BTLlivingthedream Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 Has anyone read Naomi Klein's 'Shock Doctrine : The Rise of Disaster Capitalism' yet? Ive got it besides my bed at the moment. Im going to read it as soon as ive finsihed Greenspan's tome. Looks good, although a little depressing. She got a lot of her ideas from Harvey's 'the new imperialism' which is worth a read. It's more academic in tone though... There's a good interview with her here: http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/09/17/1411235 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bearORbullENIGMA Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 No one is ever going to get away with banning the NHS for smokers (for ex) even though it makes tons of sense, there is no power or control in that solution for our glorious leaders. On the contrary, it would let people take responsibility for themselves and that cannot be encouraged, ever. I thought smokers raised more revenue in tobacco duty than it costs to run the NHS. Cigarettes are the perfect way for governments to control the population....not only does it kill people off, it takes about 30 years... so they die just before they want their pension but not before they've paid loads of tax! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Injin Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 I thought smokers raised more revenue in tobacco duty than it costs to run the NHS.Cigarettes are the perfect way for governments to control the population....not only does it kill people off, it takes about 30 years... so they die just before they want their pension but not before they've paid loads of tax! A nationalised health service is a much better way to control a population that fag tax. Atm they have both! Take both away and what do you have? People who are smoking and not smoking both have to pay for their own healthcare, that is - irresponsible/stupid people cannot socialise their health costs. The unliucky still can, because the average person is more than happy to stick their hand in their pocket for a genuine case. This leads to a direct incentive to look after ones own health, whch in turn leads to a more serious appraisal of risk and reward in daily life for sensible folks, and an inability of leeching from others for idiots. Just as seat belts make accidents more likely, providing blanket health care makes self inflicted injury and illness more common. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Skint Academic Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 (edited) I believe the Scots virtually bankrupted themselves back in the 17th Century on some ill advised venture in Panama the result of which the English had to bale them out and hence the 1701 Act of Settlement! http://www.guardian.co.uk/britain/article/0,,2166522,00.html "Mark Horton, an archaeologist and leading authority on the subject, has visited the remote rainforest and concluded that the site was actually well chosen and that the Scots could have succeeded - had it not been for the English. The settlers did not plant crops, thinking they could trade their trinkets for food, but the natives were underwhelmed by the offerings. The Scots went hungry and fell sick. Worse, King William forbade the English colony in Jamaica from helping the settlers since he did not want to offend the Spanish, who deemed the interlopers a threat to their own empire. The publicly funded company lost more than £232,000, crippling and demoralising Scotland. English propaganda depicted the fiasco as proof that the Scots were useless and unfit for sovereignty. Scottish imperial dreams were seen as a disaster but Scots subsequently played a major role in the British empire as soldiers and businessmen," said Prof Horton. "The irony is that they turned out to be great empire builders after all." From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darien_scheme The English agreed to cover the Scottish Government's debt to its people, and this was likely one of the main reasons the Acts of Union were not as heavily resisted by the government of Scotland as they had been with other English attempts to amalgamate the two countries, although prevailing public opinion in Scotland was overwhelmingly against it. The politicians messed up and then sold the people out. So no change there then. Edited October 12, 2007 by Skint Academic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Back Seat Crasher Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 OMG I'm watching the century of self. I'm scared Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saving For a Space Ship Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 (edited) Excellent programme (from the BBC as well !).I also highly recommend two other series by Adam Curtis, for those that haven't seen them. The Power of Nightmares (war on terror and the Neo-cons) BBC summary The Trap - What Happened to our Dream of Freedom (a good demolition of NuLab) Wikipedia summary The Power of Nightmares is also watchable in 3 parts pt 1 http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=...h&plindex=0 pt 2. http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=...h&plindex=1 pt 3 http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=...h&plindex=2 Also The Trap - What Happened to our Dream of Freedom Pt 1 http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=...h&plindex=0 Pt 2 http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=...h&plindex=0 Pt 3 - In 3 parts) 1. http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=...h&plindex=0 2. http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=...h&plindex=2 3. (still looking) Edited October 12, 2007 by Saving For a Space Ship Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wait & See Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 To be honest, there's too many stupid ar*eholes around these days, who believe that they actually matter in the grand scheme of things. So what if you have an X5 and a nice deck, no-one is impressed anymore, because everyone has these crap*y middle class icons. Property is not a substitute for talent, all the MEW, BTL, Kirsty fu*ks need to remember this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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