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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: geode00 who wrote (182681)	3/1/2006 2:31:15 PM
From: Maurice Winn	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Geode, people wouldn't buy them if they didn't think they need them: <the sale of unnecessary SUVs. > I suppose you would be in charge of what people "need". I have driven little American cars [little by American standards - you obviously haven't seen actual little cars]. They were just fine thanks. I have also driven an SUV and it was fine too [when there were six of us and lots of luggage]. I'm glad you aren't in charge of what I need. Well, unfortunately, you are because you have a vote and like swarms of others [the majority] you like to be the boss of what people choose to do. And you like to spend their money for them. If unions refuse to work for a reasonable fee, they'll vote themselves out of business. My brother in law experienced exactly that in their New Zealand pilot's union, which voted itself out of business with Ansett. Ansett went broke in NZ thanks to the unions' dumb decisions. So he had to start a house washing business, pay $30,000 to get another rating, then get a much lower paid job elsewhere, eventually. Many didn't get other jobs. Some had to go overseas. Yes, it was totally the workers' fault. Not the management's. <We go through ridiculous amounts of clothing. Is that necessary?> Ah, what is "necessary"? I spent a load of money on clothes yesterday and my usual frugal self was panic-stricken at the whole process. It seems nuts. But I did enjoy wearing the new clothes. Clothes are nice somehow. But they are a bit like booze I think. They are a social construct, helpful for fitting in and enjoying social situations, but they can get out of hand. Having been brought up very impoverished by today's standards, I view such expenditure as wasteful when the next famine might be just around the corner. I thought my swanky 1984 suit is perfectly adequate, but apparently it's considered to be fit more for a museum. The answer to your list of questions is that people choose what they want to do and don't need you, or me, to tell them what they "need" or "want" and how they should live and work and they don't need us spending their money for them. Call me cold, venal, brutish if you like [I won't issue a fatwah but such comments about Mohammed, peace be upon him and you, would have you in BIG trouble - look what a few very benign cartoons about Islamic reaction got], I'm still in favour of people deciding their lives for themselves. <We need to rethink our fanatical consumption mindset where the only thing is to have disposable TVs at the lowest possible cost made by slave labor under deplorable conditions. > Speak for yourself. I don't have a fanatical consumption mindset. Just how fat are you anyway? I'm quite skinny. And, I'm very frugal, though I'm trying to teach myself to let go a bit now that I'm a big time capitalist and can afford to be a bit more spendthrift like other people. I don't even own a tv, though I have one on loan from a niece's spouse's brother. I do like things at low cost. I can't see any point in doing things other than at lowest cost. Waste is bad. Most of the things I buy seem to be Made in China. While I agree that China is quite repressive, I didn't see any slave labour, though I did see low-paid people doing a lot of work to get not much money. I saw hutongs which I would NOT want to be living in. I wanted to send loads of money to buy apartments as I can see that accommodation improvement is going to be VERY popular. They need huge amounts of capital to do that. Unfortunately, I ran out of time and the communications were too difficult. Drat. They'll have to stay in their hutongs a bit longer. Meanwhile, I have got QUALCOMM producing dirty great mountains of CDMA cyberspace equipment in China and they are buying it too, so I'm still doing a LOT to raise their living standards. They are going to go from no telecommunications to the latest and greatest just a few years. I wonder if I should nominate myself for a knighthood or maybe a Nobel Peace Prize for services to humanity. And Globalstar is flying over China, and there's a gateway there too. Still going, despite bankruptcy, funded by me. What have you done to help except whine about people buying things Made in China? And I suppose India, where I should add that QUALCOMM is also hiring as many engineers as they can to help with CDMA development. People in India are also buying loads of CDMA phones and services. I suppose you think that outsourcing "American" jobs to India and China is a bad thing. Yes? They should grow rice or something, right? Mr Cold, Venal and Brutish, Mqurice