Quote Sal Paradise="Sal Paradise"What a huge over reaction - when we see 10 year olds working in factories we will back in the 1800's. One of the big issues in the 50-70s was the huge size of the public sector and the power of the trade unions in those industries. Thankfully both of these factors are nowhere near as disruptive as they were.
This government is the poorest we have had in my lifetime but to compare employment conditions or job retention to the likes of the 20/30s and the general strike is simply not credible.
Times are very hard and Capitalism is at a cross roads - not sure the levels of debt that almost everyone has is sustainable long term. Unfortunately it is the only game in town, everything else has spectacularly failed to deliver anything close to what Capitalsim offers.'"
Capitalism didn't deliver the 5-day week. Capitalism didn't put an end to child labour. Capitalism didn't bestow upon workers health and safety laws. Capitalism didn't offer us universal healthcare or welfare benefits. Capitalism certainly didn't legislate against environmental pollution.
The truth is it was the [idemocratic struggle[/i
AGAINST [iCapitalism[/i which brought about the above. And it was a long and bitter fight.
Forget about places such as the US or the richer EU countries where Democracy has placed constraints on the rampant consumption of big business. Let's look at the nations where Capitalism is unfettered and functions with ruthless efficiency. Let's look at capitalist Nigeria, or capitalist Indonesia, or capitalist El Salvador. Precisely WHAT has Capitalism "offered" those countries?
Oh, and in case you haven't realised: most of the world is capitalist. And most of the world is poor.
