Re: Asimov Site

[Roy and/or Janet Miller <millers@inetnebr.com>]

Paul Schlyter wrote:

>
> > What is corporatism? Where does it prevail?
>
> In the US car industry, for instance, where General Motors is buying one
> car manufacturer after another.....

LOL - when was the last time General Motors bought another car manufacturer? Hmmm?
Not in my life time. And I was born in 1954. American Motors, it is true was bought
out by Chrysler, but then, we all know how those stinking greedy Europeans bought
out Chrysler, don't we?  ;-)

>
>
> > How, if at all, does it bear upon capitalism?
>
> Capitalism is here used as a tool.
>
> Democracy says (among other things): "One man - one vote!".
> Capitalism says something different: "One dollar - one vote!", where
> the "voting" is done everyday everywhere on the market.  Basically this
> means if you have enough money, you can buy almost anything you want.

No, Paul, that isn't Capitalism. Capitalism has to do with putting money to work,
as well as brains and backs. With using money to build instead of hiding it in the
form of gold in your backyard, as the French have done for centuries.

>
>
> A few years ago I suggested (ironically -- I never expect this to
> actually happen) a rationalisation of the US justice system: whenever
> a case is brought up to court, the judges shouldn't bother with the
> case itself.  Instead the judges should simply examine which one of
> the two parts have the most money, and then let that part win the
> case.  This means none of the parts will have to pay these expensive
> lawyer costs.  And the trial will be much cheaper, which means the
> losing part will make the largest economical gain.  And the outcome
> will be the same anyway, since today you win a case if you can afford
> the best and therefore most expensive lawyer.  There are really only
> two objections to this scheme: 1. the lawyers object, quite
> naturally, because this would make a lot of them lose their jobs.
> And 2. this scheme would make people lose their illusion that the
> current system is a system of actual justice.....

And when was the last time YOU were in an American court with business before the
bar? I've been there, and I saw justice everytime, even when I was the one paying a
fine.

>
>
>
>
> >> Now, is capitalism sucks, and marxism sucks, what else is there?
> >
> > 1. I don't think that capitalism "sucks", but some capitalists are
> >    rather nasty people
> > 2. Feudalism. Fascism and it's mirror image Socialism. Anarchy. Theonomy.
>
> I live in a country, Sweden, which currently has a Socialist
> government.  Does that mean you think our governemnt could as well
> have been a Fascist government?

Mirror image. Check out the meaning of the terms Mirror Image, and Fascist. Or do
you need me to supply them to you?

>
>
> Please be a little more careful to distinguish Socialism from
> Communism.

I was careful. I did distinguish them. but if you want a pithy summary, it's Lame
and Crippled.

> Also, please remember that both of them were born as a
> reaction against the Capitalism of the 1800's and earlier -- a
> Capitalism which didn't have to "carry the burden" of democracy.

In the United States, in the 1800s, we had both Capitalism and a democratic
republic. Even Great Britain was developing a democratic element to it's
constitution.

>
>
> --
> ----------------------------------------------------------------
> Paul Schlyter,  Swedish Amateur Astronomer's Society (SAAF)
> Grev Turegatan 40,  S-114 38 Stockholm,  SWEDEN
> e-mail:  pausch at saaf dot se   or    paul.schlyter at ausys dot se
> WWW:     http://hotel04.ausys.se/pausch    http://welcome.to/pausch