You are reading a single comment by @Mister_Baxter and its replies.
Click here to read the full conversation.
London Fixed Gear and Single-Speed is a community of predominantly fixed gear and single-speed cyclists in and around London, UK.
This site is supported almost exclusively by donations. Please consider donating a small amount regularly.
@Mister_Baxter
Yes, I do. Don't get me wrong, I'm all in favour of free markets. But markets are only free because they are protected by active governments - at a sophisticated level we need to protect against copyright infringement, complex fraud and 'passing off', unsafe ingredients in food and medicines etc; at a more basic level, we need to protect against straightforward protection rackets, intimidation of competitors, violence against workforces and so on. Because we want to trade safely, freely and efficiently, we organise our societies around accountable systems of law and government.
Capitalism is a philosophy, not an economic system. A capitalist believes that the fundamental object of all individuals and organisations is to build up as much capital as possible. If that's your objective, then clearly you'd get there quicker if you were able to circumvent some of the inconvenient legal and moral stuff that stops you from acquiring more money faster. See Enron, the 'robber baron' era of US history and maybe the activities of oil companies in Nigeria right now for some examples.