Forum Post: "Huckster Capitalism" versus "Compassionate Capitalism"
Posted 12 years ago on Oct. 26, 2011, 3 p.m. EST by SpeakerSmith
(4)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
Despite our ever growing presence and mentions in the media, a single term or "hook" has not emerged and has not been operationally defined, which hinders its use in a standardized manner. In this thread I would like to propose the term "Huckster Capitalism" as the core hook term, and explore a possible operational definition of Huckster Capitalism so that it can be used in social and academic projects.
An operational definition is a scientific way of defining concepts in terms of specific processes (that make up a validation set) used to determine its presence and quantity.
So to get started: Huckster capitalism is characterized by the processes of:
- politicians being bought in money auctions held by corporations
- creating huge income disparities between the rich and the rest.
- ...
What others should be added?
The same thing should be done and agreed upon for the opposite concept of "compassionate capitalism"
This way the 99% when asked what we want can all at least agree on this one thing: Compassionate capitalism over Huckster capitalism as defined. Thus a clear hook concept for academic, social, and media use, clearly defined so there is no confusion. This would be a big advance in the movement.
What do you think?
capital is the tools to processes resources
including the ability to organize labor for large projects
When a guy with an apple tree picks some apples, puts them in a basket and sells them to some guy walking down the street, that's capitalism. There is nothing wrong with that and in fact it's a Human Right and Freedom to do so. Therefore the problem must be about types of capitalism. I hope the 99%ers accept this basic human freedom to do what they want with their apples, or capitalism. Else it is Fascist communism that pulls out a gun and tells the apple guy to stop selling his apples or he will be shot. This is why we need so desperately to define our terms, before we are branded as fascist communists.
hukster capitalism is redundant and "compassionate" capitalism is an oxymoron.
Compassionate capitalism is characterized by processes of 1. keeping big corporate money donations out of elections. 2. keeping a small income disparity % (rise in income over a year) between the rich and the rest.
Can you add any?