Capitalism? What is it all about? What was it supposed to be about? Capitalism was supposed to usher in a free society in which everyone would have a share of the spoils. Instead, what we have, is the few controlling the many. However, those few are the landowners, the property developers, the bankers, rich politicians and a social system in which the majority of people are very low-paid, poor or unemployed.

So, in other words, all those things that are important within society, such as land, transport - and the means for producing those goods that society needs, are controlled and owned by a minority of people. These people are classed as ‘capitalists’. Those who are in the majority of people - those who are not capitalists - must promote and sell their skills, for a wage. Thus, the capitalist society is created. And so this trade for work continues as it has done for years.

What the working class produce, the capitalists sell, for a profit, which is why they will always remain rich. While those who work and produce the goods, will never reach those heights. That is not to say that some do not ever become capitalists themselves, but in the main, this is not the case. It is because of this system, that has gone on year after year, that greed shows its face. There are many countries who have the capitalist system, yet deride those countries that are Communist in nature. Yet the two are as bad as each other.

With Communism the theory is that everyone begins on an even level, with the same level of wealth or poverty. The idea of Communism is that it is supposed to be classless. Communism abolishes private ownership and promotes a classless society. That is in theory, yet in practice, even within Communist countries, there is a class system clearly going on. Invariably, as in capitalist countries, greed plays its part and the poor are the ones caught in the middle.

Within Capitalist countries, the decline in basic human rights and living standards for those who do not happen to be rich has been stark. There is not a day that goes by when rich politicians are attacking the poor for being just that…poor. The low wages do not keep up with cost of living, thereby forcing families onto the breadline. And everyday, those that are employed are threatened with losing their jobs, and thereby their homes as foreclosures become the norm and not the exception.

Meanwhile, those who are desperate to work are punished for their unemployment. This is especially so within the United Kingdom in which the Coalition Government have cut benefits to such a level - including disability benefits - that many people are now homeless.

Food banks have sprung up around the UK -  a direct result of the Coalition Government’s policies in cutting benefits for the unemployed and the low-waged. Food banks have now become essential to stop families starving to death, again, caused by the policies of a right wing Government so out of touch with the real world, that they have lost their humanity in the process. 

The stigmatization of the unemployed  as ‘workshy layabouts and shirkers’ is a disgrace. These words were uttered by the Prime Minister himself who has tried to tarnish those who happen to be in dire need, as ‘lazy’. All this whose millionaire politicians - within a capitalist country have lost their humanity in their lust for power and greed. In America, cardboard and metal shacks continue to blight the landscape as those who used to have homes now find themselves homeless.

Both in America, and the United Kingdom, greed knows no bounds, as politicians play politics with peoples lives. These are the people who do not have a voice, who are ignored and disfranchised. When all is said and done, those who do not have are merely existing, not living. Again, this has to be viewed upon as a disgrace in the 21st century that people should be existing in such conditions more akin to Victorian England in the 1800s. 

Human rights have been eroded, freedom of speech curtailed, and surveillance is now 24 hours a day. Those few who are in power are desperate to maintain the Status Quo, no matter what the cost. And it is the poor, as usual, who are used as target practice by rich politicians to see who can be the hardest and harshest in their attack on the poor and low-waged.

This is because an attack on the poor will always be a vote winner for those right wing Republicans and Conservatives whose worth of people is how many dollars or pounds they possess. Greed has eroded what capitalism should have been about. Now, it is about dog eat dog, every man - and woman - for themselves, and damn be the rest. This is what capitalism has done, it has opened up a Pandora’s Box and the box of greed, can now never be closed. Greed and the erosion of humanity really has shown its face within capitalist countries such as the USA and the United Kingdom.