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Derek Young

Thinker and Experimenter,

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In what instances does the government give too many rules, whereas it becomes detrimental to its people? Any insight into future issues?

It has come to my attention that in some instances the government gives way too many rules. It begins to suffocate society in the sense of creative direction and advancements of all occupational fields.

I don't know much about laws, but I feel as though I am a whining citizen at times. I sometimes say "it isn't fair that 'this' law says 'this'" and I don't think I am the only person, but maybe I am?

When will these issues ever be solved or will they never be solved? Are we really affected by these issues? Is there reason to complain or is it a societal dillusion?

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    Jun 17 2012: Life is not fair, get over it, and the government cannot and should not do much for you other than a rule of law and a national defense.

    Look at this index of the countries that do a better job of this than others look at the standard of living in the ones near the top compared to the ones near the bottom:

    http://www.heritage.org/index/ranking

    Notice North Korea at dead last number 179 to South Korea at number 31, same people similar culture, only difference is the form of government.

    What is the touch stone for this. I think this video covers it very well:

    http://www.ted.com/talks/niall_ferguson_the_6_killer_apps_of_prosperity.html
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      Jun 19 2012: There are some interesting contradictions between the two lists. HDI v IEF
      Norway HDI 1 IEF 40
      Chile HDI 44 IEF 7
      Mauritious HDI 77 IEF 8
      Bahrain HDI 42 IEF 12
      Singapore HDI 26 IEF 2
      Saint Lucia HDI 82 IEF 24
      Germany HDI 9 IEF 26
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        Jun 19 2012: refresh my memory what am I looking at?

        and this one:

        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_Index

        and this one

        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_income_equality

        Just because someone puts a list together does not mean it has been vetted, in fact more often than not it is a manifestation of some insidious memes as is the case with the Gini index

        Here in the U.S. the evil Bankster meme is more crap than not and has caused endless anger but the reality is that politicians gain votes by this created anger.
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          Jun 19 2012: human development index v index of economic freedom. From your link above
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          Jun 19 2012: It just shows that within first world and even developing economies the correlation between economic freedom and standard of living isn't very clear as long as there is some democratic process involved. Dictatorships like North Korea almost always crash and burn because they lack adaptability.
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        Jun 19 2012: That statement is ambiguous, get plain and specific, you want me to chase ambigouties I refuse to waste my time on that.
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          Jun 19 2012: Your original post on this thread asked us to compare freedom index with standard of living,which I did. I was just pointing out that the correlation between the two is not very clear other than third world dictatorships are at the bottom for both. The pattern amongst democratic nations is very unclear regarding the political stance of the government. eg Sweden.etc. A high level of economic freedom doesn't necessarily produce high standards of living. eg Chile etc
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        Jun 19 2012: When I said look at the standard of living I meant at the obvious. N Korea vs S Korea, West Germany vs East Germany, Mainland China vs Hong Kong or Taiwan. You explain this away by in adaptability, that is crap.

        The human development index is may be dubious. There was a similar equality trope here in the early 80's started by a couple of economists who twisted economic numbers so badly that they were beyond disingenuous. I don't have time or the expertise to find out if it is crap or true.

        Suffice it to say that when there is a big deviation like you are showing one of them is wrong. Wouldn't you agree?
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          Jun 19 2012: The origins of the HDI are found in the annual Human Development Reports of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).These were devised and launched by Pakistani economist Mahbub ul Haq in 1990 and had the explicit purpose "to shift the focus of development economics from national income accounting to people centered policies".

          The Index of Economic Freedom is a series of 10 economic measurements created by The Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal. Its stated objective is to measure the degree of economic freedom in the world's nations.

          The Heritage Foundation is an American conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C. Heritage's stated mission is to "formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense".
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        Jun 19 2012: Of the two you know who I would trust more.
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      Jun 19 2012: Hi pat,

      Going back to your first comment...My topic didn't ask for the fairness in government, but I do ask for when rules are too much and where in your own government is rules too much.

      Interesting link for the ranking site you shared, but I am going to be a pessimist and say that every ranking systems have their own biases and agendas. Who are we to say one ranking system is perfect, but analyzing each individual situation or instance of events seems more relevant to me. Maybe if the rankings were based on happiness of its people, then I would take interest, but a bunch of escoteric information is difficult to relate to or understand for that matter.

      The TedTalk by Ferguson was very interesting, but I'm not sure it related to my topic, though if it did I might have missed the point. I am sure you have the answer that makes the TedTalk relatable, so if you could, please explain how the TedTalk relates to this topic?

      Thanks for reading my thoughts and hope to read yours'. =)
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        Jun 19 2012: The six killer apps as Ferguson explain are the touchstone (rules) to a higher standard of living.

        When the government subjugates these rules to the government's laws then the country will not do as well.

        The first app is competition, this gets negated all the time by crony capitalism and regulations that favor one company over another and other ways.

        The second app is scientific revolution, In this area the U.S. has done well but in some areas less as of late like in healthcare as when the incentive to innovate is taken away so goes the innovation or Sarbanes Oxley that makes a company go through a lot of hoops in order to do a IPO or when a company is heavily punished because the government has seen fit to punish them for going above the status quo.

        The 3rd app of private property because the government will decide if public domain applies and then give the property to one of it's cronies or as with intellectual properties not being protected.

        The 4t app of modern medicine, when the government meddles with healthcare the incentive created by Adam Smith invisible hand is taken away and the care becomes lower quality as is the case in England.

        The 5th app of a consumer society when money is extracted from the economy to pay taxes, regulations, licenses, etc. there is less money (a lot less) for consumers to spend on what they consider to valuable. It also drives investment capital out of the area because the investment capital is offered a better return elsewhere.

        The 6 th app of the work ethic is very much subject to the culture The culture is very much effected by the government. Recently the government in their infinite wisdom decided to extend unemployment benefits to 99 week, the the government cant understand why no one goes off unemployment but then miraculously find a job just before their benefits run out. The immigrants here in Calif are given free healthcare receive the healthcare and the go home to Mexico,. they did not work at all and expect i
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          Jun 19 2012: " government cant understand why no one goes off unemployment but then miraculously find a job just before their benefits run out."

          market failure! the free market fails to relieve the government of the burden of wasting public money!

          btw i'm glad you are around. you save me so much work :)
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          Jun 20 2012: Ah....I get it. Brain has been on overdrive as of late. The TedTalk totally made me think that these six apps were a good thing....I thought "killer" as in great, but Ferguson meant "killer" as in killing the nation....Thank you pat.
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          Jun 21 2012: Re the 4th app. Its funny because the UK rates 20 places higher on the WHO healthcare rating than the US. My only experience of the US healthcare system is that my uncle died in a US hospital from a post-op infection even though he worked for NASA at the time and had full coverage. Healthcare is one area where I will never be "free-market" as your insurance company still pays even if you die. A hospital whose income is related to the number of patients treated will always be tempted to cut corners. In my Uncle's case they proceded with an operation even though he was immune compromised by cancer treatment as it was quicker to do both at the same time. Yes we could sue, but my Uncle is still dead.
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        Jun 20 2012: Note to self do not waste any more time on this ingrate.
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          Jun 20 2012: umm...thank you for your time pat....?
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          Jun 21 2012: Hi pat,

          Going back to your explanation about the six killer apps...you say:

          "The six killer apps as Ferguson explain are the touchstone (rules) to a higher standard of living.
          When the government subjugates these rules to the government's laws then the country will not do as well."

          and my understanding is that keeping these six apps out of laws is the emphasis of Ferguson's talk, but how can something so good in one area be that detrimental when implemented into governmental laws? Kinda scary......
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        Jun 21 2012: HI Peter

        Sorry to hear about your uncle.

        This is a complex subject, but I'm quite sure that England is no paradigm of healthcare. In the U.S. from my superficial understanding of the problem government involvement where medicare influences the cost while at the same time crony capitalism keeps out the competition. In a nut shell a lack of the 1st app is killing the 4th app.
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          Jun 24 2012: Thanx Pat.
          My main concern with free-market healthcare is that if I'm poor I still don't want to see the doctor equivalent of a second hand mazda. Or a doctor who is in a hurry. I do see how government involment that prevents competition at one end of the market forces more government involvment at the bottom of the market due to high prices. Perhaps if the government concentrated on regulating the standard of care and kept out of the economics?
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        Jun 21 2012: Derek

        I have no idea what you just said?

        What is the definition of subjugates? It appears that you either don't know what it means or misunderstand what it means.

        You cannot effectively legislate the six killer apps in fact I would go so far as to say it is a reciprocal in that the stronger the six killer apps the weaker the government and the stronger the government the weaker the six killer apps.
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          Jun 25 2012: pat,

          I wish I could hear you talk because I bet your a sarcastic person, but through reading, your words totally sounds different. I am okay with that, if you are mostly sarcstic, I think.

          It seems that my brain has some issues and often switches letters when I first read words that look common. Subjugates looked like subjects, but I also didn't know the definition before, though now I do. =)

          My previous comment was talking about how you say that the six killers apps (without subjugating to the government) are the touchstone to a higher standard of living, and I understood, in my mind, that standards of higher living are a good thing, but when you subjugate these rules to the governments law they will be a bad thing. So without subjugating these six killers apps into rules to the government, then these apps are just accenting a nation instead of being the main component?
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        Jun 24 2012: Peter

        One of the main reasons healthcare is expensive is that the government has made money available for the healthcare through the medicare program. Whenever more money is made available the price goes up for the service. This occurred during the gold rush here at Sutters mill in Calif where a shovel or pick would cost many times more than anywhere else.

        Part of the problem with this is that the patients do not know what the cost of the various treatment is even if they wanted to know it is hard to get answers. Consequently the patient does not have any concern with cost.

        When the money starts running out then the only solution is to ration the healthcare as with England who is notorious for rationing the healthcare.

        The solution is to get the government out of healthcare.

        This video is pretty good on the subject:

        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPADFNKDhGM&feature=related

        This one is funny because it shows a young Michael Moore being shown a concept of the free market by the venerable Milton Friedman.

        I hope you are quicker on the uptake than Michael Moore as he never did get the lesson that Mr Friedman was trying to impart to him.

        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cD0dmRJ0oWg&feature=related
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          Jun 25 2012: I do fully appreciate Friedman's point in both videos, but my remaining concern for healthcare is for those with small resources and costly requirements but this could point out a cultural difference between the US and AUS. We tend to look to the government rather than charity in tough times. Possibly because we have never had the same philanthropic tradition as in the US.
          The other concern with the second video is that I'm not sure I have the same level of faith in your average Joe's ability ot make the correct decision if given all the relevant information. But I could be an intellectual snob.
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        Jun 25 2012: Derek

        The thing about sarcasm is that it is bad manners as most scorn is. I have not shown you ANY sarcasm, you may see it that way but that is not what I have said.

        I stated that I have no idea what said and that is EXACTLY what I meant, that is NOT sarcasm.

        Subjugating the six killer apps to the government does not make them a bad thing it makes them a smaller and less important thing which is VERY different than a bad thing.

        If I can give you some advise? when you read anything that you want to understand I highly recommend that when you see a word that you don't know the meaning of, that you look it up and when you have a hard time understanding something that you look for words that you do not know the meaning of.
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          Jun 25 2012: Hi pat,

          Thank you for the 101 on life. I am going to take in your advise, but I don't enjoy your rhetoric. I'm just a critic, but I enjoy the diverse comments and views with varying rhetorics of each commenter.

          You do pose good points though and it is very relevant, though at times clarifications may be needed from each of the participating members in a conversation, especially through pure text base where facial and tonal cues lack, but it has its upside. I think patience is key in seeking clarification.

          Sarcasm is taken differently from person to person. I happen to enjoy sarcasm, when I can tell it is sarcasm, but that is another topic I suppose.

          Best Wishes.
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        Jun 25 2012: Peter
        Americans also look to the government. But that is not a good thing as anything that government is doing is with your own money.

        The average Joe is pretty damn smart, don't sell him short. The reason he is smart is that his very existence depend on his being smart. Which is the problem when the government steps in and says oh no Joe is not very smart and we have to decide for him, Look at this and determine if the government is smart or not and if you are really looking the answer is obvious.

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