Comments on I'm Feeling Rough & Run-Down!!

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Pat B, right you are!

posted by Dylan24 on March 5, 2006 at 5:20 PM | link to this | reply

A: I'm glad you're feeling better, and 2:

there's nothing wrong with capitalism as long as the rules apply equally to everybody.  It's the legal loopholes for the wealthiest 1% that make the game such a crapshoot for working folk. 

posted by Pat_B on March 2, 2006 at 8:30 AM | link to this | reply

No, please go on.

This is the kind of discussion that I wish we on Blogit could all have more often.

I wrote a post about the incentives created by capitalism. I think capitalism sends investment mostly toward the well-endowed (financially and intellectually) leaving the less fortunate in jeopardy. If we had the kind of society in which the well-being of each member was the first priority, and all economic activity geared toward that end, I don't think there would be a need for a large welfare state.

But I think because most economic activity is motivated (of necessity, in our system) by self-interest, it is inherently maladaptive to a commitment to universal well-being. When people have to work so many hours just to care for themselves, it is only a few really noble souls who branch out to help those in need. So we make it rational for a person to donate to the less-fortunate by rewarding him for doing so and/or penalizing him for not doing so, using tax law, etc. It's unfortunate that we have to resort to this.

I still think that any alternative system will have to develop within and adapt to capitalist precepts, or at least the notion of private markets and property. I do not think this means we are doomed to "law of the jungle" economics, though. Perhaps we could find ways of increasing the use of non-profit private organizations, who would not have an incentive to exploit the poor and reward the rich and would exist mainly for everyone's benefit.

posted by Dylan24 on February 24, 2006 at 5:34 PM | link to this | reply

You Know...

...what? I wonder about that myself sometimes!

I need to clarify my critique of capitalism at some point. I don't think it's of capitalism per se, but rather the extremes that we see now. Extremes that mean US average wages are the same today, in real terms, as they were in 1972, yet everyone is working longer hours. Extremes that have meant, after over a decade of accelarated globalisation, global poverty has risen by 30%. Extremes that allow CEOs to now earn 3,000 times or more the salary of the lowest-paid in their organisation. I think the hyper-mobility of capital that allows TNCs to move production facilities, jobs and so on to places of ever-cheaper labour and ever-laxer environmental laws is hugely damaging. I think the fact that the nrampant use of natural resources, without any cost at all to the business in many cases, is madness. Using the IMF / WTO to prise open Majority World markets to big Wall Street firms isd a major mistake (just look at the Argentina meltdown, and now the complete rejection of that model by Venezuela, Bolivia and others).

For me, I'm working on ways of completely stepping out of the pattern that the state likes people to follow - get a steady job (fat chance!), get a mortgage and other debts that keep you in that job, work six months of the year to pay your taxes, another four months to make your debt repayments, and try and save some, too, to supplement your meagre pension. On the upside, we'll give you a whole two weeks a year to do with as you please (depending on what you can afford, of course) and you get to stop work at 70, or 65 if you're lucky. No time to create. No time to think. No time to protest that there might be a better way. Taxed into the ground, and then taxed again when you're in the ground.

No - there are other ways. They do involve playing the system more creatively, and that's my path. When I get it sorted for myself, I'll definitely be looking to share the knowledge. I want everyone to have the tools to leave 'the system' if they choose.

I'll shut up now.

D

posted by DamonLeigh on February 23, 2006 at 3:27 AM | link to this | reply

Hang in there, old man!

I still have to chuckle that someone so critical of capitalism has so much sophisticated personal dealing in it. I'm not saying there's anything hypocritical with it. I'm saying that I think of capital's critics as being mostly detached from the world of commercial interests. Maybe that's just a prejudice on my part.

Well wishes for you, the wife and the son...

posted by Dylan24 on February 22, 2006 at 8:33 AM | link to this | reply

Ca88andra...

...happily, the ulcers have subsided today.

Thanks for the wishes!

D

posted by DamonLeigh on February 22, 2006 at 3:36 AM | link to this | reply

Mouth ulcers are the worst! Hope all the deals go well.

posted by Ca88andra on February 22, 2006 at 2:41 AM | link to this | reply

Sassy...

...how long have you been promising a visit?

Also, there is a Stratford in London, but I was at the Stratford upon Avon, home of the Bard himself.

Thanks for reading - you OK?

D

posted by DamonLeigh on February 22, 2006 at 2:34 AM | link to this | reply

joleen...

...a news blackout, huh? That's my overall impression of the US media, to be fair!

No, I don't do antibiotics if  I can at all help it. They get rid of all the good bits as well as the bad.

Have a peaceful day - and thanks for commenting.

D

posted by DamonLeigh on February 22, 2006 at 2:32 AM | link to this | reply

Dave...

...s'funny, I'd heard that to about Guiness.

Worth a try, for sure.

Thanks for the comment, matey.

D

posted by DamonLeigh on February 22, 2006 at 2:29 AM | link to this | reply

Good luck!

I hope that all of your deals work out for you. I am jealous though about all that driving around London. My brother was just there, and one day I just might jump the pond.

posted by sassyass_64 on February 21, 2006 at 9:29 PM | link to this | reply

Hello DamonLeigh,

thank you for sharing your life... i must say your mouth ulcers have got to be seen... tell us you have antibiotics... thanks for the link to the port story... we are having a news blackout today because of the port in new jersey... i feel the same as you... just when you think we've hit bottom and can now work our way out of the mess this administration has unleashed on us, they do something else that calls for impeachment... i take it you are in Britian... thanks for letting me know today that someone else's heart beats for peace.

posted by joleen on February 21, 2006 at 10:20 AM | link to this | reply

Guinness is good for mouth ulcers, I find.

Hope all the deals drop into place. And that you get an award at the dinner.

Stratford - ah, Stratford.

posted by _dave_says_ack_ on February 21, 2006 at 10:20 AM | link to this | reply