fordprefect: In theory, the labor class "produces" products and wealth, however, lacking a "capitalist" class to provide the large investment long payoff facilities in which to do so, the working class lacks a place to work.

You seem to be ignoring the chicken-and-egg nature of your argument. Maybe because it is convenient for you. But where did the "super rich" get their wealth in the first place. Maybe they stumbled upon a mountain of gold and claimed it for themselves, because God knows, if you find something, therefore you own it (sic.). If an individual swings a stick at a ball often enough, then invariably one is going to get good at it (most of the professional (sic.) sports people, movie stars, singers, ...) - the disparity in wealth is immoral.

fordprefect: Joe teamster has medical insurance, is able to afford a home, food, a car, tv, medicaal care, raise children, and essentially live his life. Bil gates has a larger home, but essentially he lives the same type of life.

Have you read at all, about all the people in the USA without health insurance, or maybe about the rate of home foreclosures and that the rate is increasing? The USA is going off a cliff, your comparison of "Joe Teamster" with Bill Gates is specious.

Chicken and egg nature of the argument: not ignoring it, just see no particular need to chase it back that far. Yes, the original capital came from somewhere. In many cases it was a criminal enterprise, an easy innovation, political favors from queen Isabella, or a lot of hard work. The fact still remains that a nation of joe teamsters will build no factories and mine no iron in the absence of a few capitalists to fund the ventures.

Yes, I AM one of the people in the US without health insurance. My business is purchasing and rehabilitating repossessed houses. My clientèle is primarily dolists. This isn't theory for me, it's my daily life. The dolists I rent to ALL have cable, health insurance paid for by the state, HEAP pays for 75 degree heating in the NY winter, the quantity of wal-mart plastic they leave behind when they move out is astounding. Their lives are crap, but that is most resoundingly their own decision making skills as opposed to lack of resources.

The fact still remains that a nation of joe teamsters will build no factories and mine no iron in the absence of a few capitalists to fund the ventures.

It is not a fact, it is your opinion. You are basically saying, that it is impossible to place an advert in a paper, or on TV, or rely on viral internet marketing, to raise substantial sums of capital - methinks that is exactly what Obama has just demonstrated. If you want to be beholden and kiss the ring of a 'few capitalists' then feel free.

So now your average 'Joe Teamster' has everything he needs in life, but you and the people you rent to, do not. Like I said, your comparison of 'Joe Teamster' to Bill Gates is specious.

Name one nation at any point in history that has or had a functioning industrial economy without a very wealthy class. The insistence that things that have never ever worked can work if we all behave better is one of the most dangerous in history and has been responsible for enormous evils throughout history. Capitalism works. It has always worked and it is the only thing that does. Periodically however, the tree of liberty needs water, and that's just life. The time to water the tree invariably comes about because government takes too much control and crashes the functioning of the nation. Whether it does so at the behest of the corporations, the people, or the spotted owls is irrelevant.

BTW, I have everything I need, as do all my tenants. The insistence that health insurance is a "need" is ignorance. The fact is that without health insurance, do you know what happens? You still get treated, you just don't pay the bill. It's as simple as that. It isn't your life that is in danger, it's just your credit rating.

I've given you one clear and substantive example where an individual has raised a considerable sum of money without reliance on a 'few capitalists'. You have ignored my line of reasoning and your argument has now changed to asking me to disprove a negative combined with an appeal to authority (the "tree of liberty" lol).

Your thinking appears stunted - "at any point in history" .... "industrial economy", tell me how many years have we been standing erect, and how long is recorded history, and how many hundreds of years have we had an industrial society (in the west)?

You might as well ask for an example of one nation that has a law where everyone wears pink on Monday.

Further, I have made no "insistence that things that have never worked, can work if we all behave better", and even if I had, your comparison that this "is one of the most dangerous in history and has been responsible for enormous evils throughout history" is outrageous. Hitler was evil, a line of reasoning is just that. Do you seriously think that your staggering exaggeration and inflammatory language constitutes a line of reasoning?

"Capitalism works", lol, today there is news that the FBI has arrested over 400 people in connection with the sub-prime crisis. These people were not colluding on some game-the-system forum. A large number probably have no knowledge of each other. This, Enron, et al. is an example of the system you are attempting to defend. Before your very eyes it is falling apart. How safe are savings when, on the one hand, the true rate of inflation is likely double that reported by the Government, and on the other hand, we have the Federal Reserve continually diluting the US dollar and setting base interest rates in low single digits. Seriously, how does this very broken version of capitalism help the ordinary saver? This is also happening in those other fine examples of 'working Capitalism' the UK and Europe.

Following your example of lets not argue the facts, lets try colorful metaphors; your reasoning appears to be flip-flopping on the deck like a fish out of water.