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What does greed have to do with keeping the product of your labor?
If you work on a small orchard watering, pruning and feeding apples all year long what right does anyone have to a single apple you produced? Answer, none.
Does the government have a right to take a percentage of your apples to give to people who have no apples because that is somehow "fair"?
Something that should be taught in school.
what can be interpreted from your post is that an "equitable" America should look more 3rd world....
why should the gov't be allowed to progressively tax?
why should the gov't be involved in trying to make life better? (or have you forgotten roads, ports, fire/police, etc)
Capitalism is the exploitation of man by man, while Communism is the opposite.
Let us define terms so we KNOW what is being asserted.
EXPLOITATION : 1. The act of employing to the greatest possible advantage; 2. Utilization of another person or group for selfish purposes.
CAPITALISM - An economic system in which the means of production, distribution and exchange are privately owned and operated for private profit.
- - - WEBSTER'S DICTIONARY
PRIVATE PROPERTY - "As protected from being taken for public uses, is such property as belongs absolutely to an individual, and of which he has the exclusive right of disposition. Property of a specific, fixed and tangible nature, capable of being in possession and transmitted to another, such as houses, lands, and chattels."
- - - Black's Law dictionary, sixth ed., p.1217
If you concatenate capitalism with private property, you can see the "inconvenient truth".
Capitalism is an economic system in which the means of production, distribution and exchange are absolutely owned by individuals and operated for their individual profit.
So the private ownership of the means of production (land, tools, factories, etc) by individuals is exploitation - either used to the greatest possible advantage, or preying on others for "selfish" reasons, in the poster's opinion.
COMMUNISM - the ownership of property, or means of production, distribution and supply, by the whole of a classless society, with wealth shared on the principle of 'to each according to his need', each yielding fully 'according to his ability'.
- - - Webster's Dictionary.
SOCIALISM - A political and economic theory advocating collective ownership of the means of production and control of distribution. It is based upon the belief that all, while contributing to the good of the community, are equally entitled to the care and protection which the community can provide.
--- Webster's dictionary
Socialism and communism = COLLECTIVE ownership.
From the Communist manifesto:
"In this sense, the theory of the Communists may be summed up in the single sentence: Abolition of private property."
So the opposite of capitalistic exploitation is to use the collectively owned property to the least possible advantage -or- unselfishly. Except, since no one owns anything in their individual capacity (remember - private property is abolished), how can one be selfish in a "communist paradise"?
"No one should suffer because they lack {fill in the blank}" should be prefaced with "No one should be compelled to labor for the benefit of another, so that..." because slavery is not an acceptable solution to the ills of mankind.
Voluntary charity is a blessing.
Compulsory charity is a curse.
So COMPULSORY LABOR (slavery) is NOT selfish exploitation of a people as long as the COLLECTIVE benefits.
And EXPROPRIATION of one's labor and property by the Collective is NOT thievery because the communist government says so.
And since NO INDIVIDUAL has a right to life, liberty, or property, except by permission of the collective, it is CERTAINLY the opposite of capitalism, where the individual has the endowment of rights and liberties from his Creator.
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