Capitalism is Dead Says Former Brazilian President
- Posted on February 7, 2011 at 2:19pm by
Jonathon M. Seidl
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Former left-wing Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said today at an anti-capitalist gathering that he believes the global financial crisis proves capitalism is broken.
The Associated Press summed up Silva’s comments with the headline: “Working class hero Lula says capitalism is dead.”
“For too long, rich countries saw us as peripheral, problematic, even dangerous,” said Silva, who stepped down last year with one of the highest approval ratings in his country’s history, “Today we are an essential, undeniable part of the solution to the biggest crisis of the last decade – a crisis that was not created by us, but that emerged from the great centers of world capitalism.”
His speech marked the second day of the six-day World Social Forum, an annual counterpunch to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
While the latter draws CEOs who sleep in fancy hotels and take turns on the Swiss slopes, the participants in the World Social Forum try to prove their point by regularly camping on the sides of roads or sleeping with locals during the yearly anti-capitalist gathering.
They arrive in tie-die shirts and trousers of organic cotton, like Lula who addressed the cheering crowd in a short-sleeved shirt. Presentations are frequently ad lib, including a fiery impromptu speech by Bolivian President Evo Morales on Sunday who told the assembled crowd that capitalism was in its death throes.
“We can see it with the global financial crisis. We can see it with climate change and global warming,” said Morales, who in 2005 became the first leader to be elected from Bolivia’s indigenous majority. “The capitalism of today is a capitalism that no longer produces but just consumes.”
The weeklong conference, which has drawn some 30,000 participants from 123 countries, aims to create “open space” for debate on subjects ranging from “the crisis of capitalism” to the African Diaspora. Many participants pointed out that the event is also taking place at a same time of change in Africa.
“If you look across the democratization struggle in Egypt and Tunisia and the challenges in Ivory Coast and Zimbabwe, it is very important for people to express their views and indicate that there is a ruling elite, a very small group of people who are holding us hostage,” said Zimbabwean journalist and participant Thomas Deves.
Nilza Iraci, a member of the forum’s international organizing committee, says that in the early years, the forum attempted to bridge the gap with Davos. They held a teleconference with members of the Davos conference in an attempt to exchange ideas.
Critics of the forum say it has not effected real change in the 11 years since it started.
Iraci says the event is not meant to effect change, but rather to create a space to network and to share ideas for a new world.
The opening march included a delegation of women from Senegal’s provinces who had made their way to Dakar to try to lobby for land rights. In the oceanlike crowd, they ran into Liv Sovik, a communications professor at a school in Rio de Janeiro. She helped the women connect with a leader of the land rights movement that was also at the march, she said.
“It’s like a trade fair. You meet to make connections,” said Sovik.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Comments (132)
JohnnyJT South Philly
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 3:19pmReally?
Report Post »sbenard
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 3:19pmIf capitalism is dead, then so is prosperity. It is impossible to have freedom without free enterprise! Centralized planning and all its collectivist cousins, including socialism, progressivism, marxism, and communism, have ultimately destroyed every civilization they have ever touched!
Central planning ignores the collective wisdom of the masses making individual decisions in their own best interest, and instead imposes the limited wisdom of an elitist plutocratic few. Ironically, the failures of capitalism over the past few years were because of the impositions of central planners and because of the bailouts of their errors that were also imposed by governments, NOT because of capitalism itself! In a true capitalist system, the failures would have been allowed to play out, and the government impositions and regulations would never have been imposed at all! To blame the errors of government on capitalism is disingenuous at best, and more accurately, dishonest!
If the era of capitalism is dead, then Reagan’s warning has become a truism:
“We’ll preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we’ll sentence them to take the last step into a thousand years of darkness.”
The alternative, Mr. Da Silva omits to tell viewers, is that the alternative is collectivist tyranny! It and its tyrants, has caused more human death and destruction than any other form of government, while capitalism has brought more prosperity than any other system of government is all of world history.
Report Post »hud
Posted on February 8, 2011 at 9:42amYou are correct sir. Collectivism is the worst scourge to ever hit the face of the earth.
Report Post »Don
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 3:17pmIf Obama has his way he is right!
Report Post »hud
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 3:16pmCapitalism is dead when Ronald “raygun” Reagan says it’s dead.
Report Post »Bernard
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 3:14pmI had no idea that Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has a PhD on economics and if he does not then it is best he keeps his opinions to himself. Capitalism, open markets and the freedom that comes with it has revolutionized the developing world.
Report Post »It is not the fault of Capitalism that the US is in such dire straits. It is the burden of an over bloated government who has recklessly spent our money to bail out companies that in a Capitalistic system should have gone bankrupt.
The economic melt down from Europe to the USA can be traced to Socialistic policies run by a dominating government system.
sbenard
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 3:24pmYour point, of course, is that he DOESN’T have a Phd in econ.
From Wikipedia: “Lula had little formal education. He did not learn to read until he was ten years old, and quit school after the fourth grade in order to work to help his family.” He is a lifelong socialist/marxist!
That said, even if he DID has a Phd. in econ, economists probably have THE worst record of any occupation. Believe their prognostications and you’ll live in the poorhouse!
Report Post »TennesseeConservative
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 3:11pmFunny thing is socialism or whatever name you call it. Has failed miserably every where and at every period in time. When the pilgrims came to America, they raised a community garden and food supplies.
Half of them died the 1st winter. After that, they raised there own, and kept there own gardens. Their abundance was so remarkable, they all had enough to share with others. Think maybe the All mighty Creator was sending us a message?
Those who do not know HIS STORY are doomed to repeat it. Socialism=Epic failure.
Report Post »Alvin691
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 3:04pmNo Luiz, but it is sick no thanks to socialist meddlers such as yourself. It is poisoned but can be made healthy again.
Report Post »Sandy
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 3:00pmIf capitalism is dead, I have this question. Will they not have a difficult time getting taxes from everyone to pay for everyone getting government money or paycheck? If everyone becomes an employee of the government, it seems that taxes taken out will not equal taxes used to pay the people. So when does the money run out? How is more money brought in without capitalism? If everyone is working for the government, does the government make the profits then? These elitist got where they are because of capitalism.
Report Post »The Sweeeeed
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 3:00pmI think all the sleeping on the side of the road with locals might be his problem…..
Report Post »Randyrocker
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 3:00pmCan this Brazilian Presidential fool be any more naive?
Report Post »Whose he trying to kid?
The Brazilian government spent a small fortune (money) to try and win the right to host the Summer Olympic Games, and they succeeded. Is this Obama supporter (bootlicker) unaware that without any commercial capitalistic sponsorship and support, Brazil will be financially challenged to make ends meet when it comes time to pay its bills. Who does he think will finance the Summer Olympic Games, the statue of Jesus Christ looking over Rio de Janeiro? Who will pay for his TV advertising commercials and international marketing, Che Guevara? The sooner these idiots find out that without capitalism of one sort or the other in implementation they would be back in the dark ages, maybe then the Obama‘s and da Silva’s will recognize how to make the economies they run really work.
I guess da Silva believes the oil companies that provide capital to finance his country, suck it out of the ocean for free. The only ones who will believe this nonsense peddler, will be those illegal Mexicans in America, who believe that they should get everything for nothing, and those blacks, that voted for Obama so that he will give them all of that free Obama money. Poor souls led by poor fools.
vennoye
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 2:48pmSounds like he has more faith in the 44th president than I do.
Report Post »DashRipRock
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 2:45pmWhat cracks me up about Brazil.
All these global warming idiots that wanted us to use
ethanol in order to save the world. Have to now
face the fact that we are burning down the rainforrest
to get enough ethanol from Brazil.
Way to go liberals
aaaaahahahahaahahaha
Report Post »CatB
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 2:43pmgman46
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 2:33pm
No Capitalism isn’t dead, all of these issues are due to socialism, this is what happens when government interferes with the natural order
____________________________________________________________-
Exactly .. how about we ditch the socialism and get back to self reliance.
Report Post »stpppim
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 2:56pmWho is leading this effort away from Socialism?
Report Post »Who fights against the “The looting parasites of socialism…” and does not become one of them?
Liberalism is a dangerous and contagious mental disorder.
RightPolitically
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 2:41pmCommie gobblegook! What is wrong with Capitalism cannot be cured by the empty promise of Socialism. The corruption of business mingling with self-serving politicians is what’s wrong with capitalism. And all of that can only be cured by STIFF JAIL TERMS for offenders in the business world and their corrupt political cohorts……..not country club minimum security facilities either!
Report Post »I Believe In American Exceptionalism
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 2:40pmHey Silva, American capitalism is not dead – it’s just been under seige by one of a Socialist interloper masquerading as the American President. The turmoil in the past two years has been the American people rejecting Barack Hussein Obama’s agenda, not embracing it. BTW – our only regret in working so hard to create the innovations that people in Third World countries desire is that Socialist clowns like you don’t appreciate any of it. If the Stone Age was so great, why not completely renounce the advances brought by capitalism and return to it? What a putz.
Report Post »lniedbal
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 2:39pmGreat to hear that Brazil is doing so well. One less country that US capitalism has to support.
Report Post »GONESURFING
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 2:35pmIf this dummy thinks capitalism is dead or broken, I guess he hasn’t heard of China. They seem to be doing pretty well with capitalism. BUY AMERICAN and keep capitalism alive in the US.
Report Post »twofoot_trucker
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 2:33pmIf capitalism had actually been in practice anywhere in the world, he may have a point. Instead, what we practice is some kind of Frankenstein hybrid of somewhat freemarket combined with ever growing government regulation/intimidation/confiscation.
Report Post »stpppim
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 2:32pmConservatism: An Obituary
Report Post »By Ayn Rand
Ayn Rand discusses the appalling spectacle of conservatives trying to defend capitalism—while scurrying to evade its actual meaning; also, why conservatives are an impediment to laissez-faire capitalism.
http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=reg_ar_conservatism
DashRipRock
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 2:39pm“The looting parasites of socialism…”
sounds like she isnt to happy with socialism
Report Post »ClassicalLiberal
Posted on February 8, 2011 at 11:10amAyn rand was a true liberal. Typically called conservative or libertarian today.
As a professor of philosophy, Richard Hudelson, wrote in his book Modern political philosophy,
“It is important not to confuse this classical liberalism with the political ideology known as “liberalism” in the United States. In fact, the ideology of classical liberalism is closer to what today is a current of conservatism in the United States.” (p.37)
http://traditionalliberalism.blogspot.com/2010/10/terminological-theft-liberalism.html
Report Post »OneFunR6
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 2:32pmI’m all for human rights,……..
EVERYONE needs to be PROTECTED from THEIR GOVERNMENT,……
Fascist OR Free-market.
[yes, there are really only two kinds!]
Oh, wait, that’s WHY WE have a CONSTITUTION and a BILL OF RIGHTS!
[sounds like a good plan/idea to me,...]
LETS go BACK to USING it.
Report Post »fertlmind
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 2:30pmBrazillian wise ******* waxes against capitolism….ouch!
Report Post »jakartaman
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 2:29pmObviously this guy did not get the memo – Communism and Socialism are on the way out!
Report Post »Europe is drowning and USSR is gone – even China is moving to capitalism
OneFunR6
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 2:35pmAfter WW2 we taught the Germans and Japanese everything we knew about business,
and they beat US with it,….
and now we have taught the Chinese and THEY are going to beat US with it…
Report Post »IF WE don’t get back to the free-market, TOO.
grandmaof5
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 2:27pmHopefully that is why he is the “former” president. As for the financial crisis, “Where in the world is Spooky Dude”?
Report Post »DashRipRock
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 2:26pmAnd this from a government that pays slave wages to miners
Report Post »then sells it comodities for a premium
DashRipRock
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 2:24pmWell then good luck cashing that next AID CHECK WE SEND
Report Post »cnsrvtvj
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 2:28pmExactly dashriprock, good luck with that whole thing. Give me a fish and I eat today. Teach me to fish and I eat for a lifetime. It’s scary that such a large segment of Americans feel the same way. We need another Ronald Reagan who can explain reality to that segment.
http://www.donsmithshow.com – see the Ronald Reagan tribute video
Report Post »RightUnite
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 2:32pmToo funny!
Report Post »GhostOfJefferson
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 2:32pmAnd yet another politician that has no clue what capitalism is. No surprise of course.
Report Post »gman46
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 2:33pmNo Capitalism isn’t dead, all of these issues are due to socialism, this is what happens when government interferes with the natural order.
Report Post »pajamash
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 2:33pmReally president Mucha da Siliva? Actually the financial crisis was caused by people JUST like you. So many years of pushing, “everybody must be able to own a home”, lead to legislation forcing and tying the hands of financial institutions to give loans to those who should never have had a loan in the first place. You are completely wrong…it was you that caused the financial crisis. Capitalism is not dead…it has been infected!
Report Post »mill
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 2:34pmYeah, too much success for the everyday person with that darned capitalism crap.
Report Post »Lantern
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 2:35pm“We can see it with climate change and global warming,” said Morales.
Report Post »Do ALL leftists just throw words out there, along with their code words to see what happens?
He might be in another country, but he fits right in with the left here. They all say the same thing. I wonder if he subscribes to HuffPo/AOL?
cheezwhiz
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 2:40pmSo now that Capitalism is dead,
Report Post »we won’t have any brazilians and bolivians and mehicans or cubans trying to get into OUR COUNTRY, right ?
In fact maybe all the latinos / hispanics/ south-Americans in USA will start heading back home to wherever they came from .
Viva revolucion!!
NickDeringer
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 2:48pmTo all Left Wing trolls:
Can you name all the inventions that have come from Socialist countries that cured disease, ended famine, or improved the standard of living of poor people? I’d wait for an answer, but I might only live to be 110.
Report Post »Maji
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 2:59pmTHIS from a country that has had at least 6 turn overs in goverment,while we still function under the same “constitutional document”!
Report Post »Xcori8r
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 3:01pmThe way I read this the AP did the usual sensational headline hatchet job common in the media.
But Capitalism IS dying because of the political and financial kleptocrats that are running most institutions today.
If that’s what he was trying to say, he is right. The socialists at AP would probably like to see it dead, though.
Report Post »davecoolworld
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 3:02pmRight, the FORMER President has a lot to say. Ask him about the level of safety in Brazil‘s major cities under the socialis’s watch. Check out what a favela is. Nice work there President Silva. Hahaha.
Report Post »not funny
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 3:15pmSo I wonder why they are taking billions of dollars from us to develop their oil drilling program. They are not capitalists just like the Chinese aren’t.
Report Post »Dustyluv
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 3:36pmA society with no socialism and regulations in it would create untold wealth for those who want to work. Undortuantely most people want to be taken care of by a nanny state and the workers are burdened with their laziness by Governments that rob them of their work.
Screw you commie marxist turds..
Report Post »nothingbuthetruth
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 3:45pmplease dont let anyone forget, that this is the guy who blamed the 2008 economic crisis on white people with blue eyes. And please dont forget how Obama, that same day gave him a handshake calling him the most wonderful guy there. Please look it up, there is a you tube video on it. These people(democrats and Zulu) are very bad people
Report Post »Also, Obama stopped drilling here and gave Brazil 2 billion of our dollars to drill in Brazil
nothingbuthetruth
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 3:47pmCapitalism paid for the 2 billion of America’s dollars Obama gave Brazil. Rotten Marxists
Report Post »A Doctors Labor Is Not My Right
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 4:19pmEvo Morales said:
““The capitalism of today is a capitalism that no longer produces but just consumes.””
Will someone please tell this guy that the point of producing anything is to consume it, and that capital is itself the product of labor?
Socialism is both the reason why other countries are not as rich as America, and the cause of the current financial crisis in each respective country (not to be confused with a “global economy” which does not exist) – and it’s even the reason why our economies are linked in such a way as to violate each countries economic sovereignty and TO MAKE IT POSSIBLE for one countries economic crisis to affect that of others.
Capitalism, by definition, produces wealth; And a free market does not restrict anyone from becoming owners of the means of production – so there is no such thing as a “middle class” or a “bourgeois” in a free market.
Report Post »SLAPTHELEFT
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 4:29pmI didnt know Sean Connery was the former pres of brazil….
Report Post »cykonas
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 4:38pm@NickDerringer
Report Post »No troll am I, but I am able to answer your question. From stateism (socialism) we have gained famine, suppression, pestilence, death, genocide, atheism, forced childbirth quotas, poverty, strife, war, dispair, thought control, loss of free speech, loss of prosperity; need I go on? What a wonderful world it will be!
Xcori8r
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 4:44pmWell, regardless of their politics or economics, they must be commended for their hair removal practices.
Report Post »ottodiedacktick
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 5:09pm@DASH
The last time I checked, we (US) were going bankrupt, so, good luck cashing the check? I can’t believe all you bloggers defending what has happened in the US in the past 5 years under Bush and Obama as capitalism. Wow! What we have in the USA is capitalism? That’s a news flash for me! For a moment I thought it was Statist Theft.
Report Post »Curator_JDR
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 5:18pmTo say Capitalism is dead means individual initiative and responsibility are dead. State run enterprises are all about cronyism and corruption. What Capitalism needs it a return to ethics. Morals are timeless and so is the desire to reap the harvest of your own efforts. Capitalism without tolerance for corruption is the most humane system ever devised.
Learn where and how this insidious infection that wants to destroy modern civilization began nearly 100 years ago. Watch part 2 first. http://www.marcrubin.com/dada2.ivnu
Report Post »DisillusionedDaily
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 5:53pmThey do not mind that George Soros has a very large stake in their oil industry or that part of it was paid for by Obama’s $2 billion under the table “loan”. Yeah! Capitalism is dead…….Until they need that next multi billion dollar loan! Guess where they will go for it.
Report Post »tower7femacamp
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 6:47pmhttp://cryptogon.com/?p=9095
Report Post »rodamaa
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 7:03pmThere is plenty of archival record demonstrating that the financial debacle can be trace back to ACORN and the sub prime lending scam. The evidence is pretty well laid out by Stanley Kurtz in his book Radical-In-Chief. The is long and wordy, what do you expect from an intellectual :-), I got to tell this book gave me nightmares. Speaking of Nightmares you guys should also look into the following titles:
○ Unholy Alliance
○ The Shadow Party
This stuff dovetails very nicely with what Glenn Beck is saying.
If you have read them, well welcome fellow insomniacs.
Report Post »Ruler4You
Posted on February 8, 2011 at 6:55amThe problem with capitalism isn‘t that it’s ‘dead’ but that governments insist on manipulating it as though it were a socialist tool of government.
To work, free markets must be free. Not quasi socialist policy economic revenue generators manipulated by governments for redistribution of wealth philosophies and personal gain.
Capitalism isn’t dead, it’s being killed.
Report Post »ClassicalLiberal
Posted on February 8, 2011 at 11:19amThe world is seeing a CRISIS OF STATISM.
State capitalism or state socialism makes no difference. Both just names for the same objectives, STATISM.
Mussolini personally set his approval and signature over a book which proclaims:
“Fascism entirely agrees with Mr. Maynard Keynes, despite the latter’s prominent position as a [so called] Liberal. In fact, Mr. Keynes’ excellent little book, The End of Laissez-Faire (l926) might, so far as it goes, serve as a useful introduction to fascist economics. There is scarcely anything to object to in it and there is much to applaud.”and ‘”all that (Keynesian teaching) is pure Fascist premises”. (1929),
Modern capitalism is Keynesianism (fascist/socialist/ economics)
Report Post »http://traditionalliberalism.blogspot.com/2010/09/fascism-keynesianism-socialism.html
DisillusionedDaily
Posted on February 8, 2011 at 9:31pmWhen capitalism is dead and there are no more of those nasty old capitalist business to employ the workers, who will support and feed all of those wonderful idealistic “world citizens?” It ain’t gonna be me. I’m gonna get me a cane pole, go down to the shore and catch my supper. I will feed me and defend my food from you. All you righteous little revolutionaries can feed yourselves. Have a nice day!
Report Post »I CHOOSE THE RED PILL MR PRESIDENT
Posted on February 9, 2011 at 2:41amNuh uh… Ask Michael Moore. He’s still on the hunt for another 2 million…
Report Post »