Joe,
I would suggest you read the whole post before making comments about what I have said. Read a little further and you will see that I was highlighting Gates and Buffet as prime examples for what they should be doing with their money. My issue is not with rich people, only the system that fails to accept its own faults. It is not for me to educate you; I would not be so condescending. I would suggest that you find out for yourself and make your own judgments.

‘because they do NOT live in a society like ours! Where was the logic behind THAT QUESTION? That was one of those liberal entrapment questions - no?’

No entrapment needed just pointing out a few truths. I think that you seem quite agitated about this issue, and you seem to be displaying the typical right wing response to any question they do not want to deal with. Anyway, I have traveled to a few countries that have completely different societies on many levels but still I see the same old golden arches of McDonalds loud and clear. Many of these countries are following capitalist ideals (there are not that many socialist countries out there) but they are unable to benefit fully from following these ideals due to the inequality of this system. Another point I think you should look into is the poverty levels within the US I think it is close to 15% of US population is living below the poverty threshold.

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'An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.'
(Mahatma Gandhi)

I went back and reread the post I based my reply on.

The ONLY reference to your list which they were on top of says this:
... then proceeds into 2 additional pages of a list of 300.

As you presented your concept - The three richest people in the world control more wealth than all 600 million people living in the world's poorest countries.[8] then proceeded into that excessive list made your point appear to be attacking these people instead of attempting to show how things should be!

In addition to that you said:
FACT IS: it isn't MOST modern! It is ALL modern industrialized nations today! Look how the Clinton Administration tried to attack Bill Gates and Microsoft.

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NEXT:

What were the "TRUTHS" you were trying to point out?



I can see that you REALLY are being well schooled by Liberal Academia!

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"One Person Will Get $25.00 Visa Gift Card - CLICK HERE To Get Your Chance!"

THE REALITY IS: Even this country is quickly becoming more Socialist by the day!

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"One Person Will Get $25.00 Visa Gift Card - CLICK HERE To Get Your Chance!"

Such a pitifully myopic view of the world. Why I dwell on this issue is because it is the main issue. Look at what you just said. Are the logical flaws not blatantly obvious to you?

[quote=dimension XI]"This becomes irrelevant in the fight against poverty if this is the only thing that was dealt with. If the other issues were faced then the supply of electricity and sanitation will happen naturally."[/color]

This has got to be one of the most foolish statements that I have ever read. If we deal with the "other" issues (whatever that means), the supply of electricity and sanitation will happen naturally. Do you really believe a single word of that? If you do, I have some beachfront land near the peak of Mt. Everest you may be interested in.

Tell me, exactly how are these people going to get electricity and all of the things that come with it "naturally" if greens block any attempt to build the means of production? Look at our own history pre electricity. Stinking filthy cities, and wretchedly poor rural areas. Now, if I am understanding your position, you are suggesting that somehow they cleaned up thier acts, and then they got electricity.

What actually happened was that people got electricity and their lives began to improve almost overnight. Simply being able to store food rather than live hand to mouth day by day would benefit the people in 3rd world countries beyond measure.

Imagine for a minute what your life would become if that wall outlet that you take for granted, and all the wall outlets that all the rest of us take for granted were cut off. Your life would change immediately. The food in your refrigerator and freezer will last for a few days. And you probably have enough food in your pantry to last for a couple of weeks if you eat everything including those old stale crackers that have been sitting there for 6 months.

What happens then? Hell, what happens in the meantime? What are you going to drink after the sodas and beer are gone? Where exactly is your water going to come from? If you are a diabetic, how are you going to store your insulin? Where are you going to go to the bathroom if the toilet doesn't flush. How are you going to maintain your personal hygene? When those crackers are gone, where are you going to get more food? No one can help you because they are all in the same situation as you. Now imagine that you learn that the electricity is not going to be turned back on.

There are people who could live that way. I have been teaching survival skills to scouts for about 20 years and I have my own water filtration equipment, a variety of firearms, and several thousand rounds of ammunition, I am familiar with the plants in the area in which I live and know what can be eaten and what can't, and which parts of said plants are edible and which are not. But even with what I know, my life expectancy is reduced by decades. All I need to do is get a nasty cut and develop an infection and I am dead. Any of 10,000 things can happen to me and end my life in no time at all. If those outlets were cut off, I would wager that 6 in 10 people in this country would be dead inside of a year.

The laughter must come from ignorance, it certainly doesn't come from anything that resembles knowledge. Tell me, do you believe that you would be better off if your wall outlet were cut off? The "eco system" would certainly be better off, but you would be a starving diseased skeleton on your way to death in a couple of months. It is easy for you to talk about the "eco system" while you sit in front of your computer and don't have to worry where your next meal is coming from, or what happens to you if you get a scratch from a rusty nail. Tell me, for all the damage that you greens like to say that we (the US) have caused the "eco system" do you believe for a minute that we aren't better off than 3rd world children who are dying at 3 years old and 3rd world adults dying old at 28? Is that really what you believe?

Yeah, tell that to the people who have never seen a wall outlet and have no idea what a working one would do to improve their lives. Every time greens shut down a hydro project in the 3rd world, they are denying electricity for about 5,000 villages; low-cost renewable power for industries and sewage treatment plants; irrigation water for crops; and clean water for millions of people.

Tell it to all of them but tell them quick because they are dying in their millions. But hey, you can rest easy at night right?...because you saved a few lizzards. Yeah...that's the ticket.

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"It's not alive, It's not alive, It's not alive. Because I said it isnt', there's your proof jerk." ...lexi

"As far as your logical fallicy shit - shove it. I am a woman."...naturemomma

Whoa...I'd like to see where you got your figures...and let's not forget we're now supporting wealthy corporations and wealthy individuals who pay NOTHING in taxes all the while we are supporting a military, congress and elected officials who keep raising their pay and benefits, roads, infrastructure, all military expenses including the $500 hammer the defense contractors keep buying....and how did we get so many unemployed? Oh, yeah, NAFTA and CAFTA and the 55 other FTAs Bush has created on his own by the powers he vested inhimself to do so.....

I'll agree the money being exempted is largely being wasted. Congress KNEW Halliburton stole $3 billion, but did not require it to pay it back...you will and I will and our children will and their children will......just like the theft of $1 trillion of the savings and loans by the Bush family we are all still paying for right now....

Let's not breed such contempt for American citizens who find themselves in a global economy which is trying to reduce wages and benefits to Americans...through job loss and illegal immigrants...now pouring into this nation DESPITE the president declaring "war".

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Mark Twain:

In religion and politics people's beliefs and convictions are in almost every case gotten at second-hand, and without examination, from authorities who have not themselves examined the questions at issue but have taken them at second-hand from other non-examiners, whose opinions about them were not worth a brass farthing.

Autobiography, 1959

Right here, you exemplify the "feel good" nature of socialism that so often results in the unintended consequences that hurt the ones who can least afford to be hurt.

If you lay taxes on those large corporations that you seem to hate so much, do you believe that they will just pay the taxes out of their profits? Are you so naive? Those taxes that you would sock them with, which would make you feel so good would just be an additional cost of doing business and would therefore go directly to the consumer and in the end, the ones who are hurt worst are the ones who can least afford to be hurt.

Even a small amount of applied common sense should tell you, and every other socialist out there that this is exactly what will happen and yet, it feels so good to you to think that you are "getting" the fat cats that you will go ahead and condemn the poor to suffer to pay for your satisfaction.

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"It's not alive, It's not alive, It's not alive. Because I said it isnt', there's your proof jerk." ...lexi

"As far as your logical fallicy shit - shove it. I am a woman."...naturemomma

I suspect that the leading socialists, the cynical movers-and shakers among closet-socialists and various supposed do-gooders know that -- and they don't care! Helping the poor is not their primary goal. They want to first destroy private enterprise and private ownership of the means of production, and then divide the loot equally with everyone.

What they don't seem to know is that when private property, free enterprise and PROFITS are eliminated, the pie they want equally divided begins to shrink. Under their plan, everybody would finally end up with an equal share...of NOTHING! Without the incentives of profit and property, an economy will self-destruct over time.

Of course, in real life, if total socialism were ever allowed to take hold, everything that is left over after the ruling party elite takes the cream off the top would be divided equally -- until the whole pie shrinks so far that there's nothing left, people would be desperate, and then there'd be another revolution.

I was acquainted with some real hardcore leftists in the 1960s. Closely acquainted. It was shocking, the level of extreme hatred and anger they would express toward the USA when they thought they were among like-minded people. Many of them were, IMO, merely angry children, lashing out at the system in which their daddies had earned the money to pay for their college educations -- and not to become too Freudian, but lashing out at Daddy, too. But there were leaders and thinkers among them who were much more purposeful and focused. THEY were dangerous. And today, many of these various leftist wackos are elder, tenured profs in our institutions of "higher" learning. The crazed leftist radicalism of the 60s has become the received wisdom of whole segments of today's US society. And we are headed for deep trouble as a result.

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Ray
USA

There will always be people wanting to fill the 'control' vacuum. In our case, if it ain't the government, it will be the corporations. If it ain't the government or the corporations, it will be the churches. If it ain't the government, corporations or churches, it will probably be the New World Order folks. Who knows? All I know is that the capitalism/socialism dichotomy is a phony dichotomy perped by the national committees. If you think Grover Norquist isn't into socialism, you're dumber'n a bag of hammers.

obviously its better for the rich live in a capitalist society,but is it better for the poor?

PaleRider, don't try to confuse people with logical statements and facts. All the Socialist wanna bees need to do is preform any sort of rudimentary research on what the former Soviet Union was like to find out how much freedom the Socialist states have. Only the ruling class has freedom. Or, they can look at how efficient the UK medical system is. Or look at the wonderful things that the Socialists in Italy did. Or China... Shall I keep going?