Capitalism versus Socialism

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Originally posted by: afstandopleren

The language barrier has played a role again I'm afraid. I'm having trouble to put my mind to words, especially in English. Not only that, but things are 99% always twisted when translated in the sense that the interpretation can vary a lot.

What I meant with that is that people have the tendency to think that they don't have to do anything but vote for the side or party they think that represents them most. Yet a person can do much more then just vote. I don't mean volunteer but more along the lines of making decisions that ripple constructively. An example to explain that would be lets say, you are a parent and you don't want your kids to grow up in a better environment then you. This can only be done by making good decisions and being a good role model. I hope you can understand now where I'm going with this.

About the legal aliens thing, that joke sounded better in my head....quote>

My text emphasis.  You clearly didn't mean to say that.  If the word don't was removed, I think we get the sense you intended.  I get the impression that your language group uses a lot of double negatives for emphasis.  Could that group be Germanic?

---

Anyway, getting on with what to do.  If we had a very small country, we could adopt the Swiss system where everyone votes on major issues, but I am not sure they do that there any more.  However, maybe the bi-cameral representative system which most of us have now needs to be overhauled.  Certainly in Canada, the country is too big for Parliament in Ottawa to properly address the needs of peoples across the country.  We have such a diverse culture and the geography is so great that it becomes impossible.  Even the provinces are too big.

We need a central government to represent us internationally, but do we need them having departments that could better be handled locally?  There is a lot of duplication between the federal government and the provinces, and often they don't communicate with each other for various reasons including jealousy and party interference. 

Maybe we need to insert a third tier, which is already there, but doesn't do much.  Namely, the county governments.  Each province is divided into counties or cantons for civil law purposes and some levels of policing.  What if we had a county legislature with elected representatives that, essentially, replaced the provincial legislature, and this could put representatives, number to be determined, into the provincial legislature changing that to an appointive body appointed by selection by the county legislatures. 

Now, we replace the Senate of Canada, which is appointed at the pleasure of the Prime Minister, to be appointed by election by the county representatives, and subject to election on a periodic basis. 

Next we overhaul the federal set up to remove any part of it that is actually local concern.  Ministries that were eliminated would have to face the reality of "find a job" in the market, which would be proper sauce for the gander, frankly.  Employment protection for government employees ends here.  CUPE and other pulblic employee unions get their charters revoked.

The House of Commons from which the Prime Minister and other Ministers of the Crown are generally selected would be elected by the counties in their legislative session.  The only public vote would be for your county representative.  The rest is just window dressing today, and we don't need it.

If this became reality, and we got a Parliamentary Hierarchical Constitutional Monarchy (PHCM), I think everyone would be happier.  County elections need not be simultaneous.  Each province could vote on a staggered system, so that there would be fresh faces and opinions in government on a regular basis.  Since there are 12 provinces and territories, the cycle could be either six or twelve years.

Of course there is a massive amount of detail to be handled here, but that is for the gofer ground to solve.

Of course, a massive constitutional amendment would be needed for this which has to be approved by a two-thirds majority of the provinces or by a revolution, whichever comes first.

[Empowered One 41]

Originally posted by: A Nonny Moose

My text emphasis.  You clearly didn't mean to say that.  If the word don't was removed, I think we get the sense you intended.  I get the impression that your language group uses a lot of double negatives for emphasis.  Could that group be Germanic?

quote>

Correct. Dutch to be exact. I find it somewhat saddening that language has to become a real barrier at times. But oh well....

Originally posted by: A Nonny Moose

If we had a very small country, we could adopt the Swiss system where everyone votes on major issues, but I am not sure they do that there any more.  .quote>

The Dutch political system is a variant of the Swiss example. Instead of people voting on issues to be dealt with, there are parties representing various point of views that people can vote for. This system is used by a lot of countries in the EU. However, these kind of politics are kind of stupid in my opinion. The image that it invokes when I think of it,  is that of a group of islands (the political parties) get to decide what happens on the mainland (the people). Add to that that there are more islands then you can count and you have the icky issue that if some of them were to 'rule' together there is a chance they might not get along well, hurting the mainland through endless useless debating etc.. This has already happened a few times and is currently happening again and this time, to make it worse,  we have that extreme personality in the mix called Geert Wilders, placing his finger on the sore spots of the parlement.

I also think that most political systems need a major overhaul. However, I do not have much ideas or knowledge to come up with a solution that is down to earth.

[Empowered One 41]

Originally posted by: A Nonny Moose

My text emphasis.  You clearly didn't mean to say that.  If the word don't was removed, I think we get the sense you intended.  I get the impression that your language group uses a lot of double negatives for emphasis.  Could that group be Germanic?

quote>

Correct. Dutch to be exact. I find it somewhat saddening that language has to become a real barrier at times. But oh well....

Originally posted by: A Nonny Moose

If we had a very small country, we could adopt the Swiss system where everyone votes on major issues, but I am not sure they do that there any more.  .quote>

The Dutch political system is a variant of the Swiss example. Instead of people voting on issues to be dealt with, there are parties representing various point of views that people can vote for. This system is used by a lot of countries in the EU. However, these kind of politics are kind of stupid in my opinion. The image that it invokes when I think of it,  is that of a group of islands (the political parties) get to decide what happens on the mainland (the people). Add to that that there are more islands then you can count and you have the icky issue that if some of them were to 'rule' together there is a chance they might not get along well, hurting the mainland through endless useless debating etc.. This has already happened a few times and is currently happening again and this time, to make it worse,  we have that extreme personality in the mix called Geert Wilders, placing his finger on the sore spots of the parlement.

I also think that most political systems need a major overhaul. However, I do not have much ideas or knowledge to come up with a solution that is down to earth.

[Detective Stan 0]

The Italian political system it's the same...and it doesn't work, too. Too many parties, and inside those parties there are too many useless members who are doing anything, really! That's simply dumb. And, also, the news companies and the newspapers don't help with this damn situation: they prefer to talk about the problems of Lindsay Lohan instead of  the real problems of the country. I guess this is another aspect of the capitalism.

[Detective Stan 0]

The Italian political system it's the same...and it doesn't work, too. Too many parties, and inside those parties there are too many useless members who are doing anything, really! That's simply dumb. And, also, the news companies and the newspapers don't help with this damn situation: they prefer to talk about the problems of Lindsay Lohan instead of  the real problems of the country. I guess this is another aspect of the capitalism.

[Duke of York 23]

Originally posted by: Jayster

Last night I watched Capitalism: A Love Story.

After watching this, I was just so shocked and disappointed in the way America has become. For only being 16, it was a major eye-opener. I didn't understand all of it but what I did understand came as a shock.

Right now, I'd say my mom is on the low end of the Middle wealth Working class. I live with her so this is the life style I'm used to. Living paycheck to paycheck, eating out is a rarity, not having the nicest stuff. My dad on the other hand is on the low end of the High wealth class. He is making a 6 figure job and is well secured in his job position. Whenever I go and visit him, it is always very nice because we don't really have to worry about money.

My mom would always tell me about her life growing up, her dad had a job and her parents bought their house and had it paid off within a few years. Her mom didn't work, they lived great.

I think that if they changed certain aspects of Capitalism, then it would begin to work better for the country. If  we were to suddenly drop back into the 60's and 70's and stay there, I think society would function much better than now.

One day at school  my friends and I were discussing a sort of "New Communism" for the world. You basically have all the freedom you want but you are guaranteed a job, healthcare, and education. There would not be wealth classes because everyone, no matter what they do, would make the exact same amount of money. This idea would work perfectly if we could remove the idea of being "rich" from people's minds.

Overall, if we still lived in the 60's, I would support Capitalism but right now and the way everything is, I think Socialism is the way to go.  

 quote>

 I agree 100 % with you. Matter of fact your in the elite few of my pat on the back list for great ideas and thoughts. It was refreshing reading your post

-DOY

 P.S.. Someone please enlighten me. Is Italy consider Capitalistic?

[Duke of York 23]

Originally posted by: Jayster

Last night I watched Capitalism: A Love Story.

After watching this, I was just so shocked and disappointed in the way America has become. For only being 16, it was a major eye-opener. I didn't understand all of it but what I did understand came as a shock.

Right now, I'd say my mom is on the low end of the Middle wealth Working class. I live with her so this is the life style I'm used to. Living paycheck to paycheck, eating out is a rarity, not having the nicest stuff. My dad on the other hand is on the low end of the High wealth class. He is making a 6 figure job and is well secured in his job position. Whenever I go and visit him, it is always very nice because we don't really have to worry about money.

My mom would always tell me about her life growing up, her dad had a job and her parents bought their house and had it paid off within a few years. Her mom didn't work, they lived great.

I think that if they changed certain aspects of Capitalism, then it would begin to work better for the country. If  we were to suddenly drop back into the 60's and 70's and stay there, I think society would function much better than now.

One day at school  my friends and I were discussing a sort of "New Communism" for the world. You basically have all the freedom you want but you are guaranteed a job, healthcare, and education. There would not be wealth classes because everyone, no matter what they do, would make the exact same amount of money. This idea would work perfectly if we could remove the idea of being "rich" from people's minds.

Overall, if we still lived in the 60's, I would support Capitalism but right now and the way everything is, I think Socialism is the way to go.  

 quote>

 I agree 100 % with you. Matter of fact your in the elite few of my pat on the back list for great ideas and thoughts. It was refreshing reading your post

-DOY

 P.S.. Someone please enlighten me. Is Italy consider Capitalistic?

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Originally posted by: Duke of York

 P.S.. Someone please enlighten me. Is Italy consider Capitalistic?

quote>

We should ask our amico, Detective Stan.  Caro Stan, is Italy a capitalist country?  I thought the Monarchy was restored after Il Duce was removed.  What is the government of Italy, officially?  What ever happened to Vittorio Emanuale?

If you think your English is poor, you ought to try my thirty year old university Italian.  Ciao.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Originally posted by: Duke of York

 P.S.. Someone please enlighten me. Is Italy consider Capitalistic?

quote>

We should ask our amico, Detective Stan.  Caro Stan, is Italy a capitalist country?  I thought the Monarchy was restored after Il Duce was removed.  What is the government of Italy, officially?  What ever happened to Vittorio Emanuale?

If you think your English is poor, you ought to try my thirty year old university Italian.  Ciao.

[Ocram's Razr 964]

People are paid for not only the time and effort of their work but also for the quality of their work, their responsibilities and the effect their work had (for their source of income). This is because all these factors are part of the value of the work. Rockefeller was the world's first billionaire and is considered to have the largest fortune (funds) after inflation. He worked for long and hard and made many decisions that had profound effects on the world. He had the responsibility for the largest company in the world. If he made a bad economic decision, he would have lost everything. He made decisions about his employees that prevented them from making very much money from their hard efforts. You would think that is not fair but it makes more sense if you add responsibility and influence of work (and decisions) into the equation. People would not go to Universities if they did not want to have the opportunity to make informed and educated decisions in the workplace with major consequences. Someone without good sense, intelligence, or education would fail at a high paying job because even if he worked twice as hard as the competition, he would make worse decisions that would hurt the business and make less great discoveries that would propel the business to success.

Why do the inventors of the Operating System make (or made) extraordinary amounts of money while the hardest working construction worker on a major computer company's headquarters--who works full time no vacation and does 10 times as much work as anyone else and is the construction worker who gets the most things done--live in squalor? It is because the construction worker has no responsibilities and only follows orders while never making important decisions or discoveries.

I am in favor of a Planned Capitalist Economy with some Rules, Regulations, and Restrictions to help with that plan and prevent things from straying too drastically from the plan. An ideal company would pay all workers a fair wage that is accepted wherever needed and always worth the same value as the work is. All ideal companies must provide a real product or service of value. No company can control over 90% (arbitrary number between 50 and 99) of a market whether that is in buying or selling and no government should have to either. Currency should be worth something tangible. People should be informed when a market has become unsustainable (a resource cannot be used in the same way for over a certain number of years) or irrational (a bubble).

Fiat money does not retain the same value over time but most countries with Fiat currency require companies pay their workers a minimum amount of money in that currency therefore the hourly wage must increase each year regardless of variation in work in order to keep up with inflation. If a group of companies around the world worked together to accept a precious metal as a form of (semi or pseudo) currency unaffected by inflation, then they could charge and pay the same for the same value of work forever.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Spanish, the language of my forefathers, uses a lot of double negatives for emphasis on negatives but does not use single negatives for emphasis on positives. Example:

[Ocram's Razr 964]

People are paid for not only the time and effort of their work but also for the quality of their work, their responsibilities and the effect their work had (for their source of income). This is because all these factors are part of the value of the work. Rockefeller was the world's first billionaire and is considered to have the largest fortune (funds) after inflation. He worked for long and hard and made many decisions that had profound effects on the world. He had the responsibility for the largest company in the world. If he made a bad economic decision, he would have lost everything. He made decisions about his employees that prevented them from making very much money from their hard efforts. You would think that is not fair but it makes more sense if you add responsibility and influence of work (and decisions) into the equation. People would not go to Universities if they did not want to have the opportunity to make informed and educated decisions in the workplace with major consequences. Someone without good sense, intelligence, or education would fail at a high paying job because even if he worked twice as hard as the competition, he would make worse decisions that would hurt the business and make less great discoveries that would propel the business to success.

Why do the inventors of the Operating System make (or made) extraordinary amounts of money while the hardest working construction worker on a major computer company's headquarters--who works full time no vacation and does 10 times as much work as anyone else and is the construction worker who gets the most things done--live in squalor? It is because the construction worker has no responsibilities and only follows orders while never making important decisions or discoveries.

I am in favor of a Planned Capitalist Economy with some Rules, Regulations, and Restrictions to help with that plan and prevent things from straying too drastically from the plan. An ideal company would pay all workers a fair wage that is accepted wherever needed and always worth the same value as the work is. All ideal companies must provide a real product or service of value. No company can control over 90% (arbitrary number between 50 and 99) of a market whether that is in buying or selling and no government should have to either. Currency should be worth something tangible. People should be informed when a market has become unsustainable (a resource cannot be used in the same way for over a certain number of years) or irrational (a bubble).

Fiat money does not retain the same value over time but most countries with Fiat currency require companies pay their workers a minimum amount of money in that currency therefore the hourly wage must increase each year regardless of variation in work in order to keep up with inflation. If a group of companies around the world worked together to accept a precious metal as a form of (semi or pseudo) currency unaffected by inflation, then they could charge and pay the same for the same value of work forever.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Spanish, the language of my forefathers, uses a lot of double negatives for emphasis on negatives but does not use single negatives for emphasis on positives. Example:

[Empowered One 41]

You say that the amount of income is tied to the responsibility that comes with the job. I think a lot of teachers would like to have a word with you about that. As much as that is a good idea, it almost never really applied or valued properly. And with the current financial crisis, it's way too late for it to come into effect.

[Empowered One 41]

You say that the amount of income is tied to the responsibility that comes with the job. I think a lot of teachers would like to have a word with you about that. As much as that is a good idea, it almost never really applied or valued properly. And with the current financial crisis, it's way too late for it to come into effect.

[Detective Stan 0]

Originally posted by: A Nonny Moose

Originally posted by: Duke of York

 P.S.. Someone please enlighten me. Is Italy consider Capitalistic?

quote>

We should ask our amico, Detective Stan.  Caro Stan, is Italy a capitalist country?  I thought the Monarchy was restored after Il Duce was removed.  What is the government of Italy, officially?  What ever happened to Vittorio Emanuale?

If you think your English is poor, you ought to try my thirty year old university Italian.  Ciao.

quote>

You speak a very good italian, my congratulations!

Anyway, right now, this is the situation: after the World War II, Benito Mussolini (the prime minister and the one who was called Il Duce) was killed and the fascist government was overthrowed. King Vittorio Emanuele III abdicated and his son, Umberto II took the power, but his reign last only 1 month. At the end of may 1946, the Italian people vote a referendum (all the people, including the low classes and the women went to vote) and they had to choose between monarchy and republic. They choose the republic: Vittorio Emanuele and Umberto were expelled from the country and they couldn't come back since 2001 (in fact the son of Umberto, another Vittorio Emanuele, and his nephew Emanuele Filiberto returned to Italy).

Since 1946, Italy has a Parlamientary Republic: the prime minister is the main "figure" of the country and we got to chambers in the parliament, the Senate and the Camber Of Deputies. After the elections of 1946, a right-wing christian party called DC (Democrazia Cristiana, Christian Democracy) took the power and they kept it until the late 80's-early 90's. After a big scandal called Tangentopoli (something like Bribeland) which overwhelmed most of the politicians of those days (the prime minister, Bettino Craxi, feld in Tunisia because he was accused of several charges), now there two main political parties and some minors.

The Popolo Delle Libertà (Freedom People, I guess) which is a right-wing party led by Silvio Berlusconi, the prime minister. On the other side, we have the Partito Democratico (Democratic Party) which is the most important party of the opposition and it's led by Pierluigi Bersani. In the middle, there is the UDC which is a descendant of the old DC.

Now, on the economics, I think that Italy isn't a capitalistic country. But it isn't socialist neither. So I don't know where to place it, especially after the reforms of the last ten years, after Berlusconi "entered the field" (as he said in 1994). With Berlusconi, who owns the three majors television channels of Italy, the country has become a little more capitalistic than before, but we haven't reached the "real capitalism" yet.

I hope you understood me, and I apologize for my bad English.

[Detective Stan 0]

Originally posted by: A Nonny Moose

Originally posted by: Duke of York

 P.S.. Someone please enlighten me. Is Italy consider Capitalistic?

quote>

We should ask our amico, Detective Stan.  Caro Stan, is Italy a capitalist country?  I thought the Monarchy was restored after Il Duce was removed.  What is the government of Italy, officially?  What ever happened to Vittorio Emanuale?

If you think your English is poor, you ought to try my thirty year old university Italian.  Ciao.

quote>

You speak a very good italian, my congratulations!

Anyway, right now, this is the situation: after the World War II, Benito Mussolini (the prime minister and the one who was called Il Duce) was killed and the fascist government was overthrowed. King Vittorio Emanuele III abdicated and his son, Umberto II took the power, but his reign last only 1 month. At the end of may 1946, the Italian people vote a referendum (all the people, including the low classes and the women went to vote) and they had to choose between monarchy and republic. They choose the republic: Vittorio Emanuele and Umberto were expelled from the country and they couldn't come back since 2001 (in fact the son of Umberto, another Vittorio Emanuele, and his nephew Emanuele Filiberto returned to Italy).

Since 1946, Italy has a Parlamientary Republic: the prime minister is the main "figure" of the country and we got to chambers in the parliament, the Senate and the Camber Of Deputies. After the elections of 1946, a right-wing christian party called DC (Democrazia Cristiana, Christian Democracy) took the power and they kept it until the late 80's-early 90's. After a big scandal called Tangentopoli (something like Bribeland) which overwhelmed most of the politicians of those days (the prime minister, Bettino Craxi, feld in Tunisia because he was accused of several charges), now there two main political parties and some minors.

The Popolo Delle Libertà (Freedom People, I guess) which is a right-wing party led by Silvio Berlusconi, the prime minister. On the other side, we have the Partito Democratico (Democratic Party) which is the most important party of the opposition and it's led by Pierluigi Bersani. In the middle, there is the UDC which is a descendant of the old DC.

Now, on the economics, I think that Italy isn't a capitalistic country. But it isn't socialist neither. So I don't know where to place it, especially after the reforms of the last ten years, after Berlusconi "entered the field" (as he said in 1994). With Berlusconi, who owns the three majors television channels of Italy, the country has become a little more capitalistic than before, but we haven't reached the "real capitalism" yet.

I hope you understood me, and I apologize for my bad English.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Ciao, Detective Stan.  Your English is perfectly all right.  We get the message.  After a period of corruption (sofisicato politico), your rather socialist regime is now emerging into a more capitalist outlook.  Well, I expect, from what I know of your people that it will come right in the end.

What is the current public view of the Carabiniere?  Is the national police force held in good repute?  There was a time when the Siciliani seemed to have control of them.

Do you still have guaranteed employment?  At one point, dealing with Olivetti (I worked for General Electric at the time), it seemed there was a government enforced no-layoff policy, which is certainly socialistic.

By the way, if you think you have problems with English, you should have seen what a commercial translation service did with a computer programming manual we asked them to render into English.  They were really unprepared for terms like elaboratore, stampa, elaboratione di flusso logico, and arimetico di virgole corrante.  We got back "elaborator", "stamper",  "coherent elaboration of the flows" and "the arithmetic of the running comma".  We agreed to a saw-off on the fee of 50%, and I'll bet they never took a job like that again.

Considering that Italian is entirely phonetic (lingua di Firenze at least), you must have a terrible time with English, which is not at all phonetic and is full of homonymns (words that sound and spell the same, but have different meanings).  I think if this was translated into Italian (I can't), it would be quite different.  "The peer peered down the pier and saw the boat in the dock."

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Ciao, Detective Stan.  Your English is perfectly all right.  We get the message.  After a period of corruption (sofisicato politico), your rather socialist regime is now emerging into a more capitalist outlook.  Well, I expect, from what I know of your people that it will come right in the end.

What is the current public view of the Carabiniere?  Is the national police force held in good repute?  There was a time when the Siciliani seemed to have control of them.

Do you still have guaranteed employment?  At one point, dealing with Olivetti (I worked for General Electric at the time), it seemed there was a government enforced no-layoff policy, which is certainly socialistic.

By the way, if you think you have problems with English, you should have seen what a commercial translation service did with a computer programming manual we asked them to render into English.  They were really unprepared for terms like elaboratore, stampa, elaboratione di flusso logico, and arimetico di virgole corrante.  We got back "elaborator", "stamper",  "coherent elaboration of the flows" and "the arithmetic of the running comma".  We agreed to a saw-off on the fee of 50%, and I'll bet they never took a job like that again.

Considering that Italian is entirely phonetic (lingua di Firenze at least), you must have a terrible time with English, which is not at all phonetic and is full of homonymns (words that sound and spell the same, but have different meanings).  I think if this was translated into Italian (I can't), it would be quite different.  "The peer peered down the pier and saw the boat in the dock."

[Detective Stan 0]

Hi, Nonny Moose, and thank you for your reply. Yes, it was exactly what I was talking about: we're "entering" the capitalism after years of "almost" socialism.

For what concernes our police force, things are changed. We're still fighting against the mafia(s), but it isn't anymore like the 50s, when Sicilia wanted to become part of the United States and they fought for that, or the 90s, when the mafia killed Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, two of our best district attorneys (which, in fact, is a charge that in Italy doesn't exist), who were investigating about the connections between mafia and political parties. And even Mr. Berlusconi, our actual prime minister, was involved in this "connections". We lost several officers in those years and we're still fighting, but now the mafia members prefer to bribe and they don't "bomb" anymore.

And, unluckily, things are changed even on the job side. We still have guaranteed employement, but not in the way it was in the past years. The FIAT (Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino, Italian Cars Factory from Torino), our most important industry, is planning to leave for Serbia, they 're planning to fire a lot of people and the government (which is led by a capitalistic vision) doesn't want to do much.

By the way, if you have been in Firenze, you have been in Tuscany, and I'm from Tuscany. And I translated the sentence you wrote: in Italian it doesn't make sense at all.

I won't be here for the next four days, so I guess I won't post for this period. Bye, and stay safe.

[Detective Stan 0]

Hi, Nonny Moose, and thank you for your reply. Yes, it was exactly what I was talking about: we're "entering" the capitalism after years of "almost" socialism.

For what concernes our police force, things are changed. We're still fighting against the mafia(s), but it isn't anymore like the 50s, when Sicilia wanted to become part of the United States and they fought for that, or the 90s, when the mafia killed Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, two of our best district attorneys (which, in fact, is a charge that in Italy doesn't exist), who were investigating about the connections between mafia and political parties. And even Mr. Berlusconi, our actual prime minister, was involved in this "connections". We lost several officers in those years and we're still fighting, but now the mafia members prefer to bribe and they don't "bomb" anymore.

And, unluckily, things are changed even on the job side. We still have guaranteed employement, but not in the way it was in the past years. The FIAT (Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino, Italian Cars Factory from Torino), our most important industry, is planning to leave for Serbia, they 're planning to fire a lot of people and the government (which is led by a capitalistic vision) doesn't want to do much.

By the way, if you have been in Firenze, you have been in Tuscany, and I'm from Tuscany. And I translated the sentence you wrote: in Italian it doesn't make sense at all.

I won't be here for the next four days, so I guess I won't post for this period. Bye, and stay safe.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

When you get back, I hope you enjoyed your trip.  The great problem as I said is homonymns.

The peer (member of the British nobilities) peered (looked) down the pier (structure in the water) and saw the boat in the dock.  A dock is an area in the water in which one parks a boat.  Many people speaking vernacular English use dock as a synonym for pier, which can be misleading, eh?

Buona fortuna, amico.  Ciao.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

When you get back, I hope you enjoyed your trip.  The great problem as I said is homonymns.

The peer (member of the British nobilities) peered (looked) down the pier (structure in the water) and saw the boat in the dock.  A dock is an area in the water in which one parks a boat.  Many people speaking vernacular English use dock as a synonym for pier, which can be misleading, eh?

Buona fortuna, amico.  Ciao.

[Detective Stan 0]

Ok, I'm back...and I think we went off topic...

[Empowered One 41]

off topic because the discussion is dead and can't be revived without repeating subjects.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Let's unpin it and let it find its own level, then.  I agree it is pretty well exhausted.

[Barbarossa 51]

.

  Edited September 8, 2012 by Barbarossa  

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Opening salvo from the middle east.

[Barbarossa 51]

.

  Edited September 8, 2012 by Barbarossa  

[Empowered One 41]

Capitalism will never die as long as there are greedy people out there that can satisfy their greediness without limits. BUt more people do seem to step out of that way of thinking.

.........and I just happened to watch this:

[gmensah 0]

How is capitalism on the decline? I mean yes, there has been some cracks appearing in the system lately, after the crisis and globally the face of capitalism has change with the worries on ecology and third world exploitation. But make no mistake, look at China, look at India, look at the emerging nations of the world, there is no alternative to capitalism at the moment. It's a system with many problem, by now most can at least agree on that and are no longer blind in the belief that it is some pinnacle of human society. Communism is dead, gift exchange is dead, and besides Burning Man and SF commune type of small communities, we have yet to find an alternative to it.

Just because capitalism has embraced a 'social awareness' does in no way change it is still capitalism, and that the divide between rich and poor is only getting bigger.

http://videogamecanon.blogspot.com/

[Empowered One 41]

If you look 1 or 2 pages back, there are some vids in my posts that might offer at least 1 solution to the problem if people are willing to accept it. Thing is, as long as people mindlessly refuse to take responsibility for contributing to the situation by, for example, mass consuming among things. Keeping yourself in check has sadly been a dying concept the last couple of years.