" Human incompetence and stupidity is pandemic ... " The bastards who believe in this need are the same who are addicted to going back to the sucking they are used to, and I include Gruff among the suckers !
That's an ad hominem and I am guilty as accused ! It's impossible to include him in a shorthand practice and not know him for what he is ! It's ignorance dark. Let Gruff lodge his complaint or withdraw gracefully. But he's a vermin. No human is incompetent except by the bosses that pay him. The feudalism and capitalism isn't far ! Having landed into nothing, he expects everyone to be likewise ... nothing. Well Gruff, not everyone is agreeable to being nothing. And I want to turn the world upside down if that be what you want us to be . I do not agree with his buttering and cuddling to powers that be. On Sun, Jul 18, 2010 at 10:40 PM, gruff <[email protected]> wrote: > "... On Jul 16, 8:27 pm, archytas <[email protected]> wrote: ..." > > > We have a hosepipe ban here Gruff - water shortage in NW England! I'm > > looking for a bet that all Lancashire cricket will now be washed out! > > Our Bulgarian neighbours can't work out why they don't just shut the > > stuff off 8 hours a day like back home. They still dig wells to > > irrigate crops on the family farm over there. Given how incompetent > > we are in government in the West I'm often amazed we get anything > > built,until I think of my experience elsewhere. My sense is that we > > did do a fair day's pay better than most others and need to get back > > to that. The cuts here will hurt more than most expect -and all over > > Europe as the private sector will probably have no bounce or > > innovation. I hope I'm wrong, but the kind of private sector I worked > > in has gone. What keeps springing up are management agencies for > > essentially public sector work, done at cheaper prices. I suspect > > this is wrong in principle. I'm all in favour of efficiency, but we > > need more than just this. > > Human incompetence and stupidity is pandemic and I think always has > been and yes, I too am continually astounded that things we manage to > accomplish in spite of it. Clearly it does not take a majority of the > population to bring about positive change. There was a book very > popular over here back in the '80s called The Peter Principle which > argued that people in any sort of organizational situation will rise > to the highest level of their own incompetence. In government it's > called the bureaucracy and it works the same way in any large > corporation. Entities may or may not be too big to fail but they are > definitely big enough to be incredibly stupid, inefficient, inept, > self-centered, paranoid and self-destructive in their attempts to be > self-perpetuating. > > Yet in spite of it all, I feel positive about the future. I used to > have that confidence because I always figured that competent good > people outnumbered the idiots 51% to 49%. I have a new theory these > days. As I noted above, I think it only takes a small number of > people working at their best and in the best interests of society to > move us forward. > > > My suspicion is that the business models are outdated. Our pubs are > > closing everywhere, screwed by taxes, costly buildings, equipment, > > position and being just crap places. Nothing new is replacing them. > > I can think of nowhere where the old smoke stacks have really been > > replaced, and all the shipping and such is in other labour markets - > > we could draw up along list. Kids are being told to get educated, but > > frankly the factories and big companies did a much better job at that > > than universities and colleges. There is no vision and I think the > > 'invisible hand' is broken. Charles Murray talked about this 30 years > > ago. The new government is basically saying there is no money, so sod > > off and find new ways to do stuff. > > While some business models are clearly outdated, others that currently > don't seem to work would show progress if they were properly and > rationally applied. But outmoded industry and industry that has > become far too labor expensive ( vs being labor intensive) is gone for > good to emerging nations. I think our education system -- and > probably yours too -- is geared toward the old assembly line industry > and needs to be redirected toward a more complex technical industrial > and business world. Over here that shows up clearly in our huge > influx of high tech workers from other nations because we can't find > them among our own. This seems especially prevalent in the medical > profession and is creating a new problem in the area of > communication. These technicians and health care workers may be > technically proficient but there is a language problem that is causing > a high degree of mistakes. Secondly, and this is strictly my own > opinion with no supporting evidence, but I find many nurses are coming > here from Asia and have a cultural background that places different > values on human life and comfort than what we in the west have. > > > The single Gaussian copula (or multiple) is not of much interest,other > > than that our financial institutions waste a lot of electricity > > cooling CPUs to run it - Wiki has a reasonable explanation. I;m fairly > > good in the area and can't see that it's much more than another magic > > wand covering insider trading and betting with more knowledge than the > > market as a whole. > > I took a look at the Wiki entry and while it might be a reasonable > explanation for someone in that specialty it was greek to me. I'll > take your word that it's pretty much another magic wand. But trading > is nothing more than a more reputable form of casino gaming and the > casinos have allowed, welcomed and even financed some people to come > in and try out their systems for beating the odds. The house always > winds up with its take regardless. The only system that's a proven > winner is counting cards at blackjack or '21' and the state made it > illegal. > > I understand the comparison is superficial because the market can be > manipulated much easier than a casino can be taken, but there is still > that element that's present. People are complaining that more > regulation will raise the cost of finance and possibly may smother the > economy. I don't think so. People are always devising protection > schemes that others find their way around almost immediately. It just > takes an ever higher level of being clever. But the system continues > on, so clearly the deviousity (sic) is not that much a hindrance to > continual profits. > > > I'm all for shaking out the apples, but I want to > > see more than vague, old and failed hopes of entrepreneurial > > enterprise and such. Most public debates are clapped out. Science > > would be looking for a new core programme for capitalism 4. > > According to my theory the growth of human awareness, innate morality, > and civil behavior always lags scientific and business innovation and > advancement but that gap is getting smaller as the demands of a fast > moving world pull us along. The theory, knowledge and practice will > follow in logical order. > > Just keep on reminding yourself that it's a fiat economy -- a fiction > by any other name -- and we're the authors. We can write it any way > we wish. -- ASHOK TEWARI
