[MD] Unreality of Equality

[Heather Perella]

Hello,

     Ham said:  "Can we say that we have true
Capitalism when the government controls the free
market?"

     This was my point some time ago in Barbarian
attack, but Platt did not comment on it.  Here was
what I said as follows:

     "This reminds me of one of President Bush's first
speeches after the 9/11 attacks.  He said this over
and over again.  Keep buying, consume, consume, do not
fear, just consume.  
     Yeah, consume, consume, consume, it doesn't
matter what you buy or why you buy or how much you buy
- just keep buying."

     Buying something is so political presently.  I am
not discounting that economics has always been
political.  Societies historically and
pre-historically have repeatedly rallied together
(thus politically) in the name of what we would call
economic gains (territory, slaves, women, food stores,
etc...).  Yet, for a society to be so determined upon
the stock market and the motivation of consuming, not
just for needs, but for a lot of wants has become the
freedom cry of today.  You are free if you can
consume.  If you can't buy a lot of stuff, then you
are thought of as not very free.  Freedom and
consumerism has become interlocked and ones meaning
has become the others meaning.  I don't want the
government to be involved, such as having to have
income taxes or property taxes.  Yet, in this state,
property taxes pay for the education system thus some
rich suburban areas have tons more money for eduction
than say the inner city.  The city near me has tried
to attract teachers by offering big starting bonuses,
but the social climate is not educationally attractive
(an example that mirrors the real climate nearby is
the movie 'Lean on Me' I think it was called).  Yet,
we have libraries that are free to use.  Thus, so much
of the system is tied together, and if one thing has
to go, then surely something else will have to go and
soon we could have a higher Quality culture here.  I
just don't want to have to buy and buy and buy my way
into keeping a culture stand. 

SA
  

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com