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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> extropy-chat-bounces@lists.extropy.org [mailto:extropy-chat-bounces@lists.extropy.org] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Samantha Atkins<br><br><b><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p></div></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>>…</span></b>Nor does capitalism of necessity lead to such bromides and the "rich get richer and the poor get poorer". <span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Ja. Since China went functionally capitalist, Chinese doctors have been seeing a rash of obesity and related diseases, a sharp rise in diabetes, etc, what they refer to as rich man’s syndrome because it is their upper class which gets these. But note that all these things are what kills poor people in the US: the puzzling argument is they are too poor to afford a proper diet, so they eat cheap high fat foods. So Chinese doctors come to the states to study our poor man’s syndrome in order to learn how to treat their rich man’s syndrome. America has some of the richest poor people in the world.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>In capitalism, the rich get richer, and the poor get richer. Granted the rich get waaay richer, faster, but the poor get richer too.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>This is a very important point once you look at what the poor can have. For the most part, they can have houses. Granted they are not as nice as the rich peoples’ houses, but they have them. And the American poor have food. They generally have cars, even if not very good ones. And TVs. Most of the people occupying Oakland have homes somewhere. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>>…</span><span class=apple-style-span><span style='font-size:10.0pt'> So to blame Capitalism is enough to make my blood boil.</span></span><span style='color:#1F497D'> </span><span class=apple-style-span><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>- samantha</span></span><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>It need not. If a system mostly works, it doesn’t need defending. The local business people who are suffering from the Oakland occupation need defending, but capitalism does not. Capitalism can defend itself. No blood boiling required. Criticize away, show me a better way, and we will eventually evolve into that.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>spike<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Over my limit today, see you tomorrow.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div></body></html>