Capitalism = Communism?

[Colin]

You're saying, "Let's assume X things will happen under pure capitalism. Okay, therefore, X things will happen under pure capitalism."

I actually don't believe that any of the things stated will happen under pure capitalism. I am just saying that through this hypothetical scenario that Joe put forward we can see the two extreme's of Communism and Capitalism converging to become the same. That's all. 

That's true only if you accept the premise. I don't, and therefore I don't agree that the two could converge in the extremes to become the same.

An acceptable arguement against it.

[Colin]

For all the ballyhoo about ugly Communist apartment blocks, I think the architecture of modern American capitalism - strip malls, highways, tract homes, office parks, is even more dehumanizing.  Fast food and chains of all kinds also suggest a homogenization of choice by large, impersonal organizations.  Really in practice it is hard to see a great deal of difference 'on the ground' between Capitalism and Communism, though no doubt the inequality was less severe under the latter.

Too opebo and all who read this, this will be my official response to everything opebo says for the time being.

Look around yourself man, the country is completely homogenized and awful.  The only areas that look different at all are the ghettos and the neighborhoods in which the Owning Class resides.

[David S]

This situation is so fundamentally flawed, it's hilarious that anyone is actually embracing it as if it could ever come about, even if you eradicated government altogether.

Its a hypothetical scenario used to highlight the possible extreme that laissez-faire capitalism could be taken to.

In any case, what would the computer software industry be like now if Microsoft had never suffered the consequences of anti-trust legislation?

How bad was it before that happened? As I recall it was much like today.