Re: Albanian situations/irrational political systems.

Eric Watt Forste (arkuat@pobox.com)
Wed, 05 Mar 1997 15:02:15 -0800

Joost de Lyser writes:
>I
>Revolution (civil war) in Albania, because of a Pyramid system!

Pyramid schemes are usually considered fraud, not trade. Fraud is not
a distinguishing feature of capitalism, since it is just as common (if
not more so) under noncapitalistic systems. Free trade is the
distinguishing trait of capitalism.

>II
>And rational thinking in irrationalized systems:
>
>Personally i don't aspire to become wealthy, as the more i work, the more i
>work for the state and the less for myself. I am in the fortunate position,
>where i have a part time job, (1 day a week) which pays enough per hour to
>get by, and leaves me lots of time for individual development. Don't call
>it lazyness, call it rational behaviour in states that have maximum income
>tax scales of 60-70%, and where some have understood that time is our most
>valuable possession.

Ah, yes, the John Galt strategy, first popularized by Ayn Rand.

--
Eric Watt Forste ++ arkuat@pobox.com ++ http://www.pobox.com/~arkuat/