| Topic: Schadenfreude |
| Posted : 07/08/08 / Views : 360 / Replies : | |
 | | User | anon |
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|  | | Am I the only one enjoyng all the greedy BTL 'investors' finding that their pyramid schemes are collapsing? |
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| Reply #1: Re: Schadenfreude |
| Posted : 04/08/08 | |
| | excuse my ignorance, not sure what BTL means. But if this is relevant i think we are in for a huge recession. The world powers have not taken the gigantic rise of China and India into account, i feel it will take us years to sort out the crop usage and oil pricing (not sure whether the Middle East aren't pulling a fast one here, slowing down our trade and testing the water to se how far we sink).
As for pyramid sellers collapsing, great. |
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| Reply #2: Re: Schadenfreude |
| Posted : 05/08/08 | |
| | | Capitalism is a crazy concept when you look at it.. It's a pyramid which is constantly exploiting its base layer, which can only lead to one thing.. collapse!! |
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| Reply #3: Re: Schadenfreude |
| Posted : 05/08/08 | |
| | | Communism hasn't exactly been a roaring success though has it? We have far less poverty in capitalist societies than other parts of the world. It's not perfect, but it works better than anything else out there. |
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| Reply #4: Re: Schadenfreude |
| Posted : 05/08/08 | |
| | Hi KarenCarpenter4eva, to my mind there has never been a communist state, Russia and China are, i feel, State Capitalists, a communist state takes care of the masses from bottom up.
The reason that capitalist states are more successful is that they are exploiting the under-developed world, capitalism at its best.
I don't know what better way to construct our society now that capitalism has taken a firm hold. |
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| Reply #5: Re: Schadenfreude |
| Posted : 05/08/08 | |
| | | I'm possibly out of my depth discussing this, I;m pretty ignorant when it comes to economic theory so I will take your word that China nd Russia aren't 'true' communist countries. Britain is hugely dependent on Chinese imports though, and I know their human and animal rights records are appalling, but the influx of foreign money in China has seen a massive rise in the standard of living. I know they still have sweatshops and that, and the same with India, but ultimately if they follow the same trend of the industrialised nations the increasing wealth will eventually work its way to the bottom reducing poverty, and hopefully their human rights records will gradually improve too. I guess what I'm saying is that exploitation of China's booming economy seems to improve things in general for the Chinese, and we get a good deal out of it also. I think Africa needs to be treated a bit more fairly, but I'm far from convinced of the evils of capitalism...anyway I'm going to go and polish my photo of Maggie Thatcher now... |
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| Reply #6: Re: Schadenfreude |
| Posted : 05/08/08 | |
| | i feel that the wealth of industrialised, capitalist countries, including our own often comes from exploiting the people and resources of the developing world. people are forced from their homes so multinational oil, timber and mining companies can move in. the wto & imf force developing countries to remove trade barriers, often forcing them to produce for export rather than their own people in order to repay foreign debt.
a small minority control the money and resources of the planet. the richest 2% of the world population own over half the worlds wealth. even in uk 10% of population own over over half of personal wealth in uk. i think there must be a better, more equitable and caring economic system. |
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| Reply #7: Re: Schadenfreude |
| Posted : 07/08/08 | |
| | Yep you would hope so, wouldn't you? They call capitalism the "least worst" system, not very grammatical but you see the point; if it's not the worst, the others must be pretty awful. I don't think it's only developing countries which are exploited, these multinationals are not fussy about who they exploit! It's all money to them....for example oil companies put up prices here while making vast profits, or banks overcharging and making huge profits also.
I do think communism failed, without going into the question of which states are/were "genuinely" communist, and deservedly failed as they always restrict personal freedoms too much...did you see that only recently have people in Cuba been allowed to own mobile phones? Formerly it was only party members and foreign workers I believe....
Why can't there be a fair and just semi-socialist economy with no poverty mixed with chances for entrepreneurial (sp?) efforts but with total freedom of speech/expression/association? Sounds like I'm dreaming a bit, but the UK hasn't been far off that at times.
We are still no nearer knowing what those initials in the first post stand for.... |
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| Reply #8: Re: Schadenfreude |
| Posted : 07/08/08 | |
| | | I reckon communism is idealistically the best system, but it simply doesn't work due to shitty human nature. Russia wasn't a communist regime.. A few people living the high life at the expense of the suffering masses.. that's the antithesis of communism!! Unfortunately greed and self interest of a few always prevails. Personally I'm an anarchist.. that doesn't mean "get pissed, destroy" as so many people wrongly believe. I'm looking towards a worldwide shift in conciousness, towards co-operation and respect rather than exploitation and control. Personal responsibility and self-government. I realise this is pure idealism, but I know that I could happily function in an ungoverned society, and I'm pretty sure most people on this site could too, so is it really an impossible pipe dream? The only way to promote it is to live by example.. look out for each other and respect the environment you live in.. people are desperate to find a solution to the empty utopia 21st century capitalism has given them, it's now or never.. Anyway, I'm ranting, the UV index is very high today!! (-: |
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| Reply #9: Re: Schadenfreude |
| Posted : 07/08/08 | |
| | | You sound more like a libertarian Rich! To be honest privatisation fails because the government doesn't address the obvious price fixing. For instance, if the entire country boycotted NPower and Powergen until the prices were aligned with the German prices the prices would soon come down, and then all the others would have to offer competitive prices. I am sure focused consumer action could easily revert the artificially inflated energy prices. |
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