I'm a Democrat and not a socialist. n/t

[OldBaldy1701E]

129. "Art and culture were flourishing..."

Not that I saw. 'Art' had been all but removed as a career unless you were able to make money at it. Only the top one percent of performers were able to make anything approaching real money. The rest were barely able to scrape along and often had to work themselves to early burnout from three jobs just to be able to live in a place like New York, or Los Angeles, which, thanks to all the 'hype', became pretty much the only places where one might have a shot. Thanks to the changes that the greedy production houses had forced into Hollywood, one had to have money just to start one's career in any capacity. Even then, it was a complete crap shoot because one could be an amazing actor, but said actor does not look like Fabio. So, they cast the one that looks like Fabio because that face will sell more in the short term than the good actor would in the long run. Great.

Culture was a complete descent into fad-ism. Again, if it was not profitable and flashy, it was all but ignored. Reports of medical breakthroughs that would have been good to know about were relegated to the most backwater pages and late night news sources because they were too busy scrambling to make sure their bottom line was going up. News programs that used to be considered a public service had to suddenly start competing with other programs or lose their slots. How many local and regional news programs have we lost since 1980 because they were forced to either act like Jerry Springer or get canned?

Bottom line: capitalism is fine as an individual, philosophical choice.

As a societal model, it is too easily corrupted and usurped. It breeds imbalance and allows injustice in the name of 'prosperity', even as that prosperity is purposely directed to, and enjoyed by, fewer and fewer of the population. It allows a two-faced representation in that figures can be easily played around with to make them look presentable, which allows for a dismissal of the reality of the situation as it pertains to the 'regular' folks. And mostly, it allows a little green piece of paper to rule our lives at the expense of our humanity.

Historically, it may have had its usefulness.

Today, it is destroying our lives in the name of greed.