[dogscoff]

We are greedy by our nature.

A system such as capitalism assumes this truth and uses the inherrant nature of the species as a check and balance agaisnt it's baser tendancies.

This is an argument I have heard many times before in favour of capitalism and I don't like it. It's cynical. You're saying that there is something inherently selfish and greedy about humankind. You acknowledge that this a bad thing, but then say "oh well, there's nothing we can do about it, so we might as well give in to it." If humanity was inherently biased toward rape and murder, would you back a system which encouraged and exploited it?
Now I'm not saying we should ignore our flaws, but I don't like the idea of pandering to them. Surely we should be striving to eliminate such defects, to better ourselves. We can never do that as long as we are holding them up for worship.

Just my thoughts.

18th century capitalism was somehow
...
There never was such a time

There was never such a time as the 18th Century? That explains a lot...

Sobering news indeed for those who believe that the be all and end all of economics, and by extension society,

I think the belief that what is good for the economy is necessarily good for society is the cause of many of today's problems.