From: Dan Glover (daneglover@hotmail.com)
Date: Fri Jul 09 2004 - 18:00:50 BST
Hello everyone
>From: "Mark Steven Heyman" <markheyman@infoproconsulting.com>
>Reply-To: moq_discuss@moq.org
>To: moq_discuss@moq.org
>Subject: MD the metaphysics of free-enterprise
>Date: Thu, 08 Jul 2004 14:06:09 -0700
>
>On 8 Jul 2004 at 13:01, Dan Glover wrote:
>Good points all. Let me ask you though, if one day someone from
>Microsoft contacted you with a: Dear Mr. Heyman, we at Microsoft
>Corp. would like to extend an offer of employment with our firm. The
>work is right up your alley, starting salary somewhere in the middle
>six figures along with all the perks a large corporation can offer.
>Will you accept this position?
>
>msh says:
>Hi Dan. Funny you should ask. I started IPC in 1983. I was, and
>continue to be, the only employee. I was lucky enough to be born
>with a certain amount of brain power and knack for abstract
>reasoning, and luckier still to be born at a time and place where I
>would be able to take advantage of it. The PC boom of the early
>eighties created a tremendous demand for programmers so I was able to
>make a living as an independent contractor, the only way I can see to
>exist in our society without either being exploited, or directly
>exploiting others.
>
>Anyway, in the late 80's, I was working for Ashton Tate, best known
>as the creators of dBASE II, III, IV. I passed up several chances to
>join AT as a full-time regular employee, preferring to retain my
>independence. Had I accepted their offer, I almost certainly would
>have ended up at Microsoft, along with almost every other AT
>programmer, when AT went under. All of this was writing on the wall,
>and no surprise to anyone. I knew that by turning down AT I was also
>turning down Microsoft.
>
>If I didn't follow up these opportunities in the 80's, when I needed
>the work, I see no reason why I would give up my independence now,
>six figures or no.
Hi Mark
Actually it's not that funny I should ask -- I checked out your website. I
like your answer though. Thank you.
>
>dan:
>Of course there are. But right now I'm having difficulty trying to
>come up with one or two. Perhaps you could outline a few reasons. And
>that job offer from Microsoft doesn't count!
>
>msh says:
>I thought I already did. In our current system, someone might make
>a moral choice to avoid the exploitation of others by renting herself
>for wages. Or, maybe, by starting a business with herself as the
>sole employee.
Your answers before seem a bit specious which is why I asked again. The
first, avoiding exploition of others, is impossible in our current society,
IMO, unless you happen to be a butterfly or Pollyanna. The second is not
working for someone else, it's working for yourself.
>dan:
>What do you mean by the south? Are you talking the southern
>hemisphere? Mexico? Alabama? Please clarify.
>
>msh says:
>Sorry. I'm using north-south in the economic sense. Over time, the
>phrases 'First World', 'Second World' and 'Third World' have become
>synonymous with 'first', 'second' and 'third best'. With the
>disappearance of most communist nations, new terminology has emerged
>to replace the first-second-third world distinctions. The terms
>'Economic North' and 'Economic South' refer to the northern
>countries being richer and the southern countries being poorer, as a
>rule. So, in the western hemisphere, everything south of the US is
>Economic South.
Oh I see, you're being politically correct. I get it now.
>
>dan:
>I think this is an extremely complex issue. So far as I know no one
>is putting guns to the illegal immigrants' heads and forcing them
>across the borders. They come to better themselves. And I can't see a
>thing wrong with that. As long as better opportunities abound
>elsewhere, or even rumors of better opportunities, the Dynamic and
>morally sound vision is to follow those opportunities.
>
>msh says:
>Well, if you stay you starve, if you move you have a chance: Not
>quite a gun to the head, but...
>
>BTW, this is exactly the way it's intended to work. Arlo's example
>of Coca Cola in Tijuana, as well as his discussion of the Eco-South
>in general, is well worth thinking about.
Who is behind this conspiracy? The CEO of Coke? All the CEO's of all the
corporations who have moved to the eco-south? Who intends things to work
that way? Sounds to me like they might all get together and conspire to
conspire.
I think you are failing to see the big picture. You're thinking short term,
not long term. There's an old house I bought a number of years ago in a poor
and violent neighborhood. It sits on a busy avenue that leads to what was
then a new shopping mall. All those cars going to the mall don't just drive
by, they bring something to the community it didn't have before. I guess you
could call it "hope" for lack of a better word. I sold the house early this
year at a very handsome profit as the property values have skyrocketed in
the old neighborhood.
Thank you for your comments,
Dan
_________________________________________________________________
MSN 9 Dial-up Internet Access helps fight spam and pop-ups – now 2 months
FREE! http://join.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200361ave/direct/01/
MOQ.ORG - http://www.moq.org
Mail Archives:
Aug '98 - Oct '02 - http://alt.venus.co.uk/hypermail/moq_discuss/
Nov '02 Onward - http://www.venus.co.uk/hypermail/moq_discuss/summary.html
MD Queries - horse@darkstar.uk.net
To unsubscribe from moq_discuss follow the instructions at:
http://www.moq.org/md/subscribe.html
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Fri Jul 09 2004 - 18:04:01 BST