From: Damien Raphael (phoenix@ugcs.caltech.edu)
Date: Sun Feb 03 2002 - 23:09:34 MST
On Mon, Feb 04, 2002 at 12:33:16AM -0500, T0Morrow@aol.com wrote:
> I think it might prove more helpful to frame the issue not in terms of worth,
> which risks confusing economic with moral issues, but rather in terms of
> wealth. It may not seem too surprising that some individuals control
> billions in assets while others have almost no money, at least not when you
> think about how the ability to earn money varies widely from person to
> person. But it does and should seem odd to think that a rich person "is
But that's the thing. Does the ability to earn money really vary by a
factor of a million from person to person, in their own right? How much
of that variance is from the person, and how much from the position in
society they happen to occupy, which any non-moron could exploit? If a
lot comes from the position (no one would say it all does, but a lot
might), then we could contemplate a society with fewer bottlenecks to be
occupied by lottery. (Or more but less lucrative ones.)
-xx- Damien X-)
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Fri Nov 01 2002 - 13:37:37 MST