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Another Dark Little Corner
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Started this before change to "New Blogger", as backup in case of trouble with digiphoto blog "In a Small Dark Room", or rants & links blog "Hello Cruel World" . Useful - at one stage Dark Room was there, but like the astrophysical Dark Matter, we could't see it ... better now, but kept Just In Case.
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 Systema Naturae 2000 
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There is nothing. There is no God and no universe, there is only empty space, and in it a lost and homeless and wandering and companionless and indestructible Thought. And I am that thought. And God, and the Universe, and Time, and Life, and Death, and Joy and Sorrow and Pain only a grotesque and brutal dream, evolved from the frantic imagination of that same Thought. Mark Twain (letter to Joseph Twichell after his wife's death) [me, on a bad day] WRITER'S LINKS Absolute Write Paypal donation button: Absolute Write is one of the leading sites for information on writing and publishing, especially the scam versions thereof. It has a broad, deep online community with an enormous message base going back years. Now it needs help. See the details and discussion here Preditors and Editors Everything you wanted to know about literary agents On the getting of agents Writer Beware Miss Snark Writer's Net (and my Wish List) 
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2009-07-04
This comes under "We Told You So" Women stretched to snapping point Adele Horin July 4, 2009 The 1.5-earner family became the predominant form between 1997 and 2006, from 35 per cent of all couples with children under five to 46 per cent. But life for parents grew harder and less equal. By 2006, all parents were more likely to report feeling stressed. Labels: politics, society, statistics More ... 2009-04-11
On QueryFAIL: Responding to part of the discussion [This is still too long, but I can't get blogger's code to use "expanding posts", so you only see the full entry if you go to its separate page, to work on my blogs.] From Making Light: On QueryFAIL nielsenhayden.com/ makinglight/ archives/ 011160.html A summarised summary by Jim Macdonald, Making Light moderator Apparently a group of agents designated Thursday, the 5th of March, 2009, as official Queryfail day. Throughout the day they’d Twitter those little 140-character descriptions of the worst queries they read (either that day, or had ever gotten in their careers).My comment (#103) on one aspect of this discussion:"A group of online agents, book editors and periodicals acquisition editors are posting about their queries in real time. The idea is to educate people about what exactly it is in a query that made us stop reading and say “Not for me.” We’re being very careful not to include personal identifiers of any kind. The idea isn’t to mock or be intentionally cruel, but to educate."To what should have been no one’s surprise, authors who found out about it got upset ... Amid stories of authors planning to boycott the agents who took part in the first Queryfail, a second Queryfail is apparently being planned for the end of the month."Last week, literary agents blogged about failed queries on Twitter—generating a query fail feed, an agent fail thread, a GalleyCat post, and an emotional debate."and"after hearing from several writers who were upset by the event, I have removed the specific entries. Instead, I’ll focus on what I learned by following QueryFail.See also: AgentFail, WriterFail. Cat Meadors (#93) "Don't be crazy" isn't at all useful, and seems to be what 99% of the "advice" boils down to. Crazy people won't listen, and non-crazy people don't need to.) Help with defining or examples of crazy and non-crazy, and how one thing can be seen as both in different circumstances could be very useful, though Miss Snark (misssnark.blogspot.com) could be a better source. Now I think I'm 98-99% non-crazy; feedback says maybe only 90-95%. So I've had to, with much struggle and still not always successfully, modify my (identifiable) public behaviour, writing and media output to make it more acceptable. I am rather angry and bitter about that, still sensitive on certain points — another bit that needs to be controlled (so I can understand, if not accept, some reactions). Honest feedback, even overhearing you being criticised between two other people, can be useful, if hurtful. Many times I've heard people being mocked, called crazy, weird or otherwise unacceptable for expressing thoughts or behaving in ways I've found truthful or very understandable. It hurts, but it does show how I need to mask and modify to be acceptable (and perhaps try to argue or express those thoughts in ways the 'mainstream', 'normal' (mundane?) culture can digest); and, sometimes, consider the rightness of my thoughts <g>. OTOH: Lotsa crude, rude, stupid vapidity (IMO) in lotsa comments (and blogs) in lotsa places. Lotsa baaad writing. Sturgeon's Law? It's wearying to get to the good bits [Disclaimer: I make no claim to be a good writer, and have little authorial ambition. I do like to read.] Labels: personal, sanity, society, thoughts More ... 2008-09-21
Best Pirate Event Evah Possibly the best use ever of ITLAP Day (Which I keep calling ISLAP* Day): from the Arkansas Times' Arkansas Blog. Way to go, matie! Posted by Leslie Newell Peacock on September 19, 2008 09:36 AM www.arktimes.com/blogs/arkansasblog/ 2008/ 09/ way_to_go_matie.aspx "What do you do to make a bunch of soulless nutcases abandon their post at the Convention Center? Send in the pirates!* International Speak Like a Pirate Day instead of Talk Like a Pirate. Sorta-kinda related: International Free Hugs Day, inspired by 'Juan Mann', will be held in 90 countries on 19th October, 2008, according to the story below. No details yet — the website I can find is not operating. (Recent news on Free Hugs Man: www.smh.com.au/ articles/ 2008/ 09/ 20/ 1221331273987.html) Labels: Australia, humour, people, religion, society, USA More ... 2008-07-13
Bleh I'm in the third cycle of the Xeloda treatment — the one they changed to when the tests showed the first treatment protocol they tried wasn't working. Next week, at the end of this cycle they'll do another round of tests to see if this one has been doing better. I've been mostly able to control the nausea/diarrhoea, and it's nice to be getting hair back (except for the hair that's less popular, like the sub-prime moustache & beard). The Hand-Foot Syndrome, though, makes life quite difficult and painful. Walking becomes not just tiring, but actually hurts — I'm reminded of the Little Mermaid — and doing all those little necessary, almost unnoticed stuff, like un/doing buttons or zips, turning keys, opening screw and non-screw lids of all kinds, using cutlery, even just writing, hurts and is awkward. White cotton gloves help somewhat, and being winter I can wear other gloves outside without looking too weird, which helps 'explain' my difficulty with getting coins out or picking up change. What worries me is that if this is holding the cancer from expanding, but not shrinking it back, this drug is one they can keep you on long-term. I would hate to have to keep dealing with these symptoms for many months, or even some years. OTOH, it could be worse. We will see what we will see. Am hoping, unlike before, that cancer isn't advancing. At any time getting up the 57 steps can be a real chore, but it's worrying how just in the last week, following Don Giovanni, almost any walking has been exhausting & very painful. Again, I'm so glad for the Australian medical system. These tablets are $700 a packet (about a cycle's worth), but I'm paying ~$30. I got a statement from MBF showing the thousands they've paid out in the last year (admittedly having paid them w/o claiming for decades). Plus there's the weekly home help. Recently Thomas M Disch, the American writer, poet & critic, committed suicide partly because he'd been bankrupted by the terminal illness of his partner and was being hounded out of his rent-controlled flat (also discussed at nielsenhayden.com/ makinglight/ archives/ 010413.html as well as elsewhere on teh Intartubes). I've been continuing work at home, and got an injection of new leave to juggle at the anniversary.. I went in on the afternoon of my anniversary, after my earlier doctor's appointment, but was feeling quite sick, so I didn't go around to see different people. Luckily they didn't have anything arranged. Am coping with the new flat, tho' it still has problems. I need to keep at the Strata Management people to get the leaking roof fixed, for instance. There's still things packed up in boxes, maybe 'cos I'm thingy about having to do it to move out, possibly in September when the lease expires. We've had a few problems with the flat nearby being renovated with sledgehammers and small jackhammers. Especially when they left the door open and cement dust got *everywhere*. Labels: home, medical, quotidian, society More ... 2007-11-10
Back to the 'Fifties, again The path down which so many of us worry 'WorkChoices' leads — part of a story about working in the USA ('Tales From Kafka Station', below, from the Undulant Fever blog). This is one of the reasons I get so croggled that there's an idea that one would vote for the Liberal Party (of Australia)'s policies "because I'm worried about my (grand)children". I actually saw someone write this in a printed newspaper during the previous election. His (yes, it was a male) whole argument in his letter led, as I read it, to one point; except the final sentence was the exact opposite of what I thought. The mental sensation was very like being abruptly spun around physically. Apart from the harmful things that those policies (or sometimes the lack of any policy) do to the environment, which will detrimentally effect those following generations, they affect society in a way that is of detriment to the majority of people in it, in things like working conditions for instance. Again, I'll repeat that it's not the 1950s that John Howard is reviving, it's the 1850s. undulantfever.blogspot.com/ 2007/ 10/ tales-from-kafka-station.html Tales From Kafka StationIn Australia, following the British law, most official employment in the nineteenth century, gradually changing through the twentieth, was under the Master & Servant Act. Many of the concepts were very similar to so-called 'modern' work ideas; stripping away the 'playing-field-levelling' and protections built up with so much time & struggle. "Much of the labour law which has evolved in the 20th century … stems from an experience-based perception that the market constraint is not a sufficient protection." – Keith Hancock, senior deputy president (1992-1997), Australian Industrial Relations Commission Labels: history, industrial relations, IR, politics, society, USA More ... 2007-05-16
Shielded with smoke, bedazzled by mirrors Budget puts tax burden on average workers Matt Wade Economics Writer May 15, 2007 www.smh.com.au/ news/ national/ budget-puts-tax-burden-on-average-workers/ 2007/ 05/ 14/ 1178995079809.htmlor www.smh.com.au/ articles/ 2007/ 05/ 14/ 1178995079809.html or www.smh.com.au/ text/ articles/ 2007/ 05/ 14/ 1178995079809.html (text-only version) Labels: money, politics, society More ... 2005-05-10
Budget 2005: Tax Cuts - Squandering our Future Tax Cuts - Squandering our FutureAustralia is living off two great sources of capital laid down earlier, but we are not renewing or building them up - a bad sign for the future. The bulk of any surplus should be re-invested in these, to help tide us over future difficulties. One is our natural resources: fertile topsoil, clean fresh water, fisheries & so forth. Only recently I think there was an estimate of $10 Billion to restore them to function on a long-term, sustainable basis after the damage done over a couple of centuries. The other is the massive public (& private) investment in our infrastructure: water & sewerage systems, transport (not just roads) for goods & people, energy generation & distribution, as well as health systems, education & other vital parts of our society's structure. Many were developed from mid-to-late Victorian times into the first half of the 20th Century, & have barely been maintained since. Now we have a chance to repair & improve these, learning from earlier mistakes. This is what will give a good foundation for our descendants to improve their lives, instead of scraping by, regretting lost opportunity. Like the mutual building sculpture above Martin Place showing how a man can't break the bundle of sticks bound together, though each could be broken with ease one-by-one, the point of government is to bundle together our money and effort to do the things that singly are very difficult (how many of us can buy or build a new train or hospital?). And private companies are run for profit, not to provide a service. For instance, a well-built sustainable water collection, distribution & purification system will take some maintenance over time, but will last without huge extra investment. The same for improving energy or transport systems (eg fixing/rebuilding bridges or taking freight off roads, which reduces road damage bills). A big push into reforming (in the genuine use of the word) agricultural practices & land-use, or ways of building cities can lay a good foundation for centuries of advance instead of continuing decline. An educated person might be lost to their particular profession, but it's not likely they'll lose all their skills, they may return to it, otherwise they'll probably go to a different, but still skilled & worthwhile job. I've lost my skills as a biologist & medical researcher over the last 20 years, but work in a useful skilled job in a different field (though I'd prefer to feel I was contributing more to society &/or the world). If 12% of Australians are in the current top tax bracket, 88% are lower. The majority of us know that if we strike trouble - like my recent medical & family crises - we will need social support. Not just trustworthy & affordable health care, but someone to help the aged mother I care for, meals on wheels, community nurses who aided my convalescence, etc. Even if you have help from family or friends, that other support stops the total ruination that you too often see in both the third world & the US when a crisis hits someone. That's why there's community support for spending on services - even if people doubt that spending will go towards what they most value. There could be a lot more said on this, which I won't go into. EXCEPT those who say: "You'll spend it all and we won't have anything left when there isn't any surplus." NO! I wrote about putting the investment into things, both physical & social that will stay. AND: for the furphy about "Oh, these are State, not Federal issues". Just where do the States get the majority of their funding? Most of the money is collected by States and by the Commonwealth, put into the "kitty", then split up & distributed, some via State, some via Federal, trickling down to Local government. Remember that fuss last year about NSW's share being cut? There are also several bodies which co-ordinate Commonwealth & States to look after particular issues either nationwide or like the Murray-Darling or Great Barrier Reef. 2004 Budget; same problem (4-May-2004) A couple of related posts: Uses of Universities (13-May-2004); Annoyingly repetitive tax rate misconception (12-May-2004); Public good; public lands; public service - see my contribution Labels: information, money, society, tax, Taxation, thoughts More ... 2005-01-18
Taxes: Building Our Future Taxation for the Future Australia is living off two great sources of capital laid down earlier, but we are not renewing or building them up - a bad sign for the future. These sorts of "public goods" have, in history, been badly served by private investment, and taxes are needed so they can be invested in these, to help tide us over future difficulties. One type of capital is our natural resources: fertile topsoil, clean fresh water, fisheries, etc, etc, etc. Recently there was an estimate of $10 Billion to restore them to function on a long-term, sustainable basis. (We have only begun to recognise how important some of the unseen supports like this are once we'd knocked a few out, eg, the multiple causes and effects of salination.) The other is the massive public (& private) investment in our urban and rural infrastructure: water & sewerage systems, transport (not just roads) for goods & people, energy generation & distribution, communications, as well as health systems, education, firefighting services, etc, etc. Many were developed over the century from mid-Victorian times to the middle of the 20th Century, & haven't been maintained much since. Now we have a chance to repair and, indeed, *improve* these, learning from earlier mistakes and using more efficient, less toxic methods. This will give a good basis for our descendants to improve their lives, instead of scraping by, slowly getting worse, regretting lost opportunity. Most of these projects, public or private will need some sort of support from public funds, either directly or through rebates or deductions. Now every tax rebate or deduction has to be made up from somewhere; either cutting someone elses' services or raising their tax (that's why I don't claim my charitable donations). Thus anything attracting such support should be really making a contribution outweighing that if you use "triple bottom line" accounting which takes into account the usually-hidden impacts on those two capital resources, and on the social structure. A skilled population, whether it's tradespeople, engineers, doctors or nurses, is a valuable resource in itself, and an investment for the future. Yet the present PM, reported in Hansard introducing a training bill, actually described the training part of a person's time as not "productive". Doesn't bode well for his government's support of improving our workforce. A well-built sustainable water collection, distribution & purification system will take some maintenance over time, but will last without huge extra investment. The same for energy or transport systems (eg fixing/rebuilding bridges or taking freight off roads, thereby reducing road damage bills). A big push into reforming (in the genuine use of the word) agricultural practices & land-use, or ways of building cities can lay a good foundation for centuries of advance instead of continuing decline. Labels: money, politics, society, tax, Taxation, thoughts More ... A Persistent Taxation Myth (sorta repeated) A Persistent Taxation Myth I keep hearing this myth of "they're taking away half my income" once you move into the highest tax bracket, in fact Sally Loane's finacial person this morning alluded to it. The only people who ever "lose half their money in tax" are very low earners who may lose large amounts of benefits by earning a small amount. You only pay the marginal rate on **the money you get _above_ the limit**. Last year I did this calculation, using the ATO figures in the table below, to show you need to be earning well up in the multiple $100,000s per annum to get close to 50%. For 2003-2004, you'll pay a total of $16,182 tax at $62,500 -- that's 25.9% -- then start paying 47 cents of any dollar above that (not counting fancy bits off or on). To get close to paying 47% of your total income you have to be getting much, much more, e.g. 42% tax on $262,500; 46% tax on $962,500. Of course the "average" (i.e. the Mean) income is a bit over $50,000 pa, while the "average" that's closer to the one earned by most people (i.e. the Mode) is several thousand lower than that, so there's a very tiny group earning even only $100,000, or more. [Of course if a couple is earning that much combined, they each get the advantage of a tax-free zone and lower brackets, greatly reducing the amount of tax taken out compared to the same amount earned by one person.] The total of ALL the people -- not just those *very* high earners -- who are in the highest bracket is only 12% of the whole population (not just taxpayers) meaning that 88% of Australians are on lower rates -- virtually all of whom would be using government supplied infrastructure & services. Without the structures and services funded by taxes, the cost of living would be very much higher, and that 80-90% would find life considerably harder. I suspect even fairly wealthy people would find themselves with less truly-disposable income without the kind of often-forgotten foundation that public works & service provide. The majority of us know that if we strike trouble - like my recent medical crises - we will need social support. Not just trustworthy & affordable health care, but, say, someone for the aged mother I care for, community nurses who aided my convalescence, meals on wheels, etc. Even when you have help from family or friends, that support stops the total ruination that too often you see in both the third world & the US when a crisis hits. That fellow in the news tonight with a nail in his head just got a $US80,000 medical bill, and, being a self-employed building worker, he naturally can't afford full medical insurance. There's a big health-lending market there. That family has decades in unexpected debt that will drag them back in very many ways. ____________________________________________________________ Tax rates 2001-02 and 2002-03 Taxable Tax on income this income $0 - $6,000 .............. Nil $6,001 - $20,000 .... 17c for each $1 over $6,000 $20,001 - $50,000 .. $2,380 plus 30c for each $1 over $20,000 $50,001 - $60,000 .. $11,380 plus 42c for each $1 over $50,000 Over $60,000 .......... $15,580 plus 47c for each $1 over $60,000 Tax rates 2003-04 Taxable Tax on income this income $0 – $6,000 ............. Nil $6,001 – $21,600 ... 17c for each $1 over $6,000 $21,601 - $52,000 .. $2,652 plus 30c for each $1 over $21,600 $52,001 – $62,500.. $11,772 plus 42c for each $1 over $52,000 Over $62,500 ........... $16,182 plus 47c for each $1 over $62,500 None of these include assorted general rebates to deduct, nor the Medicare levy to add. Source: the Australian Taxation Office web site at www.ato.gov.au/individuals/content.asp?doc=/content/12333.htm&mnu=5053&mfp=001 ( www.ato.gov.au/ in general) Labels: information, money, politics, reference, resources, society More ... 2004-07-27
Christabel Re Ulrika's post on part of one of Patrick's comments "In a society in which everyone "knows" that politicians and activists are entirely no-goodniks, who has power?" I call this 'Christabel' from just one tiny moment in the TV version. [In 1934, Christabel Burton married Peter Bielenberg, an Oxford graduate and German lawyer. In 1935 she became a German citizen and moved to Hamburg. She kept notes during the next ten years, and a few years after the war, wrote her story (under either "The Past is Myself" or "When I was German" ). In 1988 it was adapted by Dennis Potter to a TV series called "Christabel", and shown on the BBC (and PBS in 1989).] Someone asks her what she thinks of Herr Hitler's political ideas and she says something along the lines of "Oh, I don't follow politics" Labels: history, quotes, society More ... 2004-07-25
Supply and Demand (Goose & Gander Sauce) Supply And Demand Wednesday, July 21, 2004 http://respectfulofotters.blogspot.com/2004_07_01_respectfulofotters_archive.html#109043406521044247 I'm still catching up on blog reading, so I almost missed Kevin Drum's hilarious economics contest (http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2004_07/004329.php ) (also see below): Supply and demand. Yes indeed. The labor market is a slave to supply and demand just like any other market, right? Odd, then, that CEO pay rose 27% in 2003 ( http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/invest/extra/P83603.asp ), isn't it? Did the supply of CEOs shrink last year? Did demand skyrocket? What's more, compared to average workers, who remain stuck in the invisible grip of Adam Smith, CEO pay has increased about 3x since 1990 and about 7x since 1980 ( http://www.commondreams.org/news2004/0414-10.htm ). Is this the free market at work? That's what I'm told. So I have a contest in mind: a prize for the least laughable explanation for why CEO pay has gone up 7x since 1980 based on supply and demand ... http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2004_07/004329.php July 18, 2004 WORKING CLASS WOES — PART 1....The New York Times reports that the working class isn't doing too well these days: On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that hourly earnings of production workers - nonmanagement workers ranging from nurses and teachers to hamburger flippers and assembly-line workers - fell 1.1 percent in June, after accounting for inflation....In June, production workers took home $525.84 a week, on average. After accounting for inflation, this is about $8 less than they were pocketing last January, and is the lowest level of weekly pay since October 2001. ...."There's a bit of a dichotomy," said Ethan S. Harris, chief economist at Lehman Brothers. "Joe Six-Pack is under a lot of pressure. He got a lousy raise; he's paying more for gasoline and milk. He's not doing that great. But proprietors' income is up. Profits are up. Home values are up. Middle-income and upper-income people are looking pretty good." ... More ... 2004-05-13
Barefoot Doctors & Bush Lawyers Uses of Universities - some kind of tunnel vision? I hear a few people, and see letters to the paper, say: "I never went to Uni, but my taxes are subsidizing these students". Maybe they've taken Maggie Thatcher's "There's no such thing as society" just a bit too literally. We are all interdependent on many others. Would these persons (or their young children or aged parents) be happy to be treated by nurses & doctors & pharmacists who did a quick 3-month course by correspondence, like the barefoot doctors? How would they feel driving on roads, freeways & bridges constructed by engineers who learnt it all from a book & by talking to a council worker who'd worked on some roads? Wouldn't it be fun using the water supply & sewerage system (or living downstream of a dam) if those designers & engineers were self-taught too? Or being near a factory, refinery or similar complex dealing with toxic chemicals, high temperature & pressure not designed & checked by someone qualified to? What about walking through the city with its skyscrapers if none of the architects had been certified for anything larger than a 3-storey walk-up that they'd learnt about by being a builder's labourer? Check with the inhabitants of some of the cities where sudden collapses of blocks of flats happen every year (tho' much of that devastation is said to be because of poor inspection & enforcement of those naughty bureaucratic regulations). And if you did want to sue for injury caused by faults with these, you'd have to settle for a Bush Lawyer, I guess. Labels: money, society, tax, Taxation, thoughts, యెద్యుకెశన్ More ... 2004-05-04
Tax Cuts - Squandering our Future? Tax Cuts - Squandering our Future?My entry in a guestbook asking for comments on recent speculation that this Budget will spend a large expected surplus on giving large tax cuts - which would mostly benefit higher-income people. There could be a lot more said on this, which I won't go into. EXCEPT for the furphy about "Oh, these are State, not Federal issues". And just where do the States get the majority of their funding? Most of the money is collected by States and by the Commonwealth & put into the "kitty", then split up & distributed, some via State, some via Federal government, trickling down to Local. Remember that fuss just recently about NSW's share being cut? There are also several bodies which combine Commonwealth & States to look after particular issues either nationwide or like the Murray-Darling or Great Barrier Reef. AND: "You'll spend it all and we won't have anything left when there isn't any surplus." First, note that I wrote below about putting the investment into things, both physical & social that will stay. A person educated as an engineer or doctor or nurse or teacher might be lost to that profession, but it's not likely they'll lose all their skills immediately, they'd probably return if they have to change for a short while, otherwise they'd probably - if the government-controlled circumstances allow - go to a different, but still skilled & worthwhile job. I've lost my skills as a biologist & medical researcher over the last 20 years, but work in a fairly skilled (if averagely-paid) job (though I'd prefer to feel I was contributing more to the world). A well-built sustainable water collection, distribution & purification system will take some maintenance over time, but will last without huge extra investment. The same for energy or transport systems (eg fixing/rebuilding bridges or taking freight off roads, thereby reducing road damage bills). A big push into reforming (in the genuine use of the word) agricultural practices & land-use, or ways of building cities can lay a good foundation for centuries of advance instead of continuing decline.
Labels: money, society, tax, Taxation, thoughts More ... 2002-10-10
Old thoughts made new One of my reasons for reading science fiction (as opposed to sword & sorcery style fantasy or space-located varieties of westerns, &c) is that it can deal with all sorts of ideas & speculations about humanity, society, reality, &c. This edited extract deals with a subject that's been discussed very many times. From "Inheritor" by CJ Cherryh (p 365 of my paperback edition) Third in a series set on an alien world where 'stranded' humans are co-existing uneasily with another race who are said not to have emotions in the same way as humans. CJC tends towards the 'higher' end of 'space opera' — lots of action & excitement, but touching on bigger themes — tho' she also does other sub-genres. "Not love, he thought to himself. And then thought, ... maybe they'd had such rotten luck with the love and man'chi aspect of relations because that word in [English] blurred so many things together it just wasn't safe to deal with. Labels: language, science fiction, scifi, SF, society More ... Statistics in Wonderland The Fallacy of Averages OR Spreading it Around? [NOTE: If you can suggest a better title, I'd be glad. Am not happy with any I've given it.] Take a happy group of 10 survivors on the bead economy. When we first meet them the bead distribution is:
one poor beader only 10; eight get 50 beads each. Total 500, average 50 beads. 'Big Boy Beado' gets tax cuts and subsidies - funded by cutting general public physical and social infrastructure and ‘middle class welfare’ - does beadstock option speculation - partially funded through cutting company workforces, and wages and conditions, &c. of average working beaders (moving beads from them to him*). ‘Disadvantaged’ Beadie gets social equity beadfunding from the government to 15 . One lucky / clever / cunning BeadHolder more than doubles his to 110 (maybe in Microsphere shares or real beadstate). Now we have:
DB gets 15 instead of 10; BH has 110 instead of 50; and seven little beaders only have 25 where they had 50. Total 525, average 52.5 beads each. "We’re ahead!", cries the Tribal Council. "Average beads are up!" and "The poor are better off!" and "The pie is bigger!" they crow. But 7 of 10 are worse off beadwise, & underlying social/infrastructure support for all is less. Even the poorest is worse off compared to the highest (earlier 10/90 (=1/9th) is greater than current 15/225 (=1/15th)). Which do you think is a happier & more cohesive group; before or after? [*If they do have shares, or their superannuation trustee has, their dividends or equity increase is far less each than that of a very large beadshare holder - rather like the difference between what you personally could do with the $3-$4/week recent average tax cut and what the government could do with the total] Labels: Australia, industrial relations, politics, society, statistics More ... |
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