Hi Mary,
On 20 Feb 2010 at 14:10, Mary wrote: > Hi Platt, > > > Over the course of human history, profit-seeking business leaders, > > scorned as greedy capitalists, have done more to preserve human life > > and lift human beings out of poverty than all the churches, charities > > and > > government welfare programs combined. It is economic ignorance that > > impels critics to vilify society's benefactors. These benefactors > > deserve > > our gratitude and praise for without them there would be a lot fewer > > people alive today and a lot more poverty. > > [Mary Replies] > I would agree with your first point. I have no interest in charities, > churches, or ill conceived welfare. I do have an interest in human dignity, > social justice, and equality. The extent to which capitalism has enhanced > those is, however, serendipity. Human dignity, social justice and equality sound like Pirsig's "vague, amorphous soup of sentiments" whose real meaning has never been spelled out in any way. Care to try? > I am glad to see you subscribing to Social Darwinism by exhibiting such > gratitude to your benefactors. Since the Reagan administration, there has > been an accelerating pattern of deregulation allowing for the amassing of > greater and greater wealth in the hands of a few. I am glad to learn that > you have such faith in their judgment as to its use, since surely the world > would be an awful place if all that concentrated wealth were put to work > bettering the larger human condition. No other economic system has come close to bettering the larger human condition than capitalism. > I have a complete set of the writings of Ayn Rand in paperback. I would be > happy to loan them to you. Have you read them? > This past week Frontline on PBS aired a documentary about the financial > crisis. It was a pleasure to once again watch Alan Greenspan stand before > Congress in his October 23, 2008 hearing and admit he'd been wrong. It was > a disappointment, however, to see that the "greatest financial wizard" of > the past 30 years; whose every word was clung to as received gospel, is, now > that his tune has changed, suddenly so ignored. The Federal Reserve and other government regulators contributed mightily to the recent economic downturn. Current interference in the free market by Obama and his fellow travellers has made the situation worse. At the rate they're going we'll all become wards of the state. That's when things will really become static. Not a happy prospect. Warm regards, Platt Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
