>> Ike wrote: >> Various lobying for a specific kind of predominantly >> urban middle-class lifestyle has resulted
> Interesting point, but now you're really talking about > democracy rather than capitalism. That is, you can > choose an income level that supports your life > preferences, but local laws may prevent you from > fulfilling it. > Of course you could always choose enough income to buy > your exceptions or move to an area that permitted it, but > you choose not to. So really it still comes down to a > choice which you're given. That's not true either... because not everyone has the luxury of choosing how much money they make, and if you don't have some minimal amount of cash (above the poverty line) it becomes much more difficult to move to another area. Sure, you could drop everything you have and hitch-hike and then be stuck homeless in a new area in worse shape than you were before... so if you can't get out of poverty where you are, then moving isn't liable to help either. I'm actually a good example of how difficult it is to pass the poverty line... My parents were wealthy but pissed it all away. I made some mistakes early (got married, had kids) and haven't had the opportunity to go to college even though my family could have afforded to support me and pay my tuition. (Among my mistakes early on included having attempted to get a better education and failed when I wasn't able to both work and feed my daughter and attend school and I ended up queering my financial aid.) I was below the poverty level in my early adulthood and with plenty of intelligence and a RAGING desire to not be under the poverty level, still was not able to breach it. I got lucky (that's it, no drive or determination issues) got hired for tech support at HP and subsequently at MCI/Worldcom where I picked up CF. If it hadn't been for those 2 strokes of luck (and yes, I do believe luck was the deciding factor) I would probably be flipping burgers today. Since then I've held on to my career more or less by the skin of my teeth through my divorce (still pending) and simultaneous economic depression. I've known a number of people whom I consider to be rather intelligent, several of them who have college degrees who ended up flipping burgers or doing technical support (and frequently having their hours cut so that it didn't matter that they earned more than min. wage per hour) in their late 20's or 30's. Saying that capitalism gives everyone the opportunity to do whatever they want is a gigantic steaming load of BS propoganda. Yes the previous argument about gov't regulations is more or less about democracy rather than capitalism... I say more or less because I'd venture to say it's really pretty well proven that our country is not "for the people by the people"... It's really "for the wealthy by the wealthy" as a result of capitalist forces which not only allow but encourage corporate lobbying. You can say that these regulations are an issue purely of democracy, but imo it's really just lip service. Sorry if it seems like I've been "attacking" you... The subject of voluntarism and capitalism (this concept that less fortunate people want to be less fortunate) has always been something that gets my dander up. s. isaac dealey 954.522.6080 new epoch : isn't it time for a change? add features without fixtures with the onTap open source framework http://www.fusiontap.com http://coldfusion.sys-con.com/author/4806Dealey.htm ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Get help! RoboHelp http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=58 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:174927 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
