We are told over the mass media that this year's elections is really between the capitalism upon which the USA was founded and the socialism of modern Europe and Russia.
The credo of entrepreneurial enterprises:
Churn, churn, churn. Come up with an idea for a new product or service, formulate a business plan; find financial backing and concretize the idea into the productive mainstream of industry! (The Socialist addendum: Abide by all relevant regulations.) Churn, churn, churn. Doesn't work, can't successfully market the product that embodies the idea? Churn, churn, churn. Get another idea and get the cash to back it for production. See if it takes. Churn, churn, churn. Try something else!
The entrepreneurs survive withal--whether or not the conceptions become profitable. So, they don't mind, but learn to accept, failure as an essential part of the capitalistic cycle involving times of boon and bust (commencing with bubble-burst).
The Avaracious Need for Money
Hallmark of capitalism is the constant infusion of financial resources to produce goods. Emphasis is placed on the goods and services brought about. In the capitalist project, there are no people but entrepreneurs bent upon reaping the financial gains of their successful entrepreneurial projects.
But, you ask, how about the people who are hired and do the producing so long as the enterprise lasts?--the question of the Marxists; and how about the people who buy the goods and services, i.e., the consumers?--the question of alienation raised by the Existentialists. Don't the interests and concerns of these people count in the capitalist equation?
Churn, churn, churn.
People don't count in the capitalist model. It's assumed, instead, that the laws of biology apply by which the fittest survive. If you have the wits and the abilities to survive, you'll survive and do well--for as long as you can. Hold on!
Cash is the demand of these entrepreneurs; cash to support their ventures.
Need cash, cash, cash--churn, churn, churn.
If workers are thrown out of work, if consumers don't find the products and services sufficiently satisfying; if investors of these ventures lose their money, well, that's the way things are. If people get sick, if their society rots because of bad water, bad air, bad food, bad everything, then get used to it! That's the way things are in the world. We're not on earth for long anyway! Remember, the good times you've had?
The products of the capitalist ventures; ah, the shiny, new goods placed in showrooms and paraded in fairs; ah, these wondrous gifts of the entrepreneurs to mankind. The delectable food at five-star restaurants; the sporting events at new arenas. Just give entrepreneurs money, more money, more, more money!
Reflection on Capitalism
Believe it or not, I have found many world leaders have pondered the social effects of the capitalist program. Leaders in Europe and in Russia and in China have weighed the good and bad from its use, particularly in the US. They have concluded, in my opinion, that the hectic cycle of boon and bust, prosperity to depression, is just too hard on people (particularly, on people's psyche)--the very concern capitalism ignores.
The 2012 Election Showdown: Unfettered Capitalism or Regulatory Socialism
The general complaint among entrenprenuers is the burden of government regulation they must bear in a socialist system. They find it inhibiting to the capitalist aims of yielding products and services for consumers. If only they could get government off their backs!
This federal election in the US is supposed to clearly demarcate the differences between socialism (of Europe and Asia) and capitalism in the USA. The differences may be summarized into the form of a question: is the US citizen up to enduring another economic cycle of boon and bust once the 2008-Depression is over? If so, look for another economic bubble, which in time will burst.
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