Quote:
|
Is Jesus Christ in favour or against a purely capitalist economic model?
|
I dunno about the big guy , but I wonder if I am. Unencumbered flow of capital is one of the sides of libertarianism that I appreciate - to a point.
Quote:
Well, there is a bit of math I did the other week.
Canada as a whole spends 43% of their GDP on health care and other government services.
The USA as a whole spends 43.44% of their GDP on health care and other government services.
|
Well now that is interesting. What were your figures. From the CIA fact book 2003:
Source:
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/...s/ca.html#Econ
US GDP 10.9 Trillion
US Expenditures 2.1 Trillion (<20%)
CDN GDP .96 Trillion
CDN Expenditures .34 Trillion (>30%)
Quote:
|
This makes the person you take the money away from less hurt (and hence, less upset), and maximizes the amount the people who receive the money are happy about it
|
Agreed but does that make it moral? If you take this line of reasoning to it's ludicrous end, is it not the question; "Do you kill one person to save 20?" Tho' I understand that if you do not accept the concept of property, the moral question is not as difficult.
Quote:
Quote: I think the fundamental problem with our system of government is that it's primary function is to get re-elected.
And that is the primary point of our system of government.
It's primary goal is to generate the greatest benefit for the greatest number. With the caviet that it isn't allowed to cause extreme harm, other than extremely rarely.
|
Yes but that's not what I mean. You are speaking of the role of a democratic government. I am speaking of the motives of those specific people and the body corporate that makes up the government. THe cynical side of me thinks that they are motivated not to maximize the good of their electorate but simply to get re-elected - as an end to itself. Or more specifically to increase their personal wealth and influence.
Quote:
|
If one person can exert enough power to prevent another from having food, health, shelter or safety, they have the ability to enslave that person.
|
Amen! Spoken like a true libertarian.
But your belief about property is interesting. Many libertarians belief that the right to property is itself a hiderance to liberty. However, my first thought to you is: If you don't own property how to you guarantee the ability to benefit from it. Which is to say, if I don't own the car in my driveway, what is to stop someone else from taking it?
Quote:
|
The government may have pushed the point of social safety net 'too far'. But, the only thing that the government spends large amounts of money on that isn't a direct 'Food, health, shelter, safety' member is education and transportation. Cheap high quality education has serious benefits, and transportation, being an important natural monopoly, is a pretty obvious thing to place in the government sphere.
|
Agree with the benefits but not with the word "only" Where do you put olympics, cbc, golf courses, etc. I'm not saying that some of these things don't have value, but that the gov't spends beyond what is necessary.
Quote:
|
Convincing people to solve the difficult 'price' problem (for nearly all goods), in exchange for luxuries, is a good idea.
|
Not sure I understand that.