capitalism = exploitation

[ped]

At this point, you're losing audience, due to obvious bullshittery

Lost me a long time ago...

Some people are not interested in a discussion, only on insisting that their beliefs and/or ways and/or understanding are correct and going in circles when challenged... I think the OP may be one such. Of course, it could have just been my impression of this thread, but I'm very rarely just plain wrong. (No more offence intended than that given by calling a bald guy bald  :blink:

[ped]

you should feel proud that you have helped out someone so obviously in need with your generosity. without your great business sense they wouldnt otherwise have anything. surely thats why they agreed to working for whatever they could get in the first place. if there were a heaven you'd definitely be going! in fact it might make even more business sense to simply allow them to live on you property and provide them with some food in exchange for their work. maybe get them to do other chores while they're at it. that would free up more time to complain on the internet about the amount of taxes you have to pay to the big bad guberment.

Welcome to Trolldom, population, you.

better yet why not just move your business to indonesia where you dont have to pay US minimum wage, you could pay $.20 a hour therefore making even more profit? those people are much more in need of your greatness and therefore willing to do your work for 40X less!
also why waste your time wipping your own ass when you could go down to the labor market and pay a guy minimum wage to do it for you? afterall, you're a business man and your time is valuble...plus its just gross anyway. and hey you're doing someone a favor at the same time! better yet maybe you can find some homeless person willing to work under the table for $.01 a wipe! heck maybe you could free up enough time to clean your own lemonaide machine, who knows.

[Thumpalumpacus]

All that he said then I said crap is really boring.

Let me ask you, ped, seriously:  What sort of economic system do you suggest?  Please be specific.  Let's see if you're a serious thinker on this subject - or just like to stir the pot.

he left because he cant back an inane metaphor.

Actually, I left because discussing this with you is quite obviously a waste of time because you refuse to discuss in good faith.  Hope you feel better.  

[ped]

All that he said then I said crap is really boring.

Let me ask you, ped, seriously:  What sort of economic system do you suggest?  Please be specific.  Let's see if you're a serious thinker on this subject - or just like to stir the pot.

he left because he cant back an inane metaphor.

Actually, I left because discussing this with you is quite obviously a waste of time because you refuse to discuss my faith.  Hope you feel better.  

yep

[Thumpalumpacus]

Thump's Corollary to Godwin's Law:

In any argument between atheists, the likelihood of one of them accusing the other of being similar to religionists is directly proportional to the duration of the argument.

[ped]

Thump's Corollary to Godwin's Law:

In any argument between atheists, the likelihood of one of them accusing the other of being similar to religionists is directly proportional to the duration of the argument.

well that closes it, calling on a corollary to godwin's law must mean the parallel is baseless.

one more chance to change a mind lost to you

[Stevil]

better yet why not just move your business to indonesia where you dont have to pay US minimum wage, you could pay $.20 a hour therefore making even more profit? those people are much more in need of your greatness and therefore willing to do your work for 40X less!
also why waste your time wipping your own ass when you could go down to the labor market and pay a guy minimum wage to do it for you? afterall, you're a business man and your time is valuble...plus its just gross anyway. and hey you're doing someone a favor at the same time! better yet maybe you can find some homeless person willing to work under the table for $.01 a wipe! heck maybe you could free up enough time to clean your own lemonaide machine, who knows.

Surprisingly, you do make good business sense when suggesting that the manufacturing part of the business move to a more cost efficient country. Minimum wage is an issue hence I really do need to look outside the square in order to lower costs and increase profit, if I didn't do this then potentially someone noticing the success of my buisness may startup their own business to compete against me and do just that, they would then be able to undercut me on the local retail market, I would no longer be competitive and would have to close down my business and unfortunately tell my lemon squeezing machine cleaner that I cannot employ them any more.
But of course that wouldn't happen, I have the smarts to recognise this threat and move my manufacturing offshore preemptively. I am running a business after all and want it to be successful. Since the manufacturing is now offshore I cannot possibly make the lemonade myself so as well as hiring an offshore lemon squeezing machine cleaner, I would also need to hire an offshore person to make the lemonade. With the cost of labour there this would be possible. Actually it is now possible to easily expand my business 10 fold, I could easily hire 10 times the people, make 10 times the product and maybe expand my markets to sell the stuff in Asia and the South Pacific.
If I was to look at my efforts not in a business sense but in a sense of the good I am injecting into the world I could be happy that I am employing 10 people now in a country where income is extremely hard to come by. Some of the profits and wages are going to tax in this country which deperately needs funds to pay for basic infrastructure such as schools, hospitals, roads, water and the like. If I still felt the desire to add more into this world I could also seek out worthy charities in which to help fund with the enormous profits that I am now making. This makes me feel quite at ease that I had to lay off my original lemon squeezing machine cleaner. Hell, if I had kept the business onshore I may have only been able to employ them for a few more months until my business went under due to the competition anyway.

[Wilson]

Let me ask you, Wilson, seriously:  If we dont have christianity what sort of moral system do you suggest? please be specific. Let's see if you're a serious thinker on this subject - or just like to stir the pot.

ped, believe me, I have a very well thought out concept of morality - what it is, why we are moral creatures, how there is no absolute morality, and so on - and I'd be happy to discuss it in detail - but obviously that's not what this thread is about.  

Come on, man.  It takes no talent to knock certain details of our capitalist system, and there's plenty to criticize.  But grow a pair and tell us what you would replace it with.  Don't be a coward.

[Prometheus]

"Wow, that escalated quickly"