There were also people who sought to partially end slavery. No, slavery was evil, and you either ended it, or not. There is no such concept as "slavery isn't entirely bad". Likewise with patents. From a patent attorney: "Intellectual Property Is “Evil” - And Businesspeople Should Oppose It"

> And yet, there are automobiles everywhere. Oh wow you blew my whole argument out the water right there. Ladies and gentlemen, there are vehicles on the market. Therefore, patents are all good!

Are you refering to things like this quagmire?

It's time to abolish patents completely.

Ten, twenty years ago we were hearing all about this 'wonder material' .. then suddenly we stopped hearing much at all, and didn't really see applications come to market. Now we know why. It's been all but killed by this patent minefield. Your children someday might have a terminal illness that could have been cured by some graphene-based medical product? Sorry, they must rather die so that the corporations who control these patents and patent lawyers can sit on the tech forcibly preventing anyone else from benefiting from it. We could help green deserts and make new regions of the planet liveable with cheaper desalination? Sorry, that must be killed by patents. Cheaper solar? Kill it. Potential electronics applications? Kill it.

Unless we abolish patents, our children and grandchildren are going to be living in a world that is scarcely more technically advanced than our own is now.

Even patent attorneys are starting to agree that patents are not or are no longer encouraging innovation, are stifling it, and are imposing a great cost burden on us, both financially and in terms of being robbed of our 'jetson's future'.

This is also the reason we've stopped seeing much real innovation or cost reductions in smartphone development: "There Are 250,000 Active Patents That Impact Smartphones; Representing One In Six Active Patents Today"

Study: Patent Trolls Cost Companies $29 Billion Last Year (that's a conservative estimate)

There is no way to "reform" this system. It's non-reformable as it's intrinsically unethical. It should be thrown out entirely.

why development has stagnated on this 'wonder material'. Patents are killing innovation and development. This is an insane number of patents .. pretty much nobody can realistically develop any graphene-based products and navigate this patent minefield.

Political systems HAVE NAMES. You can't just use whatever name you feel like. The system you are describing, which is what we have now, has a name, it's called a corporatocracy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporatocracy

And there's nothing uncapitalistic about spending your ill-gotten gains on bribes to support your business

By the very definition of the word "capitalism", spending money on bribes to get the government to use force to artificially prop up your business is NOT capitalism. By definition. Seriously. Stop f'ing calling it that. That would be called a "corporatocracy" and it's the opposite of free-market capitalism.

Uh no. Squeezing is the basic tenet of capitalism.

"Uh no", it isn't. Where do you see that in the definition Capitalism? The definition of Capitalism is a system in which private property rights are respected and people have the right to trade. NOWHERE in there does it EITHER compel you to create value while earning profit OR destroy it in the name of profit. Therefore, it's a cultural/individual choice within the confines of the definition of Capitalism.

Squeezing the market may be what they put in the handbook to teach aspiring MBA types, but "Capitalism" is a political term with a political definition. Seriously, look it up.

Back when they "made things to last", it was more of a Capitalist system than we have now. That's because our culture wasn't entirely overrun with MBA drones chanting 'profit over value creation'.

Not just absorb stuff from the air, but keeping the leaves dry in a wet climate would help prevent the leaves from rotting.

It's long known that many plants produce a wax coating to help prevent the leaves from drying OUT when it's dry - the same surface system that keeps water out, helps (more importantly) keep water in.

That's why TVs were invented under Communism and the most high quality TVs ever created, were created under Communism. Oh no wait, that's not how it went.

I think the problem you're pointing out is a cultural one - the belief that profit "above all else" is the primary directive of shareholders, rather than value creation.

Back when things were "built to last", that was under more of a Capitalist sytem than we have today. The asshole MBA types have taken over management at every level, with their "what we can we leverage to squeeze greater profit out of this" destructive mentality.

That slogan was created as a parody to mock the Democrat's pro-gun-control views (i.e. suggesting the obviously absurd proposition that a woman should put up with being raped) - and here we are, people like you lapping up an absurd parody slogan repeating it as "so true" ... lol ... I don't know whether to laugh or cry. I hope your entire post was meant sarcastically.

Destroying working equipment and criminalizing the export of working equipment is just plain evil. If disposal thereof is a problem, then enforce disposal laws.

I know I'm fighting a losing battle by pointing out the obvious but that isn't "capitalism" - by definition.

Capitalism is defined as a system in which private property rights are respected and people have the right to trade. A system which requires bribing officials to use force to limit trade of private property or sieze the private property of others, by definition, falls outside that definition.

But yeah, this is a long-lost battle to redefine the word amongst the public to mean "whatever evil shit corporations in bed with government do"

That's less than $6.71 at today's exchange rates - that is very cheap, I'll get one at that price.