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Re: [at-l] RE:AT for profit

At 10:20 PM 5/4/98 -0500, Eric Lyngaas wrote:
>
>
>
>
>> ><< Lots of people make profit from the Trail. >>
>> >
>> >And the Trail would be better off without them.
>>
>>     Beyond saunterer's comments, how often have you been hiking along
and needed
>> coleman fuel, or fastex buckles, or anything else that a small town
hardware store
>> wouldn't normally carry.  The stores know that they have a captive
audience and
>> they probably have a signifigant overhead, therefore the logical
solution to make
>> ends meet is to mark it up to a full margin or more.  We as consumers
enjoy some
>> of the lowest retail margins in the world (on some things) and we feel
like we are
>> being overcharged when someone marks a product at a full margin (100% not
>> including personel, shipping, wages, rent, taxes, utilities and other
overhead
>> costs.)  For a store that doesn't have a high turnover rate its the only
way that
>> they can justify carrying some products.  It really sucks to come into a
town
>> without a gas station (As I did on my Bruce Trail hike) and run out of
cooking
>> fuel with no way to get more.
>
>    Also, why the objection to people making a profit?  Every day we deal
with
>people making a profit off of us, it is a semi-capitalist society after
all, it's
>what we do. 



I agree and the profit your employeer makes pays your salary.



 You can argue that the world would be a better place if greed and the
>necessity to live didn't exist; you can say that life would be better if
we didn't
>live in a society where capitalism is encouraged.  I would agree with you
if you said those things


I agree with you here about greed but capitalism and greed do not
necessarly go hand in hand. Capitalism has given this country the best
standard of living for those who want to work for it. It has given the
world the best technology including medical, it has made the U.S. the
richest nation on the earth. And despite the BS from the left no other
country in the world has given near what the US has given in helping the
rest of the world. Greed as well as all other detrimental  behavior become
more and more prevelant as morals  decline. But then a recent post here
alluded to say that morals are relative to ones perspective so what gives
anyone the right to say that someones greed is wrong or that they are wrong
to rape, murder, steal or anything else for that matter. If in that persons
moral perspective these things are ok then who are we to condemn them for
doing it ? Ok I'm getting down off the soapbox and this really isnt the
place for a political discussion (sorry) but I didnt start with the
anti-capitalism remarks. And before someone thinks I am condoning rape etc.
I am not. I was carrying moral relativism to its ultimate conclusion which
this society is rapidly approaching. "DO... DO... DO.. Do......... We now
return control of this list to the subject of hiking". (supose to be a
parody from the outer limits). OH well.. :-)





>Eric
>
>
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                           Daryl Cline WB4YEX
                            Harrisonburg, Va.
                  Web page: <http://www.cfw.com/~clines>
   Outdoor pictures:  <http://www.cfw.com/~clines/outdoors> UPDATED 4/28/98

                               
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