Obviously Ed, we are both considered left wing radical liberals in our respective countries.
I expect to get back from my government what I put into it because I am socially responsible and pay my debts. I have taken nothing from the government that I did not put through a deduction. My company chose not to use government grants in the pursuit of our Art. We just felt that there were those less able and deserving who needed them. That is, until the bankers changed the law and made usury common and the main source of funds for their enterprises. I believe that a nation is a system and that like all systems it requires maintenance. This nation has two parts, a public and a private part. Balancing the two and facilitating equal opportunity for all citizens through that "balancing" is the primary goal and purpose of the internal system. National Defense both public, in war, and private, in the marketplace, is the purpose of that system in the external world. It follows that I, like you, don't support or care about Kings or Heroes. Neither do I care about idiots who can't read more than a paragraph or two without flaking out. Nor do I care for Ideologues who are incapable of a pragmatic response to anything. The world cannot be explained in three pages. I enjoy difficulty and the development of virtuosity. The development of virtuosity requires Time, Resources and Access i.e. Freedom. Freedom contains two elements, competence and capital. If you have capital in the hands of the incompetent then you are in trouble. If your competent folks do not have capital available, their competency is wasted. I find people who accrue wealth as an art project to be the dumbest people on the planet. Banal, stupid and shallow. People who are competent but poor are impotent in this world. Government is the answer to all of these. But it requires clarity, participation, morality and a commitment to the success of every citizen should they want it and their success not be criminal. REH From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Ed Weick Sent: Wednesday, June 29, 2011 12:13 PM To: RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, EDUCATION Subject: Re: [Futurework] Don't worry and try very very very hard to behappy! Not sure of where we're going with this Ray. I feel a little like a goat being herded into a pen but then what? I think we can assume that Canadians, including wealthier Canadians, are loyal to their country but there are questionable people like Conrad Black who dropped his Canadian citizenship so that he could be appointed to the British House of Lords. And we don't need royalty like the Saudis. We do have our own royalty that we inherited from being part of the British Empah. And we are responsible for out neighbors though our governmental systems but sometimes we help them out personally as well. For example, there's an enormous house next to ours. It has only a single occupant, a lady who is 95 but still looks after herself. Needless to say, the whole neighborhood looks out for her and helps as much as it can - or really as much as she will allow. Ed ----- Original Message ----- From: Ray Harrell <mailto:[email protected]> To: 'RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION,EDUCATION' <mailto:[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, June 29, 2011 10:49 AM Subject: Re: [Futurework] Don't worry and try very very very hard to behappy! Did the baby boomers pay their taxes? Yes Did they raise the children that are now paying taxes? Yes Were they responsible citizens and do they deserve to get the same kind of treatment, as elders, as the current elders get? Yes What about national loyalty? Not the upper 1% and some of the immigrants as well who contemplate a return to their native land. Is your wealthy class loyal to the nation and to its citizens? Some are, most are simply self interested and have become wickedly greedy and entitled. What about Canada? Would you do better with Royalty like the Saudis? Can you imagine being responsible for your neighbors and vice-versa? REH From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Ed Weick Sent: Wednesday, June 29, 2011 9:55 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Futurework] Don't worry and try very very very hard to behappy! Ray said: Whining eventually gets someone's attention and I've heard whining about the lousy government jobs in Canada for years and thought that they didn't know how lucky they were. Same for Canadian citizens who complained about lousy health care and came here for their care. It never hurts to have competition and if you need something immediate the American private sector is good at rescues when the Canadian or Veterans Hospitals here would take longer. America is just bad at long term solutions to almost anything. Ed says: I spent 30 years in the Canadian public service. I didn't hear very much whining, though of course there was some. Personally, I wasn't very good at it. As for our lousy health care, I've just had a knee replaced and all I had to pay was the additional cost of a semi-private room, about $120. I wonder what that would've cost someone in the US who had no private insurance. And I didn't have to wait very long for the surgery - a couple of months or so. However, we're now beginning to run into some problems. The baby-boomer population, aprx. 55 to 70, is growing and becoming a much larger part of the population. And it seems that we don't have enough doctors and may not have enough medical facilities. Baby-boomers may have to wobble around on crotchety knees much longer than I did or, if they can afford it, go to the US and buy a new knee there. _____ _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
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