Babies and Bathwater

Here is today's post of the day. The article is interesting and worth a read. What really caught my eye is this:

In 1875, food/clothing/shelter accounted for 74 percent of total consumption (including leisure). In 1995, they accounted for just 13 percent of total consumption. For material goods, productivity tends to grow faster than demand, so that a smaller fraction of resources is devoted to them. We see that in the ever-declining proportion of the work force engaged in agriculture, mining, and manufacturing

The above is the reason I am conservative. Liberals tend to look at the flaws of capitalism rather than the benefits. The disparity of wealth between Bill Gates and a homeless person is compelling, yes, but consider that, without capitalism and the wealth it generates the problem wouldn't be too many homeless people, but too many people dying of starvation.

I make an analogous (is that even a word? analogous?) argument regarding socializing medicince. The current system has produced thousands of miracle drugs which have rapidly extended average lifespans and dramatically improved the quality of life for millions. The liberal response to this is to privatize medicine because these drugs are expensive!

Charity and stop-gap safety nets are preferable to fundamentally reworking the system, if the goal is to minimize human suffering.