Are Democracy and economic equality fundamentally incompatible?

[sc94597]

Michael-5 said:

sc94597 said:

Michael-5 said:

How you you have technology without a market that pushes for it? You don't, but what part about a CEO making 400x the average employers income makes the company as a whole push harder? Wouldn't the company push harder if employees got a cut of the profits? That's how Google works, and I'll be damned....they're pushing technology more then anyone else.

Again, your comment is completely omitant on why Capitalism is bad? Every pro you mentioned for Capitalism, is not cause by capitalism, but you're making a good arguement for why Capitalmism is bad.

As for Russia, it's Capitalism in an extreme sense. Minimum wage is low, high income tax is low.... If you have money in Russia, it's easier to accumulate more because of how extremely right wing they are. USA, and many other developed countries have corporate taxes, and tax the wealthy. This is left wing, not Capitalism. Thus my arguement is that USA and other developed countries are great places to live in because of the socio-economic laws passed in them. Russia lasks these laws, and is very right wing.

What your telling me is that living in USA is nice, and for no informed reason at all, you attribute this to Capitalism. What I'm telling you, is that's false. The only reason you're not working for $1 an hour is because of left wing policies, policies which go against the notion of Capitalism.

When I say capitalism, I mean free-market capitalism, with minimal to no government interference. Russia's economy is filled with government involvement, and consequently their markets are not free. Not having a large welfare-state doesn't change that. 

Also, the a reason I'm not working for a dollar is because of things like Ford's assembly line, in which the worker became the consumer and giving out higher wages made the company more profitable. Or certain non-legal aspects of private unions, who demanded higher wages and received them (albeit I oppose their invovlement in laws, because it reduced the economic freedoms of non-union contractors.) But most of all, the free-markets allowed goods to become cheaper (such as Walmart) and the poor to be able to afford more things. You didn't have this with the abolishment of markets (Soviet Union) and you don't have this in controlled economies (Russia.) 

As for your question regarding the CEO, the corporation decided that they need his management and that is what he's worth. Trust me, they're not going to pay him any more than they think he'd work for or how much value he has. He's under the same conditions that the workers are under, the market. 

That's the thing, Russia's government interferes with peoples incomes much less then in the USA.

Russia's Corporate tax is 20%, where USA's can go up to 39%. USA has HUGE taxes on property (About 3% of the houses value annually). Russia taxes good more (meaning more money stays within the hands of the rich because everyone pays the same high tax on goods)., etc, etc. Russias tax system affects everyone much more equally then in USA, this makes it easier to accumulate wealth, and is the spirit of Capitalism. In comparision to Russia, USA is very left wing.

Russia being free-market or not has nothing to do with their structure of government. I agree with you, if they went free market, their companies would get crushed, but that has nothing to do with their structure of government. If anything, it shows you a great example of how Capitalism holds back at technological advances, since Russia is so far behind USA and the EU.

As for your example about people getting paid more, thats not Capitalism, that's socialism. Rewarding people more based on the skill of their work is socialist (however they wouldn't use money as currency). This is why Wal-Mart greeters and cashers get minimum wage, but the people who make your cars get paid more.

As for CEO's, they decide their own pay, not the corporation.

I really don't think you get what Capitalism is. You do realise that Capitalism is right wing politics, and USA in comparision to a lot of poorer (more Capitalist) countries is very left wing right?

 Capitalism is an economic system, not a "structure of government." You're the one who doesn't know what capitalism is.  

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/capitalism

: a way of organizing an economy so that the things that are used to make and transport products (such as land, oil, factories, ships, etc.) are owned by individual people and companies rather than by the government

 This is not capitalism. 

Russia’s economic environment remains “mostly unfree.” Despite relatively high economic growth, achieved mostly through sales of oil and gas, the foundations for long-term economic development remain fragile without an efficiently functioning legal framework. Corruption, endemic throughout the economy, is becoming ever more debilitating. The state maintains an extensive presence in many sectors through state-owned enterprises. Large state-owned institutions have increased their domination of the financial sector, outweighing domestic private and foreign banks.

Progress with market-oriented reforms has been uneven and often reversed at the urging of those with an interest in maintaining the status quo. Russia’s restrictive and burdensome regulatory environment discourages private-sector growth and severely hampers meaningful economic development. Increasing inflationary pressure poses a major risk to overall macroeconomic stability."