by Aetius Romulous

Created on: February 08, 2009

For decades there never was a question. If asked, it was only by incredulous misfits, their sight and senses dulled by years behind the walls of unpatriotic ideology. How much should a Captain of Industry, a product of Capitalism, a "Master of the Universe" be allowed for his hard work and religious devotion to free markets, cars, and cash? No Question. As much as he can get.

Good Times.

But that was then, and this is now. What started as a murmur, a loud voice way in the back, a rustling amongst the suburbs and the shuttered factories that surround them, has grown into a chorus rising from the "Fear and Loathing" of America. The Masters of The Universe are no longer masters of themselves, in a world turned upside down and inside out... and right to left. The unasked question has been asked; "Should there be a limit to what a single person can extract from the system, or should the system itself govern who lives, who dies, and how well?". The mob wants blood, and there is just no talking to a mob. Like 300 million Robbespierre's, the voices of truth, justice, and The American Way are screaming, "Off with their heads!", decapitating Capitalism in an orgy of looting and burning which will bring the whole mess down. Or at least that's the plan.

The basic unit in the free market system, the "Lego" of the toy box, is the Business. A business is nothing more than an agreement amongst men of free will that they should work together towards the common goal of profit. While there may be disagreement after that, there has never been any question that the sole purpose of the Business relationship was that of gain, and nothing more. It is also a fundamental principle of the Business relationship, (and a law of nature), that he who bears the most risk in the adventure should be compensated for the courage. No reward, no risk, no business, no Capitalist system. A beautiful and formless law of human nature, set absolutely free inside a bubble constructed specifically for the purpose. The gears of the free market system are greased with the oily potential for profit. Limiting that profit is the system itself, whereby the market sets both cost and revenue, the wily entrepreneur left to risk his all on the fleeting space between.

A further law of nature is that humans are, by nature, risk averse; not everybody is willing to take a chance on dinner by wrestling the alligator naked. The greater the risk, the fewer the takers. Of course, the law of risk then steps in and gives the

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