Message-ID: <32D2E265.4542@mind.net> Date: Tue, 7 Jan 1997 23:55:17 +0000 From: "B. Diamond" <mailto:bdiamond@MIND.NET> Subject: Re: Why capitalism is NOT sustainable -Reply To: Multiple recipients of list DEVEL-L <mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU>
Tu and Bob Myers wrote:> >, and business is driven by capitalism
>
> Not True, business is driven by the attempt to gain profit.
And profit is the sole end of captitalism, no?
> You steadfastly refuse to recognize that the same misuse of resources
> (renewable, non-renewable, and people) occurred under the state controlled
> communist economic system.
Of course I accept that these abuses occur under other systems, you are perhaps falling victim to the popular trap that suggests if I'm *against* capitalism, I must be *for* socialism/communism. While the former is correct, the latter is not. Are we so rigid in our worldview that we must only advocate one of the current dominant paradigms? This whole thread was started as a debate as to what we should be teaching/conveying to the third world countries we want to help. Do we indoctrinate them capitalistic ideals (or communist/socialist for that matter) or do we/can we help them without interferring and/or placing conditions on our help? In the analogy I used earlier, can we simply loan them our socket set so that they can repair their car, or must we insist that at the very least they listen to a sermon, if not eventually convert to our way of thinking because we happen to believe our way of thinking is superior?
> It's the people who control the factory, not economic system that the
> factory was financed and operates under.
>
> To paraphrase: "It's the people ******!" Not the economic system,
Yes Bob, but this is kind of like the argument that people kill people, not guns, when it is plain to see that in the absence of so many guns (i.e. England) their would not be so many homicides (oh my god, I just realized I opened up the debate on gun control...please, no!) I believe that capitalism is more than just an economic system anymore, it is a way of thinking. It dictates our social values and societal mores. Maybe this is not the textbook definition of capitalism that you refer to, but I believe that capitalism has in a sense corrupted our moral fiber as we now place more value on the individual and personal wealth via an economic system that rewards this type of behavior and punishes doubters.
B. Diamond