On Wed, 19 Dec 2001, Matt Beland wrote:
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On Wednesday 19 December 2001 07:23 pm, Jim Choate wrote:
On Wed, 19 Dec 2001, Matt Beland wrote:
Capitalism is a meritocracy. *Commerce* is simply a label for that class of activities that include all forms of resource transfer from one entity (person, company, nation, world) to another. Some of those are meritocracies, such as capitalism. Others are not - true communism is one example, almost any form of "planned economy", welfare.
Communism can't be a form of Capitalism. In fact they are the anti-thesis.
Would you mind sticking to the topic? I did not say Communism was a form of Capitalism, I said Capitalism and Communism were both forms of Commerce.
Just checking. So you recognize a distinction between 'capitalism' and 'commerce' too...
No. The belief that capitalism is the only mechanism to solve problems is philosophy, not commerce, and pretty bad philosophy at that.
And what makes you think capitalism isn't just that, a philosophy. In fact 'capitalism' is just like 'communism' or 'democracy', or even anarcho-capitalism, in that respect. It's nothing more than the prioritization of goals and resources. It's distinction is that it posits that by making lots of money all the other problems somehow take care of themselves. "In the long run it'll all work out". Assuming of course there is still anyone around...God $$$ Fascism is what Capitalism is. "When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail." Anonymous 'Commerce' has two definitions. The first is involving the economic exchange of goods and services. The second is any interchange between individuals. It's worth noting the 1st definition can't exist without the second, the contrary can't be said. It's hard to have a market if there is no individual interaction, this implies of course one of two conclusions. That 'economic commerce' and 'inter-personal' commerce are either equivalent, or 'inter-personal' encompasses at least 'economic commerce' (and I'm speaking from an axiomatic and algorithmic perspective if that's not clear, not philosophical). And this after all brings us right back to the original question. "Does everything have a price or not?" -- ____________________________________________________________________ Day by day the Penguins are making me lose my mind. Bumper Sticker The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage@ssz.com www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087 -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- --------------------------------------------------------------------