AP Al quim

[Jim Choate]

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?"


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