[clue-talk] Wow, Card's a little political...

[Angelo Bertolli]

Jed S. Baer wrote:
> On Sat, 01 Nov 2008 00:01:00 -0400
> Angelo Bertolli wrote:
>
>   
>> What choice does a society have except to rely upon socialism to rescue 
>> it when capitalism screws it up?
>>     
>
> Capitalism didn't screw it up. Ill-concieved government regulations and
> meddling screwed it up. It was the government that induced lenders to
> make substandard mortgages in the name of "fairness" and "affordable
> housing". We can now see where that led. This actually came more out of
> the Carter and Clinton administrations than anything else.
>   

Believe me, I agree with you that the housing was not correctly 
incentivized, but don't think for a minute that this bubble couldn't 
have happened with a deregulated banking and housing market.  Pure 
capitalism is survival of the fittest and will take advantage of whoever 
and whatever it can.  If that means you get your cut, while other people 
lose their homes, that's perfectly acceptable.  And once I have more 
money, it's just that much easier for me to take advantage of you 
again.  The guy who has more money can always get a better deal than 
you, because you need him more than he needs you.

I'm not saying we need to fundamentally knock everyone down to the same 
level, but at least acknowledge that if you have more money you are more 
equal.

> BTW, there are very good reasons for demonizing words such as Communism
> and Socialism. They kill people. Go read some Thomas Sowell, please.
>   

There are even better reasons for defining (or redefining as the case 
may be) it correctly.  And to that effect, there are some good reasons 
for demonizing the word Capitalism,  the great king-maker.  You just 
don't see it because we have capitalism alongside some pretty nifty 
forms of government.  Capitalism is the first and most natural state of 
a society:  all aristocracies are capitalist.

By the way, how do you think kings were made?  Money, weapons, power... 
it's all the same.  The Rothschilds knew.


Angelo