Ed said:
>This is an idea that goes way back to Major Douglas and the original social
>credit. I don't think it can happen that way. The reason that the poor
>have no money is that they are not on anyone's payroll. To get on a
payroll
>people have to produce something of marketable value. To enable them to do
>that, you need investment.* Once you have investment and payrolls, savings
>are possible and so is additional investment. Simply giving people money
to
>chase nonexistent goods in the hope that those goods will become existent
is
>extremely risky and potentially highly inflationary.
>>>>>
>
>Well said. The * is mine and leads me to say that there is another
>component needed here also. You also need individuals able to respond to
>changing skill demands. For this you need good education, for this you need
>good early socialisation and for this we need a major redistribution of
>educational resources away from the university end and towards the
>playschools/ kindergarten end. I don't know about Canada, but in this
>country and in America, this is just beginning to happen (privately and
>governmentally) but it will probably take at least two or three generations
>for this to become well and truly implanted in the social culture.
>
>Keith
Thomas:
Well, you and Ed are trying very hard to get me back in the box and I'm
trying to present some options that are outside the conventional wisdom.
I've discussed my views on investment - Ronald Regans supply side economics,
if you build it they will come - I don't buy it. I discussed in my essay
the concept that we are sacrificing our young through a lengthy
indoctrination process through education that tries to prepare them to live
in the box. I resist that, though of course education has many pleasures,
one of which is applying knowledge. I think we ought to be training
children to be lovers of life, to dance and sing and socialize and interact
with nature and animals. I think we should be teaching them how to smile
and giggle. I took my two girls across Canada this summer, every time they
wanted a treat, we stopped, every time there was a lake that looked
inviting, we stopped, every tourist attraction that was free or reasonable,
we stopped. Everyday we read some books, talked about life, about dating,
about work. We visited relatives and friends and made new friends along the
road. We had a dog and a cat along, we enjoyed our animals, on the farm, we
rode horses. Frankly, if I had the money I would never get off the road and
it wouldn't take much, I don't travel first class.
What did my girls learn? We'll they learned about the size of our country,
they learned about heat and mosquitoes, they saw how other families lived,
they watched their father relaxed with his friends, they saw how other kids
their age lived and how those families operated, how the household rules of
different houses operated. They got to see the difference between other
dads and their dad and I got to hear almost daily, "You're the best dad in
the world dad." As for me, I got to demostrate to them through stories of
where I worked, what I did, my life and the life of my family. I stopped at
historical signs and we read them together and I told them stories about my
countries history. I tried my best to counter in the box thinking of school
systems with life. I taught them that they could stay by themselves while I
went somewhere for an hour, that they could talk to strangers and that yes
life can be dangerous but that they could cope.
So you see, I don't think you and Ed can get me back in the box - I don't
belong there, never did, never want too. However, each to their own.
Respectfully,
Thomas Lunde
>
>P.S. I hope FWers will forgive me when I sometimes accidentally use my
>commercial signature. I'm not trying to advertise on the fly.
>
>
>
>_______________________________________________________________________
>
>Keith Hudson,6 Upper Camden Place, Bath BA1 5HX, England
>Tel:01225 312622/444881; Fax:01225 447727; E-mail:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>________________________________________________________________________
