>Folks, I think we are missing something here. What we are dealing with is an
>attempt to justify one's actions. When someone does this, they are not
>concerned with honesty, fairness, or any of those nicer values. They are
>really concerned with justifying their actions without actually changing
>what they are doing.
Good point. Nobody (self included) wants to say "What I'm doing is wrong,
but I intend to do it anyway". Instead we try to justify our actions,
sometimes by rather byzantine logic.
Capitalism and market forces work pretty well when we let them. Owner of a
thing sets the asking price. Owner and buyer meet somewhere: there's the
selling price. No meeting, no sale. Civilized people don't take things that
don't belong to them. Kind people make charitable actions because they want
to, not because they're forced to by law or theft. Forcing producers to
sell things at a particular price will incent them not to produce.
All such simple principles, but they get twisted around when we try to
justify ourselves.
(Sorry for the off-topic rant; it's a fun philsophical discussion but I
guess I should make this my last posting on the subject.)
-Jeremy
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