Current Events — HabitableZone

Current Events » in reply to you might want to recall how wealth was accumulated in the capitalist 19th century.

I do.
Tom Brosz — (archived)

It is comforting to many to believe that wealth is accumulated only by evil men, or people who were simply "lucky."

Since it's painfully obvious that this is not true in modern times, we have to fall back on the 19th century, when of course, wealth was then only accumulated by evil men. Right?

Well, no. For every rapacious "capitalist" (usually someone using the government to stifle competition and obtain favors) there were hundreds of businessmen who succeeded simply by offering a business or service that people were willing to pay for. And improved everyone's life by doing it.

Believe me, I know a little something about capitalism and its history.

For example, an interesting article on the history of the railroads can be found here. Contrast the "mixed economy" government-subsidized approach with the free market approach.

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