there are real people making the major decisions, with real thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and values. — Xtrix
it's worth understanding exactly who they are. — Xtrix
. I expect that rich people tend to be just like anybody else would be if they were rich, because it’s not being the way that they are that made them rich, but being rich that made them the way that they are. — Pfhorrest
Can you elaborate on that? — Brett
What do you think? — frank
The desire for Socialism is understandable but that too has failed to offer a real alternative to Capitalism. — Brett
Where do we go from here? Do we just have to wrestle with our circumstances until something workable evolves out of it, just as it has in the past? Strangely enough I do have faith in us finding a way through this. — Brett
Imagine if there was a was out of this. What sort of people do you think might make it happen, maybe people who are conscientious, extroverts, innovative, more emotionally stable, and get joy in what they do. — Brett
But I’d like to know if you think that the free market and Capitalism evolved together at the same time or whether the free market existed first. — Brett
Just one smile at someone who's hurting could set events in motion that will roll out over the world and into the future for centuries. — frank
My expectation is that the 1% are ordinary people as far as psychology goes. — Pfhorrest
So circling back to rephrase my original question: what are the people like who have benefited most from such a system? — Xtrix
My expectation is that the 1% are ordinary people as far as psychology goes. Unlike what Brett seems to think, I don't get the impression that anyone here is saying that the 1% got where they are by being evil. They just didn't get there by being some kind of special super-hardworking genius either.
1h — Pfhorrest
If you think that they have the same psychology as us and you think they’re parasites and sociopaths then I guess you would have to say that wealth turned them, because you can’t see how anyone like us could make all that money. — Brett
So, according to you, is a "free market" an unregulated market? Is there ownership of property in your model? What does your notion of a free market look like? — Janus
Because people in general are not shining bastions of morality, but will exploit a situation to their benefit when given the chance, even at someone else's expense, and then try to rationalize away why what they're doing is perfectly fine.
What's bad is that we systemically, as a culture, give some people that chance, and internalize those rationalizations, and act like everything's fine. — Pfhorrest
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