Excesses of Capitalism

I'm in favor of free enterprise. I understand that capitalism (the ownership of the means of productions) is a necesarry correllary to F.E. But there are days when I think capital is a little "over the top." Not that the socialists are very effective about reigning it in, either. They just pile on the taxpayer in the name of "controlling corporate greed."

I'm not thinking greed as much as stoopidity. Here goes.

1. Phonebooks. See my rant labelled "phonebooks" if this isn't obvious.

2. niche marketing. Do I really NEED to choose between 41 flavors of toothpaste? Between a dozen flavors of Coke? Not even different brands, mind you, but permutations of the same product.

3. Gas stations across the street from each other. I think there is some back-room dealmaking going on, since they always have the same price.

4. Saturation advertising. I didn't need super-slim omni-maxi-ultrathin tampons five minutes ago when they were advertised on TV. I am a male with intact genitalia (much to Frau Dr's delight!). I didn't need tampons 5 minutes ago, and I don't need them now, when the same ad is running all over again.

5. TV reporters talking about TV reporting: "You're watching me as I watch the media circus in front of the Lacie Peterson Trial. The judge has just ruled that all reporters must uses the term 'startling development' every 17 seconds." Nobody cares. You're just marketing yourselves, you assinine evolutionary cul-de-sacs.

6. "Official Sponsors." as in 'the official candy of the 2004 olympic high-hurdles team. Like they are gulping m&m's out there on the track.

7. Billboards. The equivilent of spam. Blight on the cityscape. and always for something gawdawfu, like hemerrhoidal itch-plates or pustule-popping cremes.

Here's another excess of capitalism: Cemetaries

I mean c'mon. Biggest waste of real estate in human history. And all for vanity.

i would not nessessary support capitolism, but my personal greed want to be better then other people. i know i am sad, but that's how the way the world works. it shouldn't be this way, but sadly it will be.

Well then thats shallow if you want to be better then everyone else, and thats not how the world works, thats how your world works.

How the world works in a free enterprise is you have a product first made by coke say, then because other people realise it's such a big hit they want to mimic it and try to sell for less to get your money.
We have 228+ million people in the United States, it's not necessary to have a monopoly anymore...

Take SBC, they are the biggest phone company out there, a bunch of aholes too, but besides that , more and more little guys get to come on the scene and offer us consumers a better deal for our buck..
Sweet! Now we don't have to put up with the SBC nazi's, we can pick and choose.. That's the beauty of a free market society.

You could look at it negatively, or thank you lucky stars you aren't being forced to use a certain company that #s you over because they know they are biggest and only company you can use.

And tampons, I'm glad I get to pick what brand of tampons to use, I personally like the silky smooth glide over the cardboard with no soft end that pinches my thing down there...

So again thank god for a free market society.


The reason for this kind of society is the allow regular people like you and me come out on top all the time if you are self sufficient and accept personal responsibility.
Thats what it comes down to.

If you can't get off your lazy #ing ass then leave because i'm sick of paying my tax dollars to people like that.. Disenfranchised my ass.

[Edited on 7-7-2004 by TrueLies]

My favorite billboard at the moment:

"Late? Worried?" with a picture of a thoughtful looking young adult brunette, head tilted to the side in wonderment. *L*

Second favorite:

A picture of an Egg McMuffin.

"Must. Eat. Now"

Sometimes I hear it in a Frankenstein voice and sometimes in a hypnotist's voice. *L*

The gas stations across the street from each other can't compete with gas prices being so similar so they amp up their mini-marts to reel people in. Can't compete on gas? Kill 'em on a 12 pack of Pepsi!

One of the basic rules of factory employment seems to be that you cannot afford to consume whatever product it is you produce.

A friend who worked for a casket company pointed this out to me back in college. The company made gorgeous boxes for the superwealthy, that cost the price of a Kia.

It does seem like an enduring truth. If you work at making footwear in America, then it is some fancy pants shoe that only the super rich can afford. Cheap tennis shoes are made in developing nations where the people all go barefoot.

This may be the real reason Bangladesh is the poorest country in the Eastern Hemisphere: Bangladesh makes burlap. Imagine people who cannot even afford a gunny sack.

Haiti is the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere. What do they make, Sugar? Stuff that is free for the asking in at any restaurant in America.

Maybe that's why they also produce voodoo....

Walmart.

Here's what I find so excessive:

1. A giant parking lot. So big it adds greatly to the nuisance of shopping there. There should be a tram every 50 rows or so.

2. Prices "rolling back." No, they arent. Stuff isn't priced accurately at all. The price is always different (higher) on the computer up front than what is marked on the shelf.

3. The register doesn't display the total listed of goods that have been scanned. Most supermarkets have this now. Without it, you cannot tell if the pimply stoned teenager who claims to be a clerk has scanned the same pack of batteries. Was that 4 packs you charge me for, or 11?

4. A jillion cash registers with no one to man them. They only use 'em at Christmas.

5. A line so long I could have gone downtown and bought it anyway.

6. Everything is filthy. The carts (ew!) The floors, the merchandise. The clerks and customers. (see below)

7. I try not to be judgmental. But wow! look at all the 'hard-living' folks that hang out in Wally world. There's a woman wearing bedroom slippers and pajamas (but no bra!). There's a dude with tattoos that look like they were copied off of the bathroom wall!! Check out the clerk's eye-ring! That fellow needs to buy a hairbrush and some nit-x. Man, I didn't know there was a trailer park in here . . .

Walmart is just like six flags, without the fun!

Originally posted by dr_strangecraft
Walmart is just like six flags, without the fun!

I'm with Strangecraft. Though my biggest pet peeve is pharmaceutical mystery marketing.

What the hell IS that damn purple pill? I'm healthy but am I missing something? What does my doctor know that I don't know? I think I will ask my doctor!

You can't watch TV for 20 minutes now without getting psychoanalyzed...

Could you be depressed, have social anxiety is your penis as big as it should be? MY PENIS SHOULD BE BIGGER??? Well now I am depressed. :shk:

IMHO Healtcare and Capitalism have NO BUSINESS in bed together. It's a special kind of evil for which hell has a basement. I hope.

See now you got me angry with this.

Do you ever have more fights with your significant other than over Christmas?

I'm convinced marriage is a conspiracy to make me buy Christmas lights.

Ack! Marriage flashbacks.

I better stop.

Another excess of capitolism, now that rant mentions it:

"Magnum" condoms.


Yep. Like any male ever stepped up to the counter and said, "do you have anything for a .22 caliber single shot pistol? I need smaller condoms."

The magnums are even narrower, so you can gripe to Her, "D#&^%, even the magnums are TOO SMALL for ME. I need a firehose!"

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