Quote:
Originally Posted by redpoint5
I just finished listening to an Independence Day podcast that had Jordan Peterson as a guest. I'm still processing an observation he made; that the left says look out for big business, and the right says to look out for big government, and the commonality is big.
Greed is an inescapable part of humanity. Richard Dawkins wrote a book (which I should read) titled The Selfish Gene. Because the universe is a dangerous and difficult place to live, organisms must be programmed to be selfish to advance into the future, if not at an individual level, at least collectively.
My point is that it's no surprise that governments and corporations are self-interested, greedy, and flawed, as they are comprised of people. It happens that capitalism has so far been the best idea we have for exploiting the greedy nature of humans to maximize wealth for all.
Perhaps we would be better served if governments and corporations were broken into smaller units, with the larger units having as little power as possible.
I've always argued that the United States of America should be just that; mostly independent states interfered by federal government as little as possible. The proper role of the federal government is protect "self-evident" individual rights, provide a common defense, and little else.
The rich will live as though they were poor, and the poor will live as though they were rich.
I'd be the most boring game show contestant, because after winning the $1,000,000 grand-prize and being asked what I would do with the money, my response would be to turn it into $2,000,000. Money isn't just a reward; it's an obligation to good stewardship. Same with power, time, authority, ownership...the proper response to any blessing is duty.
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*Some would suggest,that without a 'left',the 'right' would have to create one.And visa versa.
*China's beginning of statecraft was the military.
*No one was to know military planning,down the entire chain of command,including the Emperor.
*Merchants became as important as the army,providing agricultural surplus's,wealth (which incentivized innovation and technology).
*Surplus population could be conscripted,while the 'economy' could just roll along.
*Today's corporations are literally the second face of government and visa versa.They've coexisted since before the written word.Janus.
*Bigness isn't necessarily 'bad',it's just what it is.Structurally,a complete monopoly would be the most efficient efficient.There would be no duplication of effort.No redundancy.Minimal waste.
*In a competitive market in which return on investment is prized over any other metric,there are rewards for 'success' and punishment for 'failure.'
*In some markets,there is actually a legal mandate (fiduciary) which drives a corporation towards the highest profit for the investor.
*Government intrusion into the pursuit of happiness for some citizens and corporations has no doubt come from protests from those who petitioned the government to protect them from real or perceived harm due to individual or corporate behavior (example: National/ISO Building,Electrical,Plumbing Codes,Superfund,Arthur Andersen,ENRON,General Aniline & Film (gaf))
*Since some of the 'We The People' have been abused by individual states,the US Supreme Court has had to rule to limit states' rights in order to protect them.
*Richard Dawkins is worth the read!
