[Dialogue] Call a spade a spade

[Jim Rippey]

One last attempt to get back on track.

 

Early yesterday, Adelbert Batica posted this:  'It's never about
"Democracy', but 'Free Enterprise'"

 

I replied with this:  

 

"A small but important distinction.  Raw, unfettered capitalism is the
problem. Not Free Enterprise.  My dictionary defines Free Enterprise this
way:  " freedom of private business to organize and operate for profit in a
competitive system without interference by government  beyond regulation
necessary to protect the public interest and to keep the national economy
in balance. "  (Emphasis added.)

 

And pretty soon, Karl Hess chimed in with a message that included these
statements"

 

"I don't know when 'free trade' was used in public general speech to mean
what the dictionary says, but if you listen to any politician in the last 25
or so years, it means some idealized market where the buyer and seller have
equal knowledge and power..

 

"'Free trade' is the banner of all those who want to continue shattering the
remaining safety net, to the extent of letting children die without medical
care that their parents cannot afford.  What the dictionary says doesn't
seem to make any difference."

 

OK, let's sum it up:  I simply affirm that what the dictionary says may not
make much difference anymore.  But what WE say CAN possibly make a
difference.  What we are doing around the world is practicing predatory,
exploitive capitalism.  That's what we're doing in Iraq when we try to
pressure their parliament into passing a law that gives oil companies a
long-term bargain deal on Iraq's oil resources.  

 

That's what we're doing if we don't bring pressure to bear in "Myanmar"
(Burma).  So.. Steve Rhea was right on when he posted this: 

 

" When I heard Bush's "condemnation" of the junta in Burma I had to laugh.
The US government will never lift a finger against this regime as long as
the major oil companies are dependent on it."

 

Of course the big business/administration spin masters want to make it sound
nicer, so they will call it "Free Enterprise."  

 

I happen to believe strongly in Free Enterprise, even when it's scarce.
Therefore, I just want those of us who care to call what we're doing around
the world by its right name:  It's predatory, exploitive capitalism.   And
lots of people are getting killed or being impoverished because of it.

 

Jim Rippey  

 

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