Text 27588, 95 rader
Skriven 2009-02-17 13:34:09 av Michiel van der Vlist (2:280/5555)
     Kommentar till en text av Robert Bashe (2:2448/44)
Ärende: Maybe, baby...
======================
Hello Robert,

On Monday February 16 2009 16:40, you wrote to me:

 MV>> I get your point, but the snake under the grass is in "most".

 RB> Unfortunately, I don't really think you get my point.

It seems to me that you make the error of assuming the because I disagree with
you, I did not understand you. I understand what you are saying. I nevertheless
disagree.

 RB> I'm no extremist,

You suggesting it would be better for most if ALL taxes were eliminated seemed
pretty extreme to me...

 RB> and am neither for radical capitalism nor radical socialism.

Hmmm... that is not how you come across.....

 RB> There must be some kind of aid for people who are unable, for whatever
 RB> reasons (divorce, unemployment) to survive unaided. But that should
 RB> NOT become a kind of "pan et ludi" as in Roman times, where the
 RB> "plebs" were kept quiet indefinitely with a dole. That's the system we
 RB> presently have, and I'm against it.

I disagree that it is the system that we presently have here.

We have a system that ensures that everyone who needs essential medical care
gets it. Period. If you need a bypass operation, you get it, whether you can
pay for it or not. Compare that to the US. How many times do we not hear of
people who can not get an operation because they can not pay for it?

I really prefer the system I live in.

 MV>> Frankly I do not understand why, if you so abhor the system here,
 MV>> why you did not go back to Texas as soon as you found out about
 MV>> it. Surely it did not take you very long to figure out that taxes
 MV>> are substantially higher in germany than in Texas?

 RB> ;-) At the time I came to Germany, that was not the case. Times
 RB> change.

Not that much. Germany is not all that different from The Netherlands and taxes
have always been high here. Tax on fuel was always in the 60% range ever since
i got my driver's license. Income tax has not significantly changed either
since the 60ties.

 RB> And what do you mean "abhor"? You use very emotional words for
 RB> things that, for me, are simply advantages and disadvantages.

That is not how you come across. Whenever you mount your hobby horse of high
taxes, you sound very emotional.

 RB> Is there NOTHING _you_ dislike about the Netherlands, nothing you
 RB> haven't found better elsewhere?

Of course there are things I dislike. For one, there are too many people. It is
just too damned crowded everywhere. Can't go to the beach on a summer's day
without standing in a traffic jam for hours.

And then there is the whether. Too cold and too wet.

 RB> And if so, is there any reason why you should not open your mouth and
 RB> say so? Is that "treasonous" in the Netherlands?

Not at all, but there is not much point in complaining here is there? I better
save ny breath for when it is election time.

Plus that regarding the whether there is no pint in complaining at all.  N one
can cge it, which maybe is just as well. And OTOH, whil it ts cold and wet, we
have a releatively safe type of whether here. No floods, no forest fires, no
tornados. So maybe it is not all that bad after all.

 RB>>> the population becomes "addicted" to government "handouts" (of
 RB>>> their own money). However, the system does support an army of
 RB>>> bureaucrats and political "friends" who otherwise would have to
 RB>>> look for _productive_ employment. So for _some_ it has it's
 RB>>> advantages.

That goes for everything. Nothing benefits everyone. I do not have a problem
with that.

 MV>> You will have to define "productive employment".

 RB> Anything people are willing to pay for without being forced to do so.

So building roads is not productive?


Cheers, Michiel

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