Sen. Shirley Turner's LTE in WSJ, April 14, 2005 242

On Sat, 15 Apr 2005, zach

Fine, but I'm looking at the total economy and not just a part. If you extrapolate the movement of jobs from the US to elsewhere and we have constant (or rising population, say, 1% per year), then how are people to be supported on a diminishing source of funds?

My simplistic example: ten people on an island. King and nine underling-serf-peasants. The king doesn't work, but pays one gold piece to each of the serfs to raise food and services for the king and his castle. Also, the king charges one gold piece for rent (serfs don't own the land they live and farm on). Then the king finds some other island where the people go ape over gold pieces and they farm all of the kings food for half gold piece per person and the king lays off the nine underlings on his island (but the rent is still one gold piece per guy for rent). What does the king do? What do the nine laid off serfs do? You may elaborate on both the complexity, buttumptions, and options. I am seriously interested; but I'd like your opinion on the morals and ethics of the power of the kings decision-making and the power (if any) of the serfs.

Ahhhhhh...now this is a tweak on "what must be" according to "those who rule" (and, why they rule). Lets come back to this question, later. OK?

I have not decided, for myself, whether this sentence is either accurate or fair. Part of my answer would depend on HOW money flows from one to the other. But, let me ask you a related question: Do you think the confiscation of money, through trusts, monopolies, price-fixing, and all manner of other anti-compebreastive practices BY the private sector the better? And, how about private sector coniving to get funding from the govt (eg. defense industries, Haliburton, etc)? Do you think that's all quite fair and good?

Since they are all (almost? I have not decided) a bunch of crooks, I resist (unless I 'cave in' to an emotional weakness).

I do. Same for organized sports, which

I don't like them, either.

Many people believe it is worth their

Hah! I have a notion its mostly herd instinct. For the price of one or two rock concert tickets that the "kids" all go ape over, I buy up a whole bunch of books at book sales and get tons of useful knowledge and entertainment and satisfaction for my intellectual curiosity (viz. all my references to book breastles-authors and peeks at the content, message, etc that I've been making all these years).