Not my statistic. It comes to you care of the CIA.Sorry, but I haven't been here lately. It seems that the intent of this 'debate' is not so much to get at the facts but to beat the capitalist system into the ground, at whatever the cost. You yourself showed shock when actual facts were introduced, so uncommon is the practice. The tactic here appears to be missives intended to wear down the opposition, or failing that humiliate them, rather than winning them over with a reasoned argument. From what I can see, the dearth of evidence to support the opinions of those on the Left necessitates this sort of stance, so I suppose it comes as no surprise. It simply becomes tiring after a time.
As to AIDS vis a vis adequate sewerage treatment and disposal, the first is self managing, while the latter has obvious solutions as well. The time honored cure for AIDS is ... time. The means of transmission is well known, as well as the almost certain lethality of the disease. As for a cure, the failure of the 'cocktail' method shows just how difficult this sort of thing will be to synthesize. Perhaps as new protein research develops the prion theory into something more specific, a new breakthrough might be possible. It would seem, however, that a good bit of simple Catholic abstinence would go a great deal further, the (in)famous third-world prostitution industry notwithstanding.
The sewerage issue seems even simpler to remedy, in light of my ethnomorphic tunnel vision. In my vocation, we are frequently in need of field expedients to resolve our hygiene issues. I have found that a few latrines and a bit of personal discipline go a long way. In that one might think this sort of thing is an inevitable byproduct of primitive and poor societies, one might look to medieval Japan as a model.
Now, the question: Capitalism, in the most neutral sense, is not a system prone to resolving social issues of this sort, as witness Victorian England (substitute syphilis for AIDS). What has socialism to offer? In that military organizations are by their nature 'socialistic', I have a few ideas of my own, but I'd like to hear yours.
None.
