> > Our ancestors left us printing presses and vaccinations for free. Those > alone are worth more than all the money in the world. If you have writing, > good health and enough food, you can rebuild a ruined industrial > civilization in a decade, as the people in Japan did after WWII. *
Of course I disagree about the vaccine, just found this in the inbox... Do influenza vaccines *really* work? It's a reasonable question. A rigorous look at the best scientific evidence, however, reveals that influenza vaccines are useless in *99% of the people* who get vaccinated. And that's if you believe the vaccine industry's own studies. In reality, the real rate of effectiveness is likely much lower. Today I bring you a detailed analysis of the available scientific evidence which reaches some rather startling conclusions: 1) Influenza vaccines don't reduce hospitalizations and they don't reduce lost work days due to sickness. 2) Influenza vaccines *don't stop influenza transmission*. 3) The evidence in favor of influenza vaccines working at all is quite slim: 100 people must be vaccinated to reduce influenza symptoms in just one person. There's more (much more) to this fascinating story. Read the details here: http://www.naturalnews.com/029641_vaccines_junk_science.html On Thu, Sep 2, 2010 at 2:23 AM, Jed Rothwell <[email protected]> wrote: > Steven Vincent Johnson wrote: > > IMO, at some point as automation continues taking over most of the dredge >> work we may eventually have to transform our entire economic infrastructure >> into a highly sophisticated computerized welfare state. IOW, everyone gets >> (is entitled to...) a minimum "allowance" that guarantees that everyone can >> purchase all the basic necessities of life, like food, clothing, shelter, >> transportation, and perhaps even a little pocket change for an occasional >> show. For those who remain ambitious, or find personal meaning in pursuing >> careers one's basic "allowance" could be increased by certain percentages >> based on what additional contributions they are able to generate for the >> benefit of society. >> > > That seems unnecessarily complicated to me. I do not see why we could not > have a hybrid socialistic-capitalistic system, similar to what we have now, > only with different proportions of money. Everyone would be on welfare to > some extent, getting enough money to cover food, rent, education and > internet expenses, as you said. Some people who are hard working and > ambitious would earn a lot more by the various methods people use today: > working for corporations, setting up their own companies, trading stocks, > selling artwork, playing baseball, racing cars, inventing, vying for > research grants at the NIH, and so on. > > There would be no shame associated with accepting this welfare money > because everyone would get it, automatically, as a birthright. We feel no > shame going to the public library, sending our kids to public school, > driving on public roads, touring the Smithsonian, or -- in Japan or Europe > -- using national health care. Of course we pay for these things, but even a > poor person who does not pay as much as he benefits feels no opprobrium in a > public library. > > We would all be "trust fund babies," like wealthy young people today, who > feel no shame spending large allowances provided by their parents. On the > contrary, many of them feel pride in having money they did nothing to earn > or deserve. In a very real sense, we are all trust fund babies already. We > inherited most of the physical infrastructure of the world and nearly all of > hard earned knowledge and know-how. Our ancestors left us printing presses > and vaccinations for free. Those alone are worth more than all the money in > the world. If you have writing, good health and enough food, you can rebuild > a ruined industrial civilization in a decade, as the people in Japan did > after WWII. * > > Some people would take advantage of this welfare and do no work their > entire lives. They would contribute nothing to society. Some of the today's > trust fund babies do no work. That is a problem but it has not bankrupted > society. Able-bodied public welfare recipients no longer have that option. > Lifetime benefits are limited. Many crocked stock brokers, bankers and > others do negative work, extracting huge sums from society by devious means. > Even if large numbers of people in the future spend their time browsing the > internet, watching movies or having sex rather than working, I doubt that > will be an economic problem. There are many people today such as the > extremist cold fusion opponents and AIG and ENRON executives who I wish > would do that sort of thing rather than going to work and causing trouble > for the rest of us. > > It will not be an economic problem, but it will be a spiritual problem, as > George Orwell described. I would rather have spiritual problems than > poverty, unemployment and other economic problems. > > - Jed > > > * FOOTNOTE: Unlike the Europeans, Japan was not covered by the Marshall > plan and did not receive financial assistance from the U.S., only food and > political freedom. The food was essential, but they supplied all other > materials, labor and expertise to rebuild the country. Actually, during the > Occupation the U.S. government charged the Japanese government for the food, > shelter and upkeep of the occupying allied troops, and they still do. The > total budget amount for the U.S. military presence in Japan 2011 was > reported on NHK last night. It bothers me that the U.S. has, in effect, > mercenary troops guarding Japan. > >
