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I don't think you can really conflate capitalism with philanthropy like that. They're just... different things. "Capitalism at it's best" isn't people giving a
by mfoy_ 9y ago
I don't think you can really conflate capitalism with philanthropy like that. They're just... different things.
"Capitalism at it's best" isn't people giving away money... it's people being competitively compensated for their contributions to society-- the ability to take risks and reap the rewards.
Of course then you can argue that tax is a way to enforce a minimal amount of philanthropy onto people, forcing them to contribute to the greater good whether they want to or not... but people who seem to be very vocally in favour of pure capitalism also seem to be very vocally against high taxes.
- rusk 9y ago*it's people being competitively compensated for their contributions to society* Sorry to nitpick .. you're describing meritocracy I think, as envisaged by free-market economics (which is entirely reasonable - to a point). Capitalism isn't so much the emergent market behaviour as a system that provides a means to create and develop wealth (i.e. capital). The labour market is one aspect of this, but it's not exclusively tied to it. *Capitalism is an economic system and an ideology based on private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit.* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitalism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitalism