[kendo65]

Wolf_Rider, I can agree with everything you said there (and believe me, it's actually a relief to be able to find some common ground in this thread).

Apologies if I misinterpreted your personal position, but when you have to interpret someone's viewpoint from a few supplied web-links it's maybe a little too easy to make assumptions.

I think one of the big problems we've had through history is a tendency to be seduced by 'beautiful' theories that provide nice simple readings of reality. They may provide some insights and useful ideas that explain certain aspects of the world but when they move from being tentative partial truths to being dogmatic, unchallengable 'beliefs' then they create problems. I'd count marxism and the extreme free-market variety of capitalism in there.

If I'm an advocate for anything it would be a more balanced, flexible (fairer) capitalism that is less theory driven and more accepting that the market while being essential is not perfect and has limitations. And I'd be in favour of getting more regulation for finance and the banks. They should be serving the rest of society not dominating it. For the last 10 years at least the tail has been wagging the dog.