OMG not the "Workers Revolution" again.

Its quite unnerving to see that there are some Marxists still left in the world. The complete failure of that ideology appears to have left very little impact on some. In fact, totalitarian Communist states based upon such principles have been some of the most murderous and oppressive in history, Russia and China somehow just spring to mind.

Pollution is the temporary byproduct of technological progress. Yes, we all want a pollution free planet but it has nothing to do with defects in Capitalism which has allowed such things as the internet on which you are now expressing your anti-Capitalist views. Why do you think its taken so long for China and Russia to improve their peoples' living standards ? Socialism leads to a lack of individual motivation. Capitalism is one of the driving forces behind the development of pollution control devices.!

And that little quip about Iraq? This is clearly a thinly disguised anti-USA rant - yet again. I'm not sure whether you are naive or simply misled. In a Totalitarian regime which you apparently propose you would be jailed for dissent.

Err...Robert Newman is an engineer, not an environmental scientist...but Hey, when has actual truth been big with Marxists who are in the service of the great (and terrible) idea.

Oh, and Atman, Marxists are still very common in the western world, even in spite of the ideology being responsible for more deaths in a single century than any other belief system has managed in the history of humankind.

Elitist academics will believe anything so it seems.

Ah “Up the workers”

And “Yes Right Up ‘em ”

“we march united to overthrow capitalism and establish a workers utopia here on earth”….

Blah-de-blah-blah

Tried, failed and don’t need to repeat the exercise.

Socialism, the sort of political environment where personal effort is rewarded with denigration by the party faithful and derided as the work of capitalist lacky’s, where the kulaks found their reward for effort to be death.

Just ask any person who enjoyed the opportunities benefits of living in the workers paradise of East Germany, kindly watched over by the Stasi.

If you want a comparison of the merits of socialism versus the horrors of capitalism

Start by comparing the US problem with the Great Lakes, the crisis of Three Mile Island and strip mining in the Appalachians ,

Then compare that to

Chernobyl
The Aral Sea
The effects of Oil and Cotton production demanded by the Breznehev government 5 year plan.

Then the suggestion “You can either have capitalism or a habitable planet. One or the other, not both.”
Must be interpreted as

But if we adopt the lies and false promises of Socialism and its natural consequence, Communism, the outcome will be a lot worse than suffering under Capitalism.

One thing is certain, the biggest single cause for environmental degradation is the number of humans on the planet.

Whilst the socialists run around pretending faux-compassion for the inherently incompetent and demanding we all suffer poverty equally, capitalism is researching and financing real, long term solutions.

Capitalism is a system which allows people to benefit directly from their own effort. Likewise it is a system which allows the indolent to be indolent and live with the consequences of their effort.

When governments run everything there are no checks or balances against their corruption and incompetence, no protection for the users of products and services and no impetus for invention or innovation, just the monotony of mediocre performance and empty shelves in shops.

Capitalism is not perfect but it is better than everything else ever tried.


"Socialist Alternative" is no alternative, just an opiate for idiots

We’ve recently heard from the Socialist Alternative before, I think. Can’t remember the name, but he provided a photograph of himself in front of Ayers Rock wearing a Saints football scarf. Perhaps we are going to get an onslaught of them posing as the new Messiahs to help us out of our current problems ‘obviously’ caused by dreaded capitalism.

I have never heard of Robert Newman, but if he did make the silly statement claimed by this author, he definitely has a screw loose.
For starters, politicians are not our “rulers”. If we had politicians of the kind this socialist wants, yes, we would be under their thumbs. But, one of the beauties of our free enterprise, capitalist system is that we don’t have dictators like socialist systems do.

“…today’s ruling class…” How backward and naïve can she be! Even the Russians laugh at that stuff now.

“Capitalism divides society into two main classes, the ruling class (for example, factory owners, bankers, employers) and the working class”, parrots Liz Ross.

Rubbish Ms. Ross. Capitalism gives choice and opportunity to all. We can take advantage of that, or be content to idle along if we wish. Socialism is not equal. There are the self-indulgent commissars and their toadies, and the grey shapeless masses who have no say, no hope and no future.

I hope we never see the “next article” you threaten us with. The time for the rubbish you spruik is long gone; only the results it still linger on in some unfortunate countries.

20th century Soviet Russia wasnt particularly capitalist and they did a very bad job of not plundering the earth. Their environmental standards were truely shocking.

Yes, capitalsim, in its present form (micromanaged, centralised, corrupted, social welfare state administered and driven, not free, not open, not level... all the stuff that one would expect from State), is highly problematic.

Why is it that these ideolgical lefty puff peices that have been infecting the media lately, not being read for what they are. The lefties dont seem to have any trouble looking thru right-wing pap, but they're blind to their own rhetorical romanticism. It would be more useful if they made some constructive criticisms and offered some alternatives.

Communism, or quasi-marxism or all encompassing socialism (you are coddled from craddle-to-grave) sugar-coated in whatever is not a solution. In fact one extreme or the other is the problem.

A middle way is the only way, which we sort of have now, but its various components are very prone to being skewed by the ideological extremes. l hope the world doesnt swing to the other extreme after a decade right wing governance.

Remember Animal Farm. The pigs took over in the name of the 'common' interest. They claimed to represent the common interest and fight the exploitative owners of capital. The pigs learnt to walk on their hind legs and ended thinking they were human. They DID NO WORK... they conned, harrassed, manipulated, bullied, abused, coerced and harried others to do the actual work.

All pigs are created equal, but some are more equal than others.

Out with the capitalist pigs and in with the marxist ones, who are re-learning how to walk on their hind legs.

Same swine, different breed.

there is no such thing as a pure system

take responses like marxism has been tried etc,i would hesitate to say it was a pure form [same with communism[democracy,they all are flawed,because the truth is none of em is pure]

take this'free maret'that yet needs huge income from govt welfare to the'free lunch'marketeers,or the succes of democratic voting when big brother dopsnt like the vote result[re palistein]

we are being treated to proof the free market is a delusion,one need only look at the regular'grants'to gm [or hallo-burr-ton]and hundreds of other CLEAR failures of capitalism [its only a buzz word; its a theory[read ideal]that isnt really that much ideal as it is a brand

the title is going to get a lot of response[defending a name]the truth is capitalism is a system that uses fiat currency to capitalise real economy into a finantial gain[regardless of the damage it is not needed to'pay'for]it works or falls purely on its numbers.

well the numbers are in[it failed]yet govt is lending more fiat currency from the fed reserve[plus placing the intrest burden[and the new global carbon tax]to underpin this capitalist socialised communism system,that big buisness is setting itself up in

we need to put value on what is,have exploiters PROVE the percentage gain is fully covered by a much higher reyturn to those paying, subsidising this free market,you need only look at'privatisations LIES

,how can a en-debited private company needing to repay its giveaway price make electricity[or transport[or water CHEAPER than a fully owned debt free public utility DOES

its pure delusion they can do a better job[for proffit]ie capitalisms capitalisation creates a debt that sends it all back to day one[debt]then cant afford to maintain it[result a govt [tax payer]buy back and capitralism claims it works[when its failures have cost us big time]

and in the end can only feed greed[while creating via its con-joined micro damages real collateral damage to the system it feeds off[just to repay the fiat ursury,an uneeded burdon]

,that underpins the boom and bust cycle[the COn-sumer pays for its capitilist subsidy into a run dry[rundown]mediocracy