To: Mase
Tyranny thrives in societies where the citizen's freedoms are restricted. Willing buyers and sellers coming together to conduct business is one of the most basic freedoms. The fact that some people believe government should restrict this freedom (to protect freedom), so that government can't consolidate power, is comical. In the beginning of mankind there were no rules.
And from our rule-less beginnings, feudalism evolved.
Power goes to power, and money goes to money, left unchecked.
To: Age of Reason
In the beginning of mankind there were no rules.
And mankind hunted and gathered and traveled in search of food. Eventually, civilizations sprung up, specilization and trade evolved. People bartered goods in a market system, where the seller wanted to receive as much as possible for their product, and the buyer wanted to give as little as possible for it. Eventually, a compromise was reached.
The fundamental of any transaction is that the good/service that a buyer purchases, is of equal or greater value to them than the price they paid for it. Otherwise they would not buy it.
Same for the Seller. The money (or whatever) they receive for their good/service is worth equal or more than the good/service that they gave up. Otherwise, they would not sell it.
And from our rule-less beginnings, feudalism evolved.
Various other forms of economies have also been experimented with, fuedalism being one of them in addition to socialism, communism, etc. Fuedalism restricted people's freedom (as Mase stated: Tyranny thrives in societies where the citizen's freedoms are restricted.....), then other market systems came along in which political leaders were able to have more than those who held absolute power over their people. Absolute power cannot compete against a free society.
Power goes to power, and money goes to money, left unchecked.
Not true in a free society. This undermines the fundamental foundation of capitalism. If people were to hord money (i.e. charge rediculously high prices for the sole purpose of 'staying rich'), someone else could simply come along and charge less for a good or service. Eventually they would be forced to lower their prices.
Simply ask my father, who grew up poor but is now successful and financially comfortable. His 'wealth' came from somewhere, and he does not have the ability to produce his own currency. If 'Money went to money', why would he not be poor???
25 posted on
12/09/2005 10:04:05 PM PST by
proud_yank
(Experience Tolerance: tell a liberal you own guns and drive an SUV!)
To: Age of Reason; ninenot; sittnick; steve50; Hegemony Cricket; Willie Green; Wolfie; ex-snook; ...
In the beginning of mankind there were no rules. The most primitive societies we actually KNOW (as opposed to the naive Enlightenment "thinkers" who imagined parent-less primordial savages who dropped from nowhere and signed a social contract) have numerous and very complex rules. Man is a social animal by nature!
33 posted on
12/10/2005 5:49:33 AM PST by
A. Pole
(Theodore Roosevelt:"The triumph of the mob is just as evil a thing as the triumph of the plutocracy")
To: Age of Reason
Power goes to power, and money goes to money, left unchecked. Since 1980, the percentage of American workers owning stock has increased from 25% to 56%. More than 70% of American households own their own home (an all time record) and the average American household has about 57% equity in their home. Since Bush was elected, household net worth has gone from about $41 trillion to more than $50 trillion today.
In the past 30 years, the average size of a home has increased from 1,550 square feet to 2,200. In 1975, only about 40% of all homes had air condiditoning. Today, it's more than 80%. Thirty years ago, only about 40% of American households had color T.V's; now it almost 100%. Back then, less than 2% of households even had microwaves. In '75 only about 5 million had cable. Today, 85% of all American households have cable. In the 70's we were stuck with Formica, shag carpet and manual garage door openers. Now we get hardwood floors, granite counters, automatic door openers, hot tubs and home theaters.
In 1975, American's owned about 9 million recreational boats. Now it's more than 23 million. In '75, only about 55% of the population finished high school. Today it's more than 80%. Only about 15% of Americans finished four years of college in 1975 while today it's more than 25%. In 1975, there were less than 100,00 people with computers. Today, just about everyone has a computer and a cellular telephone.
Life expectancy has increased from about 71 years to almost 78 years during the past 30 years.
In the past 30 years this country has never rejected a free trade agreement and has dramatically reduced tariffs and eliminated regulations hampering trade. You can claim that the powerless are a growing segment of our society.You can also try to sell the idea that wealth only gravitates to those already holding the wealth. Unfortunately, you just can't prove it.
57 posted on
12/10/2005 9:09:50 PM PST by
Mase
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