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: : In fact, I would go as far as to say that the entire economic structure of this country would collapse [without capitalists] and you would see nation-wide (if not world wide, [think about how much the U.S. drives the world economy]) famines, chaos, and general disorder. The stock market would crash, causing all the other worlds stock markets to crash, and you would end up with a depression that made the 1930s seem like a golden age.: The history of the U.S.S.R. 1917-1970 disproves that melodramatic statement.
: Without capitalists, the Soviet Union transformed a semi-feudal country into a world superpower in less than two generations. Indeed, the Soviet Union was the ONLY industrialized nation unaffected by the Great Depression (which resulted from capitalism, not communism).
: Of course, you will want to counter by saying the U.S.S.R., throughout 1970-1991, experienced a significant period of underproductivity. Granted.
No, I will counter by say that not only not socialist, nay, on the other hand it was exceptionally authoritarian. Uncle Joe Stalin was making sure that everybody was working for the state...otherwise it was off to the Gulags...hell, even people who were working for the state were sent off to the gulags.
Anyways, the point I was trying to make was that workers are just as reliant on the capitalists as the capitalists are reliant on the workers. I would go as far as to say it is a symbiotic relationship. Both parties (at least in my view) are benefitting.
: Perhaps you'll wish to extrapolate from that (while acknowledging that the U.S. has also experienced a significant period of underproductivity in the same years compared to the years 1933-1970) that that the U.S.S.R. ultimately crumbled because they had no 'promethean' capitalists in which to sustain their society.
No, they just didn't have Reagan to set 'em straight :)
