There's no corruption in capitalism. Really.

[caramida]

From Harper's Index for October 2006:

Minimum amount of USDA farm subsidies since 2000 that have been paid out to people who do not farm: $1,300,000,000

Minimum value of “small business” contracts given out by the U.S. last year that went to Fortune 500 firms: $1,200,000,000

Dairy Industry Crushed Innovator Who Bested Price-Control System

I get really frustrated when folks claim that our socio-cultural-economic system rewards people who work hard and punishes layabouts. Many people who self-identify as conservatives rail against 'the Welfare state', even as they support initiatives that provide government assistance to those (rather, companies who purchase their candidates of choice) unable to compete in the market without help. Cornel West describes some of these people as free-market fundamentalists. At first I thought this was a misnomer, as these free-market fundamentalists don't hew to a strict view of the free market, where each actor has an equal chance in the market to face off against his or her competitors. Then I realized that 'fundamentalist' means less a fundamental interpretation of the intent of the original concept, and more a personal interpretation about how to self-justify one's own prejudice, nevermind the consequence. Just like much other fundamentalism, really.

Comments

[dicedork.livejournal.com]

I don't think your conclusion that corruption is a result of capitalism follows from your premise. Corruption is a result of corruption. There was gobs of it under socialism too.

[caramida.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry if I gave you the wrong idea. I don't intend to claim that corruption comes from capitalism. There's corruption in most every kind of formalized societal makeup. It's part of man's basic self-interest. What I did not explicitly state is that we claim our society is less corrupt than others, when in fact the corruption is instead focused at the top, rather than spread more evenly throughout society. While our cops are generally, I would argue, less likely to take a bribe than in some other countries, our politicians are no less so.

[name-redacted.livejournal.com]

I think the point was that capitalism (or at least, a "free market") is no protection from corruption. "Conservatives" seem to like to point out the corruption in non-free market societies; this is just a rejoinder.