Ray, (REH) <<<< A good idea is one thing but it may never be practical and that is what I believe both you and Keith are dealing with in your pursuit of your ideal. >>>>
My "ideal"? I can't speak for Harry, but I don't have much time these days for ideals. I used to when I was young, but then I've realised over a lifetime that "good" people with ideals get one (and often whole populations) into a deal of trouble. The last idealist movement of note was, I suppose the Khymer Rouge led by its quietly spoken agrarian reformer by the name of Pol Pot. It's been only 27 years since he was able to start to put his reforms into practice in Cambodia. Result? One of the larger genocides of history -- somewhere between 1.5 and 2 million skulls were stacked up floor to ceiling in Buddhist monasteries, classrooms and the like. (REH) <<<< Where is there a sustainable economy in the capitalist free market mode that has lasted 100 years? 200? 500? 1000? 2000? or as long as the Egyptians 4000? >>>> Ochres, flints and probably special woods have been traded along routes of hundreds of miles' length in Europe and Asia from at least 35,000BC and very possibly before that. The free market mode has been operating whenever governments did not interfere with it. I suppose the Sumerian authorities were the first who started to tax and control trade (the Iraq-Afghanistan trade route -- grain, wood, lapis lazuli, silver) -- so that means the first episode of free trade lasted for something like 30,000 years. Keith Hudson ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------ Keith Hudson, General Editor, Handlo Music, http://www.handlo.com 6 Upper Camden Place, Bath BA1 5HX, England Tel: +44 1225 312622; Fax: +44 1225 447727; mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ________________________________________________________________________
