- Capitalism and Alternatives -

Speaking of Scrooge and Capitalists...

In Reply to: 'Why would MDG want to punish success?' posted by Henry on January 21, 19100 at 11:56:43:

"Capitalists aren't by definition mean horrible people. They're not caricatures like Scrooge sitting in their rooms counting their money devising ways to screw workers and destroy the planet.I know some capitalists personally and they're not this way at all. (I mean real capitalists--people that own companies--not the "hooray-for-the-system" yahoos.)"

"Whether you like Nike or don't like Nike, good corporations are the ones that lead these countries out of poverty," Philip Knight said in a recent Washington Post interview. "When we started in Japan, factory labor there was making $4 a day, which is basically what is being paid in Indonesia and being so strongly criticized today. Nobody today is saying, 'The poor old Japanese.' We watched it happen all over again in Taiwan and Korea, and now it's going on in Southeast Asia."

Hogwash, say Nike critics. The company is no kindly benefactor; Phil Knight's flinty heart would make Mr. Scrooge proud. Michael Moore lists Knight as his #3 "corporate criminal" in his best-selling book, "Downsize This!" Moore also jokes (?) that his next film will be called "Phil & Me," as he torments Nike's CEO as he earlier did the head of General Motors.

*Of course that's not to say that *all* capitalists are assholes... anymore than all Rush Limbaugh fans are racist, homophobic, loons.* --K

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