Nice People Thread No. 14, all Nice and Proper

Nikkster

GDB2222 wrote: »

The news is depressing. The weather is depressing. The days are getting shorter. I feel like Eeyore.

I can heartily recommend unicorn slippers.

GDB2222

Nikkster wrote: »

I can heartily recommend unicorn slippers.

:T

Thanks. That's a great idea.

Generali

Weird weather here today. 23C and very humid with a grey, grey sky.

It's one of the days we get here, I suspect, that if it rains things just get worse as it just gets even more humiderer.

The Boy is off playing cricket today leaving me at home to clean and tidy. I love having the house to myself.

GDB2222

Generali wrote: »

Weird weather here today. 23C and very humid with a grey, grey sky.

It's one of the days we get here, I suspect, that if it rains things just get worse as it just gets even more humiderer.

The Boy is off playing cricket today leaving me at home to clean and tidy. I love having the house to myself.

We have sleet forecast for tomorrow. Plus a yellow warning of wind.

zagubov

Generali wrote: »

Yeah, maybe.

I'm not sure that it's even possible to Google it any more but the basic problem with Nationalised Industries back in the day was what was known as marginal cost pricing. It almost ensured that at least in theory all Nationalised Industries would make a cash flow loss. That's not my prejudice but baked into the theory.

Add to that the fact that with a Nationalised Industry it is relatively simple for a single union to stop all coal production or rail provision and so can capture very high wages and job security under almost all conditions for their staff (drunken tube drivers anyone?) perhaps it is unsurprising that Nationalised Industries were terrible.

Capitalism and private enterprise works best under conditions of creative destruction and that needs a ruthless application of profit and loss. Capitalism has brought us unparalleled increases in living standards and health care.

I worry that like tram systems and antibiotics, nationalised industries will turn out to be a missed opportunity that we threw away. Let's hope private industries deliver more wealth around the country than they remove and live up to the trust we're placing in them.

I wish there really was an -ism that can perfectly meet our needs. I doubt it's the system we've got now, but nothing else appears to be on offer.

zagubov

On the brighter side, keep reading that my new car would be able to handle winter weather, which feels like it's on its way.

Wish it was as economical in petrol as its official claims. Now I find everybody reviewing it online saying it never matches the published fuel economy. I always find these reviews too late:(

Nikkster

GDB2222 wrote: »

:T

Thanks. That's a great idea.

I'm almost certain they won't help with world peace but they definitely me feel more like tigger than eeyore.

Generali

zagubov wrote: »

I worry that like tram systems and antibiotics, nationalised industries will turn out to be a missed opportunity that we threw away. Let's hope private industries deliver more wealth around the country than they remove and live up to the trust we're placing in them.

I wish there really was an -ism that can perfectly meet our needs. I doubt it's the system we've got now, but nothing else appears to be on offer.

Churchill came up with a good quote, as always, on the matter:

The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.

With my economics hat on, the way I see it is that in general terms you can have a more equal society where everyone is poorer or a less equal one where everyone except perhaps the very poorest 0.5-1% are richer.

The poorest 10% in the UK have a higher average income before welfare subsidies than the richest 10% in China IIRC (it might be 20%s not 10%s). How did that happen? Centuries of the benefits that accrue from capitalism.

Think about how the poorest people lived in the UK 60 years ago. Probably with no indoor toilet or bathroom, almost certainly no central heating, no double glazing, spending probably a third of their money on food (60 years ago the average family spent well over a quarter of their money on food), probably no TV or washing machine or car, unlikely to live long enough to retire, any serious disease likely to tip them into a situation of absolute poverty, probably 3 sets of clothes, few if any books or toys for the kids. That was the story of the childhood of both of my parents so this isn't some sort of ivory tower ideal, that was the reality of life as a very poor person in the 1950s.

The life of everyone but especially of the very poorest has improved immeasurably since then and those benefits have almost exclusively been driven by the profit motive.

Generali

PasturesNew wrote: »

It's officially cold....I've turned my heating on for an hour.

Brrrr. I'm a shocker over here with the heating. If it was up to me we simply wouldn't use it, perhaps just have a fire in a stove on a really cold evening.

Generali

PasturesNew wrote: »

30 minutes' heating turned out to be enough .. just moved the thermostat slowly until it clicked, so not full on. Just had an edge that needed taking off.

I've no idea what the temperature is. Thermostat's in the hallway, where the radiator's turned off .... but it was probably about 15-16 degrees or so and I probably turned the heating on to 16-17.

Can't go mad with it ....

If Mrs Generali had her way the house would be 25C in the winter and 18C in the summer.