: Private property isn't necessarily your house or your yard (although it can be that); private property is your dreams, your destiny, your risk! I define property as something tangible, and that which you can put a price on. Those are all variables, so to speak, and would take a genius to even begin to calculate their cost. What is destiny? Do you believe in chaos?
: This profit represents the community's appreciation of her sandwiches--the quality of the meat, the freshness of the tomato, the crispness of the lettuce.
: People buy her sandwiches because they LIKE them, and they keep coming back.
As is the case with most food that doesn't taste like advertising.
: Now, the cost of her sandwiches are, say, two dollars a piece. Add rent on her building, electricity and water bills, and we come to 2.75 a sandwich. After that, Betty needs something to live on, so she charges 4.50 for each of her sandwiches.
These must be really good sandwiches, because that is one hell of a price for bread, meat, tomato, and lettuce.
: Well, Betty doesn't want to keep paying rent on her building forever, does she?
Why not, it's cheaper than buying the shop, especially when mcdonald's will soon come in and steal her business.
: Even with the extra two months, Betty just doesn't have the cash. She has to raise her prices to 5.00 dollars a sandwich, then 5.50. Then 6.00!
Why does she raise her prices? Wouldn't it be worth it just to keep renting? $6.00 for a sandwhich is outrageous!
: But Betty finds that her sandwiches are quite popular and that she can't keep up with the demand.
The demand for lower prices.
: Betty thinks this a very fair arrangement, for some days Betty makes nothing after her workers' pay. Sometimes she makes more than that, which is what she went into business for in the first place.
Again she could have just charged the extra money and kept renting, it would still have been cheapre.
: When she gets enough money, Betty can buy the property. Tehn it becomes her private property. Betty is now a capitalist. She is responsible to herself and to herself alone.
Betty was a capitalist the day she decided to exploit the community for her personal gain. that is what capitalism does, she tried to set herself above everyone just to make a profit.
: Finally, the issue is one of personal responsibility. Betty didn't have to open the sandwich shop, but she did. Her "exploited workers" didn't have to work there but they did. It's all a matter of the personal choices we make in life, not some Government telling us what we can and can't do. That's what capitalism has over communism.
i disagree entirely with this part. College students do not work of their own free will, do you think they are loaded with cash and spare time or something. They needed any job that would cover their expenses, such as rent, tuition, and food. If this is a low employment area, which it must be because Betty doesn't seem to have any competition in a popular industry, those students had no choice. No, they did have a chioce, work for Betty or drop college.
None.
