From: Tim Daneliuk Subject: Re: [OT]: $1-a-day wages >Scott Stephens wrote: > >> The US worships Mamon; the God of greed. I am continualy amazed Our Lord >> Greenspan is able to show such self control with the balls of the beast - > >No, the US "worships" the priciple of self-determination: that you have >a right to your time, your body, and your work product. This is why vulnerable minorities were/are discriminated against? Is the principle worshiped in spirit and truth, or worn like a fig leaf - a cultural delusion? >Pretty much every material possession you enjoy is because someone was >"greedy" and wanted to make a profit. Throughout the 10,000 or so years >of recorded human history it was only the onset of capital markets and >private enterprise that brought a meaningful middle-class into being. To what extent does our greed drive our creativity, and to what extent does our greed motivate us to bust the caps of our competitors in the race? >What you say is mostly nonsense. A *few* people at Enron in collusion with >a *single* Andersen partner managed to crater Enron and fleece the investors. All upper management? No, they were shredding documents in England too. And I'm sorry but anyone who says, "Fee ver jus vollowing orderz" has reduced themselves from the status of individual, autonomous entity, to that of a mere tool, a little piece of a greater organism. I've watched some of the hearings, Andersen wanted to set one person up as the scapegoat, but congress to its credit, wouldn't have it. >This had the second-order effect of destroying Andersen, one of the most prestigious >accounting firms of all time, They are three time losers. They enabled a couple other corporation to screw up big time too (Waste Management?). A billion stolen here and there adds up. They can rot in hell for all I care (the corporate entity). I just wish there was a time and date crowds of their victims could gather and cheer as the switch gets thrown! >In any case, this did not happen with the collusion of the President, >the Congress, the Supreme Court, the Fed or any of the rest of the government >bunch. I can't believe the SEC didn't know what was going on! The IRS with those offshore entities! You put your money in one of those banks! They call it tax evasion. As Orwell said, "Some animals are more equal than others". >> Make no mistake, the greedy evil-doers want high energy prices and high >> profits. Once upon a time the earths atmosphere had no oxygen. We are doing >No, the supply/demand curve for petroleum products dictates the prices we >now have. The government gets the price it wants. Our military insures it. The human race lives on petroleum, it is our blood. > The demand remains fairly constant (high) and the blithering idiots >in government, influenced by even bigger blithering idiots in the "environmental >movement" (aka the neo-Marxist, anti-capitalist, anti-freedom, anti-human movement) Do you really believe the worlds governments that go to war over oil, the lifes blood of mankind, would allow a bunch of usefull idiots to throttle economies without good cause? Maybe we do need to conserve and share. What we don't need is to be treated like children, which only exacerbates the hubris of politicians. The more politicians and media see and treat the public as ignorant, irresponsible children, the more oppressed we will be. >But no, we get to have US energy policy >dictated by a bunch of city-dwelling, sandal-wearing morons whose closest contact >with nature is watching 'Bambi' on the Disney Channel and who think Moose, Elk, >and Deer are 'cute'. If the tree huggers really do have that kind of influence, the worlds governments are really stupid. Smart enough to manage massive military organizations, design microchips, nuclear devices, but too stupid to ignore sandal-wearing morons. Sorry, I can't believe it. Maybe its true. >As far as I know, Exxon, Shell, BP, and the rest have not yet resorted >to sticking guns in our ears. You are perfectly free to not buy petroleum >products if you think they are "overpriced." We are also free not to breath air or drink water and die. Scott -- http://www.piclist.com hint: To leave the PICList mailto:piclist-unsubscribe-request@mitvma.mit.edu