From: Chris Russo (extropy@russo.org)
Date: Sat Feb 17 2001 - 17:15:57 MST
At 11:45 +1000 2/17/01, Alejandro Dubrovsky wrote:
>This as far as i can see is a fallacy. At what end is the United
>States? Why do
>you think it is anywhere near the extreme in capitalist countries? I would
>consider singapore, switzerland
Why would you say that either is more capitalistic than the US? In
terms of percentage of the GDP spent on Government services, the US
is a little below Sweden, though not by much. The US actually has
the least amount of government expenditures as a percentage of GDP vs
all other OECD countries. I'm not sure about Singapore, since I
didn't see any data on them when I looked, but I'd imagine that
they're in a class with a lot of other SE Asian countries that are
growing like gangbusters - in large part because they're embracing
capitalism. I didn't mention them because they don't have the
long-term history of stability that makes for easier analysis, like
most of the countries of the OECD. I was trying to stick with big
countries that are well known examples a societal framework, I
probably should have been more pedantic.
Regardless, the existence of more capitalistic countries doing well
hardly disproves my overall point. They're countries that are
embracing capitalism and kicking ass, which reinforces the notion
that as you move toward the communist end of the scale, there are
nothing but economic failures. As you move toward the capitalism end
of the scale, economic successes abound.
> and most of south america more capitalist than
Capitalism requires a government strong enough and ethical enough to
enforce property rights and protect its citizens from initiation of
force. You can't have fair trading of your goods and services when
you have to bribe every government official, drug lord, and land
owner that you encounter. Most (if not all) of South America lacks
the kind of government needed to support capitalism.
Jerry Mitchell mentioned <http://www.capitalism.org/>. They have a
fairly good description of what I mean when I use the word
"capitalism". South America's foray into corruption ain't it.
Regards,
Chris Russo
--
"If anyone can show me, and prove to me, that I am wrong in thought
or deed, I will gladly change. I seek the truth, which never yet
hurt anybody. It is only persistence in self-delusion and ignorance
which does harm."
-- Marcus Aurelius, MEDITATIONS, VI, 21
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