Is Capitalism A Just System?

[Dedicated Mind]

Originally Posted by Pressing-On

How do you reconcile "distributism" with this passage of scripture.

1 Timothy 5:8 "But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel."

2 Cor 6:15 asks us what part do we, as believers, have with an infidel if Christ had no accordance with Belial."

that verse can be applied at the corporate level. for example, a nation not providing for its' own or humanity not providing for its' own. the bible is not a legal constitution of dos and dont's, or is it? i'm not a strict constructionist, else you should be wearing a veil.

[Aquila]

Originally Posted by Pressing-On

How do you reconcile "distributism" with this passage of scripture.

1 Timothy 5:8 "But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel."

2 Cor 6:15 asks us what part do we, as believers, have with an infidel if Christ had no accordance with Belial."

Distributism doesn't focus on "welfare" to the non-working. Distributism seeks to break up monopolies and massive corporations, distributing the ability to make wealth down to the family. For example... under Capitalism Walmart comes to town. Within months small mom and pop shops that have supported families for generations are closing down and unable to compete. Distributism wouldn't have allowed Walmart to gain that much power.

When it comes to the "poor", distributism focuses on teaching trade skills as part of it's vision to empower individuals to make their own way. In distributism the means of work is distributed among the people. In other words... you don't work as a mechanic for a corporation for a crumb of bread... you own your own garage and tools.

It's highly agrarian and trade oriented. More like the philosophy behind the guilded systems among the tradesmen of Medieval Europe. Distributist ideas are quite common in Catholic enfluenced countries, for example in South America. Essentially it's Catholic social ethics applied to the modern world.

In America Distributist ideas are found in:

Credit Unions
Anti-Trust Laws

Distributists would have NEVER allowed "Corporate Personhood". This is one of the greatest economic evils of our system, if one researches it.

Practical Distributism
102 Just Actions that support economic justice, social peace, and world harmony.

http://www.justpeace.org/encourdistributism.htm

[Dedicated Mind]

aquila, you might like this site of alternative media. naomi klein, noam chomsky etc. good resource.

http://www.zcommunications.org/znet

[Dedicated Mind]

Originally Posted by Aquila

Distributism doesn't focus on "welfare" to the non-working. Distributism seeks to break up monopolies and massive corporations, distributing the ability to make wealth down to the family. For example... under Capitalism Walmart comes to town. Within months small mom and pop shops that have supported families for generations are closing down and unable to compete. Distributism wouldn't have allowed Walmart to gain that much power.

When it comes to the "poor", distributism focuses on teaching trade skills as part of it's vision to empower individuals to make their own way. In distributism the means of work is distributed among the people. In other words... you don't work as a mechanic for a corporation for a crumb of bread... you own your own garage and tools.

It's highly agrarian and trade oriented. More like the philosophy behind the guilded systems among the tradesmen of Medieval Europe. Distributist ideas are quite common in Catholic enfluenced countries, for example in South America. Essentially it's Catholic social ethics applied to the modern world.

In America Distributist ideas are found in:

Credit Unions
Anti-Trust Laws

Distributists would have NEVER allowed "Corporate Personhood". This is one of the greatest economic evils of our system, if one researches it.

sounds good to me, but what is the engine and means of growth? who regulates growth or too big to fail?

[Aquila]

Here's a video that might prove interesting on Distributism...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foxcGp_ECdM

[Aquila]

Ah... one of my favorites...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7soQ9OQdDw

[Pressing-On]

Originally Posted by Aquila

Distributism doesn't focus on "welfare" to the non-working. Distributism seeks to break up monopolies and massive corporations, distributing the ability to make wealth down to the family. For example... under Capitalism Walmart comes to town. Within months small mom and pop shops that have supported families for generations are closing down and unable to compete. Distributism wouldn't have allowed Walmart to gain that much power.

When it comes to the "poor", distributism focuses on teaching trade skills as part of it's vision to empower individuals to make their own way. In distributism the means of work is distributed among the people. In other words... you don't work as a mechanic for a corporation for a crumb of bread... you own your own garage and tools.

It's highly agrarian and trade oriented. More like the philosophy behind the guilded systems among the tradesmen of Medieval Europe. Distributist ideas are quite common in Catholic enfluenced countries, for example in South America. Essentially it's Catholic social ethics applied to the modern world.

In America Distributist ideas are found in:

Credit Unions
Anti-Trust Laws

Distributists would have NEVER allowed "Corporate Personhood". This is one of the greatest economic evils of our system, if one researches it.

Practical Distributism
102 Just Actions that support economic justice, social peace, and world harmony.

http://www.justpeace.org/encourdistributism.htm

Okay, thanks. I'll look closer at your link. I guess you can tell I didn't read it. lol

[Aquila]

More...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOFvZO3CRko

[Aquila]

Distributism teaches the poor to fish... and to make their own fishing poles (independent).

Capitalism teaches the poor to fish... but if they cannot afford the fishing pole... they're just out of luck... or they can rent one (bondage).

Socialism teaches everyone to fish, takes all the materials used to make fishing poles, and gives everyone a cheap and useless fishing pole... promising new poles as needed (dependent).

[Pressing-On]

Originally Posted by Aquila

Distributism teaches the poor to fish... and to make their own fishing poles (independent).

Capitalism teaches the poor to fish... but if they cannot afford the fishing pole... they're just out of luck... or they can rent one (bondage).

Socialism teaches everyone to fish, takes all the materials used to make fishing poles, and gives everyone a cheap and useless fishing pole... promising new poles as needed (dependent).

I'll have to look a little closer look at these two differences.

I think John Mackey, Co-CEO of Whole Foods, and Raj Sisodia have written an excellent book, Conscious Capitalism.

"We believe that business is good because it creates value, it is ethical because it is based on voluntary exchange, it is noble because it can elevate our existence, and it is heroic because it lifts people out of poverty and creates prosperity. Free enterprise capitalism is the most powerful system for social cooperation and human progress ever conceived. It is one of the most compelling ideas we humans have ever had. But we can aspire to something even greater." - From the Conscious Capitalism Credo.

The point of the book is to point out how Conscious Capitalism companies, like Whole Foods, use four specific tenets - higher purpose, stakeholder integration, conscious leadership, and conscious culture and management - to build strong businesses and help advance capitalism further toward realizing it's highest potential.

I think it's a must read.