Forum Post: Capitalism is power

All I can hear are people who have been taught well to admire wealth as a fulfilling and meaningful goal in itself. What has gone wrong with capitalism is that it works too well. The comments about 'working hard for your money, and taking from the rich who have earned their wealth' are so incredibly simplistic. The capitalist machinery is powerful enough to dictate what you do, eat, how much you earn, and how well you will live your life. How can you justify corporate greed. For example: The medical and health care industry who profit from disease. The tobacco industry who profit from addiction and death can lobby for extended rights. Wall street, which influences world economy in such a fundamental way, are allowed to speculate in favor of a collapsing system - for profit. How are they considered hard working when they can liquidate or devalue an industry because a future prospective profit margin might not be high enough. Much of the real wealth and power is accumulated by organisations that know how to 'legally' exploit a dysfunctional system. What this means is that they can dismantle, sell-off assets, redirect funds, choose to withhold investment, etc. with a clear conscience because they are supported by a misguided capitalist mentality. What people seem to forget is that this power is in the hands of an incredibly few number of people. Obviously, someone had to have built these companies 'from the ground up', does this give them the right to manipulate ours lives for the sake of a profit. Society is clearly governed by an oligarchy, and we are bred to believe this is their right and misled to believe we also can achieve the same if we work hard enough. I just don't understand how working class people can be so deluded into believing this is something to defend. Capitalism has gone too far when it can speculate and profit on something or someone failing. When capitalists can use their power to manipulate how events will to turn out in the near future. I also believe we are responsible for our fate and that you get what you deserve, but not everyone realizes that at a time in their lives when they can make a difference. If on top of that, society punishes you for being down, you just know things have gotten bad and society has reached a level of cynicism that will only destroy itself.