Oh, did I say "crass self-interest"? Sorry, I meant to say "class self-interest"...;-)
But therein lies a tale...when you talk about anecdotal experience validating the success of a particular economic ideology, to be honest about it all you're really talking about is the experience of those who have prospered under a particular system. There's an exact analogy between economic systems on the one hand, and ecosystems and evolution on the other. The success of a species depends entirely on how closely its characterists match its environment at a particular time. When the environment changes different species are selected. That doesn't mean that one environment is good and another bad.
By analogy, when an economic system changes, different individuals are rewarded. An absolutely unregulated laissez-faire system most rewards individuals with the fewest scruples, the robber-barons willing to cut any throat and cheat any customer for profit. Add some necessary regulation and the environment changes; not necessarily to reward "better" people, but to reward cleverer people who learn the new system and figure out how to prosper playing within the new rules (or to skirt the rules without getting caught). Modern business depends on lawyers for this reason, for better or worse.
In more mundane terms, the people who prosper under a given system will always maintain that the system is perfect as ordained by God, and any change could only be for the worse. They're right...for themselves. But not necessarily for their fellow citizens.
--Robert
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Re: Hair of the dog...
The whole thread (55 posts)
- God, I'm getting tired of this...
- Testing....
- Moi aussi
- I want some brownie points for restraint. n/t (n/t)
- Oh put it away, Tom, Nobody is impressed...
- Then don't do this
- Maybe as an exercise I should try writing like you for a week.
- P.S.
- You just keep digging yourself deeper
- Well for Goodness' Sake
- Thanks...one Bowser was enough.
- Mary Anne, your version is PRICELESS!
- For Tom: a bit about your character (probably not what you think)
- Cripes! Don't forget you're not getting paid for this! ;-) *(n/t) (n/t)
- P.S.
- Ego deflating is a risky business Tom...