lela martens on sun 24 dec 00
Thank you Norman for a well thought and to the point view. I feel ethics and
concern for the environment or the common person so disgracefully
discounted(whoops, touchy wordage) by governments in the pockets of big
business I fail to find the words to express.
If only the common person would understand that if and how they vote
really does affect their lives. Then they may go to the trouble of doing a
bit of the research mentioned in a past post by a researcher earlier, or
even to know the platforms of the candidates. It might be government for the
people, by the people, if the people would just show up. But, if one hasn`t
had the chance to do that, stay home on voting day. The ratio of
knowlegeable, like reading the newspaper, hopefully decent newspaper ,voter
influences and responsible government is a no-brainer if one digs deeper
than multi nationals want us to. It all boils down to education. Our last
election, while the US`s was going on , was the first time the Canadian
homeless could vote, not haveing addresses. ?!!!
Perhaps the reader can tell this all touches a lot of nerves with me, the
more I know, the more vocal I get, and that`s hard, because I`m really a shy
person. It`s the venue. and I live in an area with a lot of opposition,
gun-shy, we call it around here, but we are refering to the 1880`s. not LA
The saying goes, " Old ladies and young men, they have attitudes " It`s
true. I`m not that old... So I go downstairs, wedge till muscles hurt, get
frustration out, look forward to watching little niece open presents,think
about new comer mentioning eccentrics,( can`t be me!) Earl,(past guilt) the
wonderful people on this site, you know who you are. And Hey ! am on 211 of
250 candy dishes.!
at least as in keeping to the subject as bunny slippers and animals in the
yard, oh yeah , .. never mind, eh?Lela
>From: Norman van der Sluys
>Reply-To: Ceramic Arts Discussion List
>To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
>Subject: Re: gas costs and deregulation
>Date: Sat, 23 Dec 2000 09:37:47 -0500
>
>This thread is at risk of becoming seriously off-topic, but I feel
>compelled to
>make a response to the ideas put forth in the website below.
>
>It is true that deregulating only part of a market is a serious error that
>inevitably leads to severe economic disruption. That said, Society has
>clearly
>made some choices that preclude establishing a pure free market. Some of
>these
>include recognizing that not all value can be quantified in terms of money.
> These
>include the value of the individual, the environment, and the ethical
>health of the
>community. You might also want to add the value of handmade objects in the
>machine
>age and the worth of "pure" art. (There, sort of on topic!)
>
>The idea of a regulated economy did not come from out of the blue!
>Historical
>experience showed the necessity of protecting the people from the greed of
>the
>economically powerful. If you weren't asleep, you might recall the
>turn-of-
>the-century abuses by the railroads that nearly destroyed agriculture. Or
>the
>abuses of employers during the first half of the last century. Or the
>abuses of
>traders that resulted in the Crash of '29. The truth is that an unregulated
>economy
>results in periodic violent shifts in prices, and these fluctuations are
>much
>harder on those with little money than those with full pockets. The poor
>may not
>be able to "hang on" until the market adjusts itself.
>
>Many economists like to describe free-market economics as "democracy in
>terms of
>dollars (or yen, marks, etc.") They need to refresh their knowledge of
>Greek. Demos
>means "people", thus democracy is rule of the people. What they are
>talking about
>is the rule of money. This supposes that greed is the most powerful driving
>force
>in society and suggests that we just succomb to it, and forget about
>breathing
>clean air and nurturing the talents of all the people (the true source of
>all
>economic wealth.)
>
>Here in Michigan, we are going through a season of wildly fluctuating
>gasoline
>prices. In one local community the cost of gasoline was often nearly 20%
>higher
>than in neighboring towns. A newspaper reporter did a little investigating
>to find
>why this was so. There was no reason dictated by supply for these high
>prices. The
>conclusion was that the high prices were charged because people would pay
>it. When
>this was published in the paper the price of gasoline dropped from $1.80 to
>$1.32
>within hours! Deregulation may be apropriate for caviar. It is not for
>goods and
>services essential to the well-being of the people.
>
>Mert & Holly Kilpatrick wrote:
>
> > A different viewpoint on the California energy situation - long but very
> > interesting if you have the patience to get through it.
> > http://www.mises.org/fullstory.asp?control=575
> >
> > Holly
> >
> >
>______________________________________________________________________________
> >
>
>--
>Norman van der Sluys
>
>by the shore of Lake Michigan, where it has snowed for 20 days, and winter
>is only
>in its 3rd day!
>
>______________________________________________________________________________
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