One of the glaring failures of capitalism is the continuing widespread existence of poverty - often extreme poverty. Even in the advanced economies, many millions of people endure terrible economic and social deprivation, despite the incredible wealth all around them.

Jim Stanford

Categorized in : People Poverty Wealth

Competition-ruthless, unforgiving, to-the-death competition-is a crucial feature of capitalism.

Jim Stanford

capitalism ruthless competition

The total dividend income declared in 1995 by the bottom 9.7 million Canadian tax-filers (47% of all those submitting tax returns) was $310 million. The estimated dividend income received by the Thomson family in 1995 from its 72% ownership share of the Thomson Corporation and its 22% ownership share of the Hudson's Bay Company was $310 million.

Jim Stanford

corporations income return

Try this: say the words "global, global, global" aloud several times, as fast as you can. You'll find yourself sounding like a turkey ("gobble, gobble, gobble").

Jim Stanford

finding-yourself turkeys trying

Never trust an economist with your job. Learn about economics yourself. And make up your own mind about what might protect your job - and what might destroy it.

Jim Stanford

mind might jobs

Apart from their work and production, households perform other important economic functions. Most CONSUMPTION occurs within the household. ... In developed capitalist economies, private consumption spending accounts for half or more of GDP.

Jim Stanford

capitalist-economy gdp important

Like a forensic accountant trying to solve a corporate fraud, following the trail of money around the circle is a good way to understand what actually happens as capitalism unfolds.

Jim Stanford

circles trying way

We know that investment causes growth. But it is also true that growth causes investment.

Jim Stanford

investment growth causes

This relationship is the foundation for the argument, made by some trade unionists and labour advocates, that high wages can actually be "good for business". The precedent set by Henry Ford in 1914, who offered workers $5.00 per day (a very high wage at the time) so they could afford to buy the same cars they made, is often invoked.

Jim Stanford

foundation car wages

The problem is not scarcity; the problem is power.

Jim Stanford

scarcity problem

Kalecki thus precisely predicted the economic and political U-turn that occurred with the advent of neoliberalism. Kalecki also argued that fundamental institutional changes, especially regarding wage-setting and other aspects of the employment relationship, would be essential if full employment was to be sustained.

Jim Stanford

neoliberalism essentials political

Employers crave the power to fire workers whose performance is judged inferior-not just to get rid of those particular workers, but more importantly to motivate and discipline the rest of the workforce.

Jim Stanford

employers discipline fire

Proving that profit is economically and morally justifiable, rather than the result of exploitation, has been a central preoccupation of neoclassical economists.

Jim Stanford

preoccupation profit results

If you want poor people to work you restore their incentive by giving them less, such as by cutting social services. If you want rich people to work you restore their incentive by giving them more, such as by cutting taxes.

Jim Stanford

cutting giving people

Growth can also involve producing services instead of goods. In particular, a major expansion of public and caring services (like child care, education, elder care, and other life-affirming programs) would generate huge increases in GDP and incomes, with virtually no impact on the environment.

Jim Stanford

impact caring children

Indeed, if communist central planners could have organized the economy with as much detail, precision, and flexibility as a modern-day Toyota or Wal-Mart, communism would probably still exist.

Jim Stanford

modern details communism

With joint-stock corporations, investors can place bets on the success of many different companies, without having to play a central management role in any one of them. This allows investors to diversify their financial holdings. It also allows them to capture profits on their investments, without having to get involved in the dirty, troublesome business of actually running a company.

Jim Stanford

play running dirty

Everyone has an interest in the economy: in how it functions, how well it functions, and in whose interests it functions.

Jim Stanford

function economy interest

Economics is a social science, not a physical science.

Jim Stanford

social-science economics social

Capitalism, in contrast, has existed for fewer than 300 years. If the entire history of Homo sapiens was a 24-hour day, then capitalism has existed for two minutes.

Jim Stanford

hours two years

Economic systems come, and economic systems go. No economic system lasts forever. Capitalism is not likely to last forever, either.

Jim Stanford

economic lasts forever