On Wed, 5 Jun 2002, Russell McMahon wrote:

> > > > I have to admit I don't follow the local police blotter reports from
> > > > Finland, so I don't know what the average speeding ticket is there.  I
> do
> > >
> > > Hehe... It's based on your income. His ticket was over US $100K.
> >
> > That would piss me right off...
>
> It works !!!
> That is indeed the object of the fine.
> A "normal" fine, which has just that affect on Joe Average, would fail to
> have any great affect on a millionaire.

I disagree.  I work with and know several pretty wealthy people...  in
general, they don't have any greater tendency to violate the law than I
do.  They could indeed afford to do so, up to a point.  See, in the US (or
at least in every state I've lived in) if you get caught speeding too many
times, you lose your license., If you're caught driving without a license,
you are likely to end up in jail, which I think you would agree is just a
sbig a deal to the average millionaire as, say, Joe Six-Pack -- if not
more.

You seem to make the assumption, which I note is much mnore common among
those with socialist leanings, that the rich are more likely to ignore
laws.  I have found the opposite to be true.

> > if I commit the same offense as Joe
> > Schmoe a block away, I should expect to pay the same penalty.  Some brands
> > of "social justice" don't make any sense to me...  one more reason I'm not
> > looking to emigrate to some "worker's paradise".


> Let's see if I can make sense of this one for you.

<long pedantic rambling snipped...>

> Seriously, why is this NOT fair? What would be a fair way of discouraging
> millionaires from speeding? Assuming that prevention of breaking of social
> contract is a reasonable act (and some think it's not), should millionaires
> be allowed to speed more than average people?

No, but neither should they be penalized more simply because they have
more money.  Now instead of penalizing the poor with substandard working
conditions, you're penalizing the rich with a far greater penalty for the
same crime.

By your standards, if a rich person gets life in prison for murder, a poor
unemployed moron on the dole should be out in a week.

You can't bait me into class envy, I've worked my way up (and down, and
back up) through several of them and still haven't managed to work up a
good self-righteous attitude about either end of the spectrum.

Dale

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