[thecavemaster]

More nonsense. You sound like one of those ultra-liberals who would prefer that people in third world countries scour the dumps for scraps rather than work in a factory for a Wal-Mart supplier. One only needs to look at the middle class that has emerged in China since it accepted the power of capitalism to understand that capitalism is the engine of upward mobility in this world.

When jobs are scarce, every economic system appears oppressive. However, tight government control over an economy and high taxes create persistently high unemployment. Capitalism is not the cause of poverty in the world - it offers hope and salvation to those who toil in poverty. Capitalism and capitalism alone is the reason that American citizens who live below the poverty line still earn far more than the median wage of most of the world's inhabitants.

Is an honest day's work for a living wage anti-capitalist? I define "living wage" as the ability to take one's wages and procure adequate food, clothing, shelter, health insurance. Is expecting employers to provide just working conditions anti-capitalist? Fair scales capitlaism, Hoot, is capitalism, it's just not cut-throat capitalism. Let's be clear, Hoot: we are not here debating my support for capitalism... that's your little game. We are debating within capitalism: what kind of capitalism are we talking about? Poverty in the world has many causes, of which human greed and short-sightedness is but one. I don't disagree with a lot of what you said above.