Our economy is going down the drain, sales are not being made and profits are being lost. People are losing their jobs, people cannot find a job and people wages are being cut down. The prices of everything is going up, except people’s salary. If everything is going up, then why is people still spending money on clothing, cars, restaurants and other unnecessary things? Well one ecologist by the name of Adam Smith explains this in his book “Wealth of Nation” by saying that we all as consumers are being led by the ‘invisible hand’ which basically is supply and demand. Demand by consumers are what make the rich companies richer because big companies supply what consumers demand. We all live in a consumer driven economy because people all demand for consumer goods. And of course retailers are going to be making and selling goods that the public demand because they only care about making their profits. Especially if demand is high and supply is low then retailers would sell their goods higher in turn making more than ever. Of course there are competitions out there among many companies that make the same items. If supply is plenty and demnd is low from consumers then retailers might be losing in profits instead of making and profit at all. But retailers are smart, this is where the media comes in and make a bigger impact on consumers. Retailers turn to advertisements to sell their goods. And of course since media appeal to alot of consumers, they actually go out and buy the goods even if they don’t need it or have the money for it. When a consumer wants something there is a way to get. Back to consumers’ demand and retailers’ supply, no one is forcing any consumer to buy goods, they are all doing it by our their self-interest. Retailers are simply supplying what customers demand. Some ecologist even agree that the ‘invisible hand’ leding people to purchase goods is a good thing because it makes the economy grow, by production and manufacturing rates go up stimulatiing GDP, having more exports and offering people work.
The simple answer is that Capitalists do operate in their own self-interest in pursuit of profits in order to stay competitive, expand their production and increase their accumulated capital. That is the object of economic activity in our system of production and distribution. Capital accumulation is the goal; profitability the driver; wage-labor the sine qua non. Most workers know this. The bigger question is why does that system fail periodically; and fail on a grander and more global level each time? Greenspan’s ideology cannot explain these repeated economic crises we experience periodically; and it does not allow for acknowledgement that they are endemic to our economic system. -Cramer
Numerous investors and economists have noted that this financial crisis is just the tip-top of the iceberg. That the problems with the underlying “real economy” have been going on for over thirty years. They state that we have to get back to manufacturing real things, not betting on inflated financial paper with no material backing or real value. (Even Dennis Kucinich was heard to exclaim after passage of the bailout bill, “We are going backwards, from an industrial economy to a financial economy!”) Having acknowledged the larger, underlying problem, all critics— whether radical, progressive, leftist or conservative— quickly return to gossiping about the sexy intrigues of bankers, hedge fund manages, and other irresponsible lenders accused of having built the financial house of cards. It really does remind one of the drunk who insists on looking for his car keys under the street light, rather than were he lost them in the dark shadows. -Cramer
Today we are nearing the end of the old ideological road. Our political and economic system is undergoing radical change. The ideological “autobahn” under construction is being built for us by a government representing the needs of the largest industrial corporations and financial institutions. We can continue to suffer the consequences of letting them chart the way of change, or we can plan a new path forward, grounded in everyday material reality and values, designed to benefit the entire people. Seeing through the myths of “consumerism,” and the ideology of “this most perfect of all economic systems” is a necessary first step.
