Unfortunately what history has shown is that egalitarian or socialist economic distribution does not generate wealth fast enough to compete against capitalism. I'm not certain it is more ethically viable, either.
America is at the moment operating as an empire, which as I have written in other responses below is artificially-skewed economically. Empire cannot stand very long against its economic excesses. And yet despite the many examples in history as to why empires inevitably collapse from within, it looks attractive to those in power because they stand to gain immensely in the short term.
Each society will determine what gets spent on babies, on old folks, and on highways. There is never enough for everything. No matter what a society chooses, some people will die.
It will be interesting to see if humanity ever gets this right. We seem to be heading towards an era of global post-scarcity. That is, if we don't nuke ourselves or die amidst environmental disasters of our own making.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2003-10-29 04:52 am (UTC)America is at the moment operating as an empire, which as I have written in other responses below is artificially-skewed economically. Empire cannot stand very long against its economic excesses. And yet despite the many examples in history as to why empires inevitably collapse from within, it looks attractive to those in power because they stand to gain immensely in the short term.
Each society will determine what gets spent on babies, on old folks, and on highways. There is never enough for everything. No matter what a society chooses, some people will die.
It will be interesting to see if humanity ever gets this right. We seem to be heading towards an era of global post-scarcity. That is, if we don't nuke ourselves or die amidst environmental disasters of our own making.