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? --- from list marxism-intro-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
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