Are You A Capitalist?

[Tetrahedrite]

Cool!

 

Arable land was a surprise to me.

Ps what’s with the low literacy rate in the US???

And Aus 100%!… now that seems very odd also.

We also have a much better life expectancy and much lower HIV infection rate!

New Zealand is the same.

Australasia rocks!!!

[reverse]

The lower rings of society are not poor because of mental disorder' date=' or being in the thrawl of addiction. Your assumption that the capitalist society is some form of ethnic cleansing, with the smart becoming rich and the dregs sinking to the bottom, is laughable.

[/quote']

 

ethnic? where did that come from?

 

Smart become rich?, well if youy mean smart money wise ...of course?

 

You seem to be seeing content that is not in my posts.

try looking at the surface value of the words.

[reverse]

 

Before attempting to argue about currency and economics' date=' at least try and understand the difference. The ability to trade does not constitute a capitalist state, just as the social security in the US does not constitute communism.[/quote']

 

The money question to Vald was to clear up what he meant about chasing useless bits of paper.

 

there is no content there except what you see on the surface.

[reverse]

Hi John, have had a sec to think about your post.

 

The resource that generates real wealth is people. When a country has abundant resources or a system that provides for everyone, such as Saudi Arabia, the people tend not to become as creative or industrious as say Japan. .

 

Necessity is the mother of invention?

 

 

If we see wealth as generated by people' date=' then we can see that if they are motivated to generate wealth, the pie will be larger. Now, the distribution of the pie may be "unfair", but overall, people will have more wealth.

.[/quote']

 

Competition brings out the best in people?

But what if say in a tug of war, you don’t want personal excellence, you just want them all to pull in the same direction to shift a bloody rock.

Less energy spent on individual competition means more spent on achieving a group goal.

 

 

The world is not black and white' date=' I don't think there are any true anarchies, communist or capitalist systems. They are shades of grey. So, the question is what do you start with? Do you start with an all encompassing state and work towards individual freedom, or do you work from personal freedom and go the other way?

.[/quote']

 

don’t talk to me about a grey world, I can prove by logic that black is the same as white, then go and get run over on a zebra crossing ( concept D Adams)

Really, as Monkey pointed out, Democracy is not another word for Capitalism.

And Communism is not another word for Oppression.

 

I think the federal gov. of the US is pretty powerful and controls many aspects of our lives already. In fact' date=' we had a war over this.

.[/quote']

 

Well it’s a big country with regional needs that vary greatly.

It must be difficult for city folk to spend tax dollars on a drought in a farm area.

And equally difficult for a farmer to spend tax dollars on a new administration block in Washington.

And even more difficult when money is tight.

[Pangloss]

By the way, I was just poking around a news site and was reading about Sony Corp's appointment of Howard Stringer as their new CEO (pending stockholder confirmation). Stringer is also properly addressed as "Sir", unlike Bill Gates. Apparently this is because he was born in the UK, even though he's a US citizen. Go figure.

 

http://www.sony.com/SCA/press/050306.shtml

[reverse]

Back on our fictitious tropical island “Esefenui.” with our tribe.

 

The “Esefen” are going about their daily lives.

 

The chief “Fen” sits in the large rock recess,

Upon his head are decorations expanding the magnificence of his physical form.

In his hand is a stick, it is ornate - as befitting a chief.

the children play,

the men are off hunting or fishing.

 

Idea 1:

 

The chief is the axil through which all other individuals regulate their behaviour in terms of rank or pecking order.

 

Idea 2:

 

Capitalism is here somewhere, maybe in parts awaiting assembly,

or maybe in a muted form, but it’s here to be found.

 

Idea 3:

Shifting up the pecking order is equal to becoming more wealthy.

As it gives you privileged access to resources, exactly as money does.

 

Idea 4:

The social ordering is held rigid by the Chief,

so the act of shifting up the ranks must be done with his approval.

 

Idea 5.

There seems to be no way to transfer or store wealth at this small scale.

Therefore capitalism may have a minimum population requirement.

 

Idea 6

Lets up the population size.

[reverse]

ok

 

not sure where to steer the tribe from here.

 

what about some more data!

 

c 9000 - 6000 BC Domestication of cattle and cultivation of crops

Subsequently both livestock, particularly cattle, and plant products such as grain, come to be used as money in many different societies at different periods. Cattle are probably the oldest of all forms of money, as domestication of animals tended to precede the cultivation of crops, and were still used for that purpose in parts of Africa in the middle of the 20th century.

p 41-44

 

? - c. 3100 BC Writing invented in Mesopotamia

The main use, and probable motivation for its development, is for keeping accounts

[reverse]

Syntax,

 

Here is a link you will love.

 

I like the bit where the mint masters get one hand chopped off for making crappy coins.

 

http://www.ex.ac.uk/~RDavies/arian/amser/chrono1.html

 

 

 

Oh and Vlad check out the year 1532 from the link above.

[reverse]

and just for atinymonkey, this one made me laugh for ages.

 

http://www.crookedtimber.org/archives/003276.html

[reverse]

Syntax.

 

Now I know how they got that Manhattan island.

doh!

 

http://college.hmco.com/history/readerscomp/naind/html/na_042000_wampum.htm

 

 

And the ironic thing

Due to the hot market for relics of the history of native America, I bet a real set of those beads would be today worth their weight in gold or much more even.

[reverse]

1800-1860 When cowrie shells are first introduced to Uganda at the end of the eighteenth century two are sufficient to purchase a woman. Thereafter the wholesale importation of cowries causes inflation with the result that by 1860 one thousand cowries are needed for such a purchase.

 

1965 Fei stone currency still in use in Yap .

Despite the inroads of coins and banknotes the use of fei stones as currency in the central Pacific islands of Yap has still not completely disappeared by the mid-1960s. These stones, varying in size from saucers to millstones were quarried in Palau, 260 miles from Yap, or the even more distant Guam.

 

The more I learn about our history, the more I think we are one crazy bunch of standing monkeys types.

[Sayonara]

Considering the first post of this thread, it seems to be failing.

[reverse]

What is a Capitalist?

Is the USA a Capitalist country?

Can someone try and strip away all the verbosity and tell me straight.

 

I'm pretty happy with the results.

yes the US is a capitilist country in general, but the levels of participation vary.

but your right, it's time to wrap this up.

 

Thanks for the space to hammer it out.

 

 

TRADITIONAL CAPITALISM:

You have two cows. You sell one and buy a bull. Your herd multiplies, and the economy grows. You sell them and retire on the income.

 

ENRON VENTURE CAPITALISM:

You have two cows. You sell three of them to your publicly listed company, using letters of credit opened by your brother-in-law at the bank, then execute a debt/equity swap with an associated general offer so that you get all four cows back, with a tax exemption for five cows.

 

The milk rights of the six cows are transferred via an intermediary to a Cayman Islands company secretly owned by the majority shareholder who sells the rights to all seven cows back to your listed company. The annual report says the company owns eight cows, with an option on one more. Sell one cow to buy a new president of the United States, leaving you with nine cows. No balance sheet provided with the release. The public buys your bull.

 

AN AMERICAN CORPORATION:

You have two cows. You sell one, and force the other to produce the milk of four cows. You are surprised when the cow drops dead.

 

A FRENCH CORPORATION:

You have two cows. You go on strike because you want three cows.

 

A JAPANESE CORPORATION:

You have two cows. You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk.

You then create clever cow cartoon images called Cowkimon and market them world-wide.

 

A GERMAN CORPORATION:

You have two cows. You re-engineer them so they live for 100 years, eat once a month, and milk themselves.

 

A BRITISH CORPORATION:

You have two cows. Both are mad.

 

AN ITALIAN CORPORATION:

You have two cows, but you don't know where they are. You break for lunch.

 

A RUSSIAN CORPORATION:

You have two cows. You count them and learn you have five cows. You count them again and learn you have 42 cows. You count them again and learn you have 12 cows. You stop counting cows and open another bottle of vodka.

 

A SWISS CORPORATION:

You have 5000 cows, none of which belongs to you. You charge others for storing them.

 

A HINDU CORPORATION:

You have two cows. You worship them.

 

A CHINESE CORPORATION:

You have two cows. You have 300 people milking them. You claim full employment, high bovine productivity, and arrest the newsman who reported the numbers.

 

A WELSH CORPORATION:

You have two cows. That one on the left is kinda cute.