At 2:36 AM 7/30/96, Arun Mehta wrote:

Socialism as an economic philosophy is fairly discredited, and is on its way out without my expressions of outrage needed to help it along. Yet, the capitalist economy seems to be no better at dealing with extreme poverty.

Really? Extreme poverty seems to be its own reward. So, I think market economies are dealing with the incompetent and/or the lazy very well. (This may sound harsh to many of you, but think about a world of seven billion souls, many of them living at the margins of survival. Not much more could be expected, no matter the economic system. In particular, command economies have not been more effective. Think about it this way: in 100 years, who cares if a billion or so folks lived only an average of 38.37 years instead of 41.91 years?) --Tim May Boycott "Big Brother Inside" software! We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Licensed Ontologist | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."