Originally Posted by The Batlord

I'm fine with all that. Redistributed wealth doesn't work in a way that is productive when taken to a certain level. I imagine your business is relatively modest, and your ambitions are relatively modest compared to something like the mentality of a Fortune 500 company (i.e. expansion as opposed to market domination). I imagine you treat your employees with respect and not as simply resources to be exploited.

"Successful" people have a greater understanding about economic issues and an ability to move up in the world, which is necessary for society to function and move forward. But those that operate at the level of a multi-national corporation can't afford to be so "human" when dealing with their employees. At that point it becomes pie charts and statistics that renders the working class as numbers to be treated as expendable. It's pretty much impossible for such high level businessmen to not be predatory to an extent.

That's where capitalism and the free market cease to be merely an opportunity for bettering oneself, and need to be treated with the same kind of mistrust as one must with a national politician, or else we leave ourselves open to exploitation. If we were living in a pre-industrial society, then capitalism would be almost purely positive, but in today's world with its multi-national corporations, there needs to be protection for those at the lower end of the socio-economic scale. And that means a certain amount of socialism mixed with capitalism.