On Dec 24, 12:25 am, Declan Murphy <declan_mur...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Ain't it a great system? At least one state still hasn't completed the
> > vote count for the Senate race. It's 2008 and we still haven't come up
> > with a better system of counting votes than having piles for this
> > person and that person. (and no jokes about having piles)
>
> Most countries still count by hand. Maybe there are more legal
> challenges?
>
In this particular case the margin between the two candidates is very
small (a hundred votes at the moment, I think). I guess there's no
perfect system, and I actually like the way we do it in Tennessee
(early voting at any number of places, not just my 'assigned' poling
station, and it's electronic; took me five minutes from the time I
left my car).

> > It also looks like we've learned nothing from the Japanese situation.
> > I truly believe that if the government had left things alone it all
> > would have worked out. It would've been painful for some, but on the
> > whole I think we would have come out of it okay.
>
> Your faith in unregulated free markets John is somewhat endearing :-)

Actually I am a huge fan of regulation; when I said it would have
worked out, I was planning on Obama re-introducing some regulation
since people/companies have proved time and time again that they're
just plain greedy. That's why I don't like those same corporate types
running the country.

> Actually the boundless optimism that seems part of being Sepponian is
> also somewhat endearing. Unless of course what you mean by "if the
> government had left things alone it all would have worked out", you
> were implying that if a more extension base of underlying regulation
> had been retained, things wouldn't be as dire.
>
That's what I meant. It's sad that you've gotten to know me well
enough to decipher my particular brand of gibberish.

> I would suggest that it was excessive deregulation* that contributed
> to this "financial crisis" and to the liquidity trap the US is already
> in and likely to drag some other economies into.
>
I agree. Some things need to be regulated. I certainly don't want the
government in too many aspects of my life; but I want them to manage
my money (in the form of taxes, etc.) a lot better. And if that means
we have to tell unions to stop demanding so much, then so be it.

John W.