Reply #74: Everyone has the freedom to improve his/her lot through capitalism. Including me.

[Honeycombe8]

Things haven't always been great for me. I've been through many trials and tribulations.

But...I was able to overcome some things, get a better job, and then a better one. Then get a job where I get paid overtime, and make extra money. I've been able to improve my lot in life through hard work (I mean HARD work), sacrifice and perseverence.

That is what capitalism offers. Not easy street. But the OPPORTUNITY to improve your lot in life.

That doesn't mean that some social programs aren't beneficial. They provide a safety net for the most vulnerable. They should exist. Like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, free child health care, etc.

But for the able adult who wasn't born into good luck and prosperity, we have the opportunity to make our financial and quality of life conditions better through education, hard work, initiative, and perseverence.

I love capitalism. So do most of you, I think. Some of the younger posters don't really understand what capitalism is. If a kid has a lemonaide stand, or mows the neighbor's lawn for a few dollars....that is capitalism. The inability to choose what you do for a living, like Soviet Union used to be (not sure if it's that way, anymore)...that is not capitalism. To sell your junk on Ebay and make a few dollars, when you're unemployed....that's capitalism.

Then we all pay taxes for the common good and to maintain the country.

Viva la capitalism. It is a rare country where a single women can live on her own and make it financially. In most places in the world, that cannot happen. So, yes....I'm grateful to have had the opportunity to overcome. (I think I could've made it in Canada, as well? Sweden? The UK. France. All those countries are based on capitalism.)