Originally Posted by Gilles de Rais

That's why they're closing them down and/or can't build new ones?

Not profitable, of course.

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Strikes and blockades are not militant activity, suddenly?

I said they were not militantly opposed to alternatives. Those people weren't out there holding placards reading "Say No To HydroGen Fuel Cells", were they?

What they were objecting to is the impact of higher costs with on alternative being available.

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In terms of militancy and putting their boots on the government's throat, lorry drivers are worth 10x the OWS/OLSE guys...

I've always said the real test will be a call for a general strike.

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Rising energy costs will have to be compensated somehow. Just as the Arabs hiking the cost of oil meant a fall in Western wealth...

Solar can easily be cheaper.

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That was answered long ago: It's too uncertain and too long term.

Yes I know, that was precisely the failing of which I accused capitalism.

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No. But I would need to be elected dictator/US President to make sure that we get the best for a good stretch of time. No one said it'd be easy.

And you still won't be able to prevent crisis and collapse.

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Because families fall out, people suffer accidents, people have mental issues, some even choose to (the "tramp"/gentleman of the road phenomenon).

None of which apply to Japanese people sleeping in internet cafes.

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... of course, assuming you have something like the democracy improvement to propose...

Which of course I do.

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Yes, I agree. But a system that survived 6,000 years is pretty resilient as far as I am concerned. My time horizon is around 150-200 yrs, not more.

Well its precedding primitive communism survived 194,000...

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If people can enter and leave the top 1%, it is, by definition, more meritocratic.

Well it isn't becuase as I keep pointing out, meritiocracy is a term of parody, and it is no more JUST, which is the argument I made. It doesn;t matter to me whether I'm being robbed by someone who inherited their position, or being robbed by someone who "earned" it.

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What does 'productive' mean? Was Bill Gates productive? Steve Jobs?

Doing useful work, and no, neither.

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Why? And would absolute freedom be such a great thing? The Law of the Jungle is freedom...

Becuase every time something is privately owned it is stolen from collective owenrship. Thus every extension of private property restricts human liberty.