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Tilted Cat Head
Administrator
Location: Manhattan, NY
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Willravel
Capitalism, imho, works so long as it's tempered with pragmatism and ethics. I'm more socialist than most people in the US, but I still feel that capitalism can work when we hold the rich responsible. A lot of very, very rich people get away with a lot of very illegal and unethical behavior in the US, and the fact of the matter is that many of them cannot be stopped without violating the ideals behind capitalism. In a capitalist system, those who behaved illegally or unethically would have to be punished by the market reacting to their behavior. Take Haliburton, for example. They get no bid contracts, which means that the market really can't punish them. It falls to the legal system, which is a bit torn on Hal. The solution to Haliburton seems to be somewhere outside of capitalism.
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That's not true at all. You are very mistaken in that Haliburton quote.
HAL - Halliburton Company - Google Finance
Haliburton is a publically traded stock. The market sure can punish them. It has happened before just like any publically traded stock.
If they were a privately held company maybe you'd have a little something there, since privately held companies can basically do as they please as long as it falls within the legal framework.
I'm all for capitalism. I believe that it has produced better selection and quality of goods. It also allows for poor quality goods as you get what you pay for and what the market will bear. People know this and buy cheap products because that's how much value it has to them.
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