Capitalism/Government/Country has turned against us?

[Forerunner]

To the American people(USA), our best bet to bring prosperity back into our country is to bring jobs back home from overseas and cut back on government spending...sounds simple right!!!..but its not our system in which we focus our trust in has finally betrayed us.

1). We can no longer control government spending for the government is the largest employer in the United States about 3Million American civilian and 2.1 Million US Military jobs. To cut Government spending now would be disastrous especially in our current unemployment rate.

2) The United States has been know for a country of Capitalist strive, little restriction on companies, Survival of the fittest(business), supply and demand. Such a great market for prosperity and wealth. but Capitalism has finally betrayed us. Companies export jobs for cheap labor legally to make large amount of profit, in return cheap goods for us...our markets are now feeding more foreign markets than our own we have more imports than exports...How can we Stop this if we are a "Capitalist society"...we cannot simply betray our economic structure that our country was founded on.

3). Our Country is too politically unorganized , too many small domestic priorities, that should be the responsibility of the states to resolve and become isolated issues, Gay Marriage, Abortion, Gun laws, Stem Cells, Immigration etc. These topics are state issues not Federal, the priority of the feds should be to stabilize the economy not solve domestic issues right now. This goes to ALL Political factions who are missing the big picture and are going for votes instead of results.

It is now obvious that this country has too many flaws and that some form of change is needed in this structure (Sorry Republicans, Tea Party) not to extreme though.

Too much political and social change could be disastrous in our current predicament to our economy and structure (Sorry Democrats, Libertarians)

I Would like to hear all sides...What can compromise could be brought that would unite all parties to fix our system. Please give me your opinions on this matter.

[Earl Hickey]

Capitalism didn't betray anybody. Capitalism has never been about anything other than rich capitalists getting richer. What has happened is that the rich capitalists now own, dominate and control all factions of the nominal left, including the labor unions.

The American people didn't rise to middle class status due to some desire of the capitalists. It was the working class fighting AGAINST the capitalists that provided America with a thriving middle class. It is union betrayal of workers that has destroyed middle class America. It is liberal betrayal that has destroyed middle class America. The unions are all led by rich capitalists whose very mission is to force the workers they ostensibly represent to yield to the corporations' every whim and demand.

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UAW President Bob King on Wall Street
By Jerry White
19 November 2010

Excerpt:

Standing directly behind General Motors CEO Dan Akerson as he rang the opening bell on the New York Stock Exchange Thursday morning was United Auto Workers President Bob King. As trading on GM stock began, the UAW leader could be seen enthusiastically applauding and exchanging congratulations with investment bankers and corporate board members assembled on a large stage adorned with GM logos.

The event was a small but telling demonstration of the character of the UAW—an organization completely hostile to the interests of the workers. No leader of a workers’ organization could have taken part in such an event, or even contemplated it. After all, the assembled crowd was salivating over GM’s profits, which have been attained chiefly through a brutal assault on jobs and living standards.

King reveled in the atmosphere, telling the Detroit News that it was an historic day, and that he welcomed a high opening price for GM shares. “Today is the birth of a new General Motors,” he said, adding, “It's a dramatically different company poised to be successful.”

And just how did this new GM emerge? In a prospectus circulated to global investors, the company explained that it had gotten its North American “cost structure in line.” It reads: “We accomplished this through brand rationalization, manufacturing footprint reduction, ongoing dealer network optimization, salaried and hourly headcount reductions, labor agreement restructuring and transfer of hourly retiree healthcare obligations to the new VEBA.”

It added, “Approximately 43% of our vehicles are manufactured in regions we believe to be low-cost locations, such as China, Mexico, Eastern Europe, India and Russia, with all-in active labor costs of less than $15 per hour.”

None of this could have been accomplished without the active collaboration of the UAW, which has suppressed all opposition by auto workers to the dictates of Wall Street, the auto bosses and the Obama administration. The UAW agreed to the sweeping concessions, including imposing a $14 an hour wage on all new workers—a key part of corporate-government strategy to close the wage gap between American workers and their brutally exploited counterparts in Asia and Latin America.

[Heavy_Cavalry_Sgt]

1) Don't give up so easily -- there is more to spending than just payroll.

2) We don't have a truly free market; we break up monopolies, we regulate many industries, we disallow certain types of trading, price fixing, etc. In any event, as you pointed out "supply and demand". People are starting to demand products made in the US.

3) We can not have disparate rules on immigration in different states -- some of what you list as state issues affect the entire nation.

[Gregg]

America is not & never has been capitalistic. Socialism is corruption, it provides a privileged class & a poor class. The government employees take bribes. Mexico is a great example, so is China. To get anything done, bribes are required. Read some Codevilla - The Character of Nations.
America has had strong, workable banking laws since the 1930's. Bush removed those & Obama never put those back. Obama biggest campaign contributors have been banks. Even Obama 2012 says so. Just put those controls back & we'll do fine again.
What makes you think more socialism is the answer? If it is, then California must be doing great. Domestic policy is Federal.

[BenJammin]

The Icelandic Revolution.

[alcory11]

you make a good point or two, and are completely wrong about some of the other things...as for government, it is not only the federal end of things, but nearly all the states are in much the same quandry, employing many many thousands...and overall, millions...of people along with the feds...you are right to surmise that cutting government expenditure, if it is going to mean something at all, would have to cut into all that 'employment' along with all the other 'entitlement' programs...

as for capitalism, here's where you are incorrect...capitalism is based on individual outlooks and desires, whether it is about creating and selling products/services or about buying these things...the fact is that today, profit margins for even the wealthiest corporations and businesses are significantly less than they were 30 years or so ago, and small businesses suffer even more because they find that people can not afford to support them as much as they once did...but they also used to make very high percentages of profit, too...some over 100%...,while now they find they have to compete more with big businesses which typically operate on 2-3% profits these days...

as to jobs going overseas, that is a two-edged thing...americans no longer think like we did in the past. we used to go to work, take our paychecks, and if they weren't enough we got second jobs...moms usually 'stayed home', of course, but then we didn't see them going to work for typically lower wages while then putting $125 a week per child into daycare, thus negating their paychecks...no, we have learned to demand higher wages, all the while also demanding better quality and lower prices...such demands have been great for products, almost all of which are much better than they ever were, but they have severely reduced profits at all levels of business...and some businesses have literally been forced to take much of their production to other countries simply in order to survive...

and americans also have made a grave mistake in all this...there is no evidence at all that products produced overseas are inferior in any way to what we can make here, with the exception of some of those things which turn out to be produced using materials/processes which are toxic, etc. but cars and parts made in/assembled in other countries are excellent, and a lot of the clothing and other stuff is also top of the line right along with what we can do here...bottom line is simple, we get more and pay less today, but yes, a lot of things are being done overseas that we used to do right here...

there is no simple 'fix' for all this, but one thing is sure...while many americans do grow up with ideas and dreams and a drive to accomplish, the fact is that the vast majority of us aren't quite so far out on the leading edge of any of these things, meaning that we just want good jobs and 'lifestyles' which we can live comfortably with, and that means we're the ones who have to compete with the rest of the world...and the rest of the world has come a long long way in the past 30 or 40 years, and if we don't realize that 'the game of life' has more players than just americans, we're going to get run over no matter what 'fix' we come up with...

it isn't capitalism that's the problem...it's americans who think we have 'a right' to so many things...