Patrick Elliott <sel### [at] npgcablecom> wrote:
> True, the problem of course being that just because person X was a 
> genius at Y, doesn't mean that X's children, with all the opportunities 
> and money, will either a) apply themselves to being that good at 
> anything, or b) won't be a total idiot, while person Z's kids, who have 
> no money, no schooling, etc. might not have been far better. This isn't 
> just a hypothetical either, it happens all the damn time, its just hard 
> to see, if the resources for the guy that *should have* been elite 
> consists of the stuff taken from the local trash can, while the village 
> idiot can hire 50 people, slightly smarter than himself, to make a 
> small, mediocre, improvement in something.

  Maybe I'm biased in my views because I'm living in Finland rather than
the US, the UK or some other country where education is (AFAIK) much more
dependent on people's wealth.

  This mostly not the case in Finland. Everybody gets the same education
regardless of how wealthy they are, there are no separate schools for the
rich (even the idea feels foreign here), and even getting to a university
is cheap because the government pays for it (unlike in the US, where you
have to either be filthy rich or get some huge sponsorship). Basically
the only limiting factor for getting into a university is if you are
capable. It's not a question of money or social status.

  (In fact, university students are actually considered poor by default,
which might feel a bit ironic to some people in some countries where only
the rich and lucky get to universities. The image of the poor and bohemian
university student is actually kind of a stereotype. Not a negative one,
though, and usually quite factual. I'm sure Finland is not the only such
country.)

> You really need to examine just how badly "pure capitalism", and lack of 
> government intervention *does* fail.

  You write as if I had defended pure capitalism.

  IMO capitalism is ok, but needs a strong government to control it.

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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