From: Michael Lorrey (retroman@together.net)
Date: Tue Oct 07 1997 - 20:27:23 MDT
Michael Butler wrote:
>
> On Tue, 7 Oct 1997, Erik Moeller wrote:
> <most of rant deleted>
> > How can
> > anyone deny that this is derived from nature, that it is evolution? How
> > can anyone dare to speak against the words of the prophets with the holy
> > names "Smith" and "Friedman"?
> >
> > The answer: By thinking.
>
> Someone (I think it was a Supreme Court Justice, but I'm not sure...) once
> said "Most people think that they are thinking when they are merely
> rearranging their prejudices."
>
> Seems to me that both you and those you rail against qualify.
Sorry, I thought a list of historical precedent would be sufficient
argument. Ok, maybe not. How about this: Can any socialist in the
audience please tell me why they think government spends money better
than private industry, when public debt must be given tax exempt status
in order to attract sufficient investment to purchase that debt, while
stocks in private corporations, the largest 40 of which have an average
annual growth rate twice that of the rate of return on public debt
instruments. If government was so much better, then Government bonds
would give a higher rate of return without tax exempt status.
I think the rate of return on investment is possibly the best yardstick
one can measure the relative performance of public vs. private sectors.
In terms of how well consumers are treated by product or service
providers, perhaps we can use yardsticks like:
a) what is the relative accident rate in automobiles between the US and
former Soviet Union (in accidents/fatalities per vehicle)?
b) what is the relative rate of time it takes for an American utility
customer to get a new service hooked up, vs. the same service in the
former Soviet Union, China, or, say France or Italy ( western countries
that are relatively inundated with socialists and communists).
c) what is the relative rate of time it takes for a person in the US to
get regular dialysis treatement set up vs. socialist nations? For
surgery of any kind?
Some other questions to ask:
How many people have been shot and killed in their beds by hit squads
hired by the mom and pop store down the street (including New York City,
I'll be daring)?
How many by Governments?
how many corporations have imprisoned journalists? Governments?
How much do you pay for gasoline?
How much of your income are you graciously permitted to take home?
How much of your income is confiscated to fund a government retirement
fund for people retired right now, yet is not solvent enough to exist by
the time you retire?
How about your private retirement fund? Is it allowed to carry unfunded
liabilities?
Of the amount your parents have contributed to your public retirement
fund, how much time is that money expected to last at their expected
entitlement level?
-- TANSTAAFL!!! Michael Lorrey ------------------------------------------------------------ mailto:retroman@together.net Inventor of the Lorrey Drive MikeySoft: Graphic Design/Animation/Publishing/Engineering ------------------------------------------------------------ How many fnords did you see before breakfast today?
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