The fruit of capitalism - rotten to the core.

Capitalism redistributes wealth from the majority to the bank accounts of the few.

Many people believe that if they are earning a living then they are enjoying the fruits of capitalism and should therefore support right-wing organisations and political parties. They continue their support for capitalism even as workers rights are eroded by these same capitalists. Workers rights that were fought for by left-wing organisations to end exploitation and ensure the needs of society were met. What workers should realise is that they are being thrown the crumbs of capitalism by the rich who build their personal wealth through exploiting workers. 

Wealth is unevenly distributed in capitalist nations, not because some people have a better education or more drive than others, but because of greed and an unwillingness by many to contribute to society in order to meet the basic needs of us all, such as health, shelter, education and security.

Capitalists promote the idea that the richer they become, the more people they can afford to employ and the better wages and conditions they can afford to provide. This is a falsehood. The idea of 'trickle down economics' is misleading. The mega-rich are always looking for ways to increase their profits, which means lowering their costs and increasing prices. Reduced costs can be achieved through a smaller work force with fewer entitlements and lower real wages.

Capitalists will often refer to the Soviet Union or other despotic and repressive regimes as being the hallmark of socialism. Yet, they fail to mention right-wing despots who were often sponsored by capitalists and right-wing governments, particularly the USA, UK, France and Germany. This support was based on nothing more than greed for power and wealth with no concern for the human rights abuses being committed. It resulted in economic and military support for tyrants such as Nazi Germany's Adolf Hitler, Fascist Italy's Benito Mussolini, Indonesia's Suharto, Cambodia's Pol Pot, Chile's Augusto Pinochet, Uganda's Idi Amin, Iraq's Saddam Hussein, Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe and apartheid regimes of South Africa and Israel, to name a few.

True socialism does not require repression, it does not require censorship, it does not require pogroms against dissenters or racial and religious groups. Those regimes claiming to be socialist or communist, but which relied on repression, did so in order to protect the power and wealth of the leadership, not to protect or provide for the needs of the community. Protection of power and wealth for the individual is the domain of capitalism. 

True socialism ensures that the needs of the community are met before the wants of the individual are. True socialism tempers the greedy, individualistic exploitation of capitalism, in order to ensure that all people in society are looked after and benefit from the national wealth. 

American author, Fran Lebowitz said, 'In the Soviet Union, capitalism triumphed over communism. In this country (USA), capitalism triumphed over democracy'.
Capitalism triumphed over communism in the Soviet Union, long before perestroika and glasnost brought an end to it. Even under Stalin, extortion masqueraded as 'wealth redistribution' to shore up the power and wealth of the Politburo. Money extorted from workers under pain of imprisonment, torture and death, was spent on military technology and conquest, rather than on the people of the Soviet Union and their basic needs. 

Capitalism usurped democracy long ago. This is particularly evident in the United States where only the wealthiest can afford to conduct an election campaign. Throughout the world, big business and the richest few have more say over government policy than the voters, ensuring the interests of the wealthy are protected while the ordinary citizen struggles to meet the growing cost of living. A cost that redistributes wealth from the majority to the bank accounts of the few.

The failure of capitalism is that we are seeing the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. There is an increasing gulf between the rich and the poor. There is more money spent on the military in order to defend capitalist interests than on the poor. Money that could save lives by being spent on health, housing and education is directed to fund wars against the poor.

Capitalistic greed only benefits a few individuals while exploiting, and even killing, the poor. This is the fruit of capitalism and it is rotten to the core. It doesn't nourish, it doesn't fulfil. Instead it feeds greed and an insatiable hunger for more, while lessening the appreciation of what we already have. It focuses on wants, not needs.

We should stand up against it. 

We should defend the interests of all over the interests of a few. 


Don't be deceived by the greed.

Scientists find the God Particle ... and it's in Queensland.

On the day that Queensland wins its seventh consecutive State of Origin series, scientists announce the discovery of the God Particle ... and it's in Queensland!

Scientists from the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) arrived at this momentous conclusion after smashing two protons together in the Hadron Collider in Switzerland and producing the Higgs Boson, which they believe 'may' be the God Particle; an elementary particle which gives mass to other elementary particles.

On the day of the announcement, two warrior teams in Australia went to battle in the ancient stadium of Lang Park. The subsequent brutal clash of these fierce fighters smashing each other resulted in Queensland securing a 1 point victory and a record breaking 7th consecutive State of Origin series. Some say that 7 is God's own number ... the scientists realised that the Hadron Collider was redundant when pitted against the primeval ferocity of State of Origin waged on the ground that is the origin of Origin.

The fall-out from these historic series as seen the likes of heroes who have become the building blocks of Queenslanders' basic 'never die' nature - they are the elementary particles that give mass, life & character to Queensland!. These heroes are of almost mythical proportions, such as Origin's 'first man', or the 'Adam' of Origin, namely the mighty Artie Beetson, followed by Gods and Kings such as Wally Lewis, Alfie Langer, Darren Lockyer and today's team of heroes, including Petero 'This is Sparta' Civoniceva who just played his 300th NRL campaign and his final State of Origin series.

Forget CERN, forget the Hadron Collider ...


Photo: Getty Images