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Matthew Gertner scripsit:
> The good news is that the
> combination of democracy and capitalism demonstrably works, we've solved a
> lot of the problems inherent in naive approaches to capitalism and continue
> to do so.
It "works" for a small minority of the world's population. The rest are
in the same grinding poverty *or worse* that they've ever been in.
> (http://www.economist.com/science/displayStory.cfm?story_id=1045223 -- like
> a good reactionary I read reactionary rags) that points out that purely
> selfish behavior based on this principle can lead to altruistic behavior on
> the macro level. Good news for everyone, I say.
Yes, indeed, and very interesting.
> The bottom line is that we have made more political and economic progress in
> the past century than in the millenium that preceded it, and this has led to
> massively less disease and poverty for maybe a quarter of the world's
> population. The only way to spread this benefit to the neglected three
> quarters is to continue on the path of capitalism, democracy and free trade.
Well and good -- *if* we had those things. The Blessings-Of-Civilization
Trust, as Mark Twain called it, is more in the habit of spreading
massive inequality, authoritarian rule, and "protectionism at home, free
trade abroad" -- the qualities of large corporations.
--
John Cowan <jcowan@reutershealth.com> http://www.reutershealth.com
I amar prestar aen, han mathon ne nen, http://www.ccil.org/~cowan
han mathon ne chae, a han noston ne 'wilith. --Galadriel, _LOTR:FOTR_
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