Reply #25: Well . . .

[Raspberry]

You may very well have spent years learning and honing your skills, but without YOU the doctor could find someone else willing and able to do your job. Without the DOCTOR you wouldn't have a physician's office, anymore. And--good luck finding a replacement doc who would be willing to share half the profits with a nurse/office staff/PA, or whatever you do. Not to say you aren't important to the practice, just probably not as crucial as the doc himself.

I don't undersand why you think that we have laissez fair capitalism here. Businesses are regulated, licenses, and taxed. OSHA, DEQ, DNR, EPA, etc. Especially for small businesses, the red tape and paperwork can be overwhelming, and the fines (when you do violate a regulation) can make the cost of doing business prohibitive.

Personally, I think capitalism is a far better system than anything else that has ever existed. Capitalism created a thriving, upwardly mobile middle class for the first time in history. The current problems we have now (credit cards, bankruptcies, foreclosures) are more due to people's inability to manage their money, to live within their own means, and to delay gratification. If people would just be smarter with their money they could still succeed, educate their children, own their own homes, and have a comfy retirement. All thanks to capitalism.