Progress...and priceless strides.

I'm hoping for the death of capitalism. At least, capitalism as we know it. And it'd be nice if it happened in my lifetime. That would make me happy. Because I think capitalism is full of greed. Too much opportunity to create a wide gap between the rich and the poor. That doesn't seem right to me. The 'haves' so often lord it over the 'have-nots.' Oh, we can say that under capitalism everybody has an opportunity to get rich. To lift themselves up by the bootstraps. But I don't buy into that. Instead, the rich have the opportunity to exploit the not-so-rich. The less affluent are put at a distinct disadvantage under capitalism. The tendency is for the rich to keep getting richer. Without limit. They monopolize the wealth. They monopolize power. Especially political power. Money buys political influence under the capitalist system. I'd like to see a lid put on the accumulation of wealth by the individual. Once the plateau is reached, one would have to pay into a fund intended to accomplish the common good. Yes, in a sense, to narrow the gap between the rich and the poor. I'm not arguing for full equality. Or no gap at all. That won't ever happen. But I'd like to see the gap narrowed to the extent that everybody is guaranteed the basics of life. And we'd have to define the basics. Nobody should be destitute. People would still be allowed to get relatively rich. But not obscenely rich. Some might say I'm in favor of a welfare state. Well, I am, to an extent. For instance, I'm for socialized medicine. Universal health care. And a decent minimum wage. And expanded social security. If we had the basics of life -- well, then maybe we wouldn't have to pursue getting rich. We could learn settling for the basics. If that ever happens, we humans will have made progress...and priceless strides. --Jim Broede