TheRealMafoo said:
Rath said:
HappySqurriel said:
Rath said:
@HS. That ignores the fact that some people are naturally far more skilled than others. Somebody can be born intelligent and earn a lot of money without putting much effort in ever. Another person can be born stupid and put a lot of effort in and never get much money.
Effort is rewarded in a capitalist society, but nowhere near as much as natural talent is. |
I have (personally) never seen someone who was highly successful because of natural talent without putting in a lot of effort to develop that talent. Beyond that, with how many "Stupid" people I have known who have overcome a (dramatic) disadvantage to be successful in their chosen field, and how many "Smart" people I have seen fail simply due to lazyness and poor choices, I don't accept the argument that any significant percentage of the population is failing because they don't have the opportunity to succeed.
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As I said, I agree effort is rewarded in a capitalist society. However there is only so much effort can do for you, somebody with natural talent has a far higher potential in a capitalist society than somebody without that natural talent. Natural talent carries with it a higher reward than effort in capitalism due to the nature of capitalism, the person with the most talent (whether obtained by effort or whether its latent) is paid the most - pure effort can get a person without natural talent through life, but it is very unlikely to get them to the top.
Why? Because people with natural talent who also put effort in are always going to be better than them.
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So?
The world is not fair, and when we try and make it fair, we make a world where even those who would have less due to less talent, now have far less.
Would you rather make $40 an hour for your effort, while a better looking person makes $45 an hour, or would you rather live in a world where both of you made $20 an hour?
I will take the $40, thank you very much.
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I wasn't actually arguing against the merits of capitalism (and yes I do believe capitalism has plenty of merits and in moderation is a great thing for society) I was arguing against the way that both you and especially HS seemed to imply that capitalism gives fair rewards directly proportional to effort which it doesn't. Capitalism isn't fair, doesn't mean it doesn't work.
I'm not naive enough to think that a purely socialist economy works properly, I'm also convinced however that a purely capitalistic economy is, for lack of a better word, evil.
