I can't claim to have visited many 3rd world countries, but I've spent some
time in Mexico. I've noticed 2 major causes of poverty there. One is the
Catholic church which discourages the use of contraceptives and abortion.
The second is the behavior of people who hold positions of power in various
governmental and corporate entities.
When you buy bananas at the grocery store, odds are they came from land that
was once occupied by people who grew enough food, fiber, and fuel crops on
the land to take care of themselves. Business corporations, acting in
conjunction with the Mexican (and sometimes the U.S.) government, took over
the land and gave the people who'd been using it the option of leaving or
staying there and working for the corporation at very low wages, which they
would use to buy exorbitantly priced food at the grocery store (likely also
owned by the corporation). The more self-respecting of the disposssed
peasants go to seek their fortunes in the city. The lucky ones have friends
in the U.S. who can help them find work (if they can make it safely across
the border and get past the check points). Others live on the outskirts of
cities such as Mexico D.F.
This is the ugly side of capitalism. If I'm not mistaken, the term
capitalism describes an economic system, not a political system. Capitalism
can be practised under conditions of anarchy (I'm using the word in the
sense of a situation where no person or group of persons has a legal right
to initiate force against another person or group)or under the guidance of a
totalitarian dictatorship. At present, the U.S. form of capitalism appears
to be what's known as fascism where, on the surface, individual people
appear to own "the means of production" but where their ownership is
severely limited and the actual control lies with a small elite--in this
case, your group of people who hold positions of power in certain
governmental and corporate entities. I'm not suggesting that the various
conspiracy theories you read about on Patriot web sites are true. I detest
those, because they only reinforce the awe in which people view the elite.
I like Ayn Rand's stories much better, because they portray the elite as
they actually are--twits with delusions of grandeur. It's awfully
unfortunate that the twits are able to get so many productive people to
share their delusions.
It's true, the twits have some big guns and some secure prisons. They're
purchased via the work of the millions of people who believe in the twits'
delusions and dutifully go to work every day so they can pay their taxes.
Why is it good to live forever if you're not free?
Bonnie
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-extropians@extropy.com
> [mailto:owner-extropians@extropy.com]On Behalf Of Zero Powers
> Sent: Friday, June 16, 2000 1:36 AM
>
> Do you actually believe that capitalism can provide the means to
> universally
> eradicate poverty? That if every "lazy, stupid" etc. poor person
> "got off
> their lazy ass" they could live a life of abundance? Have you *ever*
> traveled to the third world? Can you possibly believe that the
> only reason
> some people are poor is because they are "programmed" to believe the lie
> that they cannot live any other way?
>
> Compared to Lorrey economics, the Lorrey drive looks downright feasible ;)
>
> -Zero
>
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