achilles28:I don't believe for a second the fastest plane ever built was the SR-71 Blackbird (50 years ago). -------------------------------------------------------------- The x-15 was much faster and flew at hypersonic speed. And I helped design it.
I just caught an article about on the BBC about how an individual wanted to discontinue maternity leave and eliminate all consumer rights. To me this is an social indicator that the upper class want to cull the masses to make social managment easier. As far as the middle class is concerned to the narcissitic wealthly, they are a a mistake. The ideology of the the middle is idealistic at best. It does not abide to te laws of the jungle. The social direction things have been going to globaly is toward Neo Fuedalism. This is fine but if the upper class are not doing thier job, social unrest occur ie. Greece. Any system can function as long as the leadership understands how to do the job. Corperatocracy could be rebranded into one of the many -isms froim the past. As stated earlier in the thread if there is no growth then the middle fades away. ie. US slowdown and China expansion. The ruling families of Europe used to have wealth power and now that power is being placed into the shadows by the Pacific region. I am just waiting for the continent of Africa to turn on. ...Ticker symbol (EZA).... The US is more sino friendly and will probably emerge with status after the global power change has been completed. European arrogence and protectionism will be a downfall. An indicator of this recently is that there was an excomunication of a few individuals because the sino state placed the individuals in postion and not another entity. They still hold working restrictions on hours, and have high social transfer payments is unsustainable. They will not change until it is too late. Pedagogy does not work! Akuma
I have come to a very simple conclusion. A democracy is not enough to guarantee people freedom. The other key ingredient (in today's world) is money. It is so blatanly clear that in order to free yourself from the evils of money, you need money. That is the ruthless recursion that hits you in the face when the rubber hits the road and you live your life in this world. So what do we do? We try to amass "wealth". But there may be another way! Read on. Imagine an agreement among the masses (poor and middle class) to give money to an organization with no political allegiance whose sole purpose is to eventually free its members from all political interests. Since the entity is non-profit, it pays very little in taxes. This sounds like a union or a lobby, but that is not the intent. So what does the entity do? What is its purpose? It would have a very simple constitution and declaration of independence, with no possibility of amendment. Its purpose is to then hire its own doctors, its own educators, etc, for which its members can make use of freely. Salaries would be set to a base, with raises strictly based on inflation. Doctors make the same as plumbers. The idea is to set up a government within a government so as to free ourselves from being powerless in the enclosing government. People that then became doctors and lawyer and teachers carpenters electricians plumbers etc through this system would be expected to work say three years in this system "to give back." The hard part is, intially not everyone can contribute equally, since some make more than others in the "real world". But in time the whole thing would be self-sustaining (bootstrapped in this world to bridge to that one). These are details to be worked out, but: Would it work?
People were never free until we invented money. After that, the people who had it started becoming free. And I guess, the people that didn't have it remained enslaved.
I mostly agree. That is the perspective that Niall Ferguson espouses in his very good book: "The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World" http://www.amazon.com/Ascent-Money-...6177/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1311947150&sr=8-1 I mostly agree with it. My claim is that it is only a bootstrap to the real conclusion. We have replaced Kings, with Corporations.
I am able to separate and contextualize my belief system. Holding two possibly contrapuntal or even contradictory ideas in your head is where the golden nuggets of knowledge and wisdom exists. I don't like corporations because they are inanimate objects that run over people in the name of profit to the exclusion of anything else. http://www.thecorporation.com/ But I am equally likely to decide that the SP500 is undervalued. BTW, the original corporation as chronicled by Ferguson above gave out all it's profits to shareholders in the form of a, 16% dividend!!!
Hold on a second. You must have mistyped this. What you really meant was: "The cyclical nature of America's economy has led to wide-spread disruptive social effects." Right?