A short journey into the debacle that is the current UK government

[sear]

£1000 shoes

Thousand pound shoes, like a deep sea diver? Sorry, 'sall I got.

"The art of political campaigning is to get money from the rich, & votes from the poor, in the promise that you will defend one from the other." actor Billy Connolly

Not sure what would cause distrust between wealthy candidates and middle-class voters.
Envy alone might explain it. But I wonder if it's merely that voters don't trust a wealthy PM will help bring down the cost of a liter of milk if the $PM's milk is procured by the butler's junior assistant.

I acknowledge, the planet does seem to have a substantial leadership vacuum at the moment. I hope this guy is the best ever.

 

[mark mywords]

Not sure what would cause distrust between wealthy candidates and middle-class voters.

We Brits tend to have a healthy distrust of wealth - very few wealthy people became wealthy other than by exploiting the poor

 

[sear]

I'd want to review the $money / economic flow-chart before I signed off on that. I realize of course Bill Gates probably could have slashed the price of Microsoft Windows in half, and still been a $multi-$Billionaire. But I also believe some gain wealth and benefit the public simultaneously. I can't guess at the bell-curve, or even where the central tendency lies.

 

[mark mywords]

also believe some gain wealth and benefit the public simultaneously

People like Fleming the man who invented/discovered penicillin and didnt patent it enabling it to be made cheaply recognising that its benefit to humanity was more important than his personal wealth?

Or Banting, Collip and Best who sold the patent for insulin for $1

Salk didnt patent the polio vaccine

John Walker invented the friction match - didnt patent it

Tim Berners-Lee who invented the World Wide Web - didnt patent it

 

[sear]

Sorites Paradox.
Charging $zero is OK? Fine. And
charging $one $dollar is OK? But it's on the $charge spectrum. Bill Gates becoming a $multi-$Billionaire, also on that same $charge spectrum. Where do we draw the line? Yachts up to 20 meters is OK, but longer than that, and the guy's a dirt-ball?

I'm not trying to jam a metaphorical finger in the eye. But where should we draw the line? How many $dollars is it OK to make on a life-saving patent, before it crosses the line?

 

[mark mywords]

How many $dollars is it OK to make on a life-saving patent, before it crosses the line?

Charging $1 is really just a case of wanting recognition for your work.
i dont expect people to go unrewarded for their work, their work has a value and that value should be recognised

But what some companies charge for patented goods is well beyond "reasonable reward"

​

 

[sear]

I know.
But it still boils down to: how big a yacht do they deserve? I ask the question without having a ready answer. A formula? If a top research scientist spends two years on it, is $20 $million about right? $10 $Million per year?

 

[mark mywords]

I wonder how much Hedy Lamarr made out her work in inventing the technology that makes cells phones and wifi possible

 

[sear]

I don't think it's 'cause I'm jaded, just incompetent to the task. I occasionally find unusual elements in individual celebrity history. George Takei, Star Trek's Sulu, was interned with the U.S. Japanese during WWII. Sex therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer was a combat sniper. There were spies, inventors, etc., all novel quirks of history, but reduced to trivia in the fast-paced churn of 3rd millennium culture.

 

[titan]

At least picking a PM has calmed things down a bit. That's not the end of it. But it's progress.

 

[mark mywords]

on a side note our government will officially stand down at midnight after having not sat for 5 months and having only sat twice since the last election.

More elections before the new year apparently

 

[sear]

on a side note our government will officially stand down at midnight after having not sat for 5 months and having only sat twice since the last election.
More elections before the new year apparently

?
Suspending parliament until new parliamentary elections can be held? To cull out the riff-raff? Before the new PM begins kickin' arse? Things can't possibly be this weird for Martians. [meaning, I imagine there's a good reason for whatever will happen, at this point it's not quite obvious to me]

 

[mark mywords]

Suspending parliament until new parliamentary elections can be held?

Sorry my fault it is our (northern Ireland) government which is being stood down not the UK one.
Think of it like the state legislature and the federal government, the state legislature is being dissolved but the federal government is still functioning

We have a bizarre compulsory coalition if one party doesnt take up their seats then none of the parties can take up their seats.
Currently the DUP is refusing to take up their seats (in the past other parties have refused but this time its the DUP) so there has been no functioning government since the last election which was in May this year

 

[sear]

It's a new millennium. Seems like there ought to be a better way. Then I recall Fritz Lang's Metropolis.

We have no option other then to be bitterly optimistic. Schroeder

 

[mark mywords]

It's a new millennium. Seems like there ought to be a better way

yes its a ridiculous system designed in such a way as to ensure that no party has power to bring in laws which would disadvantage supporters of any other party.
Since it was first formed in 1998 it has been in suspension for a total of over 8 years and since 2017 has only functioned for 2 years

 

[sear]

yes its a ridiculous system designed in such a way as to ensure that no party has power to bring in laws which would disadvantage supporters of any other party.
Since it was first formed in 1998 it has been in suspension for a total of over 8 years and since 2017 has only functioned for 2 years

By standard of the U.S. Republican party as close to divine perfection as humanly possible. To be fair, it is a political axiom in the U.S.: that government governs best that governs least. BUT !!
The GOP seems to think:
better still if the government governs not at all, unless it's usurping human rights, like same sex marriage, women's right of choice, or citizens right to self-medicate. Drug War! rah rah !

 

[mark mywords]

that government governs best that governs least. BUT

yeah thats great except the roads dont get repaired, hospitals dont get funded, teachers, police prison staff dont get pay rises in fact none of the things that government quietly does which no one notices gets done - and when it doesnt get done people notice!

 

[sear]

yeah thats great except the roads dont get repaired, hospitals dont get funded, teachers, police prison staff dont get pay rises in fact none of the things that government quietly does which no one notices gets done - and when it doesnt get done people notice!

Precisely.
It's the political philosophy that's next-door neighbor to anarchy. There's government, but it doesn't do anything.

I'm a political conservative. Conservatives favor tried & true tradition. The United States Constitution a primary example. I don't advocate roadway potholes.
What I oppose is government used to impose on adults. "Liberty" is the principle, thus "Libertarian". "Freedom" may mean do as you wish. Liberty means do as you wish, provided doing so does not infringe or usurp the Liberty of another.
That boils down to the Holy Bible's Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Government should protect citizens from force and fraud, and otherwise leave us alone.
We're a long way from there, and seem to drifting away from that goal rather than progressing toward it.

 

[mark mywords]

Government should protect citizens from force and fraud, and otherwise leave us alone.

Europeans and Americans have very different ideas about the role of a government!
Most Europeans think that there are some things too important to leave to a profit driven corporation (hospitals, jails, roads and rail) a smaller number (which includes me) would have water , gas and electrical supply on that list as well

 

[sear]

Hypothetical a: The American approach: lower tax burden, but higher out of pocket costs.

Hypothetical b: The European approach: higher tax burden, but lower out of pocket costs.
In BOTH cases precisely the same in all respects, right down to the colour of the adhesive bandages applied in hospital.

In that virtually impossible case it would seem to me to be immaterial which of the two systems is applied.
Problem is those that need no medical care may feel they'd be better off paying lower tax rate, therefore having more disposable income. "The devil's in the details."

A system might be optimized for an individual. But for a population of millions?
Fortunately I don't get worked up about it. The Serenity Prayer is good enough for me. But I can't deny the power of collective bargaining. I occasionally read news reports of medical patients paying out of pocket being charged far more than patients receiving identical treatment paid by insurance.