At 20:33 29/06/2011,Ray wrote:
Extracting a couple of sentences from the last paragraph:
<<<<
I find people who accrue wealth as an art project
to be the dumbest people on the planet. Banal, stupid and shallow.
>>>>
I find these people to be very smart. They are
playing a status game in the world of finance in
exactly the same way as the very smart people in
many other specialized sectors are also playing
their status games, mostly with the useful
byproduct of wealth as their 'validation'.
However, if the others stumble, they don't bring
the rest of their world crashing about its ankles
Of the financial sector rich, their nemesis will
come when governments finally realize that they
can't simply keep on printing money when they are
in difficulty (and much to the satisfaction of
their ever-growing bureaucracies). Meanwhile, if
you call the rich "banal, stupid and shallow"
then that's no skin off their nose and it suits
their game as they continue to bamboozle the
politicians (except for those who: [a] become
corrupted and join them; [b] entered politics in
the first place order in order to become wealthy).
KSH
At 20:33 29/06/2011,Ray wrote:
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, dont support or
care about Kings or Heroes. Neither do I care
about idiots who cant 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 were 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 dont 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,
theres 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: <mailto:[email protected]>Ray Harrell
To:
<mailto:[email protected]>'RE-DESIGNING
WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION,EDUCATION'
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 someones
attention and Ive heard whining about the lousy
government jobs in Canada for years and thought
that they didnt 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 didnt hear very much
whining, though of course there was
some. Personally, I wasn't very good at it. As
for our lousy health care, Ive 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 wouldve cost someone in the US
who had no private insurance. And I didnt 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.
----------
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Keith Hudson, Saltford, England http://allisstatus.wordpress.com/2011/06/
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