Hasbeen wrote, "and nothing is likely to save the western culture".

Therein lies the basis of Hasbeen's ideological dogma/attitude to life ...... 100% RACISM.

Hasbeen is a racist/culturalist who feels threatened by difference. His version of "western culture" is a *white* dominated culture. Hasbeen considers black people to be a threat and to be inferior. He is part of a very tiny minority of radicalised Australians.

Hasbeen is a product of the Dark Ages. He still lives in the Dark ages.

Hasbeen will go to the grave that way, and nothing anybody says will ever change his mind

Producer

Are you suggesting that Inventors who invest their time, money and brains with the uncertainty they could lose it all [and sometimes unfortunately do] as easily as make money from their invention should not benefit most if it proves to be a success?

The small businessman who usually works much longer hours than his employees is also surely entitled to the major share of profits. He has taken the risks, and is responsible for making a success of his business to ensure his employees are paid regularly - often in a downturn taking out a loan to keep going.

I fail to see how you can call people like this parasites. If employees feel that isn't fair, they can always go out on their own and try to make a go of it themselves. I can play devil's advocate as I've been both employer and employee, and believe me, I had far less worries as the latter.

There are two sides to every coin my friend. You'd do well to look at and think about both sides before you attribute labels.

Worldwatcher, whilst I agree that the person who takes the initial financial risk deserves a greater share of the profits, that does NOT mean that the risk taker is not a "parasite". But capitalism takes that fair concept to extremes.

Why? Because the risk taker 100% relies on the people in the organisation to put his ideas into operation. Without them his ideas are nothing. He basically sucks their blood and gives them as miniscule a share of the profits that he can legally get away with. The only exception is a "one man band" business.

Capitalism encourages those at the top to be parasites, feeding off everyday workers. Capitalism at the "moment" is the best workable system that mankind has, but it's seriously flawed and will have only a limited lifespan. It will eventually be replaced by another "ism", and the replacement will itself be eventually replaced by yet another "ism" etc etc etc etc. Mankind will forever be searching for the perfect system. Guess what? It doesn't exist.

Hasbeen
Oh how I wish time travel to the past was a possibility! Maybe it would open their eyes for those younger members who haven't experienced real hardship.
Then maybe we wouldn't hear so many complaints from them.
My friend's mother came out as an orphan on a sailing ship,as did her future husband.
They brought up 2 children in a cardboard and scrounged tin dirt floor shack. He was a coal miner in the depression, and walked anything up to 40 MILES to look for work. She didn't have money to buy milk for her baby while he was gone, so an old lady from a local farm gave her a cow. Any excess milk was sold to pay the old lady back.
I've never forgotten her story, and at times when I've been tight for money I realise it has been nothing compared to that lady - who's husband died young from lung disease contracted when he was a miner.
With his income now gone she made sandwiches and cakes, stood outside the local cinema selling them, and finally opened a little tearoom and put both her children through private school.
I don't think there would have been anything like the dole way back then. Knowing her, she would have been too proud to take it anyway.

Dear Hasbeen,

Yes, your Western civilisation, or at least many aspects thereof which I find ugly and violent, are not my cup of tea and if I can I will use all available democratic tools to replace it.

You seem to believe that your culture owns this continent - but your ancestors only took it by force, they didn't create it and have no moral right to retain it.

I wouldn't however replace this culture with the even-worse Islamic Macho culture, but it seems that you would - which means that your hate of `ne'er-do-well`s is even greater than your love of your own people.

Sorry if you feel frightened - I may be breaking down your culture, but I am not going to hurt you or your family in any way or take away your freedom (as your Muslim friends probably would): I am simply claiming my own.

BTW, you seem to imply that me and Producer have attitudes in common: I think they are quite few. To begin with, he mentioned that he wants full employment: I disagree. I rather have a peaceful life where formal employment is only a necessary evil rather than the main theme of life. Let goodness and charity be the main theme of life and let employment be only for those who want to have comforts and luxuries beyond the basics.

Dear Nhoj,

Let's not divert this into a racial thing: it's all about culture.

<<Mankind will forever be searching for the perfect system. Guess what? It doesn't exist.>>

Great observation!

Materialism is based on a lie, hence it has no solution.

Yes worldwatcher, they haven't got a clue.

When I was 10, a few years after dad came back from the war, he & I lived in a tin shack. About 10 families all had them in our road, made out of flattened kerosene tins, while they built houses.

When we had enough house to live in, we could not get water tanks, it was another couple of years before they became radially available. When mum joined us I had to make sure I removed the frogs from the water I drew from the well. She could not have handled drinking it, had she known.

These clowns expect enough tax payers money to live better than we did. None of them would know what a days work was.

Nhoj, I don't like you or your type. Whatever you are I don't like it, if that makes me a racist so be it.

I don't like weasels either, although that is about the same thing as not liking you, so I must be a racist. Nah, that's unfair to the weasels.