wr8th said: "Make no mistake, returning to an agrarian society of gentlemen farmers would not be a turn in the right direction. It's one thing to keep a family plot to augment your caloric intake, quite another to farm for a living in this day and age (unless you're Amish). No unemployment? How about starvation or losing your farm when there's too little or not enough rain. Can anyone say "sharecropper", or worse yet, "serf". Not too many true Jeffersonians left, except for the re-enactors.
On the contrary, it's mass production and the economies of scale that have made this hemisphere the breadbasket of the world."
I'm not saying that pre-industrial life was a rosy wonderland, but in some of my darker moments I think the Amish might have the right idea (toss out this bLasted computer and go back to my family farm). But I do believe we could at least make it available as an option, but in today's world an independant samll scale farmer cannot compete with the mass-production farming of today. But the farming practices of today don't yeild any more food per acre then those methods of yester-year. They may do it with less man power (and they use 4 times more water) and therefore cheaper for those that can afford massive expensive Combines and the like.
"For the average Joe/Jane busy going about their lives seeking to better their lot in life and that of their kin, capitalism, with it's emphasis on incentive and reward is more attractive than socialism and it's attention to the lowest common denominator which rewards stagnation and sloth."
But Capitalism really doesn't reward the average Joe/Jane, it only appears to... It rewards the large businessman who can produce items cheaper than any small scale operator. Thus money tends to flow upwards towards to richest people who control all their many conglomerates buying out the common man. Sure some people get lucky and provide just the right service at the right time and make it rich. They then go on to buy up competetor's and form another conglomerate. And Socialism in practice is a different creature than Socialism in theory. I believe that a true Communist or Socialist government doesn't reward 'sloth' it gives everyone a fair deal, an even playing field and lets everyone stop worrying about whether the steel plant is cutting back. Now keep in mind that I don't agree with the Communism that has actually been put in practice because they have been Dictatorships claiming Communism. Every attempt at true Communism on a large scale (can't speak for any small tries, Kibbutz, Communes etc) has been ruined by the greed of those in power, similar to what is happening now. To really work you need people willing to sacrifice that second car so the Jones' down the street can afford to pay their gas bill... and sadly that seems to be lacking in America. Can you really argue with Health Care for everyone, food for everyone? I believe these to be a part of our human rights (life liberty and the pursuit of happiness) And somewhat as a responsiblity we have to help all human beings. All the current system does is deprive the majority of people in the world of the products of their labor so a few can live in luxury. It has been estimated that if everyone in the world lived in the same style as American's are accustomed to, we would need 4 planet Earths to provide the resources.
Wardad... I guess I'm going to have to start brushing up on my Japanese if I wanna live longer huh...
Re: OT: Our Economy (US)
Threaded Mode