Socialist Progressives

...this is what capitalists are supposed to do. Capitalists have only one purpose: make as much money as possible for the owner/owners. They aren't job creators, they aren't supposed to coddle their employees, give them breaks and benefits and nice toilets, etc. If they can get away with paying peanuts and relying on the taxpayers to keep their workers alive and healthy, they will - they would be stupid not to, because if they don't, their competitors will. If a company can talk a gullible government into giving them money to hire cheap labor to do do government work, instead of paying the workers a decent wage and benefits, they'd be stupid to turn it down. That's not their fault, it's ours for our ignorance about what capitalism is. Again, capitalism's purpose is to survive and make as much money as possible.

I'm not nearly as mad at WalMart for screwing the taxpayers as I am with us for not recognizing that capitalism is great for developing new and better products, cars for instance, but it is a lion that will devour a society that let's their guard down and refuses to regulate them. I grew up around small local businesses who cared about their employees and carried them on the payroll even during bad times, sometimes even when it threatened the owner's own livlihood. I used to think that was capitalism. It's not. They were bad capitalists (but wonderful human beings!) But they are all gone now, squeezed out by the "good" capitalists like WalMart.

BTW, I'm not anti-capitalist. I'm in awe of what it does well. I'm just super pissed that our national religion is capitalism, even though some of our most successful programs in this country are a result of socialism. Sorry if this has turned into a rant.