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Old 07-16-2012, 11:27 AM   #18
mathewjgano
 
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Dojo: Tsubaki Kannagara Jinja Aikidojo; Himeji Shodokan Dojo
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Re: Big business and the arrogance of their culture

Quote:
Kevin Leavitt wrote: View Post
I think the rich should recognize that they keep their wealth by the graces if the middle class. Andrew Carnegie got it and wrote about the responsibility of the wealthy.
Interesting! I'll have to read up on him! One of the people who I look to, and who I think really gets it, is Warren Buffett (A name which strikes fear in the hearts of rabbits everywhere ). Too many people like to think they're almost entirely self-made, but they're also successful (if not almost entirely so) because of the circumstances they find themselves in. People aren't successful in a vacuum, and particularly when they live in one of the most prosperous nations in the world.

Quote:
In theory I am a Marxist, but I also believe that there is no such thing as altruism. So that kinda puts a damper on Marxism or communism as an economic model. For all the wrong it causes, I think capitalism works, it is the lesser of evils.
I can't claim a detailed understanding of Marxism or Capitalism...and I believe we can get "close enough" to altruism for it to serve as a functioning concept. I tend to view things in terms of a balance between the assertion of individual values and group values. Then, in terms of economics, I see things as a pie chart. It's effectively a closed system; not an infinite one. The problem with Capitalism, as I've come to understand/interpret it, is that too many people behave like it's an endless supply of material wealth that only requires a broad enough imagination to bring into light (i.e. just make more pie; "let them eat cake"). The services and luxury industries are great examples of this. They're good things with real value, don't get me wrong, but they're entirely dependant upon what I think of as "real" or fundemental value, like health-related industries such as farming, housing, and most medical fields.

Quote:
Outside of that you can argue how many rules do we need in place to keep the delicate balance goinf and create rules that redistribute enough wealth to keep the middle class happy and enough welfare to keep the poor happy, or at least not willing to up rise or revolt.

It sicks, but not sure what else you can do.
I agree, but it seems like many people equate rules of this nature as antithetical to Capitalism. I think they're crucial checks on what would otherwise become de facto feudalism: "we own this and you work for us; the difference from feudalism being that you can buy this, but not unless you have enough money for me to make even more money off it and I'll never pay you enough because it's not valuable enough to me to do so"...an imperfect analogy perhaps, but the one which seems to fit. Instead of divine right based on hereditary title it's become (to various degrees) "innate right" based partly on hereditary titles of ownership...a more convoluted version of the same thing. People like Mitt Romney who enjoy their status largely because of the work of their fathers. To be clear, I'm not saying people like him didn't work for their money or that his father didn't have the right to pass things on to his kids, but Mitt's social networking wouldn't have been nearly as easy if he had grown up in a trailer park on the Tulalip Reservation. Odds would have been decidedly more difficult, and I believe the government needs to off-set this kind of natural (and reasonable) lop-sidedness. Like you I claim no ready-made answers. I only have imperfect observations and somewhat emotionally-attached questions. What I have going for me is an intense desire to understand truth, even if it doesn't make my life easier, because I think it allows me to be a better person (non-altruistic) and to help the world around me (semi-altruistic).
...Anyhoo, for whatever it's worth.
Thanks for the chance to think about this more deeply!
Take care,
Matt

Gambarimashyo!
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