Pine Barrens Mafia Posted February 21, 2006 Share Posted February 21, 2006 Reason -- a great read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pine Barrens Mafia Posted February 21, 2006 Author Share Posted February 21, 2006 Another fantastic article from Business 2.0 on the power of the free market and entrepeneurship to fix age-old problems where big global government has failed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuntheDamnBall Posted February 21, 2006 Share Posted February 21, 2006 Another fantastic article from Business 2.0 on the power of the free market and entrepeneurship to fix age-old problems where big global government has failed. 607866[/snapback] I just don't buy it. Business profits off of age-old problems as much as it solves them. And big government is in large part the way it is because it can be bought by business. The two are in no way mutually exclusive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pine Barrens Mafia Posted February 21, 2006 Author Share Posted February 21, 2006 I just don't buy it. Business profits off of age-old problems as much as it solves them. And big government is in large part the way it is because it can be bought by business. The two are in no way mutually exclusive. 607906[/snapback] This entrepeneur not only is resolving a basic NEED of the people of poor countries, he's teaching the local populations about the value of entrepeneurship. Rather than some government HANDING these things out, the people are learning about how to empower themselves. In the Confucian tradition, this is the ultimate win-win. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuntheDamnBall Posted February 22, 2006 Share Posted February 22, 2006 (edited) This entrepeneur not only is resolving a basic NEED of the people of poor countries, he's teaching the local populations about the value of entrepeneurship. Rather than some government HANDING these things out, the people are learning about how to empower themselves. In the Confucian tradition, this is the ultimate win-win. 607929[/snapback] This much is true: a lot of aid we're giving to poor countries (especially in Africa) hurts more than it helps. I'm thinking particularly of our giving away our fourth-hand clothes, which kills any prospect of a textile industry springing up. The whole, "teach a man to fish" argument. If they can have clothes given to them, why make (and buy) them? I just want to give caution to the notion that business can solve all the world's problems. Small, local businesses competing and using ingenuity are fantastic. That's the power of the entrepreneur. But once the big guys find out there is money to be made, it's awful tough to compete and things often go back to square one. That's all. Also, not sure if I mentioned this before, but entrepreneurship and smart business can also go hand in hand with ecology. There are a lot of invasive species in Africa due to the colonialists bringing in their favorite trees, plants and birds with little regard for their impact on the ecosystems. I saw a piece on PBS a few years ago about companies starting in Africa up that were logging invasive species (which were completely sabotaging the water table and in turn the entire ecosystem), and replanting native species in their place. Seemed like an amazing idea. Created a lot of jobs, too. Edited February 22, 2006 by RuntheDamnBall Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pine Barrens Mafia Posted February 22, 2006 Author Share Posted February 22, 2006 I just want to give caution to the notion that business can solve all the world's problems. Small, local businesses competing and using ingenuity are fantastic. That's the power of the entrepreneur. But once the big guys find out there is money to be made, it's awful tough to compete and things often go back to square one. 608704[/snapback] That's just it....the amount of money to be made in these remote vilalges is tiny, so the "big boys" wouldn't have the incentive to interfere, IMO. BUSINESS may not be able to solve all the world's problems, but the free market is more than capable of doing so. And I'd take my chances with the free market over big government any time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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