Bonhomme
Master Don Juan
Copy & paste it
You can just copy & paste it to a reply in the other thread, mandoremay.
Actually, your post is not so off-topic.
In spite of all I've written here, I actually think a true libertarian system -- in which the only laws relate to violation of other people's rights (including a clean environment) -- would be preferable to a half-assed free-market social democracy. There are a hell of a lot of licensing laws and such (which relate to your plumbing comments mandoremay) that keep people down because they don't have a bloody piece of paper.
The way it is now, people often have no choice but to work for the man for sh1tty wages, not having nearly as many options as they could have, because the laws are written on the assumption they would be incompetent and/or unethical.
For example, I can install an electrical service just as well as any licensed electrician, having done so numerous times (sometimes clandestinely, with secondhand equipment to make it look like a 10 year old installation), but don't have the sheet of paper to do it officially.
Of course, the licensed electrician might gripe about having put in all that work, but the license could still offer more legal protection and recourse against shoddy work for the customer, so they would still derive a benefit from their certification. But if I want a job done and the job's done correctly, I don't care if a trained monkey does it.
Another ironic thing about communist countries is that the leaders of communist countries tend to be among the very richest world leaders. Castro and the Chinese honcho are right up there in the top 5. So much for equality...
You can just copy & paste it to a reply in the other thread, mandoremay.
Actually, your post is not so off-topic.
In spite of all I've written here, I actually think a true libertarian system -- in which the only laws relate to violation of other people's rights (including a clean environment) -- would be preferable to a half-assed free-market social democracy. There are a hell of a lot of licensing laws and such (which relate to your plumbing comments mandoremay) that keep people down because they don't have a bloody piece of paper.
The way it is now, people often have no choice but to work for the man for sh1tty wages, not having nearly as many options as they could have, because the laws are written on the assumption they would be incompetent and/or unethical.
For example, I can install an electrical service just as well as any licensed electrician, having done so numerous times (sometimes clandestinely, with secondhand equipment to make it look like a 10 year old installation), but don't have the sheet of paper to do it officially.
Of course, the licensed electrician might gripe about having put in all that work, but the license could still offer more legal protection and recourse against shoddy work for the customer, so they would still derive a benefit from their certification. But if I want a job done and the job's done correctly, I don't care if a trained monkey does it.
Another ironic thing about communist countries is that the leaders of communist countries tend to be among the very richest world leaders. Castro and the Chinese honcho are right up there in the top 5. So much for equality...