Alternatives to capitalism?

[Clarence]

Gold actually costs money to hold... It's stupid as hell to hang onto... Not to mention industrially useless.

You're not Laize, you're Gordon Brown... that was his philosophy. Backfired somewhat didn't it....

[Laize]

You're not Laize, you're Gordon Brown... that was his philosophy. Backfired somewhat didn't it....

Actually it's Warren Buffett's and Charlie Munger's philosophy. Its worked out extremely well for them.

[Clarence]

Actually it's Warren Buffett's and Charlie Munger's philosophy. Its worked out extremely well for them.

So basically it's not a rule, it's gambling. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't. Either way it can't be quoted as fact

[Laize]

So basically it's not a rule, it's gambling. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't. Either way it can't be quoted as fact

Actually it's always true. Where does gold come from? The ground. We pay people to dig it up, then what do we do with it? Put it back in a Man-made hole in the ground and pay people to guard it.

The measure of staying away from gold isn't gambling... it's the exact opposite of gambling. It's AVOIDING gambling.

[Cattaclysmic]

Well, doesn't have to be gold, silver or anything like that. Could be fertile soil for that matter. Anything with an actual value beyond what is written on it. Is it the best solution? -Probably not, but the current situation is hardly ideal either.

its not ideal but preferable to other conceivable systems...

[Clarence]

Actually it's always true. Where does gold come from? The ground. We pay people to dig it up, then what do we do with it? Put it back in a Man-made hole in the ground and pay people to guard it.

The measure of staying away from gold isn't gambling... it's the exact opposite of gambling. It's AVOIDING gambling.

You said 'it's stupid as hell to hang on to' - thereby inferring the gamble was already taken. And this phrase I quote is NOT fact.

[Laize]

You said 'it's stupid as hell to hang on to' - thereby inferring the gamble was already taken. And this phrase I quote is NOT fact.

Gold absolutely costs money to hold onto. It may be a matter of opinion as to whether or not it's worth the cost to hold, but it's clearly a MINORITY opinion (albeit a very vocal one).

[Stanton Biston]

Actually it's always true. Where does gold come from? The ground. We pay people to dig it up, then what do we do with it? Put it back in a Man-made hole in the ground and pay people to guard it.

The measure of staying away from gold isn't gambling... it's the exact opposite of gambling. It's AVOIDING gambling.

Oh sure, now you have rational opinions.

But yeah- Gold is crucial for electron microscopes. Granted, you could probably get all the gold you need out of like 2 gold bars, but it's still there.

Oh- And space helmets.

[Defengar]

Gold also is effected less than almost any other substance by radiation, so its very useful in nuclear power plants and in nuclear waste facilities.

[Laize]

Oh sure, now you have rational opinions.

But yeah- Gold is crucial for electron microscopes. Granted, you could probably get all the gold you need out of like 2 gold bars, but it's still there.

Oh- And space helmets.

Oh how could I have forgotten the booming $500bn market for space helmets...

Gold isn't nearly as useful as other materials in industry. There's no reason its real and limited uses can't be replicated by other materials.

[WinninOne]

First off sorry for any spelling errors. For some of us English is a second language.

To the main point. If we look around us it is becoming ever so obvious that capitalism of nowadays is severely flawed. A normal person strives towards some distant dream of wealth and privilege. We live, breath and sweat for the company that we work for. We do it for increasingly lower wages, for less and less social benefits (which shouldn't be named benefits because we pay for at least some part). We live, in what Slavoj Žižek described as dictatorship of capitalism.


Through the years that we have been living in somewhat modern civilisation we had many alternatives to capitalism.

• Communism - A wonderful idea of equality for all with one big problem. It forgot to account for flaws of humans. The way we are greedy, the way we want something for ourselves and not just to have property of everyone, the way that we are lazy and will many times follow the path of least effort. Also the dictatorship and the police state are not very inviting.
  
• Socialism - Less severe than communism in regards to personal property, it is based on worker's self-management(I am taking former Yugoslavian model as bases.) but this leads to the fact that companies are run by people who do not have education for it. The problem as well was that in search of 0% unemployment, people were given jobs that were not needed so they were just draining the company.

To list just the ones that we have seen in recent past. Or they still exist in some parts of the world.

So what is the alternative that focuses away from corporations and heartless system of "everything is allowed in search for that illusive few % more profit" and back to happiness of a person as individual and a system that wont' produce crises every 10 years in which our very essence of the way we live is threatened?

There are a couple logic errors in the OP. First, Capitalism is an economic system so the proper comparison would be to Socialism. Communism is a form of government and is comparible to a Democracy, Theocracy, or Monarchy etc. Traditionally, Communist governments choose Socialist economic systems.

Second, the purpose of an economic system is to distribute resources in a way that uses them towards specific goals. While all systems are supposed to ultimately improve the fortunes of all members, each chooses to do so in a different way. Frankly, all systems work relatively well on paper and their failure or success depends more upon the people using it. Even if a country using capitalism did switch to socialism the same problems would remain. Unproductive citizens do not suddenly become productive because you slap a different name on your economy.

[Diurdi]

Gold is also shiny, makes great jewerly. It's probably one of its biggest uses, and shouldn't be forgotten.

[Yoyodyne]

The future system of resource distribution for all humanity will be based on what robotics and automation can do for people and how much it should do.

Robotic machine systems will be able to make anything including themselves, grow anything, solve all medical ailments, stop aging in our bodies, generate free energy, and if we do manage AI then then it will literally be like living gods in an alien world. With only one little issue that might arise - do we survive it?

Period. Watch...

[Sylvant]

I've said this multiple time before.

If left alone, if not fucked with by the government, Capitalism is the most fair and honest system in existence.

Really, so it seems honest and fair that EA can just destroy every other game company because they are a threat to one of their products ?
Maybe you got the meaning of fair wrong, don't know what kind of lexicon you are using...

Capitalism works great on paper as long as there is a Governing body protecting the economy from selfish , greedy bastards that are the CEOs of companies.

[Riidii]

Really, so it seems honest and fair that EA can just destroy every other game company because they are a threat to one of their products ?
Maybe you got the meaning of fair wrong, don't know what kind of lexicon you are using...

Capitalism works great on paper as long as there is a Governing body protecting the economy from selfish , greedy bastards that are the CEOs of companies.

What do you mean by destroy every other game company?

[Diurdi]

Really, so it seems honest and fair that EA can just destroy every other game company because they are a threat to one of their products ?

So the people who own the other game companies shouldn't be able to sell their company to EA?

Some game companies are also destroyed simply because people want to buy EA's games instead of their's.

Working as intended.

[araine]

We know how they say if you work really hard you will become rich in a capitalism system. well tell that to the woman carrying water for 5 miles everyday and still cant make enough to even buy a loaf of bread. If you think that is easier work than having to trading robot on Wall Street making split second profits that outnumber the water womans life time earnings in just 0.1sec. We got a long way to go in making the world better, a good place to start is at home with reigning in the greed.

Capitalism can NOT function without heavy regulations the ultimate capitalism business model is the mafia. it makes perfect business sense to murder and kill of the competition that is stealing into your profits. what stops this business model of pure capitalism you ask? laws and regulations. it is for example illegal to kill and murder your competition ( but it makes perfect business sense to just take out the tommy gun and kill them)

[Riidii]

We know how they say if you work really hard you will become rich in a capitalism system. well tell that to the woman carrying water for 5 miles everyday and still cant make enough to even buy a loaf of bread. If you think that is easier work than having to trading robot on Wall Street making split second profits that outnumber the water womans life time earnings in just 0.1sec. We got a long way to go in making the world better, a good place to start is at home with reigning in the greed.

Capitalism can NOT function without heavy regulations the ultimate capitalism business model is the mafia. it makes perfect business sense to murder and kill of the competition that is stealing into your profits. what stops this business model of pure capitalism you ask? laws and regulations. it is for example illegal to kill and murder your competition ( but it makes perfect business sense to just take out the tommy gun and kill them)

Capitalism functions better without any regulations at all.

And murdering the competition does not count as a regulation.

The laws of the land still apply.

[Stanton Biston]

Capitalism functions better without any regulations at all.

And murdering the competition does not count as a regulation.

The laws of the land still apply.

The continued problem that you ignore is that the 'laws of the land' are what impairs capitalism as is.

Unless you're talking about finance, but finance should be kept separate from capitalism since it doesn't function normally.

[WinninOne]

Really, so it seems honest and fair that EA can just destroy every other game company because they are a threat to one of their products ?
Maybe you got the meaning of fair wrong, don't know what kind of lexicon you are using...

Capitalism works great on paper as long as there is a Governing body protecting the economy from selfish , greedy bastards that are the CEOs of companies.

This is not correct. Capitalism works great when consumers make educated and frugal purchasing decisions. The government need only get involved when consumers are prevented from purchasing products according to their needs or wants.