The Crypto Winter

[David Honig]

At 07:56 PM 11/20/01 -0800, Morlock Elloi wrote:
>> Capitalism is a natural result of free people.
>
>The ultimate argument. Like in "natural" and "unnatural" sex ....

Hardly dogma; look at history.  

Unhindered by social engineers/violence monopolists, people used
tools (capital) to increase productivity.  This had much more
dramatic effects during the industrial period than the preceeding
agricultural one, though nowadays agri shows high productivity
thanks to some sophisticated tools, too.

Unhindered, people use their forebrains and invest in the future.  The
investment might be themselves acquiring a skill, a tool,
or investing in others' activities.  The payoff structure
of the universe encourages this.

If you encourage others to get educated, you are a capitalist.

If you discourage others from investing in themselves or others,
don't try to acquire the right skill or tool to meet your goals, 
I'd say you weren't a capitalist.  You'll have a hard time doing
anything, hard to till a field without a plough.