+1 Marx was a brilliant critical thinker, which is incredibly valuable. However, I don't think he ever offered a constructive and practical solution.
The main problem I have is that people constantly say Marx was anti-capitlist...when he really wasnt. Dont forget his cycles of history. Capitlism is necessary to reach the next stage (socialism and the state run by the proletariat). The fact is that in capitlism the only way you profit is by exploiting someone elses work. For example, if someone works at a shoe factory and makes 10 pairs of shoes an hour that can be sold for $50 a pair that worker will not be paid $500 an hour. He will be paid some amount that is much smaller than the value of his work. The difference is profit. Marx said that at some point the masses will get tired of this explotation and would revolt resulting in a socialist society and eventually a pure communist society. Without captilism there wouldnt be a pure communist state. Also, too many peopple confuse Marx with the USSR, which is completly wrong. The USSR was never marxist. They were too busy trying to dominate the west than to be Marxist. I wrote a lengthy paper discussing this very topic.
The problem with capitalism is that there is a small minority of people who bust their asses their entire life and dont get anywhere, i feel bad for those people, but that is a downfall one must live with in order for the system to keep going.The problem with marxism is that the vast majority of people are lazy, and will only do what they need to in order to earn a pay check. So we are stuck either producing at much higher levels through capitalism, rewarding most of the hard workers, and leaving a few hard workers behind. OR Rewarding everyone the same through marxism and leaving the majority of productive people behind, no matter how hard they work, and producing at a much lower level. The choice seems pretty easy in my books.
Marx is alive and well, don't let the bureaucrats, war and banking oligarchs tell you otherwise. In 1848 Marx and Engels proposed that progressive taxation be used "to wrest, by degrees, all capital from the bourgeois, to centralize all instruments of production in the hands of the state." This is exactly what Obama, the Fed, the EU, OECD, IMF, World Bank, etc etc want: Tax Tax and more Tax. http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=6297
"Is Nouriel Roubini a Communist?" http://www.cnbc.com/id/44147922/ I cringe at the title of the article, because to be a Marxist does not -> you are communist. There is very little meat to the article, but interesting nonetheless.
We need more Darwinists.... "Survival of the fittest". Provide for yourself or DIE. Society does not need nor benefit from an ever growing number of parasitic tit-suckers. Grandpa told me... "The world doesn't owe you a living, boy". Well, the world doesn't owe anybody a life, either.