From: Matt Welland (matt@essentialgoods.com)
Date: Sun Aug 24 2003 - 10:34:22 MDT
*sigh*, seek first to understand...
On Sunday 24 August 2003 01:44 am, Spike wrote:
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Matt Welland
>
>
> ...This thread strikes an interesting cord for me. In my opinion one of
> the
> unaddressed (and unintended) consequences of unbridled capitalism(*) is
> that
> over time natural resources, i.e. land, slowly ends up in the hands of a
> few...
>
>
> On the contrary, this consequence is intended. This
> demonstrates the beauty and power of unbridled capitalism.
> Matt, when wealth is evenly spread over the population, it
> is just money. But when it is concentrated in the hands
> of a few, then it becomes CAPITAL and it takes on a certain
> POWER to create new wealth and make things happen. This is
> because when money does concentrate, notice that it always
> seems to fall into the hands of those who know how to USE
> the capital to create more wealth, to the benefit of everyone,
> whether by creating jobs or by creating products to be
> purchased by the proletariat.
>
> Contrast this to unbridled communism, which destroys the
> value of land, since the government cannot be trusted to
> not seize the land on a whim (so why pay much for it?).
> Communism destroys wealth by reducing incentive to struggle
> and take risks. Take away the rewards of competition,
> and people will not compete. If people do not compete,
> they do not achieve excellence. They eventually get to
> where they achieve practically nothing, living in a dingy
> gray hell, struggling for mediocrity but not getting there.
> Russia will likely not recover from the curse of communism
> before the singularity.
>
>
>
> ...Carried to its inevitable consequence all the land is owned by a few
> very
> rich people who literally can deny life to the remaining population...
>
>
>
> It would work that way except for the fact that land
> is not a critical resource anymore. In fact most
> land is actually a liability. Land in cities has a
> great deal of value, and is increasing. Intellectual
> property carries value and is increasing. Farmland? Nah,
> it's just dirt, and the tax structure of the U.S. is
> making it harder all the time to make money from it.
>
> spike
-- Be strong, have patience, pay attention and live well.
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