smokin on mah pipe

A friend of mine sent me an article from the CATO institute called Why Do Intellectuals Oppose Capitalism? and I thought it was phenomenal. It really captured something I’ve been babbling about over the past five years since I graduated with that worthless liberal arts degree.

Why, does a system (education) reward intellectual achievement and creative/linguistic intelligence so highly, when the capitalistic society that it “prepares” you for respects these achievement so little?

In other words, why does the guy who sells air conditioners make more than the violin teacher? (Which would you rather be in a room with? Why?)

Here’s a link to the article:

http://www.cato.org/pubs/policy_report/cpr-20n1-1.html

Personally, I’ve come to respect capitalism (insomuch as I understand the economics behind it).

Think about this though: the president of our country is an academic, which tells us that this way of life/thinking is valuable to many people…

…but why does the market respect it so little?

The answer is because the market doesn’t give a shit about theories or talking. The market is a place for money to be exchanged for goods, services or other money. Even if you have a PHd in basket weaving, you won’t make a dime unless someone in the University administration decides there will be enough people willing to pay for a 15th century basket weaving class. There simply is no demand.

Which is sad, because I much prefer 15th century basket weavers.