From: cmk@athena.mit.edu (Charles M Kozierok)
Subject: Re: Death of Canada (Was: Death of America)
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Date: Sun, 13 Dec 1992 19:41:07 GMT

In article <1992Dec13.174624.2861@news.columbia.edu> gld@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Gary L Dare) writes:
>cmk@athena.mit.edu (Charles M Kozierok) writes:
>>gld@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Gary L Dare) writes:
>>>
>>>In metro New York, the Bay Area, L.A. and most other well-developed areas
>>>you can ring up US$200-300 in tolls a year; I rang up $5 over two days of
>>>interviews between NYC and Westchester County just outside city limits.
>>
>>you've picked the absolute worst example areas in the whole US.
>
>I've also had similiar experiences in California and in the D.C./
>Virginia/Maryland area.

so what? what percentage of roads in the US are toll roads? 1%?
probably much less. what percentage of roads in canada require
you to drive on them using overtaxed gasoline? 100%. and where does
that money go? into the general fund.


>After having cruised around Western Canada
>in a convertible a few times, I can appreciate the open road ... I'm
>not averse to shifting towards a more user-oriented system using high
>tech collection systems -- being Canadian, I'm stuck on the idea of
>quality of life (-; -- but 'til then, I'll continue to wrinkle my
>nose at medieval toll gates.

what a load of crap.
note to americans: this "quality of life" myth is what is fed to
all productive canadians to make them think the entire US is a filthy
drug-ridden warzone, so that they will stay and send all their money
into the government. i have lived in both places. it is a lie.
cf. the hysterical "if i don't use a toll booth i have to drive
through the south bronx" stuff below.

toll gates are annoying: but so is paying thousands of dollars in
extra taxes so the government can give the money to whoever they
damn well please.

>
>>the bad tolls are in a few specific areas. the ludicrous gas taxes
>>(also very arbitrary, please note) are *everywhere*. the tolls can be
>>avoided. the gas tax cannot.
>
>Fine.  See above.  But also remember that the alternative to a toll road
>in many areas would be passing through, say, the South Bronx ("Bonfire of
>the Vanities" ... need I say more?).

no, please don't say more, if it is as ridiculous as the above.
i say that there are alternatives to using toll roads, and you say
"the alternative is going through the south bronx"? you continue
to use this ludicrous argument style where you attempt to refute
a general statement by providing one extremely limited counter-example
that does nothing but prove the general statement. do you expect anyone
to buy that? i commute to new hampshire. there is a toll at the end.
it can be avoided by driving an extra five minutes. the people are
friendly, the land is beautiful. you don't know what the hell you
are talking about. you are grasping pathetically at straws.

>
>>>We have private businesses, all our doctors are private, we have major
>>>corporations, we have major league sports franchises, people work hard
>>>and struggle to make a living, and try to get ahead.  What bothers
>>>your ideology?  There's too much to point out how Canada is a
>>>capitalist country.
>>
>>compared to the former soviet union it is a capitalist country. compared
>>to the US (as i requested) it is a socialist one. i don't know what you
>>mean about doctors being private -- they seem pretty government-controlled
>>to me. and the fact that people work hard and struggle is irrelevant --
>>they do that more in socialist countries than capitalist ones anyway.
>
>By that token, every other G7 country but the U.S. is a sovietic
>gulag.  (Okay, just kidding! (-;) In another thread, please tell us
>about how our doctors, who have private practices under their own
>names listed in the Yellow Pages and bill insurance on a per-procedure
>cost-based basis or sign contracts to work in public or private
>hospitals, are government controlled.

look, i am not an expert in medical politics. i do know one thing:
the government decides how much doctors are paid. that is an inherent
violation of free enterprise. nothing else justifies it. what are
you going to do when the government decides that "computers are a vital
national industry" and "the cost of developing them has gotten outrageous"
so they "have to do something about it" because "everyone has a right
to them", starting with curtailing the "outrageous salaries paid to
engineers, who will do the job anyway because they love it so much". perversion.

>Our doctors are happy (in fact, disturbingly comfort-
>able from what I've seen in my circles);

would you care to describe what the term "disturbingly comfortable"
means in a free society? are lawyers too? bankers? stock brokers?
professional athletes? entertainers? successful entrepreneurs? etc., etc...

>they get paid every time they
>see someone

it should be some other way? do you get paid for each day you show up
for work?

your comments reveal more than you want them to.

--
charles