Capitalist Much

No one would ever see me as anything other than a free-wheeling capitalist. You know the oft-quoted evil capitalist stereotype : heartless corporate executives in their sleek Brioni suits ever-ready to foreclose on indigent orphans living on a pitiful pittance just to have their meagre plot of land ruthlessly bulldozed over for a stylish, upmarket department store?

Yeah, that could be me - if I could only fit into those enviably skinny suits. Even some of my more humaniatarian colleagues find themselves shocked at how coldly callous I can be sometimes.

But as I grow older, the world has grown to look different to me. Prematurely aging cataracts? Or perhaps my parents' hippie egalitarian values have finally rubbed off on me. Who can say?

Crush some orphans, you say?

Utopian societies don't exist, not even in simulation games. Socialist nations have crumbled one after the other, much to the chargin of their overzealous advocates - not that that capitalists can crow very much about the situation. Since let's face it, blatantly capitalist policies actually make the rich grow richer - and yes, the poor do get ever poorer. Clichéd catchphrase criticizing the free market system that used to get my goat but now I see that it's actually painfully true.

Which is how my industrious nurse with a burgeoning family of six stands there griping about the fact that she can barely make ends meet with her working-class husband, much less scrape enough to apply for a housing loan. And there I'm standing listening - with a crumpled letter in my hand outlining a pre-approved personal loan that I never asked for - with an amount that could easily cover half her housing loan.

Life isn't fair. And yes, capitalism can be brutally biased. Those who need loans can't afford them while those who can afford it actually get money thrown at them.

Wouldn't say I'm a total convert to liberal socialism though! Hell, I'd still bulldoze those orphans. But I'd probably let them leave the place first.