Doug Henwood wrote: > > Planning is ok if it promotes competition. Planning is bad if it > stifles it. Hayek makes a great deal out of how statist systems > smother diversity, and lead to rulers imposing their preferences on > the populace. A good description of what has been happening in capitalism. Different cities and even rural areas throughout the world come to resemble each other more and more. There isn't much cultural difference between Chicago and any other metropolitan areas and this will become less and less so. Those with the most money are able to impose their preferences on every else (assuming markets accurately reveal preferences). The rich have the most "votes" in the market. But his preference for competitive individualism is > taken as the supreme virtue in itself: no hint that he's imposing his > preferences on the populace at all. > No mention that those with the most money prefer to see a large portion of society suffer. I've always wondered just how much the rich think they are envied and how much they enjoy being envied by those of a lower socio-economic station. The signs of envy-enjoyment are all there: conspicuous consumption, a desire to drive others into the ground and extreme aversion of egalitarianism. Yet the hatred of the lower orders is such that one wonders if their envy is even worth having? Envy usually plays a part in right wing ideologies i.e. the progressive tax systems of some countries are labeled a "product of pure envy". I see no evidence that this is the case or that the rich are actually envied by the poor. Maybe the rich wish they were envied. Conservatives always give an ad hominem reply when confronted with anti-capitalist arguments "well that's because you are not rich" or "you hate freedom" "have you ever met a payroll?". Then again, envy may not be such a bad thing since it presupposes a certain feeling of undeserved inferiority and the actions spawned by envy tend to lead to destruction of the envied object or the possessor of it. Of course people have different abilities and capacities but that is something to be celebrated. Conservatives can't seem to acknowedge this fact. I know I will never be able to play like Horowitz or Jarrett or write like Isaac Deutscher but I take pleasure in that fact. sam Pawlett
