Send me a note at thumbs@email.com and I will give you my real email address. I would be happy to then relay the particulars you ask as long as you tell me you will keep the information confidential. We are diametrically opposed as far as political viewpoints are concerned, but I believe your posts indicate honesty along with zeal and candor.
Wealth maximization means to maximize a country's resources to yield the most wealth. Period. "Good" has nothing to do with it. Because we often think "good" is important, we use socialism. There is nothing inherently wrong with doing that if that's what society wants to do, but don't pretend that you're maximizing your wealth by doing so. That's just dishonest. anyway, monopolies can't exist without government intervention (patent laws and the such) so you could even argue that in a truly capitalistic society the wealth would be spread around more than what the stereotype is.
Capitalism is an economic system, socialism is a badly defined term. The US economic system is not "pure capitalism". Govt. has played a major role in getting some of the most innovative US companies off the ground (Pfizer, Boeing, Northrap Grunnman, Honeywell, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, AT&T, IBM, Cisco Systems, Intel, GE, etc.. the list goes on). Technologies funded and developed by the Govt. for military and security use - Satelites, GPS, the computer, ARPA(internet). Those 4 simply technologies have created entire industries in the private sector. Policy choices that could be viewed as Socialism - progressive income tax, Medicaid/Medicare, Food Stamps, etc...
It's impossible to say because people seek different types of lives. A person who wants stability would like Socialism. A person who wants ways to advance in society would want capitalism. A powerful person who craves power would prefer more of an anarchy. In the end, I don't think any form of government can work long term. And eventually it will simply cycle. The current trend of course is capitalism/democracy. But eventually the type of gain-now/pay-later will eventually fall, IMO.
Who said maxmize wealth is the best way to run a country? How about all these firms that only want to maximize profit without regards to other goals? The auto industry the financial inudstry, do they ring a bell? A country with a large middle class is much more stable and have much less chance of unrests, revolutions and have a much less crimes etc than a country where the top 10% controls everything and everyone else is poor.
I don't think you understood what I'm saying. I was defining terms not passing judgment. in fact, I said it was perfectly fine not to go maximize wealth if that's what you want to do. I just said you should be honest about what you are doing. Otherwise we just get confused about cause and effect. Both sides have merits but there are trade-offs going both ways.
If that is the case, your point is fine. Since I never said maximzing wealth should be the goal of a country.
I think the distinction between the two blurs these days. Almost every country runs a hybrid of the two. Read Karl Marx if you want to know why Capitalism in theory wouldn't work, read Ludwig Von Mise for the reasons why socialist's economy would't work.
