated with the word or

idea of Free Enterprise or Free Markets. I can only conjure up the image of plutocracy. Capitalism is about me. Free Markets are about keeping abuses checked through fierce but peaceful competitionthe fierceness is found with in the price, quality, and service. Those that can hang do so and those who cant move on to something else that they may be better while freeing up the scarce resources for those who do a far superior job. Competition helps to keep the growth of one organization under controlstaying small and regional keeps the products better, fresher, and allows for the development of regional taste. Capitalism is actually this basic concept with the goal of unlimited growth. They enter the market with the idea of dominating the marketplace. They use their income to penetrate new markets and dominate them. I remember that when I was a kid, the only place that you could get a Philly Cheese steak was in the Philly area. Every town had its own burger, steak, chicken places and each had their own unique style and taste. Now developments all look like a carbon copy of the same cardboard box with holes punched in them for windows, streets are all the same highly visual, marketable names. Every town has the same stores selling the same old products. Capitalism is all about what is in it for the owners. A capitalists wet dream is a monopoly or even a monopsony. It is a system that is dominated by individual greed for wealth and things. We look for what is best for just me. Family cohesion crumbles with the idea that someone else might be getting more than me. Communities and workplaces are filled with petty alliances, back stabbing, and the idea that its not my problem when things go wrong in a separate department. People are willing to sell one another out to look good in the eyes of the ones who control the rewards. It is a system in which owners believe that they are responsible for everyones prosperityit was their drive, their vision, their pulling of everyone else along that created the prosperity. Everybody else owes them for this opportunity the owner had created. It is a system based on mistrust and contracts. It is a place where you can only count on someone else taking what is yours if you turn your back for a secondI have seen this many times when I was a manager. It is a system that has developed the fine art of scapegoating. It is a system based on fear and punishment if you dont play ball with me, I will make your life here miserable or fire youis one statement I remember from a lot of my managerial days. It is a system where everything is focused on the bottom line; not for all, but for the owner. Communism is an idea of what is in it for us? It is a system where owners remember that their companies grew and became profitable through the hard work, determination, and loyalty of their employees along with the owners vision. It is the idea that we are all in this together. It is an idea of where everyone shares in prosperity and misfortune. It is an idea where you can count on your community. It is a system of sharing and helping without expectations of return except that they can count on you to help when they need it. All other isms are nothing more than candy coating the plutocracy of capitalism. Stalin was the CEO of an infamous monopoly called the Soviet Union. Yes, there was a Capitalistic system in the Soviet Union. As long as there is a plutocracytop party members, as long as there is an owner (no matter what they call themselves)in this case the state which made all of the decisions of the factors of production, it is a system of capitalism. It was a Marxist State. Marxism is nothing more than socialism by force. Socialism is nothing more than trying to make the benefits of communism profitable for a

plutocracy and to keep the plutocracy in charge. Before, I mentioned that I did not see much of a difference between Stalin and Tsar Nicholas II except that there was a vast improvement in Russias infrastructure to the point that they were able to take on Nazi Germany. Fascism, National Socialism, Marxism, all the other isms are pretty much just dressing up and placing a strategic spin on Capitalism and Communism. Theocracy is just replacing the plutocracy with the dominating religion of an area. National Socialism is just capitalist profiteering from social programs while using a patriotic or ethnic spin on it to breed blind follower shipits us against those who dont fit our idealistic description. Actually, the more I think about it, the other isms are pretty much just bastardized version of capitalism trying to make a buck off of the ideas of communism. A close friend once told me that if you want to help your conscious, give to a charity. If you truly want to help someone in need of help, get off your ass and help them. Her words said a lot to me. A charity is nothing more than a capitalist making a buck off of someones misfortune. Dont believe me? Look up any charitys financial reports and look at the payroll; some of those are pretty nice especially when you think of the fact that most of their employees are volunteers and they are a nonprofit organization. I guess that is what all of the other isms truly areways of using others misery to gain profit and power for the plutocracy. Communism would be the getting off your ass and being a part of the equation and its solution.