en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/439445 Comments by Dev518 http://mises.org/preview/6020/The-Case-against-Student-Aid#IDComment356739485 I brought up the fact that FFA increases tuition costs in my Ethics class the other day, explaining that before FFA you could save up over a summer and school breaks in order to pay for a college education. Surprisingly, a few other students sided with me, so it seems that some Americans are starting to wake up. Tue, 8 May 2012 22:06:46 +0000 http://mises.org/preview/6020/The-Case-against-Student-Aid#IDComment356739485 http://mises.org/preview/6004/Edgar-the-Entrepreneur#IDComment340673600 You seem to be quite young and lacking in knowledge of human history. Before capitalism people often lived as serfs and were ruled by a king or aristocracy that held nearly absolute power over them. The small aristocracy held claims on nearly all land. You were locked into the job of your father and law prevented class mobility. You would likely either work in the army or till the farm of a wealthy land owner or perhaps your own small farm that has been part of your family for generations. If you were extremely lucky you might be a trader or a lawyer and be part of an incredibly small middle class. Even so, you would not be able to freely claim any land you wished. If you did find some far out unclaimed land you would most likely die trying to live there and it would have few resources. If you are referring to the American frontier you are still mistaken. Frontier property was claimed by government and it was be granted buy government. You could not just claim it. Besides, the lack of unclaimed land today is not a direct consequence of capitalism. It is a consequence of a rapidly growing population. Capitalism is only responsible for bringing the conditions which have allowed the human race to thrive. On a side note "self-empowerment" is more about perception than any measurable reality. Is having to farm frontier land for 50 years in order to sustain yourself or you family more self-empowering than factory work? Perhaps the factory worker might make higher wages and have more choices for how to spend his free time, for his style of dress, and his friends. The farmer would have little to do but farm. Is the factory worker less self-empowered than the farmer in this situation? Tue, 17 Apr 2012 02:43:38 +0000 http://mises.org/preview/6004/Edgar-the-Entrepreneur#IDComment340673600