"Aviv Hod" wrote in message
...
[...] The market system is the only system where all the participants,
under normal circumstances, benefit from their engagement in commerce more
than before their engagement. The exchange itself CREATES value, and we
go beyond that zero sum. Does the market create the opportunity for some
individuals to become extremely wealthy? Sure - but it's NOT because of
skin off of anyone else's back.

Your description sounds great. I wish that's how things really worked. The
truth is that the wealthy use their wealth to protect their wealth, even to
increase it, while at the same time to prevent the poor from getting
wealthy.

Does every wealthy person behave this way? No. But plenty do, and enough
do that it's a serious problem. Only in a first grade schoolchild's fantasy
is it true that everyone has equal opportunity, and any random poor person
can become wealthy through simple hard work and perseverence.

See Kevin Phillips "Wealth and Democracy", as a starting point.

Pete