#capita

An ironic religion -- one that never claims to be absolutely true but only professes to be relatively beautiful, and never promises salvation but only proposes it as a salubrious idea. A century ago there were people who thought art was the thing that could fuse the terms of this seemingly insuperable oxymoron, and no doubt art is part of the formula. But maybe consumerism also has something to teach us about forging an ironic religion -- a lesson about learning to choose, about learning the power and consequences, for good or ill, of our ever-expanding palette of choices. Perhaps . . . the day will come when the true ironic religion is found, the day when humanity is filled with enough love and imagination and responsibility to become its own god and make a paradise of its world, a paradise of all the right choices. ↗

— Alex Shakar

#commerce #faith #art

Well first of all, tell me: Is there some society you know that doesn’t run on greed? You think Russia doesn’t run on greed? You think China doesn’t run on greed? What is greed? Of course, none of us are greedy, it’s only the other fellow who’s greedy. The world runs on individuals pursuing their separate interests. The great achievements of civilization have not come from government bureaus. Einstein didn’t construct his theory under order from a bureaucrat. Henry Ford didn’t revolutionize the automobile industry that way. In the only cases in which the masses have escaped from the kind of grinding poverty you’re talking about, the only cases in recorded history, are where they have had capitalism and largely free trade. If you want to know where the masses are worse off, worst off, it’s exactly in the kinds of societies that depart from that. So that the record of history is absolutely crystal clear, that there is no alternative way so far discovered of improving the lot of the ordinary people that can hold a candle to the productive activities that are unleashed by the free-enterprise system. ↗

— Milton Friedman

#economics #greed #civilization

World wide capitalism kills more people everyday then Hitler did. And he was crazy. ↗

— Ken Livingstone

#crazy #did #everyday #hitler #kills

Bourgeois class domination is undoubtedly an historical necessity, but, so too, the rising of the working class against it. Capital is an historical necessity, but, so too, its grave digger, the socialist proletariat. ↗

— Rosa Luxemburg

#bourgeois #capital #class #domination #grave

Capital is that part of wealth which is devoted to obtaining further wealth. ↗

— Alfred Marshall

#capital #devoted #further #obtaining #part

This country is becoming increasingly authoritarian. It's based on capital punishment. ↗

— Kate Millett

#based #becoming #capital #capital punishment #country

While there's capitalism, there'll be socialism, because there is always a response to injustice. ↗

— Ed Miliband

#because #capitalism #injustice #response #socialism

Well, certainly the Democrats have been arguing to raise the capital gains tax on all Americans. Obama says he wants to do that. That would slow down economic growth. It's not necessarily helpful to the economy. Every time we've cut the capital gains tax, the economy has grown. Whenever we raise the capital gains tax, it's been damaged. ↗

— Grover Norquist

#arguing #been #capital #capital gains #certainly

In a capitalist society, persons who create capital, like Michael Eisner, are given the staggering rewards. ↗

— Carroll O'Connor

#capitalist #capitalist society #create #eisner #given

I think Barack Obama is a socialist. I think he cares for his country - don't get me wrong about that - but I think he truly misunderstands what this country was based upon, the values that America was based upon, which was free enterprise and having the ability to risk your capital and having a chance to have a return on your investment. ↗

— Rick Perry

#about #america #barack #barack obama #based