Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I think capitalism is better because it seems like it lines up better with human biology. It just makes sense. Back in the days before money, there was bartering. People would trade goods for other goods they needed, they didn't spread out the goods so that everyone could have the same.
But back before that (also NOW, in the context of the modern indigenous tribe), hunters would go out in packs and bring back meat to share with the whole tribe. And yeah, they got extra. Pregnant women got the best cuts, namely the highly-prized organ meats. Among the Anaang people, they gave the brains to the chief.
In other words, they certainly practiced universal welfare, unless you were a total outcast. And yet, they also managed to reward positive social behavior and punish negative social behavior.
One alternative system is the one Bhutan has set up; instead of a Gross National Product, they have devised a system that values a balanced life, which they call the "Gross National Happiness". In order to satisfy demands by international institutions like the World Bank, for s method of breaking down and measuring the Gross National Happiness, and progress toward improving it, the Bhutanese government has come up with an elaborate system for analyzing and tracking improvements in the quality of life.
Pardon my cynicism, but Gross National Happiness is what you tell your people to strive for when their gross national product per person is stuck in four figures.
Personally, I find it mystifying that so many of you can talk about Corporations having too much power that has been concentrated by a cozy relationship with the government....and then call for socialism. Socialism puts everything into a monopoly (owned by the government) and is by necessity in a cozy relationship with the government.
I truly can't believe so many people have suddenly thought this would be a good solution, after so many repeated failures.
Is it a Free Market when the consumers don't know enough about the products to evaluate them. And the manufacturers don't supply enough information even if they knew.
Um, no. That's actually the opposite of a free market. When people don't have all relevant information for making decisions related to price, quality, etc., then it's not a free market. Of course, no market is perfectly free, but both the government and the crony capitalists have moved us away from free markets over many decades. That's not an accident.
Pardon my cynicism, but Gross National Happiness is what you tell your people to strive for when their gross national product per person is stuck in four figures.
A valid point. But surely GDP growth alone only goes so far.
Personally, I find it mystifying that so many of you can talk about Corporations having too much power that has been concentrated by a cozy relationship with the government....and then call for socialism. Socialism puts everything into a monopoly (owned by the government) and is by necessity in a cozy relationship with the government.
I truly can't believe so many people have suddenly thought this would be a good solution, after so many repeated failures.
Yep, I've thought the same.
I think it's because people have been convinced by the government that we should look to government as our savior. They think if we just vote for the right people, all will be well. People are afraid to look at how corrupt it is at the highest levels. It would pop too many illusions.
But back before that (also NOW, in the context of the modern indigenous tribe), hunters would go out in packs and bring back meat to share with the whole tribe. And yeah, they got extra. Pregnant women got the best cuts, namely the highly-prized organ meats. Among the Anaang people, they gave the brains to the chief.
In other words, they certainly practiced universal welfare, unless you were a total outcast. And yet, they also managed to reward positive social behavior and punish negative social behavior.
and everyone did their part to pull their share of the work...
today where half would rather sit around, how does cooperative work get done? cut social welfare and let them work or starve?
A valid point. But surely GDP growth alone only goes so far.
That's also a valid point, but what you do with the resources you've been given/can manage to get is up to you. Latin Americans have high happiness indexes and Eastern Europeans have low ones at the same ($20,000-ish) level of income. A good guess would be that the difference is cultural.
But back before that (also NOW, in the context of the modern indigenous tribe), hunters would go out in packs and bring back meat to share with the whole tribe. And yeah, they got extra. Pregnant women got the best cuts, namely the highly-prized organ meats. Among the Anaang people, they gave the brains to the chief.
In other words, they certainly practiced universal welfare, unless you were a total outcast. And yet, they also managed to reward positive social behavior and punish negative social behavior.
Or unless you were too old/enfeebled, in which you would voluntarily separate from the tribe and essentially commit suicide.
and everyone did their part to pull their share of the work...
today where half would rather sit around, how does cooperative work get done? cut social welfare and let them work or starve?
That's why I personally support creation of (useful) government/civic/community jobs with tax revenue, rather than just handing out money.
Also, I'm not sure your assertion is completely true. There are plenty of lazy free-loaders, but there are also lots of willing, hard-working people that can't find a job that pays enough for their local COL.
I know what you're getting at. The tribal thing is harder to apply to the way today's society is structured. I was mainly just responding to the "capitalism is in-line with biology", trying to show that communalism is also very much in-line with human nature.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
