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Iron Chancellor
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Oh, dear, the Luxemburger army, second only to the militaristic Swiss and imperialistic Lichtensteiners. It's time I activated our defense pact with Andorra and the Vatican City. Now, no one can stop us.
Seriously, though, banking was what I thought. Is there a grand duke of Luxemburg?
I'm glad I'm a careless bastard of a Presbyterian, which allows me to stiff the poor and trample widows and orphans, despite the fact that, you know, I give to charity and do community service. I love demonizing Communist propaganda, don't you?
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Iron Chancellor
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PPP means Purchasing Power Parity, it's the theory that states everything costs the same in different currencies, i.e. if a Big Mac costs one pound in Britain and two dollars in the US, the exchange rate is fixed at 1:2.
By the way, I recommend you read some O'Rourke, specifically Eat the Rich, but also All the Trouble in the World. Great reads, and also quite enlightening as to the effects of centralized planning and socialism on both people and the environment.
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Iron Chancellor
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Excuse me, what I meant to write was that everything has a single value that varies in different currency amounts, but should fundamentally remain at one value, and that the exchange rates should reflect that.
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Iron Chancellor
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I like how you can characterize greed as protestant and get away wit hit, but imagine using the phrase "crazy as a Muslim" or "thrifty like a Jew"; not that I condone the use of any of them, but THINK before you use a term that makes a gross generalization of peoples.
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Iron Chancellor
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But, of course, I am a capitalist, and so am a filthy bloodsucking tyrant, just like all of my compatriots; right, DuncanK?
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Iron Chancellor
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I hate to get into a theological discussion, and will not, but while Protestantism does put emphasis on individual faith primarily and good deeds secondly, however, I haven't heard you say anything about the Red Cross or Salvation Army, to name the most well known, groups founded by Protestants to help those in poverty.
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Velociryx
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of Candle'Bre
Apr 1999
time: 05:25
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Yes, Americans tend to be highly individualistic. There's a streak that runs a mile deep, and I believe that to be an exceedingly good thing.
There is also a great deal of generosity in this nation. The groups mentioned above are but a handful of a truly *staggering* number of outreach groups founded by those evil Protestants to help those less fortunate.
To deny this is to turn a blind eye to the truth.
The Protestant ethic you complain about runs counter to your beliefs. You would rather see human beings behave more like bees or ants. Communal in their nature.
The problem with this approach is that greed cannot be suppressed. People are....greedy. They WANT stuff.
They want their work to count for something, and they want their effort to be rewarded.
Communism reduces everybody to the lowest common denominator, which works very much against the notion of individual hard work leading to individual gain.
That is, at the core of it, why it has failed so spectacularly in the past, and why it will continue to fail if attempted again.
Well, that, plus the fact that people have natural ambition, and a communist utopia (if one could ever exist) would quickly fall prey to the power of ambitious men.
-=Vel=-
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Velociryx
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of Candle'Bre
Apr 1999
time: 05:25
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Americans believe in *work.*
Effort and action.
Americans believe that the work of an individual should MEAN something, and that an individual who is willing to apply himself can, through work (both hard AND smart work) succeed, excel, and advance himself.
Some will work harder or smarter, and advance themselves further than others. A side effect of this is "classism" as you put it. Because different efforts equal different results, there will be disparities. The system, however, is designed with numerous ways to level the playing field. If you choose to ignore them, or not take advantage of them, that is your individual choice.
-=Vel=-
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DuncanK
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Evil Empire
Dec 2002
time: 21:25
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quote:
Originally posted by Velociryx
Americans believe in *work.*
Effort and action.
Americans believe that the work of an individual should MEAN something, and that an individual who is willing to apply himself can, through work (both hard AND smart work) succeed, excel, and advance himself.
Some will work harder or smarter, and advance themselves further than others. A side effect of this is "classism" as you put it. Because different efforts equal different results, there will be disparities. The system, however, is designed with numerous ways to level the playing field. If you choose to ignore them, or not take advantage of them, that is your individual choice.
-=Vel=- |
Of course we agree that people should be able to keep what they work for. People should not be elevated to a high class on the backs of hard working people simply because of who their parents are.
We've been around and around this so many times, I say we let this thread go to archive unless someone has a new point.
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13-02-2003 10:20
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