Here’s my reasoning; capitalism relies on stupid consumers being manipulated into buying things they don’t need. The more stupid people there in a capitalist nation, and the stupider they are, the better off the capitalist system will be. Another way to look at it is, the greater the gap between the educated minority and the uneducated majority, the better off the capitalist system will be. The USA is a perfect example of this; the worlds greatest capitalist nation. In the USA, there is something like a 10% minority of educated and a 90% majority of uneducated and the difference between the uneducated and the educated is tremendous.
The thing is though, with the internet and the rise of atheism in the USA, the uneducated have suddenly become more educated, even if only a little bit. The stupid majority isn’t so stupid anymore and look what’s happening; the feces have hit the fan in the greatest capitalist nation on earth. You can say, “Oh, it was the sub-prime mortgage brokers and greedy investors who triggered an unprecedented rise in house prices which inevitably collapsed as soon as too many high-risk borrowers defaulted on their loans,” and that may be part of the reason too, but I still think that capitalist systems require stupid people to function and if the stupid people wise up, the capitalist system fails. Can you prove me wrong?
A capitalist system requires consumers with enough resources to buy, and products they will buy, so that the GDP does not fall into recession. In a smooth running capitalist economy, consumers do not extend themselves beyond their purchasing power.
It could be argued that "stupid people fell prey to greedy people" as the cause of the current recession.
I think the correlation is between Christians redefining morality and the rise of atheism. As radical, anti-gay Christians since the mid-1970′s have worked to convince everyone that "treat others as you want to be treated" really means "take away the civil rights from law-abiding, taxpaying, gay Americans," it has pushed more and more people away from Christianity. Even a child knows that treating others unequally and unfairly is wrong. Now that we have anti-gay activists under the guise of "religious beliefs" busily corrupting state constitutions all over America, there are more non-believers than ever.
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People easily lose their so called faith when their lives seem to be going wrong. The truth is that life is always going wrong for someone, You just don’t pay attention till it happens to you!
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How much money did we spent in the stupid war by the Christian president and their christians supporter???
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_letter
The Land letter was a letter sent to U.S. President George W. Bush by five evangelical Christian leaders on October 3, 2002, outlining their theological support for a just war pre-emptive invasion of Iraq. The letter was written by Richard D. Land, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention. It was co-signed by:
* Chuck Colson, founder of Prison Fellowship Ministries
* Bill Bright, chairman of Campus Crusade for Christ
* James Kennedy, president of Coral Ridge Ministries, and
* Carl D. Herbster, president of the American Association of Christian Schools
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Well, people may also be getting depressed, leading to decreased faith.I don’t think theists or atheists are necessarily smarter/ dumber than the other group. And not all of that information available is good!
You seem to have a pretty sad outlook on things. Either we are all stupid sheep, paying into 10% of the population, or everyone is poor. What is your solution?
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How well capitalism works has nothing to do with stupidity. It has to do with business ethics.
And there doesn’t appear to be any correlation between economic crisis and religion. Look at the Great Depression. The rates of religious people were much higher then.
If anything, I think it has a trend with the hijacked Republican party. I have nothing against conservatism, but the Republican party is just a cesspool of corruption which has nothing to do with political policy.
We came out of the Great Depression after the Democratic New Deal, and experienced exponential economic growth.
Then we had Reagan, who undid the New Deal. The economy stayed ok for the wealthy, but went downhill for the middle class and the poor.
Then we had Clinton, and the economy was great.
Then we had Bush, and now we’re in the biggest economic crisis since the Great Depression.
You do the math.
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yes and here is some other statistics you may be interested in
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:FSM_Pirates.png
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Isn’t it simply god’s will… christian god to be exact who is testing the faith of the believers.
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I don’t think it has anything to do with the "economic crisis" at all. I just think more and more people are feeling more comfortable being honest these days about their lack of belief.
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I’m an atheist, and I don’t think christians are stupid. I think that people are christian because of childhood indoctrination mostly.
This reminds me of the pastafarian example, "Pirates cause global warming". The idea is that after the number of pirates started declining, global warming increased. It means that just because two things appear to have a correlation, it doesn’t mean that one caused the other.
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A capitalist system requires consumers with enough resources to buy, and products they will buy, so that the GDP does not fall into recession. In a smooth running capitalist economy, consumers do not extend themselves beyond their purchasing power.
It could be argued that "stupid people fell prey to greedy people" as the cause of the current recession.
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It stems from selfishness. Nothing more, nothing less. Christians, Muslims, atheists alike, any human being has the ability to be selfish and that is what happened.
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No.
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Desiree….No…not exactly.
I agree with your observation about stupidity in the US.
How many people can name the contestants of American Idol…but have no idea what the Federal Reserve system is?
They know that Sara Palin had a pregnant teenage daughter…..but have no idea who Barney Frank is?
Socialism flourishes on stupidity, not capitalism.
Ignorance is strength.
Freedom is slavery.
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Yes, you are wrong. This is not our first recession. They were happening long before the great depression. But they only lasted for two years. Then in the thirties the government thought they should step in and the depression lasted six years longer than it should have. You are right to a degree in that stupidity leads to money troubles. Believe me, I’ve been there. But it’s more than that. It’s also greed.
But the bigger issue is that people need to realize that morality and ethics are tied to money. It has been figured that Christ spent 15% of His ministry talking about money and how to use it wisely. The Bible also says that the LOVE of money is the root of all evil.
So it is more than being smart in your spending and saving. But also to be moral and ethical with your money.
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Hmmm…interesting! and sexy!
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I think you are hoping too much. While people maybe turning away from traditional religious ideologies, they are embracing theistic notions of their own inventions. Certainly not much better, in some ways worse. It helps keep people producing stupid people, with way too much division in their fundamental world views.
"the greater the gap between the educated minority and the uneducated majority, the better off the capitalist system will be." most certainly true I reckon. And religion makes the economic burden easier to bear for the less informed. Religious leaders know that ‘atheism’ is bad for the economy in a society with a strong capitalist view. Which is why I would suppose we will see a fierce backlash against atheist (religious leaders know how to handle the rise of atheism, its not new), and also an massive surge in religious popularity. Slaves make for a good economy for the rich, and slaves need to be kept focusing on the carrot set before them, a much better next life if they are obedient in this one, so as to stifle much conflict.
But "Is there a correlation between the rise of atheism and the economic crisis" certainly not. Good economies produce more atheist, for the ‘need’ of god gradually dissipates. Even the religious leaders know that economic crisis helps encourage religious ideals.
My opinion (un researched)
PS. Taking the means of production away from the common people, either by force, law, or indoctornation, is also a large part of the problem. Religion plays a major part in this I reckon.
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My mind only
I think your theory rests on the false premise that capitalism relies on stupid consumers and manipulation. It relies on supply and demand, when you really boil it down to basics. There is nothing stupid about the need for food, clothing, or shelter, all of which are the primary goods that are sold and bought in a free market.
Remember, correlation does not imply causation. And I don’t think the internet is making us collectively smarter. If anything, more and more bad information is repeated as fact now than ever before.
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