What type of capitalist system do we have now??

[kentuck]

Since we, the people, have agreed to fork over more than a trillion dollars to bailout financial institutions in our country? Would it be a form of "socialism"? If so, what kind? It certainly cannot be called a laissez faire economy.

Perhaps it is a form of fascism or corporatism? How would you define our present economic system??

[Speck Tater]

1. "Broken". NT

[bobd0]

2. A fascist oligarchy

[AngryAmish]

3. Crony capitalism

To be successful in many businesses it is important to get governmental leaders on your side. That is why campaign donations, use of corporate jets, skybox tickets are purchased by these business organizations.

When we have the government deciding which businesses are too big to fail and which ones get subsidies, the Friends of the government will get them, not the businesses with the best products and services.

[daa]

7. Damn you beat me nt

[The2ndWheel]

4. Who agreed to what now?

[kentuck]

12. Explain?

What is your question? :-)

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

5. One that is totally FUBAR.

While the Chinese invest in education and infrastructure to ward off recession we guarantee golden parachutes to those that fucked everything up.

That, while paying for two lost wars and giving $600+ billion more to the incompetents who fucked them up.

In the meantime our brilliant politicians are running around trying to figure which cheek of their sorry asses to cover.

[arcadian]

6. Plutocracy

n/t

[Arger68]

8. Clusterfuck Capitalism. n/t

[rug]

9. Welfare capitalism.

[stillcool]

10. I like how Ferdinand Lundberg put it..

in his book...THE RICH AND THE SUPER-RICH A Study in the Power of Money Today

"Oligarchy by Default"

Lest such an observation be thought by provincials to give this exposition an unholy Marxist aura, let us in reverential solemnity quote such an austere Establishmentarian as Woodrow Wilson, who said (Franklin D. Roosevelt later concurring) in words as valid today as when first uttered:

"The masters of the government of the United States are the combined capitalists and manufacturers of the United States. It is written over every intimate page of the record of Congress, it is written all through the history of conferences at the White House, that the suggestions of economic policy in this country have come from one source, not from many sources. The benevolent guardians, the kind hearted trustees who have taken the troubles of government off our hands have become so conspicuous that almost anybody can write out a list of them. . . .

"Suppose you go to Washington and try to get at your government. You will always find that while you are politely listened to, the men really consulted are the men who have the biggest stake--the big bankers, the big manufacturers, the big masters of commerce, the heads of railroad corporations and of steamship corporations. . . . The government of the United States at present is a foster child of the special interests." 1

--------------------
The American System

Treatises on American government often with scrupulous accuracy tell how the government operates formally--the federal system, separation of powers, checks and balances, popular election of officials, judicial review, administrative agencies and the whole remaining bit. None of these treatises depicts how the government actually works in the application of the forms, how it works informally. What really takes place constitutes a considerable deviation from the formal script. Rules are freely bent, especially in the conduct of the legislatures, which make their own rules. Police, too, function pretty autonomously. For a starter let us notice that most of the precious electorate in most elections--state, federal and local--do not vote at all. Many, even though unconstrained, have never voted; and these, under one possible interpretation, may be politically the most sensible of all. For most of those voting haven't the least idea what it is all about.

Power not exercised by dilatory members of any functioning organization will of necessity be exercised by more diligent members, a universal rule applying to corporations, fraternal societies and labor unions as well as to government. To a very considerable extent, then, we see in all organizations, including the government of the United States, rule by default, by a self-selected oligarchy. If the citizens won't run the show the endless procession of Bobby Bakers, W. Judson Morhouses, Everett Dirksens and Lyndon B. Johnsons will.

[old mark]

11. Idiocracy. See Palin. nt

[conscious evolution]

13. Commonism

One where risks and liabilities are borne by the public and profits are privatized.

[drmeow]

14. kleptocracy

OK, technically not an economic system but a system of power.

[drmeow]

15. Oligopoly

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oligopoly

[kurt_cagle]

16. Degenerate or Late-Stage Capitalism

I've actually used the term for a while, but its origins come from a number of economic commentators. It's basically the end-state of consumer-driven capitalism and occurs when the wealth has become so concentrated in corporations (and the hands of people who own them) that the velocity of money collapses. We're going through the secondary deflationary phase now - the collapse of the banks, the inability to get money into the hands of the people who most need it. The first stage was income deflation, followed by large-scale asset deflation - the housing collapse, the commercial real-estate collapse (happening now) and the rapid deflation in prices as supply continues to outstrip demand. The next stage will be the deconstruction of the distribution infrastructure and the resultant high inflation for basic goods. Eventually you get currency collapse, where the banks are pumping out ever more money but this only serves to make things more expensive - without hard assets the currency becomes worthless. Final stage is political deconstruction, as regional economies end up having to issue local currencies backed with local collateral.

We're not necessarily destined to go there - good political leadership could potentially make a huge difference in restoring confidence, but we're still going to go through a nasty recession. If McCain becomes president, I predict that the United States will cease being a single political entity (at its current boundaries) within a decade. If Palin becomes president, it will be within four. Obama/Biden might be able to turn it around, but it will have to do some very unpopular things initially to make it happen, and even then I expect we'll be mired in recession at least until 2012.