Rambling inspired by "Daemon" by Daniel Suarez

The thinly veiled caricatures are fun. Describing economic development in general, and a "Leland" that is probably Goldman Sachs, Suarez writes:

"To view Leland fund managers as immoral was a gross simplification of the word. And what was there to replace capitalism, anyway? Communism? Theocracy? Most of the Third World had already suffered nearly terminal bouts of idealism. It was the communists, after all, who had littered the world with cheap AK-47's in order to 'liberate' the masses. But the only lasting effect was that every wall between Cairo and the Philipines had at least one bullet hole in it. But nothing changed. Nothing changed because those alternate belief systems flew in the face of human nature. Or even common sense. Anyone who has ever tried to share pizza with roommates knows that Communism cannot ever work. If Lenin and Marx had shared an apartment, perhaps a hundred million lives might have been spared and put to productive use making sneakers and office furniture."

I enjoy the viewpoint that Capitalism sucks, that Capitalism manifests the worst in people as often as it doest the best, but that Capitalism is ultimately better than the alternatives.

I like the viewpoint because it's my own. I like seeing it in print because it's such a rarity.

Any system, including Capitalism, will prove highly problematic and involve painful tradeoffs for those least in a position to bear them. To deny this, as would a cultish Randian, is to cover your eyes and choose the role of cheer-leader-for-Capitalism rather than thinker. And to pretend, as would a socialist, that a cenral authority can effectively allocate resources is to replace pragmatism with optimism, an ultimately fatal formula.

Like the Buddha says, to live is to suffer.