[TheForge] OT: several questions and thoughts

[Demon Buddha]

Sean wrote:

> Nothing new here atal.  19th Century economics &
> Robber Barons & all that - it's capitalism taken to
> it's logical ends - reduce cost to increase profits. 

	Agreed, but it doesn't help if nobody can afford to buy what you  have 
to sell.  Mr. Rock, meet Mr. HardPlace.

> Pursuing $ucce$$ - ay, that's just what they're doing
> at our expense.
	
	This I do not agree with.  Nobody is entitled to work at X Inc.  X has 
a job that pays $y per hour.  Nobody is forcing anyone to take it, and 
complaining about it after agreeing to the price is dishonest at best.

I similarly object to the notion of the "robber baron".  Yes, they 
enjoyed advantages and were up to a lot of hanky panky, but if we accept 
for argument's sake that the things they brought to this world were more 
beneficial than they were costly, then we owe those men a debt of 
gratitude because without them we'd still be living in trees and 
scratching our asses on the bark.  I think people have unrealistic 
notions about how the world works.  It's not always pretty and neat and 
clean.  Nnature of the beast, I suppose.