if they want the profits to flow the First thing they need to do is give up on the idea of single currencies for areas larger than a city-region.
that or give up on 'free trade' and globalization.
this sort of stupidity just encourages armed uprisings, eventually... and those are never good for the bottom line... unless you're a mercenary or arms dealer. (or black-marketeer, i guess.)
... to be fair, most of those who claim Europe's economic woes to be entirely the fault of their radical leftist ideals seem to consider the 'right' to start somewhere around the area of WW2 Japan and/or some sort of corporate utopia...
actually, most of them have their economies in the shitter due to their economic policies being based on fundimental assumptions made as far back as Adam Smith that are simply WRONG.
the NATION is not a meaningful economic unit. the lack of realisation of this fact alone derails any government economic policy of any nation larger than a city state.
Free Trade is NOT beneficial to long term economic growth unless every city-region (NOT nation, sure as hell not CONTINENT) involved has it's own unique currency.
Government granted monopolies given to private or corporate interests are NOT beneficial to ANYONE save the individual they are given to, and even then only if said individual is competent. (natural monopolies due to small customer base is a different story, while things like infrastructure should be government run in the first place)
also, general incompetence due to people being chosen by party affiliation and willing to toe the ideological/party line rather than ability.
Those are the main reasons for their economic failings, everything else is just variety of method.
Soviet Communisim just massively amplifies the compitence last issue.
the problems in Europe aren't caused by democratic socialism, (which, to my understanding, is the idea of democratic political processes and regulated capitalism, no?) as they're the Exact Same Problems that the USA is going through.
it is caused by Bureaucracy, Greed, and the belief in their own invincibility by the ruling classes. the ONLY effective solution, and it's only a Partial solution, is to make these entities SMALLER. I'd argue that France is too big. the EU is simply insanity. the USA's problems would be Significantly reduced (not solved, mind you, just more manageable) if it weren't the size of a bloody continent.
any organization one desires to have run Properly needs to be Small enough that it's leaders can interact directly with the 'man on the ground', and cannot afford to ignore him.
note this is NOT a libertarian argument for 'small government'. to advocate truly 'small' government is to advocate rule by corporation (to be fair, to advocate 'big' government is to advocate a bureaucracy that can either become a police state or drown in it's own paperwork. you want a happy medium). it is advocating that the size of thing any one person or group is responsible for be Smaller. arguably if you can't cross it, do stuff on the other side, interact with stuff on your way, and come back in a day, or recognize everyone in it at least by sight, it's big enough that you need to pay very careful attention because problems are not so easily fixed.
economically, the largest viable subset of 'everything on the planet' is the city-region (that is, a city and it's economic hinterland. make it politically independent and it's a city-state). there's a solid case to be made, to my mind, that Politically the largest viable subset of 'everything on the planet' is maybe a dozen units of such a size owing loyalty to a King of some sort (democracy is not needed so much at this level if you realize that the vast majority of day to day stuff, as well as all the Funds for anything, are handled at the city-region level, which can be run in a democratic manner MUCH more easily... or at least as a representative democracy who's representatives are close enough to their constituents to be run out if they fail to do their jobs...)
Re: Re: Re: The criminals will just find another way
even when gold (or, far more commonly for the ordinary folk, silver) was actually in use, trust was still a significant part of the backing (the rest being it's value as a rare metal) ... trust that the coin contained as much gold/silver as it was supposed to (as opposed to other metals), for example.
ehh, there's a case to be made that sanitation violations (pissing in the park would be an example) can be pretty damn serious... (the occasional one off incident in a modern environment, not so much, but...)
to be fair, the entire preposition thing is bullshit anyway, the effect/affect thing isn't.
(technically, the 'never end a sentence with a preposition' thing is both Redundant due to being Impossible (if it is at the end, it is clearly AFTER the thing it goes with, and thus a POSTposition, not a preposition at all) as well as Wrong (english does allow the use of many of it's adpositions (the collective term for prepositions and postpositions, as well as the (hypothetical?) errr... inpostion? hehe.) as postpositions and, in fact, in many of the situations where it is objected to by people who obsess over rules like this, actually Requires it, hence Churchill's line. (though, really, that line's not a great example, due to the Many ways it could be reworded to make it Less awkward that do not end in adpositions.)
trying to come up with reasons why anyone would make it, let alone USE it, is good entertainment for maybe ten minutes for a few people with nothing better to do.
Re: Re: Actually, the Spanish Inquisition was nowhere near the villains that popular culture today makes them out to be.
pretty sure that was the Papal inquisition (different organization) and even the Galileo was NOT punished for his scientific theory (which, while it may have been correct in it's conclusion, was horrible in it's methodology, from memory) but due to constant screw ups politically... (hint: publishing literature mocking some of the most powerful individuals around at the time is not a healthy carrier move. )
there are plenty of people dim enough not to, sadly.
the Smart people read them on unusual/particularly hazardous looking stuff...
i don't think Anyone reads the ones on common household goods, really. (or if they do they're like my Grandmother, who's ability to use tech and not freak out about it stops and 'plug in fridge, set temp dial.' or 'plug in TV to power and antenna socket. if reception is problematic, call son to come fix'.
and even she would probably be more like 'ooh, lots of warning lables... humm, let's NOT get that one...'
so... yeah. i wouldn't say they're Useless, but i'd easily believe that the main purpose of them is liability rather than any active desire to not mangle people with the machines :)
any country you can't cross in a single day (preferably on foot, but anything as common as a car in the west is sufficient) is too big to EVER be ready for actual democracy.
and Representative democracy is neither representative nor democratic. it is a method to allow the bureaucracy to generally maintain the status quo and press forward incremental changes to the detriment of the public without inciting revolt or finding themselves on the wrong end of a revolution and with less assassinations in the course of choosing who within the ruling elite gets to control what.
liberty is more easily maintained in a feudal system... if the boss suppresses it, you can shoot him and the new boss can actually do something Different.
the trade off, of course, is that you get more 'civil' wars.
On the post: As ACTA 1.0 Lies Dying, Are G8 Countries Already Working On ACTA 2.0?
Re:
that or give up on 'free trade' and globalization.
this sort of stupidity just encourages armed uprisings, eventually... and those are never good for the bottom line... unless you're a mercenary or arms dealer. (or black-marketeer, i guess.)
On the post: Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt
Re: Re: Re: Re:
On the post: EU Rapporteur Deals Major Blow To ACTA: Recommends Rejection By European Parliament
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
On the post: EU Rapporteur Deals Major Blow To ACTA: Recommends Rejection By European Parliament
Re: Re: Re: Re:
the NATION is not a meaningful economic unit. the lack of realisation of this fact alone derails any government economic policy of any nation larger than a city state.
Free Trade is NOT beneficial to long term economic growth unless every city-region (NOT nation, sure as hell not CONTINENT) involved has it's own unique currency.
Government granted monopolies given to private or corporate interests are NOT beneficial to ANYONE save the individual they are given to, and even then only if said individual is competent. (natural monopolies due to small customer base is a different story, while things like infrastructure should be government run in the first place)
also, general incompetence due to people being chosen by party affiliation and willing to toe the ideological/party line rather than ability.
Those are the main reasons for their economic failings, everything else is just variety of method.
Soviet Communisim just massively amplifies the compitence last issue.
the problems in Europe aren't caused by democratic socialism, (which, to my understanding, is the idea of democratic political processes and regulated capitalism, no?) as they're the Exact Same Problems that the USA is going through.
it is caused by Bureaucracy, Greed, and the belief in their own invincibility by the ruling classes. the ONLY effective solution, and it's only a Partial solution, is to make these entities SMALLER. I'd argue that France is too big. the EU is simply insanity. the USA's problems would be Significantly reduced (not solved, mind you, just more manageable) if it weren't the size of a bloody continent.
any organization one desires to have run Properly needs to be Small enough that it's leaders can interact directly with the 'man on the ground', and cannot afford to ignore him.
note this is NOT a libertarian argument for 'small government'. to advocate truly 'small' government is to advocate rule by corporation (to be fair, to advocate 'big' government is to advocate a bureaucracy that can either become a police state or drown in it's own paperwork. you want a happy medium). it is advocating that the size of thing any one person or group is responsible for be Smaller. arguably if you can't cross it, do stuff on the other side, interact with stuff on your way, and come back in a day, or recognize everyone in it at least by sight, it's big enough that you need to pay very careful attention because problems are not so easily fixed.
economically, the largest viable subset of 'everything on the planet' is the city-region (that is, a city and it's economic hinterland. make it politically independent and it's a city-state). there's a solid case to be made, to my mind, that Politically the largest viable subset of 'everything on the planet' is maybe a dozen units of such a size owing loyalty to a King of some sort (democracy is not needed so much at this level if you realize that the vast majority of day to day stuff, as well as all the Funds for anything, are handled at the city-region level, which can be run in a democratic manner MUCH more easily... or at least as a representative democracy who's representatives are close enough to their constituents to be run out if they fail to do their jobs...)
On the post: EU Rapporteur Deals Major Blow To ACTA: Recommends Rejection By European Parliament
Re: Re: Re: The criminals will just find another way
On the post: New York Convinces Game Companies To Kick Registered Sex Offenders Off Gaming Services
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
still isn't/shouldn't be a SEX crime though...
On the post: New York Convinces Game Companies To Kick Registered Sex Offenders Off Gaming Services
Re: Re: Re: Re:
(technically, the 'never end a sentence with a preposition' thing is both Redundant due to being Impossible (if it is at the end, it is clearly AFTER the thing it goes with, and thus a POSTposition, not a preposition at all) as well as Wrong (english does allow the use of many of it's adpositions (the collective term for prepositions and postpositions, as well as the (hypothetical?) errr... inpostion? hehe.) as postpositions and, in fact, in many of the situations where it is objected to by people who obsess over rules like this, actually Requires it, hence Churchill's line. (though, really, that line's not a great example, due to the Many ways it could be reworded to make it Less awkward that do not end in adpositions.)
On the post: Historic Archive Of Websites From The January 18th SOPA Blackout
Re:
On the post: A Perspective On The Complexities Of Copyright And Creativity From A Victim Of Infringement
Re: A weird day at TechDirt
THIS.
also, second paragraph. much truth.
On the post: A Perspective On The Complexities Of Copyright And Creativity From A Victim Of Infringement
Re: Re:
some with the writer(s)
and a lot with the publishers etc who wouldn't even talk on the subject.
On the post: A Manifesto For Creativity In The Modern Era
Re: Re:
trying to come up with reasons why anyone would make it, let alone USE it, is good entertainment for maybe ten minutes for a few people with nothing better to do.
On the post: Colombia Rushes Through Its Own SOPA In An 'Emergency Procedure' To Appease US Ahead Of Obama Visit
Re:
On the post: US Gov't Says Megaupload Shouldn't Be Allowed To Use Top Law Firm It Hired For Its Defense
Re:
On the post: US Gov't Says Megaupload Shouldn't Be Allowed To Use Top Law Firm It Hired For Its Defense
Re:
On the post: US Gov't Says Megaupload Shouldn't Be Allowed To Use Top Law Firm It Hired For Its Defense
Re: Re: Re: Actually, the Spanish Inquisition was nowhere near the villains that popular culture today makes them out to be.
wait, where'd everything after that first ) come from? you weren't even talking about that...
whoops?
On the post: US Gov't Says Megaupload Shouldn't Be Allowed To Use Top Law Firm It Hired For Its Defense
Re: Re: Actually, the Spanish Inquisition was nowhere near the villains that popular culture today makes them out to be.
On the post: US Gov't Says Megaupload Shouldn't Be Allowed To Use Top Law Firm It Hired For Its Defense
Re: Re: Re: good news
Just not in the circles they actually care about.
On the post: There Are So Many Ways Machines Can Hurt You... And There Are Warning Stickers For Them All
Re: Re: Re:
the Smart people read them on unusual/particularly hazardous looking stuff...
i don't think Anyone reads the ones on common household goods, really. (or if they do they're like my Grandmother, who's ability to use tech and not freak out about it stops and 'plug in fridge, set temp dial.' or 'plug in TV to power and antenna socket. if reception is problematic, call son to come fix'.
and even she would probably be more like 'ooh, lots of warning lables... humm, let's NOT get that one...'
so... yeah. i wouldn't say they're Useless, but i'd easily believe that the main purpose of them is liability rather than any active desire to not mangle people with the machines :)
On the post: Unhappy With Even Minimal Scrutiny, US Removes Last Pretense Of TPP Transparency
Re:
paraphrasing from somewhere, but there ya go.
On the post: Unhappy With Even Minimal Scrutiny, US Removes Last Pretense Of TPP Transparency
Re: One of Those
and Representative democracy is neither representative nor democratic. it is a method to allow the bureaucracy to generally maintain the status quo and press forward incremental changes to the detriment of the public without inciting revolt or finding themselves on the wrong end of a revolution and with less assassinations in the course of choosing who within the ruling elite gets to control what.
liberty is more easily maintained in a feudal system... if the boss suppresses it, you can shoot him and the new boss can actually do something Different.
the trade off, of course, is that you get more 'civil' wars.
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