Editor, Times-Union: In a (capitalist) money system, the major aim is profit: maintaining the competitive edge and the bottom line is all that matters. Any social need that may be met is secondary to acquiring a profit for the business. If the profit is insufficient, the service will be withdrawn. Everything is subordinate to increasing the profit margin for shareholders. It does not serve the interest of a (capitalist) money based society to engage in the production of goods and services to enhance the lives of people. For example, we have enough food on the planet to feed everyone, yet millions starve. Why? Because food is not produced directly for social need. Food is produced in order to sell it for money to make a profit. In other words, food is produced for its exchange-value, not its use-value. The owners of these commodities are not interested in their use. They are interested in their exchange-value; the money (profit) they receive from the goods. The (capitalist) profiteers have taken control of the earth’s abundant resources, and are rationing them to the highest bidder, consequently rationing resources through monetary methods is inappropriate and counterproductive to the well-being of people. For decades, the capitalist have directly and indirectly programmed us, their subjects, with value systems, or ideologies that maintain their control, and work against our own self-interest. They have used us and, consequently our minds as a dumping ground for their own self-serving values and concepts. Most importantly, these impregnated values and concepts have encouraged antithetical behavior patterns in us, the populace, therefore we act and think against our own best interest. As long as we remain in a (capitalist) for-profit system, most people will never have the money to acquire the resources to live democratically. Yet, we (the indoctrinated) still wave their flag, and bark at anyone who criticizes the capitalist, for-profit system. A person may need a particular type of resource, but lack the means to purchase it. How has this person benefited from the democratic process of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? Yet we claim to have a democratic system that is the best system in the world. In actuality, we are only as free as our purchasing power permits. With money and resources concentrated in the hands of so few, freedom is illusory. Capitalism has existed for decades and, whether we realize it or not, has always been used to control the behavior of those with limited amounts of money. The capitalist has hoarded all the resources, which has made them scarce, and it is only when resources are scarce that their system can function. In other words, if a person wants resources, he or she is obliged to submit to the control of the capitalist. In today’s culture of profit, nothing is produced for social need. It is produced for profit. The owners of the resources are not interested in their social use. They are interested in the exchange value, profit. Bennie Hively Warsaw, via email
