Quote from nitro:
The problem with this system is that in this country, you have to save for retirement. If all you ever get is EXACTLY what you need now as a young man (Jesus died young he didn't have to worry about retiring), what do you do when you are too old to work, or your experience is no longer up to date because you are too old to keep up? What then do you exchange for food and shelter?
See? It doesn't work unless it is backed by society. Capitalism has no use for old people.
I know what you are saying but look carefully at what I said before:
"There's no reason everyone can't be employed and have enough mediums of exchange to get all their needs plus some." AND "Although there is nothing free about getting enough food and shelter and other needs in exchange for what you do."
Look at the word 'need', do you need funds for retirement? How much and what for? Part of the reason one has to retire is because they can't do something to get things. Illness, weakness, all the things associated with old age. Most people still enjoy doing some things, just not as much and perhaps different things more suitable to that point in life and for that particular person.
The whole idea of always having to keep up and paying someone the least possible for their current skills is a fundamental problem in some ways. It is part of the reasoning that leads to constant efficiency without ever decreasing the need for everyone to work more. Struggle and strife is not the point of life. If not even right now today, very soon we will have enough automation technology for everyone to have what they need and golf memberships too (to generalize). Then what, should people make stuff just because they system says they MUST have a job to survive? At what point does "progress" evolve from developing ones IQ to developing ones EQ and in which ways does the current system fail to promote that? At what point do we see a society that has few arguments, no fighting, no rape, therefore very few laws, about 1 prison that is never used, etc etc ... BUT, doesn't have modern medicine and is still figuring out herbs, the wheel is only used for barrows and cars don't exist, crude forms of bikes maybe, no technology but everyone is happy -- at what point do we see THAT society as more evolved, more progressed than ours? There is some inequality because as new things are developed not everyone has them, but the ratio is more of a 5:1 or some other system, not anything close to the extremes we see today. At some point if we want people to stop being greedy, we need a system that does not reward greed and doesn't assume people always will be greedy, therefore need to be 'motivated' by an invisible man in the sky, errr, I mean invisible hand (I bet that will get some comments!).
Admittedly I kind of got off track from the original point, but it relates. Certain FORMS of capitalism have no use for old people. All countries use capital, it depends on what purpose it serves, who controls it, etc.