re: Nice opinion piece on income inequality from CNN

quote:

---

ETA: The power of capitalism comes in with the next steps. The incentive to make the technology better/cheaper.

---

Capitalism is the incentive to make profit as best you can and has been demonstrable in how NOT to run an economy. If America has taught the world anything it's that profit without direction or morality is vacuous and eventually ends in global catastrophe.

quote:

---

Yes, but which economic ideal would cause them to develop the most.

---

None, the resources will do the walking and the talking. Nations of all colors of economies have made great strides regardless of those ideals.

quote:

---

The Government sponspored innovation will likely all lead to generally the same point conclusion, whether they direct it or offer payment for research in a capitalist economy. It is the non government innovation which gives capitalism the advantage.

---

The problem with this is that most of the developments are done through the government these days as Duke said earlier. It's folly to think that it doesn't, or that the private sector accounts for much of anything anymore.

quote:

---

even conceding this, this is one example. And appears to me to be the exception, not the rule.

How can you explain the countries leading in innovation now?

---

You mentioned Sweden (which is a Constitutional Monarchy and highly, highly Socialist).

Germany can hardly be considered Capitalist and is usually considered a mixed economy -- with high levels of taxation to afford its social programs.

South Korea exists as it does because America poured billions of dollars into the economy (resources!) and they managed the money very well, investing domestically (a very anti-capitalist stance these days).