> >I can't talk for Extropians, but I can talk for myself. And I know
> >that economy and free markets is what makes those people poor.
> Some facts are so simple and obvious that somehow they get
> overlooked.
>
> Free markets and economies don't make poor children. Parents do.
Oh man, you did it. You made me laugh, which rarely occurs on this list.
This is one of the funniest Libertarian explanations for inequality I've
ever read.
But to become serious again: Education _is_ a real problem. Not only
education of the poor, but also education of those who are able to buy
whole universities. Money means power, and in a world where some people
are much richer than others, you will always have explicit power
structures.
Decisions of today are made by this power elite. This ain't the big bad
government guys, it's those economic rulers, investment banks especially
(Brown Brothers Harriman, Morgan Investment Trust). They own all the
larger companies and, as if this wouldn't be enough, also manage them
with their people sitting in the board of directors.
They WANT government. Goverment is an easy way to get money (taxes) and
to invest it the way they want. Government therefore doesn't only (or
does hardly) do "clever" investments. Pushing weapons industry, for
example, always helps big companies to grow bigger and to crush smaller
companies, for it doesn't raise the life standard.
Remove government and you get a dictatorship of banks / monopolies. Much
worse than gov't could ever be. Freedom? You'll be so free, you'll want
to buy a whole load of guns in order to defend yourself from street
thugs. Equality? Raising life standard? Nope. But nobody who defends
markets claims that -- that's natural selection. Eat or be eaten. Live
and let die.
Conclusion: Make those powerful guys cleverer, and they'll recognize
that making the everone else cleverer, too, will be to their own benefit
in the long term. That's all you need. No communism (any communist
movement is crushed in its roots, whether by media propaganda or by
weapons power), no free markets and no dictatorships (whereas these two
are actually the same).
I advocate efforts to help the poor. They'll never be enough to save the
poor children, though. And anyone who puts this phrase in quotation
marks should take a look. 12.5 million each year, have fun on your
vacation. Poor, poor children -- they're just too stupid, or their
parents are, or government is evil, or aliens have infiltrated them, or
they've deserved it, or ...
Anyway, I hope this isn't classified as "rant" again. I hope some of you
think about what I say, or it is a waste of time. I don't want to insult
anyone, I'm a peaceful guy. Maybe I just want the same thing you do:
Make this world a better place.
Erik Moeller