David B,

> The trouble I see with such ideas is that while
> capitalism can theoretically start out without any such
> monstrosities, it never seems to _stay_ that way.

The only monstrosities are the people who take the helm of these monopolies, and only because of the way they run them. A bulldozer looks like a monstrosity too, when driven by a racist blood-thirsty Israeli soldier while smashing Palestinian farm houses as part of a campaign of military conquest.

That same bulldozer becomes a 10 ton mechanical angel when driven by a fireman to clear an emergency fire break when flames are crawling through the forest towards your house.

Are 18 wheel semi trucks "evil" when they haul old growth logs? Of course not, it's just a machine - a machine that was probably hauling food to the store 6 months prior. The driver, his foreman, and all the other humans up his chain of command, are where we place the blame because they have the faculty of conscious choice.

So why do you participate in supporting this diversionary illusion that "corporations" and corporate monopolies are evil? The whole point of "incorporation" is a ruse to shift personal responsibility from the owner/operator of the business machine, onto the machine itself.

By focusing on corporations - machines - rather than their owners - drivers - you only confuse the matter, waste precious effort, and encourage others to make the same mistake.

Corporations are not evil. Monopolies are not evil. Only people can be evil.

Besides, what's your solution - break the corporate monopolies by putting them under the thumb of GOVERNMENT? Hello, they're the biggest monopoly around! They're a monopoly of brute force. And they succumbed to corruption over a century ago.

> Markets, by their very nature of rewarding success and
> punishing failure, create inequalities.

The lack of reward is not punishment, except to a spoiled child. A free market economy does not "punish". Only a govt or criminal organization, through police or military force, can truly "punish". Success is a priviledge, not a right. It must be earned. Failure is not punishment, it's just failure.

As for "inequalities" - people are not created equal, nor do they behave equally. A smart person is not equal to an idiot. A hard worker is not equal to a lazy bum. A healthy man is not equal to someone born severely crippled.

Capitalism - true, perfect, and uncorrupted capitalism - does not create these inequalities, it merely allows men and women to increase their tangible resources via voluntary exchange to the best of their abilities and inherited resources (resources acquired by ancestors also via voluntary exchange and capitalization upon their own abilities.)

> It's not long before a capitalist or group of capitalists
> gets, while not as super-rich as the current corporate
> elite, wealthy enough to be able to wield influence over
> government.

And this makes capitalists any different from political lobbies, labor unions, organized religions, and everyone else how?

Power does not corrupt, but it does expose the true nature of people. And most people are not good people, they're just afraid to show it.

-Van