tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post113982513124614207..comments2023-11-05T08:01:10.010+00:00Comments on Think of England: The harmony of civilisationsBrithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-1140665364116845942006-02-23T03:29:00.000+00:002006-02-23T03:29:00.000+00:00The Observer article is a load of rubbish. Many o...The <I>Observer</I> article is a load of rubbish. Many of the facts are correct, but they're incorrectly interpreted.<BR/><BR/>I will slowly debunk the article, over several comments.<BR/><BR/>First, health care.<BR/><BR/>In America, we have a problem with health care: Not everyone gets all of the care that they should.<BR/><BR/>However, as I will demonstrate, that problem is much smaller than Oroboroushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01710250012500728430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-1140536905091326322006-02-21T15:48:00.000+00:002006-02-21T15:48:00.000+00:00Re the Observer story Martpol links to:'Candy Lump...Re the Observer story Martpol links to:<BR/><BR/>'Candy Lumpkins' - heh heh, what a name.<BR/><BR/>On a less childish note, inequality per se isn't a cause of social unrest. It needs to be combined with:<BR/><BR/>1) the feeling that the wealth owned by the few is unearned<BR/>2) the feeling that you personally have no opportunity of making your own vast wealth or at least advancing up the ladder<Brithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-1140493053666121862006-02-21T03:37:00.000+00:002006-02-21T03:37:00.000+00:00martpol:The U.S. does indeed have a very great gap...martpol:<BR/><BR/>The U.S. does indeed have a very great gap between the rich and the poor, but that might not be the best way to analyze American society.<BR/><BR/>In the first place, the gap isn't so wide because the poor are so very poor, it's because the rich are so very rich.<BR/><BR/>For instance, one can be seen as "poor" in the U.S., but still:<BR/><BR/>* Reside in one's own apartment ofOroboroushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01710250012500728430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-1140423553377697552006-02-20T08:19:00.001+00:002006-02-20T08:19:00.001+00:00Oroborous:I'm referring rather generally to the ri...Oroborous:<BR/><BR/>I'm referring rather generally to the rich-poor gap, which I sometimes read about in articles like <A HREF="http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,1712965,00.html" REL="nofollow"> this</A>, and particularly statistics like:<BR/><BR/>"While 45.8 million Americans lack any health insurance, the top 20 per cent of earners take over half the national income. At the same martpolhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08508497057736355841noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-1140191366176424302006-02-17T15:49:00.000+00:002006-02-17T15:49:00.000+00:00Martpol:Yes.You'd have to define "eroded" for me t...Martpol:<BR/><BR/>Yes.<BR/><BR/>You'd have to define "eroded" for me to fully grasp what you think is occurring, but currently almost everyone gets any medical care that they need, nobody is starving in the streets, and education is still free.<BR/><BR/>The bottom 50% of American wage-earners pay 4% of all income taxes collected, the top 10% pay 40%, and we don't have a VAT.<BR/>We can argue overOroboroushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01710250012500728430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-1140187220232382882006-02-17T14:40:00.000+00:002006-02-17T14:40:00.000+00:00Would it be wide of the mark to suggest that in fa...Would it be wide of the mark to suggest that in fact it's the US, with its staggeringly large rich-favouring tax cuts and eroded welfare system, which faces some sort of imminent social implosion?martpolhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08508497057736355841noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-1140183301155419402006-02-17T13:35:00.000+00:002006-02-17T13:35:00.000+00:00While I understand from an intellectual viewpoint ...While I understand from an intellectual viewpoint the decision not to have children, I cannot grok the emotional state required.<BR/><BR/>My parents had six children, they already have nineteen grandchildren, and I'll be surprised if they don't end up with at least twenty-five.<BR/><BR/>A big house, fancy car, and memories of Mediterranean vacations won't provide much comfort to the elderly.Oroboroushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01710250012500728430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-1140177501907740762006-02-17T11:58:00.000+00:002006-02-17T11:58:00.000+00:00Oroborous:With respect to one aspect of the proble...Oroborous:<BR/><BR/>With respect to one aspect of the problem -- old-age pensions, it doesn't have to.<BR/><BR/>The demographic bulge will eventually pass away, meaning that problem will too.<BR/><BR/>There are obviously other problems that will remain, but unlike Russia, Italian women could, at least in theory, decide at any moment to become as fertile as Iowa farmfields in the spring.<BR/><BR/>Hey Skipperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10798930502187234974noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-1140168332111163192006-02-17T09:25:00.000+00:002006-02-17T09:25:00.000+00:00Sure, the problems will/would be less severe if pe...Sure, the problems will/would be less severe if people work well past their expected retirement date.<BR/><BR/>However, few people are willing to do that, regardless of what the consequences might be.<BR/><BR/>There have been massive protests recently in France and Germany over that, and in the 90s in the U.S. over a similar proposal.<BR/><BR/>Further, President Bush just got nowhere at all Oroboroushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01710250012500728430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-1140166946897601682006-02-17T09:02:00.000+00:002006-02-17T09:02:00.000+00:00Peter:Wrong time zone.Obvious, but I couldn't resi...Peter:<BR/><BR/>Wrong time zone.<BR/><BR/>Obvious, but I couldn't resist it...<BR/><BR/>Bless you for the sentiment though.Brithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-1140134859959936052006-02-17T00:07:00.000+00:002006-02-17T00:07:00.000+00:00Peter:I've been there -- I spent part of a summer ...Peter:<BR/><BR/>I've been there -- I spent part of a summer visiting a friend at Dartmouth.Hey Skipperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10798930502187234974noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-1140108171305734862006-02-16T16:42:00.000+00:002006-02-16T16:42:00.000+00:00Brit:Per your comments about Europe facing a demog...Brit:<BR/><BR/>Per your comments about Europe facing a demographic crisis.<BR/><BR/>Italy is apparently Exhibit A. However, as it turns out their crisis could be greatly forestalled, if not eliminated entirely, by the simple expedient of increasing the retirement age from <B>50</B> to 60.<BR/><BR/>The problem will have to get worse before enough people take the obvious on board, but there is Hey Skipperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10798930502187234974noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-1140088403553656942006-02-16T11:13:00.000+00:002006-02-16T11:13:00.000+00:00Oroborous:Your comments are reasonable. But I'm a ...Oroborous:<BR/><BR/>Your comments are reasonable. But I'm a little tired of the endlessly repeated "European decline" mantra. <BR/><BR/>People have stopped questioning it, but it needs examining. <BR/><BR/>For a start, it's pure pessimism. The whole 'ageing population' thing for example, shows a lack of imagination. Too many commentors assume that nations won't find ways to adapt to economic or Brithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-1140080477584369372006-02-16T09:01:00.000+00:002006-02-16T09:01:00.000+00:00Peter:My little explosion above - admittedly rathe...Peter:<BR/><BR/>My little explosion above - admittedly rather OTT - wasn't directed at our Cousins as a whole, whom I love dearly, but at certain American bloggers, particularly the more, shall we say, strident commenters on BrosJudd, of whose unpleasant, verging-on-white-supremacist views I've wasted far too much of my recent time reading.Brithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-1140059255504081322006-02-16T03:07:00.000+00:002006-02-16T03:07:00.000+00:00Brit:Of course (and speaking as an experienced Ang...Brit:<BR/><BR/>Of course (and speaking as an experienced Anglophile, and someone who has never had an unpleasant personal experience with a Muslim) the problem isn't in Britain or, for the most part, Europe.<BR/><BR/>The odd knifed to death film director, or Ducth MP living under death threats notwithstanding.<BR/><BR/>All the riots making news are in heavily Muslim countries, where the populace Hey Skipperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10798930502187234974noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-1140035714640773602006-02-15T20:35:00.000+00:002006-02-15T20:35:00.000+00:00A good example was the recent Paris riots [...] ab...<I>A good example was the recent Paris riots [...] about unemployment.</I><BR/><BR/>Yes ?<BR/>And why are French Muslims so underemployed that rioting for WEEKS seems like a good idea ?<BR/><BR/>Is it possible that Muslim unemployment in France is symptomatic of a larger problem ?<BR/><BR/>America has had many race riots in the 20th century, some as recently as the 90s, and none of them were Oroboroushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01710250012500728430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-1139998932106543072006-02-15T10:22:00.000+00:002006-02-15T10:22:00.000+00:00If you never left your house and read only America...If you never left your house and read only American blogs and conservative newspapers, you would soon get the impression that Europe is under threat of intifada from an army of enraged Muslims.<BR/><BR/>I don't know for sure how this poisonous nonsense started, but I can have a good guess:<BR/><BR/>1) American bloggers love analysing and critising Europe, and above all predicting its imminent 'Brithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-1139851875899890682006-02-13T17:31:00.000+00:002006-02-13T17:31:00.000+00:00Quite right. I dislike the supposed contrast that ...Quite right. I dislike the supposed contrast that is referred to, even in the most respectable media outlets, between "Western" culture and Muslims, which appears to reject the notion that one can be both Western and Muslim. It's an over-convenient comparison that is ripe for exploitation by both extremist camps you mention.martpolhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08508497057736355841noreply@blogger.com