...It is the purpose of business to provide
for a good way of life (for all), not the other way around...
Sorry, we jumped from micro to macro here, and I didn't keep up.

No, we didn't jump, but they are all related.

our economy is really just
a bunch of individuals trying to make the best
possible decisions for their families.

True to some extent. Part of that economy however are the rules we
agree to do business by, grudgingly or not.

In the end, THAT can result in the "strip-malling of America" -- but I
haven't heard of any better alternatives to capitalism.

I'm not proposing one. However, unrestrained capitalism will lead to
the strip malling of America, and that is most assuredly a Bad Thing.
In order to protect us against unrestrained capitalistic interests
(which include big glaring "buy this" signs, high rises replacing
airports and forests, sewage pipes into the river, and software that
secretly does stuff behind your back), capitalism must be restrained
sometimes. The capitalists that are thus forced to be more reasonable
do not like this and have bad things to say about the eco-nazis, wealthy
airport nuts, enemies of innovation, and conspiracy theorists who are
protecting what amounts on the one hand to their own special intersts,
but which in the aggregate are the foundation of the good life we all
want for ourselves.

Jose
--
You can choose whom to befriend, but you cannot choose whom to love.
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