Scaramouche wrote:Scaramouche wrote:
I just don't see the government as very relevant given that we pay corporations for everything anyway, and most infrastructure can be handled by those corporations.
Not that I
like that idea, a world governed by market forces and supply/demand. I just think it makes a lot more sense, in terms of efficiency, than what we have now.
I'm not convinced it would benefit too much, actually. Don't forget what we've seen recently in the credit crisis about the failure of the capitalist systems to regulate themselves or behave in a sensible manner.
There are certain activities that I do not believe could, or should, be totally privatised. (Then again I live in the UK, so in some ways it's a moot point)
I can give you a few good examples of this from the UK of why they shouldn't.
1. Public transport
Public transport in the UK is (as all other UK'ers here can bear witness) mostly a joke. The estate I live on is 20 minutes walk from the centre of town, 40 from the nearest decent supermarket and about 25 from the local hospital. Now my estate has quite an array of older people on it. Up until a few years ago there were no regular bus routes; wasn't deemed financially viable. Then the local council stepped in and contributed towards a bus company contract. Now there is a regular bus, and it is frequently full. But without local government intervention it would not be present.
2. National Health Service
Yes, before any of the flame wars start, the NHS is not the best service in the world. But it is free to any who need it. It is paid directly out of pay packets via a tax and I know that if I need medical attention I will receive it and not have to pay for the privilege after. Of course, private care is available, but reducing the option to private only would exclude a lot of people who do need medical attention and would not be able to afford it.
3. British Rail
British Rail used to exist. And while it was derided for being sometimes late and had naff sandwiches in their buffet cars, it worked.
Now the country has been divided up into 15 or so train operators, each with their own rules. Some rules are consistent, some are not. For example, I live on the London-Brighton train route, of which two different companies provide train service - First Capital Connect (which does Brighton to London and on to Luton) and Southern (which does the area either side of the London-Brighton line, such as Worthing, Hastings, Southampton etc)
And despite running on the same lines, sometimes one operator's trains will be delayed where the other's won't, plus FCC sometimes issue "FCC only" tickets which aren't accepted on Southern trains despite travelling the same part of the route but are fractionally cheaper.
And just to top it off you have Virgin Trains managed by Richard Branson and co that has different rules again about the kinds of discount tickets they'll accept. Now, I have travelled various parts of the country but it's a nightmare trying to work out what to do with the train system.
Additionally, London has its own magical system now, the Oyster card, that lets you swipe yourself in and out on journeys with pre-paid credit (and an RFID tracking tag) that isn't available anywhere else in the country.
Just... gah. Privatising the railway was IMO one of the worst acts of the previous government.
In short, I'm all for nationalising certain industries and in favour of
a government, just not the current incarnation of government. (Without getting into the debate, I tend to side with the 'old' Labour - up the workers! etc. - but I can't bring myself to vote for the current government next time. I'm voting for Cameron and his cronies not because they're best equipped to run the country, they're just likely to cause the least damage.)
), I'm decently sure that they would have no problems being called "German".
), but I would more follow stephaielikes in stating that it's still only a small percentage of the immigrants who are responsible for this shit and that most are good, contributing members of our society. I will recall to everyone that we had something named the "Wirtschaftswunder" (economy miracle) in the decades after WWII, where Germany rebuilt and blossomed, and this was mainly due to large numbers of imported immigrant labor, mostly Turkish.
, in the business of keeping the little Platypus in business
