Wednesday 10 February 2010

To earn money is not a crime

Capitalism is not exploitation, we are not responsible for the choices of others...

If a (private, commercial) Doctor heals a sick person, have they exploited that person? No, the person is free to decline the offer of service. Is the Doctor wrong to charge for such a crucial service? Is food not crucial and yet we pay for that in the free market, people starve even today.

It is perhaps regrettable that we all do not have all that we require and that we must provide for ourselves and others to survive, but we must retain some property for ourselves, including our labour. The Doctor could work tirelessly for other people and starve...

It's OK to withhold services if we are not being offered anything in return, and OK to sell services when we might (could) give them away for nothing; we can always give them away. We are not in debt to our customer.

If a chemist invents a cure for a common illness, they are able to provide their medicine only to those who are willing to pay for it. The choice lies with the chemist, not others, hopefully, once they have made a little bit of money, they will choose to be more generous, but we have no right to force this upon them or to punish (or criticise?) them for their choices. We must all be heartless to some degree, since it is always possible to do good for others, above ourselves.

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