Swingman wrote:

True capitalism is based on enlightened self interest, with a healthy
dose
of moral rectitude required.


Here, here. I am a dyed in the wool capitalist, but I do charity work
when I can. I like money and some of the things it can buy, but I
don't covet it. Our current culture seems to thing that capitalism is
bad... especially if they haven't found financial success.

The self employed plumber that is a one man shop is just as much
capitalist as someone like Ken Lay. Without "moral rectitude", you can
see however where Ken Lay has landed along with his cohorts. But the
plumber that feels like he can work harder, smarter, in a more clever
fashion with less waste sees capitalism as a way to get ahead. Respect
for money and the system that allows you to make it is part of
capitalism.

In my reading, too many times the examples I see about how bad and
unfair capitalism is to society is simple confusion about lack of
ethics or integrity in the case when people have money. Lack of ethics
or integrity used to get more money (or anything else) is called
"greed". Capitalism is a system, a type of economic methodology. It
is nothing else; if one wants to be greedy and get more money by
underhanded means, this is not "capitalism". It is avarice.

Strangely, the same system that Sawstop used (an attempt to get ahead
and win economic advantage) was the same system that shut down that
effort. The "I'm not gonna pay for it, you can't make me pay for it,
I'll cut my fingers off first" is a true sign
of capitalism at work. A choice of perceived value was made and it
ended the effort.

Hopefully, the questions of "how much would that cost change the
manufacturing processes?" and "how much would it add to the cost?" On
top of that, if it added too much $$$ to the bottom line to implement
the govt. monitoring of the new Sawstop program, I am sure the folks
listening didn't want hear more bitching and court cases about how
unfair it was that one group owned the technology. Besidie, where
would the money come from to implement and monitor these changes? A
tax increase? Then the thinking has to come down to, "how many of
those woodworkers are actually my constitients that would make me want
to increase taxes, and then listen to me get skewered as a pork barrel
politician?"

And just maybe.. maybe.. one of the nitwits in Washington that listened
to their pitch was able to see what was going on. You may have to just
go with me on that last one. Personally, I don't know how far this
effort got since I have never even met or talked to anyone that knew
when it was presented to Congress in any way.

And I am wondering how far it actually got. After all, I don't recall
anyone here regaling us with tales of their soirre to Washington to
fight the Sawstop campaign. I never signed a petition from angry
woodworkers to stop Sawstop or their nefarious campaign; I never heard
of any grassroots movement to stop them by an angry citizenry of
woodworkers made up of "the common man". A lot of ****ed off people
here that don't like Sawstop or capitalism, but I never saw them on the
news "speaking out" against the Sawstop conspiracy.

But just like Homer Simpson says, it is fun to strike a blow against
the man. It may not amount to much, and you may not have actually done
anything but talk about it. But it is fun. I think a lot are just as
like the guy in the new Sprint commercial that is "sticking it to the
man".

Robert