^Aye, you could have a nice drink and some fun with that lady.

Nothing against youth, but it should never be confused with beauty. A lady who I think would be intelligent, sexy and good fun is Hollande's girlfriend Valerie. I've reached that age, where women in their late 40s can have sex appeal.

He's had enough of all the waste of space nerds that now frequent this place.

Well, you can't blame the workers when the cost of decent housing is so high. In any event, that's only a portion of the problem; lack of long term strategic thinking and investment combined with a lack of technological innovation and education plays a major part in Blighty's predicament.

German workers are well paid, cost of living is cheap, their products are costly, but they compete only at the high-end/technological advanced manufacturing and there is very little poverty there, certainly nowhere near the levels you see in the UK. Same in places like the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe. Where did all go so wrong for the UK, locked now in a death embrace of mediocrity, financial services and a political class that puts the Italians to shame.

Last edited by The_Shooman (2012-06-10 21:55:24)

The biggest canard perpetrated on "the sheeple" is that we live in a deregulated world.

This, when democratic governments all over the industrialized world have become gargantuan regulatory engines  since the "the sheeple" discovered they could assign their own benefits via popular vote. The politicians have happily obliged knowing the bills would come due long after they had left office. And they are coming due today.

Here are a few basic rules of economics that everybody forgets when trying to "protect the consumer":

1)- Price controls cause scarcity of product, with the unintended consequence that the only ones that have access are those with a lot of money (using the black market) or political connections.  Think rent control.
2)- Price supports cause increase in the price of goods with the unintended consequence of inflation and overabundance of a poor quality product. Think University pricing in the US.

When governments try to "fine tune" the economy to appease this or that constituent group by providing price controls here and price supports there you get the Olympic cock-ups we see today. The easy way out for everybody is to blame the money-changers, and they have always proven to be reliable scapegoats for the spendthrift governments that caused the problems to begin with.

The irony is that governments, specially since WWII, have provided for the whims of voters unlike any other era in history, with the result that "the sheeple" are not grateful, but indignantly clamoring for more.

Shouting "We have met the enemy and he is us" in the street is just not as cool, transgressive, hip, or even as thrilling as screaming "Down with multinationals" and smashing a window in harmonious self righteous solidarity with fellow 99 percenters.

"You're a doctor, right? Then think of some of this stuff as the systole and diastole rhythm of political economy that seems inevitable as various groups within the polity contend for control -- it would fare ill for all, I believe, if any particular group ever gained permanent ascendancy. "

Eg:
Agree totally, furthermore love your metaphor appealing to both my training and philosophical bent (Ying/Yang rules).
The irony of the moment is that at a historical instance of maximum popular ascendant, the populace fancies itself in utter descendant. Or should we say the polity finds itself in systolic affluence but diastolic animus.
I am not so much clamoring for the control of the political economy by one group or another, rather a more accurate reckoning of where we are in the cycle. Having a clear vision makes it easier to follow the road that will take us where we want.
That the vision is now clouded is illustrated best by "the sheeple's" resentment at the very institutions that bankrupted themselves fulfilling "the sheeple's" desires, at the same time demanding more of what they seem unwilling to provide for themselves. The 99% are furiously clamoring for empowerment, yet burn with desire for dependency.
It all reminds me of a book that came out when my daughter was an early teen. "Mommy I Hate You, Take Me to the Mall"