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Economics & Greed

Proponents of Capitalism, Socialism, Communism, etc. often level charges of greed at the adherents of opposing systems, and they're often all correct.  Greed, you see, is the precisely the problem.  It is ubiquitous; universal; like death and taxes, unconquerable.  Search as you may, throughout the world and the annals of time, you will find no political/economic system, no nation (industrialized or third world), and no heart, excepting that of our Lord alone, that is perfectly free from this evil of greed.

The first step, then, to designing a proper and realistic political/economic system is to recognize the  presence and persistence of greed in the human heart.  No matter how much progress we create, how many committees we conjure, or how many slogans we coin, we will never purge this evil from our society.  It is irremediable.  It is irradicable.

So, unable to eliminate this pock from the hearts of men and the institutions of our society, we seek to circumvent it.  We craft a system with checks and balances designed to limit, as much as possible, the free reign of any individual's or party's greed.  We establish a system unabashedly founded on this fundamental distrust of mankind, installing limitations that prevent anyone from abusing his .  

This is what separates Free Market Capitalism from other systems.  No system is perfect, to be sure, but a Capitalist society truly governed by the free market (not what we currently have, Crony Capitalism) simultaneously limits the greed of the masses and the greed of the elites.  In such a society, those who wish to succeed are forced to do so by innovating, competing, etc. to provide a product or service to their fellow men.  In essence, Capitalism subserviates our greed to the welfare of our neighbors.  



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