May 18th, 2010

This was written as a comment on http://www.thepartisandialogues.com

This thread has actually gotten quite interesting.  I’m even thinking Kong99 is perhaps not the total villain I thought he was.

I don’t want to write anything too long, but basically my feeling is this: nobody should go hungry, nobody should be homeless, nobody who is sick should be denied medical care, and everybody should be able to get as much education as their brains can handle, because that’s just a good investment for society as a whole.  Above that, let the capitalists go crazy.

As far as disincentivizing people, I think that right wingers have an overly simplified view of  human motivations.  If money were the only reason people worked, all rich people would stop working, and that’s not the case.  Bill Gates does not need any more money, but he continues to work.  Artists, writers, musicians and often architects, engineers and inventors work because they have something inside them that needs to come out, a vision which needs to be expressed.  Many people work because they are competitive, or seek recognition.  Doctors, teachers, firemen and the best of the policemen work because they truly want to help people, farmers work because they love the land and because of their family traditions.  Many people go to work because they are bored and want to get out of the house.

I’m not against the profit motive.  I’m just saying that the economy will not collapse if everybody has a decent base standard of living.