Intrusive advertising is THE cornerstone of capitalism...

By the way, it wasn't free market cap-ism that led to the spill or the housing melt down -- it was gov't rules + oversight, mostly. Fannie/Freddie forcing banks to lower lending requirements + the deepwater horizon rig was given excellent safety rating by the gov't 1 or 2 months before the explosion.

But -- is cap-ism worth saving? Well, if it goes away, all will be reduced to what is "necessary." That is whatever you'd see in an Amish village. Nothing wrong with that -- except -- how will everyone EAT?

Cap-ism is decadent, lavish, materialistic, imperial, etc. -- yes, I agree.

But when one dials everything back to what is "necessary," one ends up with many, many STARVING PEOPLE who unable to supprt themselves, because their LIVELIHOOD was a *superfluous* job.

No, we don't NEED 137 TV channels, or Macy's, or Paul Mitchell, or computers, or $2,300 couches -- and all the middlemen in all the distribution chains, etc., etc. -- we don't even really "NEED" more than one kind of shirt. But, together, all those "superfluous" jobs (products + services) make up a giant "superfluous" HOUSE-of-CARDS that is our ECONOMY!!

And that economy (as superfluous as (I admit) it is), FEEDS a lot of people.

If it goes away (in favor of what is "necessary") how will all those people EAT?

Gordon, you have in your sig an info product about info products. That product allows you to eat (or it creates a certain % of your food). But when all the "unnecessary" things start getting zapped, won't that include your info product? Isn't your product superfluous too? Isn't it (too) part of the interdependent, superfluous house-of-cards called cap-ism? If it gets zapped, and everything gets dialed back to "Amish village" level -- and you go to the grocery store to buy milk -- and you reach into your wallet for $ -- and you see nothing there -- what will you do?

Or are you also a carpenter?

-- TW