"this economy" (was Re: [geeks] Ultra 2)

[R. Lonstein]

On Sat, Apr 27, 2002 at 12:25:54PM -0400, Kurt Huhn wrote:
    [snip]
> hrm, not my Capitalism. Where I come from, capitalism was
> the practice of making *everyone* in the company money -

Strictly, no. Capitalism describes a system where the means of
production and distribution are privately owned. It also involves the
accumulation and reinvestment of profits. I forget if the original
definition includes a description of a free market.

Exploiting employees is, arguably, a naive but common expression of
Capitalism because it trades short-term profits for long-term benefits
and makes specific assumptions about the nature of the labor, the
mobility of the labor force, the degree of organization, social and
political structures and the future constancy of those. Keeping
employees happy and making them money, perhaps even involving them in
schemes such as profit sharing, works from a different set of
assumptions and you find it where the employees have high skill and
mobility and demand for them is great.

> and keeping the employees happy. Well, okay, I guess that
> isn't capitalism. I suppose that's actually called human
> decency and repect...

You! Shut up and get back to your oar! *whip-crack*

- Ross