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Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Neocon who wrote (55942)	8/30/2002 3:27:20 PM
From: The Philosopher	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 82486

It was. Actually, we had a nice discussion going last night. But today, other forces have intervened. But since I had no disagreement to record with your comments, I was waiting for others to expand the discussion. One thing you didn't mention is that perhaps the reason capitalism is more successful than socalism is that self-interest is a more powerful motivator than altruism. Also, that generally in capitalistic societies, those who are asked to pay the cost are generally those who are most likely to benefit from the system (those with jobs, high incomes, stock portfolios, etc.) so they are willing to pay to keep the system going, while in socialism those who pay the costs and those who benefit are most often different groups, and those with money are less interested in paying year after year for the benefit of other people. But what is perhaps most interesting is that socialism tends to work better than capitalism in small groups. Families, extended families, small tribes, have generally run fine as quite socialistic systems. It's as the group gets larger and the distance between the providers and the beneficiaries widens that socialism loses its appeal.