Faith, Freedom and Free Markets

[wil]

That applied to my post how?

I was inquiring as to the happy taxpayers.

[Snoopy]

Originally Posted by wil

That applied to my post how?

I was inquiring as to the happy taxpayers.

Well I guess I was focussing on the happiness bit rather than the taxes.

s.

[wil]

Namaste Snoop,

Haven't figured out how to post tables...

but page 9 of http://margaux.grandvinum.se/SebTest...les/trends.doc

shows Denmark going from 3.25 to 3.75 1976-2006, on a 1-4 happiness scale, 1 being least happy, 4 being most happy.

While page 2 shows just about the same graph for the US during the same time period. (US with an outlier dot at almost 4.5 in 2006, while Denmarks last survey point was in 2000 and the last 6 years graph conjecture.

I'm no statistician, but I'd say from what I read in the articles the difference between 1-20 is just about statiistically insignificant. And from what I read on the graph, fairly inconclusive even.

[Sancho]

Getting back to the topic of this thread, the sin of usury seems to have been forgotten by, well, everyone who uses banks. Democracy Now! recently interviewed someone about about his analysis of how current economic problems relate to usury.

As for the contrast between libertarianism and libertarian socialism, they are pretty much opposites. For the latter the term anarchism is much more straight forward, and the former I understand to be the philosophy of let the rich be free to do what ever they want with their money --and don't worry about the poor because only the rich are libertarians.

For fans of Jesus, "give unto Caeser what is Caeser's, and unto God what is God's," suggests that he didn't see the need for religion to interfere with worldly government. He did seem to get a bit pissed about money lenders encroaching on the temple however.

IMO, any one who believes in compassion has to be open to some form of socialism. The cold war and our governments' reactions to the 19th century labor movements have demonized socialist thought to such an extent that it is difficult to speak about helping those who need help without being denounced.

What I find interesting about anarchism is the criticisms of capitalism and the status quo generally. We all need to be aware of the clauses involved in the social contract we all signed when we emerged from the womb. Why are our city centres organized around shopping rather than democratic cultural centres where education can be ongoing, people can become informed about current events, have their voices heard, take part in awarness encouraging activities?
Why hasn't the idea of democracy gotten any further than voting?

Oh, right . . . because the Federal Reserve controls the world.

[shawn]

Really IMO it doesn't matter what form the governing of our world takes, provided those in the position of governing are:
1- Benevolent.
2- Competent
3- Compassionate.
If these 3 criteria are met, I don't care if we have a dictatorship.
The reason why we have such a mess today and throughout history is that there are very few who have ever had all 3 qualities in any measure.

All the rest is ephemeral and symptoms.

[Nick_A]

Originally Posted by shawn

Really IMO it doesn't matter what form the governing of our world takes, provided those in the position of governing are:
1- Benevolent.
2- Competent
3- Compassionate.
If these 3 criteria are met, I don't care if we have a dictatorship.
The reason why we have such a mess today and throughout history is that there are very few who have ever had all 3 qualities in any measure.

All the rest is ephemeral and symptoms.

You will like Obama. He is benevolent with your money and quite competent in spending it. With his compassion, he is sure to spend all of it. What else could we want?

[shawn]

You are a real card there Nickers.

[Sancho]

Here's Woody Guthrie's contribution to this thread.

Jesus Christ was a man who traveled through the land

Hard working man and brave

He said to the rich, "Give your goods to the poor."

So they laid Jesus Christ in his grave.

Jesus was a man, a carpenter by hand

His followers true and brave

One dirty little coward called Judas Iscariot

Has laid Jesus Christ in his grave

He went to the sick, he went to the poor,

And he went to the hungry and the lame;

Said that the poor would one day win this world,

And so they laid Jesus Christ in his grave.

He went to the preacher, he went to the sheriff,

Told them all the same;

Sell all of your jewelry and give it to the Poor,

But they laid Jesus Christ in his grave.

When Jesus came to town, the working folks around,

Believed what he did say;

The bankers and the preachers they nailed him on a cross,

And they laid Jesus Christ in his grave.

Poor working people, they follered him around,

Sung and shouted gay;

Cops and the soldiers, they nailed him in the air,

And they nailed Jesus Christ in his grave.

Well the people held their breath when they heard about his death,

And everybody wondered why;

It was the landlord and the soldiers that he hired.

That nailed Jesus Christ in the sky.

When the love of the poor shall one day turn to hate.

When the patience of the workers gives away

"Would be better for you rich if you never had been born"

So they laid Jesus Christ in his grave.

This song was written in New York City

Of rich men, preachers and slaves

Yes, if Jesus was to preach like he preached in Galillee,

They would lay Jesus Christ in his grave.

[nativeastral]

Originally Posted by Snoopy;[SIZE=2

...and...[/SIZE]

"Denmark 'world's happiest nation' "

BBC NEWS | World | Denmark 'world's happiest nation'


s.

blame that on transcending Munch's scream