Rogge, Can Capitalism Survive?, Part I. Part I, Chapter 1 Can Capitalism Survive? Can capitalism survive? No, I do not think it can. The thesis I shall endeavor to establish is that the actual and prospective performance of the capitalist system is such as to negative the idea of its breaking down under the weight of economic failure, but that its very success undermines the social institutions which protect it, and inevitably creates conditions in which it will not be able to live and which strongly point to socialism as the heir apparent.
These words were written in 1942 by Joseph Schumpeter, Austrian-born Harvard social scientist, in his prophetic work, Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy. Inasmuch as I intend to build my comments around this work, it might be appropriate for me to reinforce my own judgment of Schumpeter's competence with a statement by the Nobel Prize-winning economist, Paul Samuelson. It is just twenty years since Joseph Schumpeter died. I direct your attention to his phrase, "not by coincidence.... " Category:Economics paradoxes. 9 signs that America is in decline. 30 Statistics That Prove The Elite Are Getting Richer, The Poor Are Getting Poorer And The Middle Class Is Being Destroyed. Not everyone has been doing badly during the economic turmoil of the last few years.
In fact, there are some Americans that are doing really, really well. While the vast majority of us struggle, there is one small segment of society that is seemingly doing better than ever. This was reflected in a recent article on CNBC in which it was noted that companies that cater to average Americans are doing rather poorly right now while companies that market luxury goods and services are generally performing exceptionally well. So why aren't all American consumers jumping on the spending bandwagon? Well, it seems that there are a large number of Americans who either can't spend a lot of money right now or who are very hesitant to. Well, in 2010 life is very, very different depending on whether you are a "have" or a "have not".
So why is this happening? This isn't capitalism that we have in America in 2010. Why do you think so many of America's largest corporations pay so little in taxes? Top 20 Richest Countries in the World.