|
Originally Posted by ToBeFair
I think you need to come out of your hardcore capitalist bubble and see that there exists other points of view that make sense. If you claim US or any country to be a land of opportunity, you have to prove it with tangible proofs how it is a land of opportunity. You simply cannot make claims out of thin air - or as the saying goes in Bangla: শুধু কথায় চিড়ে ভিজে না।
A few basic amenities of life must be made available for each and every individual by the government for equal opportunity to exist for everyone. These include food, affordable home, free healthcare for all, and free quality education for all. These are must. Only when these are guaranteed as rights, and not regarded as privileges, each citizen shall have a meaningful shot to attain his or her full potential.
If a child whose parent is working three jobs suddenly becomes sick but cannot afford healthcare, how can this child compete with a rich kid? In this scenario, a country cannot claim itself to be a land of opportunity for everyone unless it provides free healthcare.
The role of government is to provide those basic amenities to its people, first and foremost. Government should also defend the country, regulate/control its rich elites so that the interest of people is protected, and establish justice overall. Government is supposed to be of the people, for the people, and by the people. But neo-liberal governments have become government of corporations. It happily bails out banks (happening both in US and BD) with trillions of dollars, gives billions of dollars in corporate welfare and subsidy to corporations, writes tax laws however the corporations want, gives as much money as the defense contractors want, but god forbid, when the interest of people are spoken about, the government shows the temerity to shame people as lazy bums.
Capitalism is socialism for the rich. And in capitalism, people are for corporations/government. Government/corporations are not for people.
Of course I am not against capitalism. But now that morality/spirituality is close to non-existent, government must play a strong role to control and regulate capitalism. That market will take care of itself is a myth, and it is even a bigger myth when the society itself is amoral.
The free handouts that you despise so much, is actually NOTHING compared to the handouts the government is giving out to the banks, defense contractors, and other corporations. Like it or not, if you want a society that is properly functioning, there has to be some free handouts. Therefore, you must not question free handouts, but rather question how government spend your tax dollars.
As for the migrants, you being a hardcore capitalist won’t be able to see the value in migrants. I am unable to quote now, but there are studies, which show that migrants contribute to the US economy way more than what US government spend on them. Migrants often do the menial jobs that the citizens of a country do not do otherwise. For example, the current migration policy of Donald Trump is harming the agriculture in California, because the owners are unable to find labor to work on their fields, a work that was dominated by migrant labor.
However, the bigger picture is this migrant crisis is INTENTIONALLY created by the capitalist corporations and governments. This how it happens:
Step 1. Capitalists want to steal capital.
Step 2. Capital consists of natural resources or cheap labor or both
Step 3. Capital is found in country X
Step 4. That country is declared a national security threat, probably the biggest con word ever invented in the history of humanity, which can be tossed up to make everything halal
Step 5. Government tries regime change in that country through organizing a coup and supporting an opposition party that favors corporations' business interest
Step 6. If the regime change fails with indirect tactics, military intervenes. Profit for defense contractors
Step 7. Puppet government comes to power and provides access to resources for corporations
Step 8. Military intervention causes chaos, and the puppet government cannot govern too. Result: people start migrating
Step 9. When migrants come to the shore, corporations like it too - because they can use cheap migrant labor without providing many benefits/job security they are otherwise required to provide to citizens.
Step 10. More migrants means more (free) prison labor (i.e. slavery), and more private prisons means more money from governments in the form of contracts
Step 11. After military intervention comes nation building. And for nation building, the affected country is forced to take loan from IMF and World bank with a very high interest rate and on the condition of awarding construction projects to its chosen contractors/corporations
Step 12. The migrant crisis is also a boon for the politicians - the right wing can resort to politics of divide and rule and building wall, easily scapegoating ‘the others’ for their own policy failures whereas the left wing sheds crocodile tears and play the good guy card all while being in the pocket of corporations
And the cycle continues.
The migrant crisis that Europe is experiencing today - who created it? Who destroyed two countries - Syria and Libya?
You need to study two things - propaganda and history. You need to learn the origin of propaganda and how it works. You need to know history so that you can understand how we arrived to the current status quo.
|