$640.00 to fill the tanks...

Of course . . .
there is always the
message that capitalism needs to be reigned in lest it go crazy and
crush the weak and weary.

Well, I should think you'd want them taught "the facts of life". The
final sentence above is pretty much an emperically proven fact, is it
not?

Capitalism is ruthlessly fair. It treats everyone the same, regardless
of race, creed, or political affiliation. It is the ultimate
democracy, and its basic rules are immutable.

It does not suffer fools gladly, however. Folks who ignore what is
happening around them get steam-rolled by events, in a capitalist
system.

I'm up against it every day, in my business. Two days ago, a $60
million (that's not a typo) Marriott Hotel opened up less than 5 miles
away -- and our phone stopped ringing. We went from having a
gangbusters August, to being behind last year, in two days.

The fact that this hotel was built entirely with taxpayer's money, by
the City of Coralville, might surprise you. On the other hand, in a
socialist area like the one I live in, this kind of thing happens all
the time. (The University of Iowa has a government-built-and-owned
hotel, the Iowa House. They also have a government-owned-and-operated
daily newspaper, the Daily Iowan, that I used to compete against in my
previous life.)

The local Sheraton -- itself the beneficiary of almost unbelieveable
tax breaks -- filed suit against the City of Coralville, to stop this
obviously illegal undertaking by a local city government. Incredibly,
the case went all the way to the Iowa Supreme Court, and the courts
ruled that there was no law prohibiting an Iowa city from building a
hotel. So, the case was thrown out, and we are now fighting for our
lives against an additional 285 suites (we have 28) in a market that no
independent business felt was necessary to build.

Is this fair? Will the Marriott kill us? Will we survive the next two
years, between them and the new $80 million dollar casino hotel they're
building just south of town? I have no idea -- but I'll keep swinging
for the fences in the meantime.

That's capitalism -- and I don't want my kids teachers sugar-coating
it. All that will do is weaken them for their upcoming battle, in a
field called "life".
--
Jay Honeck
Owner/Innkeeper
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination

Capitalism is ruthlessly fair. It treats everyone the same, regardless
of race, creed, or political affiliation. It is the ultimate
democracy, and its basic rules are immutable.

No, it is not.

Capitalism is sort of mostly fair when it's practiced by equals. But
capitalism makes some powerful and some not. The next generation
inherets this, and at that point it becomes inherently unfair.

Small companies are far more influenced by individuals than large ones.
This allows large ones to get away with more. If they become large
enough to become monopolistic and get away with it, the key has been
thrown out.

Large companies can purchase more votes than small ones, or individuals,
and those votes keep them large and influential, despite any quality
issues with their products. WalMart, with its decrees about RFID tags,
may well be the biggest threat to privacy there is, but it is largely
unstoppable because there is little of equivalent size with sufficient
coherency to fight it.

Capitalism is also about passing costs on to others, who cannot defend
themselves against such a large entity. Dumping waste upstream harms
all those downstream, but those downstream have little recourse against
the capitalists upstream, especially when they are not in the market for
the product in the first place. This is inherently unfair. Outsourcing
is also "capitalism at work", yet has been derided as "unfair", both to
American workers, and to the foreign ecosystem.

But that's the way unrestrained capitalism works.

Some restraints are necessary. The key is which ones, and preventing
unrestrained government from becoming the evil we are trying to avoid
with unrestrained capitalism.

Jose
--
The monkey turns the crank and thinks he's making the music.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

("Emily" wrote)
As someone smarter than many people in the world, I say yes.


Many ...meaning 100?
Many ...meaning 10,000?
Many ...meaning 1,000,000?

Let's assign "many" the value ...650,000,000. g


Montblack
http://www.worldometers.info/

Gonna cruise out of this city
Head down to the sea
Gonna shout out at the ocean
Hey it's me
And I feel like a number
Feel like a number
Feel like a stranger
A stranger in this land
I feel like a number
I'm not a number
I'm not a number
Dammit I'm a man
I said I'm a man

Song: Feel Like a Number
Album: Stranger in Town (1978)
By: Bob Seger

("Jay Honeck" wrote)
Honestly, you have to pass a test to drive a car, but there is no "minimum
requirement" for reproducing. Imagine what a lovely world it could be, if
only some basic skills were required of every human before they had
children?


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenics
In this world, the Mensa Society guys would be gettin' it ...all the time!

"How can I be more 'popular' with the ladies?"
"Develop your spatial relationship problem solving skills, for starters."


Montblack
Hoping those E.Q. points put me over the top - "Hello triple digits."

On Thu, 17 Aug 2006 11:33:32 -0400, "Skylune"
wrote:
15-18 hours!! No wonder you fly. Buy a nice BMW, Audi, or Porsche and you
should be able to halve that.

Used to own a Porsche... Also had the speeding tickets to prove it...
Top ticket was for 154 in a 55 -- apparently he clocked me when I was
slowing down for a curve...

http://grumman581.googlepages.com/1989porsche944-turbo

These days, most of the vehicles that I drive, I don't have to worry
about them scraping bottom on a speed bump... Well, except my sport
bike... I've had it up to 140 and it was still accelerating quite
nicely... Yeah, had to slow up for a curve on US-151 somewhere between
Marion and Monticello, IA...

http://i3.tinypic.com/wco9ll.jpg

"Jay Honeck" wrote

I'm up against it every day, in my business. Two days ago, a $60
million (that's not a typo) Marriott Hotel opened up less than 5 miles
away -- and our phone stopped ringing. We went from having a
gangbusters August, to being behind last year, in two days.

The fact that this hotel was built entirely with taxpayer's money, by
the City of Coralville, might surprise you. On the other hand, in a
socialist area like the one I live in, this kind of thing happens all
the time. (The University of Iowa has a government-built-and-owned
hotel, the Iowa House. They also have a government-owned-and-operated
daily newspaper, the Daily Iowan, that I used to compete against in my
previous life.)

You know, after reading your post an hour or so ago, I have gotten more and
more ****ed-off. Since when does a government have the right to tinker in
direct competition with the private sector?

You need to get together with the Sheraton owners, and do some lobbying to
get some kind of new law passed, or a new damages suite, or forcing the
issue to the highest court, or something.

I will be among the first to contribute to a legal defense fund, for *that*
cause !!!

Damn, just damn !!!
--
Jim in NC

Jay Honeck wrote:


Childhood immunizations. There are no children turned away without
immunization anywhere in America. There *are*, however, millions of
criminally stupid parents who don't GET their children immunized.


Explain that to the parents whose kids became
paralyzed/retarted/infected/died as a direct result of vaccines. I
know, the probability of that happening is low, but if it happens to
YOUR kid, it doesn't matter what that mathematical probability is. The
ones who actively choose not to immunize have taken steps to become
educated about the risks and benefits of vaccines than the vast
majority who blindly follow what the doc says. Try explaining to a
widow whose husband died in a small plane crash why everyone who
doesn't fly are criminally stupid, because flying is a vey safe
activity. As you know, flying is a calculated risk and a choice. You
can't force that upon everyone just because you and the FAA think it is
safe.

On 2006-08-16, Jay Honeck wrote:
Imagine! $640 to go fly! This *might* explain why there are only 9
registered Cherokee 235s in all of Britain, no?

What's worse is the airlines are claiming that they are subsidising GA
through the fees they pay to the CAA - and conveniently leaving the fuel
taxes out of the calculations. Of course, fuel for airlines is tax free.
If you have a plane that runs on Jet-A (for example, the new Diamond
DA-40 or Twin Star), you have to pay VAT on jet fuel which the airlines
don't. (However, Jet-A is still very cheap - about 1/3rd of the cost of
avgas even with VAT added)

--
Yes, the Reply-To email address is valid.
Oolite-Linux: an Elite tribute: http://oolite-linux.berlios.de

On 2006-08-16, David Wright wrote:
It takes 5 hours to travel from London to Edinburgh by train, at a cost of
around £80 ($160).

They've slowed down that much? When I worked for British Rail, London
King's Cross to Edinburgh took 3hr 59 mins by InterCity 225

Luton (about 30 miles out of London) to Edinburgh with low cost carrier
easyJet.com for around £20 ($40) in just under 50 minutes.

Plus 2 hours check in time at the departure airport, and a further 45
minutes to get to the centre of Edinburgh, don't forget :-)

--
Yes, the Reply-To email address is valid.
Oolite-Linux: an Elite tribute: http://oolite-linux.berlios.de

Jay Honeck wrote:

Honestly, you have to pass a test to drive a car, but there is no
"minimum requirement" for reproducing. Imagine what a lovely world it
could be, if only some basic skills were required of every human before
they had children?

Jay, I thought you didn't like socialism or social engineering? :-)

Matt