Then there is this: It is things like Angry Birds that provide the economic engine which funds cancer research.
If there were no Angry Birds, or countless other "does it matter" products, the amount of money that would be available for charities or research of all kinds would be drastically reduced.
These "does it matter" products create wealth that did not previously exist. Yes, create wealth. They don't steal from research. They create economic value that did not exist before.
There is nothing systematically broken here. However, the system absolutely does break when some authoritarian power decides that they shall decide which products shall be produced, and how any existing wealth shall be apportioned. It has NEVER worked in the history of humanity. Call it unjust if you wish, but one's sense of social justice does not change the way economies function. An economy is based on human action. Humans act on fundamental needs. Sometimes they act irrationally. Nevertheless, on a scale, they act in ways that are predictable and consistent. The principles of human action cannot be changed. They can only be observed and exploited. Any economic system that is predicated upon changing human action will fail.
If there were no Angry Birds, or countless other "does it matter" products, the amount of money that would be available for charities or research of all kinds would be drastically reduced.
These "does it matter" products create wealth that did not previously exist. Yes, create wealth. They don't steal from research. They create economic value that did not exist before.
There is nothing systematically broken here. However, the system absolutely does break when some authoritarian power decides that they shall decide which products shall be produced, and how any existing wealth shall be apportioned. It has NEVER worked in the history of humanity. Call it unjust if you wish, but one's sense of social justice does not change the way economies function. An economy is based on human action. Humans act on fundamental needs. Sometimes they act irrationally. Nevertheless, on a scale, they act in ways that are predictable and consistent. The principles of human action cannot be changed. They can only be observed and exploited. Any economic system that is predicated upon changing human action will fail.