True. Europe is done. Greece and Portugal are just the start. The massive deficits Eurozone members floated to subsidize their 25 hour work weeks, Cadillac pensions, and free healthcare and are quickly coming to an end.
I would say the UK is centre-left politically... But there are enough capitalists here to keep the left wing nutters in check. I don't see any Ron Paul type characters in the UK. Nothing remotely close. Most people in Europe wouldn't know what a libertarian is. I think the tea party is considered some kind of racist off-shoot of Fox News... haha - it's kinda funny if you think about it.. Of course you've still got your Paul Krugmans and Barney Franks in the US, too... My conclusion about spending years despairing about politics is that the left and right exist for a reason, and the equilibrium point is somewhere in the middle. I will always be centre right, but then a lot of my friends are kinda left wing politically! It's basically just about trade offs at the end of the day, I guess...
Good luck with that, brother! Let me help you understand: It's based on corruption. Yes, our system is wacko!
Mandatory this or that is not the solution, not saying nothing is learned but mandatory military, mandatory taxation, mandatory health care all means individuals are owned by the state. Fighting for freedom is meaningless if its not a choice.
I never said "mandatory military service is a solution" to anything. I would not oppose it as I view it to be beneficial. "Fighting for freedom" is a necessity in itself. "Meaningless if not by choice"? Hogwash. Is it fair for SOME to fight for the freedom that ALL would enjoy?.. even those who sit on their asses yet benefit from the sacrifice of others?
Sure, and in France where I used to run a small company, they must give 3 months advance notice. That means in a business with any degree of confidentiality, like in IB, employers won't have the employee come to the office after they learn he will go and work for the competition. Yet they still have to pay him the 3 months advance notice while he's enjoying his vacation. And in case the employer would like to keep him during those 3 months but the employee has no intention to put in anymore serious work, there is not much other option than paying him... What I meant by reducing the labour law to this simple rule : "an employee is always free to leave" is that in return, an employer should be able to run things in his own company the way he feels like ( which is not the case due to too much regulations, many allegedly to protect the employee). If the employee feels it's too much to ask him, he may go... It's a widely accepted notion in Europe that the high unemployment rate is linked not only to economic conditions but also to business unfriendly labour law in place there.
I agree with that. Open the door for one, and the door is opened for all. We need to get away from mandates and laws, and move towards freedom and individual responsibility. Sink or swim. Like Ron Paul says, freedom is the freedom to fail....as well as succeed.
I love Nigel Farage <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/wFXSj5WofYA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Agreed. Take Vietnam, for example. Or, the prolonged nonsense in Iraq and Afghanistan. If you enslave a person to fight in a war he doesn't believe in, what kind of soldier do you have? Answer: One you don't want. Of course, the objection has to be reasonably legit; such as those people who turned out to be correct on Vietnam and this prolonged nonsense in Irag and Afghanistan.