Gerard writes:: OK, lets turn away from the economy for a little bit..."
He writes some more after that, but it's really not worth responding to. Capitalism is an economic system. If we "turn away from the economy", than we are discussing something else entirely.
Of course the USA does a lot of nasty things around the world. But many non-capitalist countries have similar histories, Nazi Germany, Soviet Russia, Communist China, the Confederate States of America, the pre-capitalist British Empire, Mongols, the Romans, the Huns...don't get me started.
Gerard writes that he's frustrated. I often am myself; there's terrible evil in the world. But at least Capitalism offers the poor people of the world a chance...we can work for ourselves and not for some emperor, slavemaster, or Central Committe. We can strike for better wages -- and spend those wages on things we want, not on sky -high taxes and handouts to people don't work.
Of course, we have problems. The USA has the lowest unemployment rate in the world, but we're still not satisfied. We have to learn how to make sure that people who work hard get the real market price for their wages. Capitalism is not very good at making long-term investments in society, such as education. There is work to be done.
But please, let's not move backwards and imitate the starving non-capitalist countries of the world. Let's move forward.
- nat
