From: Michael S. Lorrey (retroman@turbont.net)
Date: Fri Jun 16 2000 - 12:11:25 MDT
altamira wrote:
>
> I can't claim to have visited many 3rd world countries, but I've spent some
> time in Mexico. I've noticed 2 major causes of poverty there. One is the
> Catholic church which discourages the use of contraceptives and abortion.
> The second is the behavior of people who hold positions of power in various
> governmental and corporate entities.
>
> When you buy bananas at the grocery store, odds are they came from land that
> was once occupied by people who grew enough food, fiber, and fuel crops on
> the land to take care of themselves. Business corporations, acting in
> conjunction with the Mexican (and sometimes the U.S.) government, took over
> the land and gave the people who'd been using it the option of leaving or
> staying there and working for the corporation at very low wages, which they
> would use to buy exorbitantly priced food at the grocery store (likely also
> owned by the corporation). The more self-respecting of the disposssed
> peasants go to seek their fortunes in the city. The lucky ones have friends
> in the U.S. who can help them find work (if they can make it safely across
> the border and get past the check points). Others live on the outskirts of
> cities such as Mexico D.F.
>
> This is the ugly side of capitalism. If I'm not mistaken, the term
> capitalism describes an economic system, not a political system.
What you describe is basically feudal mercantilism. It is most definitely NOT
capitalism.
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