Funny isn't it. If capitalism is so great how come it needs a socialist bailout every ten years?
You are right. It has been proven over and over and over again that the greatest threats to capitalism are capitalists.
1) FDR and Churchill both introduced social programs into their respective governments because capitalism was unregulated and failed in 1929. With all of Europe turning to communism and fascism, both leaders introduced socialism to try to reignite confidence in the capitalist/democratic system. As a part of the New Deal, Americans saw the
Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, which separated banks that dealt in loans to the average American and investment banks that played with the powerful's money. Both became regulated. The New Deal also provided a safety net for the average American in case capitalism threw up all over itself again.
2) From at least the 1970s, Big Business and banks used empowered lobbyists in Washington to court politicians so that they could dismantle Glass-Steagall. Free market Republicans drove this bus and the Reagan Revolution pushed the theme into mainstream politics. But it was Clinton that signed the two key pieces of legislation that gave them what they wanted. Clinton thought it was unfair that Republicans were getting so much of the donation money from Big Business so he got into bed with free market Republicans. With companies like Enron, and so many others, actually assisting with the writing, Senators like Phil Gramm handed Clinton the
Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999 and the
Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000. Armed with the idea that Big Business and the banks were responsible and could regulate themselves, he signed both with enthusiasm and tossed Glass-Steagall into the trash bin of history. This allowed for the creation of monster conglomerates like CitiGroup, which immediately led the way towards smashing the two different types of banks into one...again. Two years later the Enron scandal broke and it declared bankruptcy. Within years of this, CitiGroup was already showing signs of disaster. Without regulation, the idiots **** all over themselves...again. I don't want to digress here, but Bush and Obama made matters worse, largely, because they didn't know any better. Even Clinton admitted that he made a mistake. Obama summarized beautifully what had happened in a campaign speech, but then he would go on to appoint Clinton's deregulation team to his own economic squad to "fix" what they broke in the first place. Obama squandered a year expanding Bush's bailouts, which actually rewarded the guilty, but only temporarily introduced harsher regulation than what had existed under Glass-Steagall. By the time he wanted to do something for homeowners and small businesses, because banks and corporations did not trickle down, it was too late. The banks were back on top and there was no safety net. When Obama, McCain, and Elizabeth Warren began talking about reintroducing Glass-Steagall type legislation, the lobbyists immediately shifted campaign donation funds over to the Republicans. They showed him (and us) who was really in charge of this country. Obama retreated. Greed matters in capitalism. Left unregulated, greed will destroy it.
3) And now? Not only did 91 corporations of the Fortune 500 pay 0% taxes in 2018 on almost a trillion dollars (
Tax Cut and Jobs Act of 2017), but corporations are being allowed to pressure Washington into giving them bail outs too. Free from paying taxes, and taking ours. "Too big to fail" rears its ugly head...again...as corporations fire Americans from their jobs while promoting themselves as benevolent for being paid to create some medical items that they are going to write off or be financially rewarded for through contract and/or further tax relief. In the meantime, government has significantly increased spending, significantly increased debt and deficit, and is now borrowing $2 trillion dollars to make a tiny dent in the average American's pain, and to accommodate Big Business bail-outs.
These aren't faceless and nameless corporations. These are wealthy billionaires pulling the strings and paying lobbyists to bend Senators and Presidents too their will in order to increase the revenue of upper echelon investors. From here, they manipulate the simple minded to act as a gargoyle against the left and whoever else is just "jealous" of their "hard-earned" money. "Socialism is for the rich, while capitalism is left for the rest of us."
Free market, my ass.
