JimC wrote:Some interesting replies, particularly concerning the rather vague concept of human nature. There seems to be two clear schools of thought, both occupying the usual polarised extremes...
OK, I can declare with certainty that human nature, or at least human behaviour, is incredibly hard to predict. That's about all you can say with certainty.
But with all of the six billion plus humans, which includes hundreds of millions of incredibly bright people, nobody has thought of anything that works better than Capitalism. That doesn't mean I worship it, or think it's perfect, but I for one accept it's going to stay for a long time, so I say, give it a tweak.
Human nature does come right into it, because capitalism does provide incentives, communism and very heavy socialism does not. They just provide incentives to kiss the ass of your superior, or to make money on the black market.
There are things a govornment can do better, and there are things govornments OUGHT to be able to do better, but often don't. People working for the govornment usually end up edging up their salaries, and their pensions, edging down their hours, and getting ahead by ass licking. If you could find a way to control that, there are lots of things that govornments could do better than private enterprise.
So I'm happy to keep capitalism, but close all the dodges and loopholes, and let govornments run the natural monopolies, but find some way of keeping the pressure on the public sector, to stop them making nice soft beds for themselves.
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