Cooperation

It seems odd that cooperation is almost the opposite of competition. Certainly in team sports, members of the team need to cooperate with each other, but that is limited. It seems odd that cooperation is also associated with socialism, and competition is associated with capitalism. It seems odd that people in the U.S. prefer competition over cooperation, even though competition creates adversaries, whereas cooperation creates allies. Some of these beliefs may be due to propaganda (see Propaganda).

People tend to think that since the U.S. is the most powerful nation in the world, it is proof that capitalism is the right approach. A more accurate analysis would be that the U.S. illegitimately obtained most of its territory. 95% of Native Americans died from bullets, disease, or starvation, basically making this a nation without a territorial heritage. The country has abundant natural resources and neighbors that are non-aggressive. Capitalism has fostered an economy that has grown at a fantastic rate, largely fueled by a plentiful source of cheap labor. It seems odd that people fail to realize that capitalism in the U.S. is breaking down, largely due to a complicated mix of corrupt leaders, greed, and inherent flaws in the system.

People tend to think that since the USSR ended, that was proof that socialism was the wrong approach. A more accurate analysis of why the USSR ended is a complicated mix of corrupt leaders, greed, and inherent flaws in the system.

Our standard of living is being propped up by the sweat of cheap labor from foreign countries. We have moved most of our manufacturing to other nations. We have a huge trade imbalance because people in other countries don’t buy many of our products. Our economy is being propped up by a vast military/industrial complex that promotes war and civil unrest (see Capitalism). Nearly half of every federal tax dollar goes to the military (if you exclude Social Security, but include the interest on the deficit which is largely due to previous military spending). We are resorting to imperialism, to help maintain the economy. U.S. capitalism is in trouble (see Colonialism).

Postwar Japan is often held up as a model of economic success. Part of the secret of its success is that national research and development resources are shared with businesses in a cooperative manner. A second reason that Japan is successful is because their financial resources are utilized in useful ways, like industrial manufacturing and infrastructure, and not on an army with all of their expensive military weapons.

Perhaps the U.S. needs to get off of its capitalism high horse, and move to a more cooperative model that pools research and development for more long-term benefits. In several areas of technology, companies are beginning to do this. The U.S. auto industry is strictly competitive and keeps loosing market share. A more cooperative arrangement might help to bring up the quality of all U.S. cars. Perhaps, we need to teach cooperative sports, instead of competitive sports, in order to teach corporate executives how to share information. We need to do something to produce better U.S. products, instead of trying to make the same products for less money.