[paraclete]

Rhetorical? You don't want the answer? What was it that crazy said "you don't want the truth, you can't handle the truth" or something like that

I can answer your second question but I'll be accused of being religious. The world system works on greed, it is fueled by greed, but God's system works on giving, on compassion.

i suggest you go eat that rice very day, you had better get used to it

[smoothy]

My question is, of course, rhetorical. Another one is, Why does greed drive the marketplace?

Because if someone is going to take a risk with their own money... they expect to come out ahead in the end or why bother in the first place.

If they can go where that is more likely to happen, or make even more return for their risk... they will, and do.

Nobody want's to throw away their own money, time and assets on something that doesn't have a chance to work for them. Politicians on the other hand never risk their own money or waste their own money... but they are more than willing to take ours off us by force and do it.

[paraclete]

So let we see what you are saying right wing politicians are happy to take our money and spend it on pork barrelling the locals for favours and votes or are you saying left wing politicians want to take our money and give it to the poor. What I see is the greatest risk is politicians and well meaning people who want their favourite causes funded and of course then there is the military who always want more funding for more destructive toys

[smoothy]

So let we see what you are saying right wing politicians are happy to take our money and spend it on pork barrelling the locals for favours and votes or are you saying left wing politicians want to take our money and give it to the poor. What I see is the greatest risk is politicians and well meaning people who want their favourite causes funded and of course then there is the military who always want more funding for more destructive toys

Trillions of dollars have been wasted giving it to the poor who without exception... decide its easier to sit and do nothing than get a job... if they want more money they have another kid... and another kid... and another.

And for those trillions spent... all that has been achieved is generations of welfare bums that have never held a job... many 4 , or 5 or more generations of the same families... none ever worked a day in their lives.

And the Left wastes as much or more in Pork Barrel politics ( Look at Barbara Boxer, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Durban as SOME examples) and favors for votes... in fact that's the Hallmark of the Democrat party.

If it wasn't for OUR Military... and its expensive and destructive toys... The rest of the world would be speaking Japanese, German or Russian right now.

[paraclete]

So you don't subsidise having kids or set a limit on it. Get out of history and get into reality if it wan't for the japanese you would still be sitting on your duff comtemplating a nazi world. You were happy to leave Europe to look after itself. You care nothing for the Russians who were cannon fodder after all, it is just they had the population to sustain the onslaught. Your military is a travesty, the source of conflicts because it is a tool of empire. We should call them the clone army

[smoothy]

So you don't subsidise having kids or set a limit on it. Get out of history and get into reality if it wan't for the japanese you would still be sitting on your duff comtemplating a nazi world. You were happy to leave Europe to look after itself. You care nothing for the Russians who were cannon fodder after all, it is just they had the population to sustain the onslaught. Your military is a travesty, the source of conflicts because it is a tool of empire. We should call them the clone army

Easy to sit there and be an Armchair Quarterback when the facts are the world would be a far different, and far worse place if we didn't develop the Military we did. And do what we did.

Our Military is a travesty?. dude, you need to get out more. A LOT more.

[ebaines]

My question is, of course, rhetorical. Another one is, Why does greed drive the marketplace?

Are you familiar with Adam Smith's "invisible hand?" Essentially in free enterprise whenever two parties reach an agreement for one to sell something to another both parties benefit. If both didn't benefit then one or the other wouldn't have agreed to the transaction. The person who sells the product wants to get as high a price as possible while keeping his costs as low as possible, and the person buying wants to get as low a price as possible. And so in that sense both parties are "greedy." As a consumer when you go to big box store because it has lower prices than the mom-and-pop store down the street, or when you comparison shop based on price, you are being greedy. But that's OK! By selectively buying based on price (and presumably other factors such as quality, or convenience, or service) you are forcing the market place to be just a bit more efficient, which in the long run benefits society as a whole.

[Wondergirl]

I've never set foot inside a Walmart, and I get my prescriptions filled by my long-time druggist (quality, convenience, service) who owns his business and employs ten+ wonderful people, instead of by faceless Medco. I guess I don't fit into that greedy free-enterprise mold. The lowest price doesn't always mean the best choice for a product. And there are other considerations, such as the quality of customer service.

[talaniman]

Are you familiar with Adam Smith's "invisible hand?" Essentially in free enterprise whenever two parties reach an agreement for one to sell something to another both parties benefit. If both didn't benefit then one or the other wouldn't have agreed to the transaction. The person who sells the product wants to get as high a price as possible while keeping his costs as low as possible, and the person buying wants to get as low a price as possible. And so in that sense both parties are "greedy." As a consumer when you go to big box store because it has lower prices than the mom-and-pop store down the street, or when you comparison shop based on price, you are being greedy. But that's OK! By selectively buying based on price (and presumably other factors such as quality, or convenience, or service) you are forcing the market place to be just a bit more efficient, which in the long run benefits society as a whole.

That's the theory but we all know price are manipulated by other forces besides a free market, such as collusion between monopolies and a lack of competition to name just a few things. While a little greed, or even self interest may be acceptable, an over amount of it can create chaos, as seen by the still fragile state of the global economy.

[paraclete]

These are wonderful debates that were over centuries ago. We came to understand what makes an economy work, every now and then the greedy stuff it up but generally most people are reasonable. Profits should be regulated and the easiest way to do this is with a supertax where profits exceed a reasonable return on capital. Take a way the incentive to make super profits and you may see a more sensible allocation of capital to local projects. The global economy is robust even if individual parts are fragile. The point being industries and economies come and go, some last 100 years some more, some less. There isn't a big market for ice these days so for a safe investment you do what was suggested long ago, get into food or medicene