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Old 03-23-2007, 11:11 AM
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The author makes a valid observation about modern capitalism failing to meet needs. That is not so much a matter of abandonment of the poor, however, as it is overall "cultural debt" caused by the delusions of the relatively wealthy. I suggest that many people have few true needs in the primal sense, but we are genetically programmed to seek tools for survival, so even when we live comfortably, we tend to think as if the tools we seek were necessary.

The reason for this problem in economic development is the same as the reason for warfare, crime, promiscuity and many mental illnesses such as anxiety. We are genetically the same as we were 10,000 years ago, but 10,000 years ago we had to struggle to survive and reproduce. Aggression, fear and general brutishness were inevitable survival tools. Now, however, we are faced with few short-term threats to our survival, but we still possess the same instincts. Accordingly, the same feeling of "need" that a prehistoric man experienced when looking at a stone club is felt by a modern consumer looking at a cellular phone.

By doing this, we actually cause ourselves unnecessary stress. In such short-term "I must do this now to survive" thinking, we overlook what will make us happiest in the long term and we hurt the economy by neglecting resources (and persons) of greater productive potential where our long-term needs are concerned. Having stated that, since the government is itself no more than a monopolistic business that sells issues and candidates as products, it can do nothing to solve the problem. We have to use our free will to solve it ourselves.
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