File spoon-archives/marxism-intro.archive/marxism-intro_2004/marxism-intro.0409, message 50


From: Vasco-AT-pseud.pseud
Subject: M-INTRO: Assumptions
Date: Sat, 25 Sep 2004 14:13:00 -0600


Bird makes an interesting point when bringing up social responsibility.
One of the flaws that people say Capitalism has is the "every man for
himself" attitude.  Most would agree that everyone is socially
interconnected to each other.  Socialism relies on this.  Capitalism says
that the "invisible hand" will fix any wrongdoings or any absence of
worrying about how one's actions will affect another.  It sounds ##### and
egotistical but an argument can be made that it is working.

The example used was that of healthcare.  It's true that the US is not the
healthiest country.  However, the data used to tell us who is healthy and
who is not can be misleading.  The 2004 Human Development Report says that
Norway is ranked #1 for health.  This is a country where about every other
person is clinically depressed.  Where does happiness fit into being
healthy.  Can someone be unhealthy and happy at the same time.  Also, the US
spends a lot of money and effort into helping other countries' poor health
situation.  If our government were to focus solely on our own country we
would have better results.
What about all of the advances in the health industry?  More than 80% of the
technological advances in healthcare come from within the US.  These are
advances that help everyone, not just US citizens.  Without Capitalism and
its advances, how many people in the world would be worse off than they are
now?

I'm really not convinced of one point or another.  I just wanted to point
out that both sides have legitimate arguments.  Any thoughts?






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