Capitalism: Is it Working?

[Creed of Heresy]

See, in my idea of a free market, law is a product of government....so why not allow the private ownership of the means of production? Won't they allocate that resource more efficiently..or some such?

Isn't the insistence that the government serve in some capacity to "level the playing field" (and be immune to the influence of the actors in that market) just welfare for poor business models? If they have a valid model or product, why can't they buy their own congressman- compete in the market of government on their own merits?

Exactly. Also, in my view, we already have laws to protect people, and corporations are made up of people. A corporation can't do anything illegal; it has no ability to actually commit crimes. It is always the people behind the corporate action who should be prosecuted.

nope.

Because consumers dont care over the ethical issues behind the products they consume. Just look at the history of products being produced through inmoral production methods. Look at Ryanair, Apple, Shell, Haliburton and others.

They all have bad reputations, some even have been convicted in courts of being involved in crimes. Yet they are all far from going down the toilet through low sales due to their reputation.

For every example you can give of a company ignoring customer demands, I bet I could come up with one that did listen, and improved their behaviour because of it. Even one of your examples (Apple) backed down in the face of consumer criticism and started improving working conditions at their Chinese factories.

Recently I heard that Costco received a bad batch of berries that made a lot of people ill. Not only did they recall the product before the FDA demanded it, but they are now giving out compensation, free products, and vaccines to anyone who was affected: http://consumerist.com/2013/06/07/costco...d-berries/

Costco is probably one of the finest examples of good business practices I can possibly think of. Their employees are paid fat bank [seriously, $12.70 an hour STARTING PAY FOR CASHIERS?! SIGN MY ASS UP!], their prices are very fair, their customer service is tits, and their CEO refuses to take huge bonuses, instead distributing them throughout his company to keep up a motivated workforce.

If even just 25% of the rest of the companies in the US held such practices, all my gripes with capitalism would be completely and totally gone. If 50% did it, I'd renounce any and all forms of socialism. And if they all did? We'd probably be an economic golden age.