[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

The very problem with a pyramid scheme: everybody in it believes it's chock-full of mutually beneficial transactions.

Enough people with a broken belief can break a market economy.

So one answer is that we outlaw pyramid schemes... but that fails Radar's test 4 posts up: "it has to do with the reality that capitalism doesn't require force to exist" -- well no, Capitalism requires a system of policing, and courts, and legislation, to determine what is swindle and protect against it.

To this formerly hard-ass libertarian, this realization was a sharp slap in the face.

It also requires good government for its framework of capitalist infrastructure: establishing currency, putting in place a system of deeds of ownership, etc.

A market economy requiring government. Whoda thunk it.

Well stated and well summerized.