Quote:
Originally Posted by barryem
Capitalism doesn't "require" greed. It puts it to good use. It also doesn't require cheating. It works best when we cheat least.
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I'm heading down to Texas tomorrow and have some things to get ready so I'll just leave it with this (while dropping the discussion about guilds).
If someone puts capital to good use, that's not greed, that's simply good use of capital. But if a corporate wonk personally makes billion$ while, laying off workers or forcing them to reduce their pay or benefits — or by moving his factories to Asia where he can make use of wage slaves — that's greed. If the same corporate wonk uses a leveraged buyout as an instrument to take out excessive loans that are guaranteed to bankrupt the leveraged company, that's greed (theft) and the opposite of capitalism. Capital is anything reserved that is used to produce future goods or pay. I was a phone tech, my capital included my tools and testers (and my training) — they were what enabled me to make a living. If I had dug ditches for a living, my capital could be as simple as a shovel and my back. For a farmer, capital is seed grain — grain not needed for food that can be used for the future. "Greed" and "capital" need never appear in the same sentence. They are not related.