STRIP FOR May 10, 2009

I was also bothered by fleem's description - I don't see Capitalism being directly related to competition or being good for competition: capitalism being private ownership of capital, surely this leads to the owners/gatekeepers stifling competition, unfair/unbalanced competition, monopolies, etc.

I agree, I think, Socialism (being state rather than public ownership of capital) give too much power to the state officials, hence leads to corruption, nepotism, and so on.

So what is the middle way?

It seems useful for the state to sponsor big capital projects like road/rail networks, or could competing regional governments agree with their neighbours to build something mutually useful?

Trust is the key, without trust the overheads suck up the profit. I don't know how true this story, I heard, is, but here it is.
"In the continent of Africa, one country was trusted by the others. Business deals were overseen by this country and economic growth was positive. Unfortunately, France invaded this trusted country and the trust was lost. After that, the continent of Africa went it to economic decline."

Very Funny! On a more serious note it depicts the trust which is inherent in our legal and economic systems. Without this trust it's hard to advance key principles like private property, good faith contracts, and having one's word bind an agreement. This comic underscores what happens(ed) when that is absent.

The strip is amusing, but all it illustrates is that you can't eliminate risk from life. Note that with capitalism (or what passes for it in the U.S., which is a mixture of freedom and government interference), we can still successfully joke about it. Other social systems (socialism, communism, fascism, etc.) generally aren't as humorous.

This one is so good, I registered only to be able to give it 5 stars!