Roy "Ten Commandments" Moore...

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

It's a quote, but I don't remember the sourse.

[Cyrus]

I believe the exact quote is by Winston Churchill and goes like this :

"The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings. The inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery."

The moral argument of Socialism is definitely stronger than Capitalism's. The aspect of equality is not to be so easily dismissed. However, its advocates chose to march towards Socialism by dictatorial means. This has destroyed Socialism's credibility. In addition to that, Capitalism is founded, at least in theory, on the unfettered freedom of individuals to pursue their interests, which is one of the highest moral objectives! But us capitalists better not get smug on the basis of a few quotations. Capital formation, as we know it, from the industrial revolution onwards, is a very recent event for Man. To claim that we have discovered the end-all and supremely wise method of managing our 'house' is, well, hybris. And the overwhelming evidence in our 'house' urgently points towards the need for organised and state-driven intervention (eg greenhouse effect) rather than allowing the free market to fix everything.

And that grouchy old beard, Marx, was not too off in his critique and analysis of capital formation: we have had from his time up to now catastrophic war after catastrophic war. This allowed for the violent destruction of capital formations and the beginning anew of the game of creating wealth. It remains to be seen what our ever-increasing, ever-progressing and ever-expanding economy, a global economy well into the era of turbo-capitalism, can accomplish with continuous global peace.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

--Cyrus

[John Cole]

Perhaps with the image of the bearded Marx firmly in mind, one student produced this howler: "Karl Marx wrote about the theory of class stubble."

[John Cole]

Andy,

It was Vaughn Monroe who had the hit with "Ghost Riders." Ever hear the parody of "Pennies from Heaven" called "Benny's from Heaven"? Never been able to track it down.

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

However, its advocates chose to march towards Socialism by dictatorial means.

This is because socialism is *by nature* dictatorial. Enforcing equality destroys freedom. People are *not* all equal.

Marx's error was a faulty assumption in the labor theory of value. He failed to account for synergy in the creation of a product, thus concluding that the only way to create profit was to underpay for one of the raw materials (e.g., labor).

War existed long before capitalism, and socialism is responsible for the slaughter of more innocent people than even religion. Or rather, as Rand would put it, socialism is just another form of religion, a means for the authoritarians to hold sway over the masses.

But us capitalists better not get smug on the basis of a few quotations. Capital formation, as we know it, from the industrial revolution onwards, is a very recent event for Man.

I agree with you on this. But just because capitalism is not perfect does not mean we accept other, less efficient systems.