Philosophy Now Forum

Obvious Leo wrote:You've uncovered my deepest secret, Bob, because indeed I am a miserable old curmudgeon. We Aussies take in cynicism with our mothers milk and it just becomes more and more pronounced as we age. However it plays to our advantage in the long run because we become very adept at differentiating the real prophets from the not-so-real cage-rattlers and general shit-stirrers. I'm on to you, mate.

What state Leo? And don't tell me Queensland or Victoria.

Victorian Central Highlands which at this time of year is bloody cold.

Obvious Leo wrote:Victorian Central Highlands which at this time of year is bloody cold.

I'm in central NSW. Bloody cold as well. I used to drive 10 hours at least twice a Winter in order to get to get to Falls Creek.

bobevenson wrote:

Ginkgo wrote:

bobevenson wrote:For example, I believe if you suddenly want to become a taxi driver, you should be able to immediately start picking up fares, charging whatever you want, having no license to operate a taxi, driving a car on its last legs, and having no liability insurance. The rest of you don't.

For example, I believe if if you want to suddenly want to become a primary care physician, you should be able to immediately start acquiring patients, charging whatever you want, having no license and no liability insurance.

There should be no problem with you doing that unless you commit fraud or harm patients. The late and great Nobel economist Milton Friedman was against physicians even being licensed.

Unfortunately in some instances such as being a Taxi Driver; qualification and license to be a taxi driver can mean one and the same. In other areas, such a medicine one can be qualified, but not licensed. I am assuming your post is addressing the latter and not the former.

bob: If banks are doing something wrong, it is the government's job to take any necessary action to prevent reoccurrences

So you agree then that the free market can fail and that government has a duty to interfere in the free market when it fails, Bob.

Obvious Leo wrote:We become very adept at differentiating the real prophets from the not-so-real...

There are only prophets and false prophets, nothing in between, and I'm the genuine article, like John on the isle of Patmos in the year 96 A.D., when he wrote the book of Revelation.

Ginkgo wrote:

Obvious Leo wrote:Victorian Central Highlands which at this time of year is bloody cold.

I'm in central NSW. Bloody cold as well. I used to drive 10 hours at least twice a Winter in order to get to get to Falls Creek.

Funny. I never think of Australia as ever being "bloody cold": not even at this time of the year.

So what do you classify as cold? What is the highest daytime and lowest night time temps????

bobevenson wrote:No, I don't. A free market does not imply that fraud is OK.

Actually, it does, but you are changing the subject. There was little or no actual fraud* involved in the crisis in 2008.

So, is it your divinely inspired prophesy that nothing went wrong with the free investment banking market in the lead up to the global financial crisis? Do you deny that there was a crisis, Bob?


*That is unless you consider banking to be fraudulent in and of itself, for which a good case can be made, I think.

bobevenson wrote:

Obvious Leo wrote:We become very adept at differentiating the real prophets from the not-so-real...

There are only prophets and false prophets, nothing in between, and I'm the genuine article, like John on the isle of Patmos in the year 96 A.D., when he wrote the book of Revelation.

Certification is that the year the book of Revelation was written (96) plus Iesous (Jesus) in classical Greek gematria (888) plus the 1000 years the Second Coming of Christ will reign after Armageddon equals 1984, the year "The Ouzo Prophecy" was written by yours truly, Bob the Baptist.

bobevenson wrote:Judiciary trials should not be conducted like a sporting event with winners and losers, prosecutors versus the defense, with the jury voting on the winner. Jurors should only be neutrally presented with evidence for and against the defendant, and their decision rendered on this and this alone, not on the theatrics of the prosecution and the defense.

Isn't that the way it's supposed to be?

vegetariantaxidermy wrote:

bobevenson wrote:Judiciary trials should not be conducted like a sporting event with winners and losers, prosecutors versus the defense, with the jury voting on the winner. Jurors should only be neutrally presented with evidence for and against the defendant, and their decision rendered on this and this alone, not on the theatrics of the prosecution and the defense.

Isn't that the way it's supposed to be?

Yes, that's the way it's supposed to be, not "If the glove doesn't fit, you must acquit!" bullshit in the O.J. Simpson trial!

Hobbes' Choice wrote: So what do you classify as cold? What is the highest daytime and lowest night time temps????

Where I live typical mid- winter nighttime temps would range between -2 and +3 and daytime between +5 and +10. However there are many colder places. This is quite typical of inland southern Australia but the coastal climate is far more benign and that's where most people live.

I'm not a great fan of the adversarial system of justice either, Bob, and I regard trial by jury as the ultimate example of justice by the ignorant, but you shouldn't assume that the US systems of jurisprudence are typical of those practiced in other western democracies. They simply aren't remotely like it because your entire nation is locked into a constitutional time warp from which escape is impossible. Your constitution was specifically framed to accommodate the interests of an 18th century aristocracy and it still does it very well. Your only remedy is to shoot the fuckers that don't like it.