RM> > They always used to say that young people were Liberals and,
  > > as they got older, turned into Conservatives..

MP>The ones I have kept "in touch" with (on FB) did not turn conservative.  They
  >re mostly "left" of "Liberal" and still very much are.  

Really.. Often once they get out there and start making money, and trying
to make enough to have a good life, they realize that the less socialist
systems give a lot more room for advancement. The idea of treating
everyone the same no matter how bad they are also treats those who are
exceptional worse than they deserve due to Union Contracts and such.

RM> > It's been said (arguably) that Communism is the best form of government
  > > but the problem is it relies on total honesty for it to work properly
  > > so, knowing humans, it's never going to work.
  > > Pretty much all communist countries have a VERY weathy small upper
  > > class and a very poor everyone else in a system where everyone is
  > > supposed to, in theory, share everything equally.

MP>Communism can work if it is voluntary, i.e. one joins a commune and one can l
  >e if one doesn't like it.  As a form of government, it can never really work
  >ause it is compulsary and many folks won't like receiving the same reward for
  >rd work while watching others that are rewarded for doing just the bare minim

In a True communist setup, people are evaluated at a very young age
and trained to do a job they are naturally going to be talented at.
Everyone is expected to do a fair day's work and all are given the
same living conditions regardless of their actual job, but that's the
fantasy. Someone has to be in charge of things and they always set
themselves up (and their friends and families) as an upper class, and
it always seems to be a very greedy class and you end up with 75%
of the money going to 2% of the people..

I mean, look at Putin.. He was just an upper level KGB soldier
when he took over as president and today he is worth as much
as $200 Billion, depending on source. (Some say $70 Billion)

MP>The only way that communism can work as a government choice is if that govern
  >t is also authoritarian and "takes care of" desenters like the USSR, China, a
  >North Korea did/do.

Yes, there has to be some control to avoid that laziness as a plus
situation I mentioned.

RM> > But, that said, extremes are never good. Being too far on the
  > > Capitalistic side is abusive to a lot of the population as well.
  > > That's how all those nasty unions came about..     B)

MP>IMHO, this is not a problem with capitalism, per se.  It is a problem with th
  >overnment not properly regulating things.  Overregulation is bad, but so is t
  >little...

I was thinking back before unions existed where people running companies
paid workers so little they could barely afford to eat but the owners
were getting wealthy from their labour. Unions came in to correct that
situation, but in some cases they have gone too far now too..

I think things are not too bad when you have some controls like minimum
wage levels, maximum hours to work and safety standards, but I'm still
a proponent of being able to get ahead faster is you are smarter or
a harder worker. Over the years I benefitted more from employers
breaking the union contract for me than any good the union ever did
for me. But I saw how the union was really great for some who were
lazy, incompetent, or absent a lot and such. I watched it take almost
3 years to get rid of one worker who was missing over 100 days of work
a year due to drinking problems..

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 * SLMR Rob  * Animal rights week  -  Take a Beaver to lunch
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