i'm sure it would. But i guess this is how far i'm willing and able to go to master a language that is not mine and has to be maintained next to my own - Dutch - and French and German.. what i'm really interested in though, is the parts of the argument you find tenious. and even more so : why?
I've always assumed that Koen is not a native English speaker and been amazed at the standard of his English. Quite a lot better than some native English speakers whether they be on this forum or not. Mind you, a few empty lines between the paragraphs wouldn't go amiss..:smile:
I think the biggest problem with our MPs and our governments over the past 30 years is that they have left school went onto university and very rarely had any dealings with the day to day activities of a day to day business which has to make a profit to be there the next day. Back in the industrial revolution our government consisted of business men, industrialists and until this returns I'm afraid no matter who we vote for it will be much of a muchness. The uk needs to get back to heavy industry even if it has to be subsidised, after all agriculture is subsidised. When there is work it brings back communities and self respect. The rest of the world subsidise there heavy industries .
on longer posts, i write it in Word first so i can frantically use F7 .. pasting it into the forum takes away the finesses of lay-out i've noticed... but point taken...
I use the same method on my blog. But I have to put all the empty lines back in, as they don't appear after pasting. Probably same issue here.
+1 ... problem is that to participaty fully in the ecomomy, the level of required skills has been rising constantly. and it will continue to do so. So what is left for the less talented..just being able to provide hard labour no longer counts either, as that has gone to machines. ...
I agree but the world all over there is a big shortage of skilled manual labour ie mechanical structural electrical in general the old city and guild trades. A lot of third world countries and even Eastern European are trying to introduce these skills and work all over the world
What the UK needs are zillions of apprenticeships, such as they have in Switzerland. Here they have apprenticeships in everything. We have one in our computer store. Result : a lot of highly skilled people with real trades.
This is central to the problem. Improving efficiency generally means taking the less skilled out of the equation leaving the problem of what do you do with them. A life on benefits, with all of the social ills, or some means of distributing the available work / wealth more equitably. What is the post industrial landscape going to look like ? Old style capitalism has run its course but heaven help us if we return to socialism because it destroys that which it seeks to protect.
An interesting post, johnv, because you put the case for socialism so well, ironically. All it does in the Western democracies is seek to address the problems you raise - looking after society's casualties which society as a whole doesn't really need. Benefits, wealth distribution - these are the necessary evils. If everyone was capable of doing a useful well-paid job, you wouldn't need any of it. Places like the US just choose to ignore this problem with the idea that if you are in the bottom 10%, hard cheese, your fault. The thing is, someone is always going to be in the bottom 10%. Show me the tax-payer who likes paying tax. No matter how little it is, it is always too much. I don't believe in the class-struggle (never did) and the face of modern politics in which every party is for capitalism, but with a more or less human face, bears out that it is an outmoded form of thinking. Hence "Red Ed" is just anachronistic. Free enterprise is great, but someone is always going to be scrubbing the floor and you have to work out what you do with them.
The trick would be to do it in such a way as to avoid the 'benefits street' culture that is prevalent amongst the unemployed. Giving benefits without asking for something in return fosters that culture where rights are exercised without any responsibility, there must be a stick along with the carrot. I also believe that if you taxed the rich to just below the point that they left the country en mass, and distributed that wealth amongst the low paid and unemployed, that the overall difference would be marginal at best, there are too few rich and too many poor and unemployed. Work must always pay compared to being unemployed and there must always be an incentive to get a job. Bring back an earnings related benefit and state pension where what you have contributed determines the level of benefit you receive and cap benefit to average earnings. No one who doesn't work should be getting over £26,000 irrespective of their circumstances. There are too many who simply have no incentive to take responsibility and improve their own lot under the current rules.
Swiss unemployment rules are that for 2 years you get 70% of your salary, capped at CHF 7'000 per month. Fairly generous. But after this period, you get pretty much bugger all - life becomes very uncomfortable. it's a pretty good system, cushioning the shock of redundancy, but making sure that the cushion is removed after a while. Of course past a certain age, it's nigh on impossible to find normal employment, or any employment. You aren't considered for the jobs you know how to do, and are either unqualified or vastly over-qualified for the others. We are condemned to be rich or miserable these days. There isn't much in between. I suppose this is a good incentive for entrepreneurship, at least, that's how I'm reading it.
Back in the industrial revolution our government consisted entirely of noblemen - aristocrats who had inherited nearly all the land and wealth in the country. Only many years later did businessmen and industrialists start to get a look in. And ordinary working people only got a look in many years after that. A century ago, heavy industries like coal, steel, and shipbuilding were indeed the route to wealth and power for a nation. Those days ended many decades ago, and they are not coming back. The route to wealth in the modern world is clever industries, not primitive ones.
I think you're right Pete. SO START PAYING SOME BLOODY ATTENTION IN SCHOOL, YOU FUTURE BENEFIT SCROUNGER!
The route to wealth is only important to those that think that money is the most important asset to making you wealthy.
Well, it's a good point but I always think that if having lots of money doesn't make you happy, having no money quickly makes you miserable.
The route to wealth, for a nation, lies in selling things which do not consume resources to produce, or where there is a huge value added to minimal raw materials.
