forbisgaryg@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
wrote:
> On Mar 29, 12:46 pm, Jerry Kraus <jkraus_1...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>> On Mar 29, 2:33 pm, "John Galt" <whoisjohng...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>>
>>> John Galt:"Jerry Kraus" <jkraus_1...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
>>> I suspect you're using a novel definition of the word.
>> Capitalism is a desire to ac***ulate Capital. Where do you think the
>> word comes from? That is the same as Greed. A Capitalist is Greed-
>> driven, insofar as he/she is a Capitalist. It's really not very
>> complex. Bill Gates is a Capitalist. Warren Buffet is a Capitalist.
>> Richard Cheney is a Capitalist.
>
> I disagree about Capitalist begin greed-driven.
> I don't see getting a return on capital as greed-driven.
> If some laborer wants to use my capital without compensating
> me then that laborer is greedy. I've worked hard for what
> I have and I've done my best to make sure my transactions
> are fair for all parties (to my own detriment). Damn the
> greedy people who see the results of my hard work and call
> me greedy.
>
People don't use a consistent standard for what
the mean by Greed. In the Seven Deadlies, it
means an obsessive focus on gain without balance
by other factors. It means gain as a mechanism
of hubris.
This is not the same thing as wanting a boat.
>> You can earn a living, without being a Capitalist, if you aren't
>> really that interested in money -- Capital -- as an end in itself. If
>> you only see money as a means of helping people, enjoying yourself, or
>> pursuing activities and ideas of interest, you probably aren't a
>> Capitalist.
>
> Capital is a necessary part of progress. A hamer is capital.
> If you use a hammer to build something you are using capital.
> Capital makes labor more efficient. There's nothing wrong with
> being a capitalist only with being greedy.
And only being greedy ... as Fred C. Dobbs is greedy in "Treasure
of the Sierra Madre" - as hubris. As obsession. As mental
illness, as we are to understand it.
To my knowlege, the standard of St. Francis doesn't hold very
well anymore, a standard of perfect asceticism, of declaiming
in death "poor old donkey" of one's mortal flesh.
I don't think we have to do that.
--
Les Cargill
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