Forum Post: A reasoned approach

Capitalism is the best economic structure yet devised for a modern society. It is not perfect. We must strengthen the system not destroy it. The very name “capitalism” describes one of it’s weaknesses. If you are an entrepreneur in our society you realize that it takes money, capital, to make money, the more capital you acquire the easier it is to acquire more capital and then it gets even easier to make more wealth, etc. That is why it is called a “capitalistic” system. A small minority of our citizens have the personality the desire and skills to become a successful entrepreneur. Taking the above situation to its logical human nature conclusion, without any governmental tax or regulation policies, a small percentage of the population will end up with 99% of the money, capital. You could say fine, good, those people “smart” enough to acquire the capital have a right to it. You could also ask the question if a person does not have the desire or the skills to be an entrepreneur (make and acquire capital) is that person any less valuable to our society. Is a violinist, teacher, fire fighter, or waitress less valuable than a hedge fund manager? This does not diminish the importance of the entrepreneur, the wealth builder, he is crucial to our system.

Our US system has evolved into one of the best capitalistic systems the world has seen, with government regulation and a progressive income tax system that levels the playing field between those entrepreneurs who want to gain wealth, and to those who believe money and wealth are secondary life goals. We must strengthen the system not destroy it. How much value is there in playing a beautiful Mozart concerto on a violin, the teacher who has the uncontrollable urge to impart knowledge to her students, how much is it worth to have a firefighter go into a burning building for your son or daughter?

Our form of capitalism has in the past allowed for diversity, it has made our country great! We must strengthen the system not destroy it. However, the statistics are clear, an imbalance has developed between the money haves and the money have nots. I am afraid some in our society have developed a disease called greed. The tax structure is out of wack in favor of successful capitalistic entrepreneurs, it must be corrected.

I for one, do not want to live in a society that has 50% of its citizens living in poverty, and that is where we are heading, fast. The families of our soldiers fighting our wars are living on food stamps. Teachers are losing their right to collective bargain for their wages. Firefighters are being laid off all over the country. McDonalds turned away 938,000 qualified applicants for below poverty rate jobs.

This situation is reversible. This is the greatest country in the world, lets correct it and move on.
https://sites.google.com/site/the99percentdeclaration/