-----Original Message-----
>Samael wrote:
Except for those people who have no useful skills, who have no means of
getting money. They will be better off once they recieve training and are
helped into work. 60% extra nothing is still nothing.
From: Michael Lorrey <mike@lorrey.com>
To: extropians@extropy.com <extropians@extropy.com>
Date: 11 December 1998 15:20
Subject: Re: The Education Function
>
>THe funny thing is that the more socialist a country is, the more people
who
>fall off the bottom and stay in the poverty class. Since taxation adds an
>incredible amount to an individual's cost of living, it follows that in a
high
>tax socialist environment, more people will fall below the poverty level
because
>the measured 'market basket' of goods and services is inflated by those
high
>taxes at all levels of production and distribution.
Example (albeit a personal one). My Girlfriend was recently diagnosed as schizophrenic. She spent apporximately 2 years in and out of hospitals and is now on drugs which help most of the time. With help and time she'll be able to get herself back into society and earn a living (which should include paying off the money spent on her by the health service). She had no money and still has none. She will have eventually (once she is better). In a pure capiutalist society she would have starved to death by now.
>Yes there will still be people who fall off the bottom of the system,
people
>become drunks, drug addicts, or suffer accidents without sufficient
insurance,
>or are dependents of people who do so. That, sir, is life.
It is life for you. It is not life for me. And I shall remain in a country where it is not life. And lobby for it to be life everywhere, becasue to do anything else would be to stop caring.
Now, if we could cure
>everyone who has predispositions toward drug and alcohol abuse I think that
>would go a long way toward ending this problem, since most poverty and
crime is
>drug and alcohol related.
Most drug related crime is caused by the regulation of said drugs. This much was learnt from prohibition.
Samael