Few among us can say that bathroom graffiti has profoundly influenced our political views. That hasn’t stopped some Gustavus students from trying to influence us, though, as anyone who ever spent a study break on a library toilet has doubtless witnessed. I recently found one such piece very intriguing, however: the ominous pronouncement that “CAPITALISM FAILED BIG TIME.”
We have to assume that at least part of what the mystery author is talking about when he claims capitalism failed us is the issue of vast economic inequality that has taken center stage in today’s political arena. With the “Occupy Wall Street” protests entering their fourth week and a widespread outrage over the unequal distribution of wealth and taxation in our society, one could definitely make the argument that our economic system has failed to live up to expectations.
Perhaps it was the context in which I encountered this graffiti, but the best counterpoint to this claim is surely America’s success in feeding its people, which was, after all, the reason I was on the toilet in the first place.
In his Lindau Symposium lecture last April, Dinesh D’Souza, an Indian-American immigrant turned political commentator, joked that he was proud to live in a country where “the poor people are fat.” Although the joke may have been in poor taste, his point was that there has never been a country that has provided more opportunity or a higher standard of living for the average person than the United States, and we owe that to capitalism. While the unavoidable result of this system is that a few make it big, sometimes at the expense of others, it also allows the people we would consider relatively poor to eat like kings.
For hungry college students, saving millions from poverty and starvation is all well and good, but the real reason to love capitalism is that it is directly responsible for some of the most ludicrous and fantastic food items ever devised. I can think of no edible thing that better embodies American ingenuity, creativity, and yes, overindulgence, than the superfluous McNasty from McDonalds.
Otherwise known as the McDank or McFusion, it combines the tangy spice of a McChicken and the tenderness of a double cheeseburger. A combination so delicious and ingenious that only the invisible hand of the market would think to create it. Who would have thought there would ever be demand for a triple-decker chicken sandwich burger? Ask and you shall receive.
Capitalism has its winners and losers, as does every economic or political system ever devised. But anyone who says, “capitalism failed big time” must have quite a different definition of success than the millions that would have otherwise gone hungry. Still don’t believe capitalism has made the world a better place? Put yourself in the shoes of someone waiting in line for food in a gulag, and then try a McNasty.
*SURGEON GENERAL’S WARNING: Possible side-effects of ingesting the McNasty may include becoming fat, extreme happiness, followed by loss of vision, loss of bowel control, heart attack, depression, followed by some variation of the seven stages of grief. Results not typical, read nutrition facts for details.
Hi
We ALL see the pyramid scheme symbol on the back of the USA one dollar bill. We ALL see the servitude infestation in capitalism. We ALL see the “pay up or lose your wellbeing” Chicago mob-like felony extortion widespread within capitalism. We ALL see the “join or starve” felony extortion done to the 18 year olds… by this ugly competer’s church called capitalism. We ALL see how forcing competer’s religions onto 18 year olds, and/or LURING them into it with bling-dangling and promises of empowerments… kills membership in the cooperator’s church (Christianity/socialism). We ALL understand that AmWay (American Way) (New World Order) got “the exclusive” (legal tender) on the TYPE of survival coupons (money) accepted in supply depots (stores) and leverages 18 year olds into the organization via that felony activity. (It puts AmWay-coupon slaving requirements called price tags… on all the survival goods). We ALL understand how sure-to-collapse farmyard pyramids work… from our childhoods. Upper 1/3 are “heads in the clouds” while the kids on the bottom ALWAYS GET HURT from the weight of the world’s knees in their backs. And, we ALL see how such systems are illegal, immoral, and just plain sick.
We American Christian socialists are patiently awaiting the natural fall of the pyramid-o-servitude, or the busting of the free marketeers felony… by the USA Dept of Justice. We Christians are VERY CLOSE to issuing a cease and desist order until the servitude and inequality goes away… which means it turns into a commune. Commune is a word we LOVE when used in the word “community”… but its one the caps HATE when used in the word “commune-ism”. Go fig. PROGRAMMED!!
Do a Google IMAGE SEARCH for ‘pyramid of capitalist’ to see a full color picture made way back in 1911, when capitalism was first discovered to be a con/sham instigated by the Free Masons/Illuminati. Folks sure bought into the thing… hook, line, and sinker just the same. The caps didn’t even check if a string was attached! Now THAT’S easy fishing, eh?
Time to level the felony pyramid scheme called capitalism. Abolish economies and ownershipism worldwide, and hurry. Economies just cause rat-racing, and rat-racing causes felony pyramiding. BUST IT, America! Look to the USA military supply/survival system… (and the USA public library system) for socialism and morals done right. Equal, owner-less, money-less, bill-less, timecard-less, and concerned with growth of value-criteria OTHER THAN money-value. Quit doing monetary discrimination immediately, and make it illegal. There are MANY measurement criteria of “value”… not just dollars. Try morals, efficiency, discrimination-levels, repairability, etc etc. Economies are cancerous tumors, and to cheer for their growth… is just insane. Profiting causes inflation, so if caps LIKE inflation, and if they LIKE a terrible time in afterlife when they meet the planet’s ORIGINAL OWNER before caps tried to squat it all with ownershipism, then keep it up with the felony pyramiding. I dare you. While us Christians are finally bulldozing that pyramid scheme back to level, lets make servitude and “join or starve” (get a job or die) illegal in the USA, and lets level the architecture seen in USA courtrooms, too. Right now, USA courtrooms are church simulators or “fear chambers”, by special design. Sick.
Isn’t that back-of-the-dollar pyramid… a Columbian freemason symbol? And WHERE is the USA gov located? District of Columbia? (Not even part of the USA!) How much more blatant can ya get? The “Fed” runs a pyramid scheme called the free marketeers. If you’re using the “federal reserve note” certificates, or using no-other-living-thing-on-the-planet entitles of ownership, you’re bought into a servitude/slavery con/sham… called capitalism. Pyramiding 101.
Larry “Wingnut” Wendlandt
MaStars – Mothers Against Stuff That Ain’t Right
(anti-capitalism-ists)
Bessemer MI USA
You sir are no Christian. Just lazy.
The described pyramid scheme is the greatest wealth creating and wealth distributing system ever to have existed on this planet. No other system has produced as much wealth in as short of time or distributed as much wealth to as many people as capitalism. That wealth creation and distribution allowed the largest number of people to have the highest quality of life ever seen in history. It is the ultimate rags to riches story ever to have been proven to work. Yes, the US government was setup to foster and protect this most valuable jewel, capitalism, and I am very thankful for that. Those greedy companies produce the shoes that I wear, the house that I live in, the food that I eat, the car that I drive, the leisure time that I have to write this comment and the Gibson guitar that I like to play on occasion.
It is much better than the government control systems of the past that produced so much suffering. How far back shall we look to learn the lessons? – ‘the killing fields’ of communist Vietnam, the massacre of Mao’s revolution that is now being remedied by capitalism, the economic collapse of the Soviet Union where people would fight over what few goods were available, the deeds of Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini, the Egyptian forced labor that produced great wealth only for the Pharos, or the starvation of hunter gatherers during a bad year with the constant tribal warfare, Polynesian pole-people, shrunken heads, cannibalism, slavery and uncured diseases.
It is unfortunate that in the midst of such wealth as we have in the USA that there are spoiled babies who spend their free time bashing the system that feeds them. Any idiot can destroy. It is much better to create. Some people want ‘something for nothing’ and try to reward those who think the same way. But ‘something for nothing’ creates nothing and leaves people fighting over what little is left. Other people want to contribute for what they receive and create wealth in the process. When you take their wealth, you also take their incentive to create more wealth. When you let them keep their wealth, you let them keep their incentive to produce more wealth.
Government has no right to allow or not allow me to keep what I have earned. Government only has the right to protect my right to make that decision. Giving government power beyond this limit is a step back to the old oppressive systems of the past. It is unfortunate that the USA has crept more in the oppressive direction over time.
The foundation of government is coercion and theft.
The foundation of capitalism is incentive and trade.
If you use force and take, you are behaving like government.
If you use incentive and create, you are behaving like a capitalist.
Let people become rich and retire so that others can work in their place to create wealth and also retire. Stop taxing people so that they cannot become rich and retire and cannot let others take their place.
Interesting article Josh – I will have to try one of these burgers.
I am sorry that I did not comment on your article first. Mr. Wendlandt’s was in great need of education and my charitable side got the better of me.
Pyramids whatever as you market your product.
a few weeks just to find out yes or no, no guarantee of cousre. And you can get your Syrian visa at the border, if you like, although it’s easily done in Istanbul. They will tell you that you can’t get it at the border but you can.
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