by Cid_Yama » Mon 17 Nov 2014, 20:42:30
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'S')o when did this wonderful capitalism exist then?
Actually it never did. The age of Mercantilism and Colonialism was horrendous for the slaves, indentured servants, and third world countries that were usually developed for one product only and the rail to transport it to the port.
In the 1930's Corporate leaders from Goodyear, Remington, US Steel, Standard Oil, JP Morgan, Brown Brothers Harriman, Du Pont, National City Bank and others plotted a coup against FDR. When they were exposed, their choice was trial for treason or acceding to Roosevelt's demands.
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')hey included the following:
The freeing of U.S. credit from manipulation by foreign central and private banking interests, by removing the U.S. dollar from a gold standard—i.e., the ability to demand payment for dollars in gold; in addition, FDR acted to ban gold sales to individuals and to allow for transfer of gold funds from banks. He did this in a series of steps in 1933, as the U.S. currency came under attack from foreign and domestic banking sources. If this had not been done, the dollar would have collapsed, and, more importantly, the government would have been restricted in the issuance of dollar-denominated debt to the amount of gold on hand for which such fungible debt could have been exchanged. The freeing of the dollar from the gold standard enabled FDR to finance his jobs and infrastructure programs;
The regulation of the banking system, through such measures as the Glass Steagall Act, which separated commercial banking from private or investment banking, and required transparency in banking activity. By doing this, he asserted the power of the Federal government over all financial transactions;
The regulation by the new Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of all trading in stocks and bonds, preventing insider trading operations which were the highly profitable and corrupt ways that the financial elite were shown to enlarge their fortunes;
The regulation of speculation in commodities through the Commodities Trading Commission (CTC);
Increased bank supervision by the Treasury Department and others, of all bank operations; the protection of the smaller bank depositors against the loss of their deposits, while limiting the protection of the financial elite, whose policies brought on banking collapses.
Roosevelt succeeded in stripping of them of their power and enacted a punitive progressive tax to ensure they never recovered.
Unfortunately it did not last, but it resulted in an unprecedented period of prosperity for the American people until the Nixon Administration.
article is far more detailed, should you want to research it on your own.
It is an almost unknown chapter in American History. And the Plutocracy has done it's best to bury and discredit it. But it explains their livid hatred for FDR.
It is commonly known as the Business Plot.
So I guess the period between the end of WWII and 1968 while corporate oligarchs were declawed was a just and hopeful era.
But their return was forseen during the Eisenhower Administration.
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')his conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence – economic, political, even spiritual – is felt in every city, every Statehouse, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.
In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.
We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.