Brad Wardell's views about technology, politics, religion, world affairs, and all sorts of politically incorrect topics.
The story of the garden
Published on March 4, 2007 By Draginol In Politics

Once upon a time...

There was a man with a garden. He worked very hard tending his garden and produced far more vegetables than he would ever be able to eat. So he gave some of his vegetables away to up and coming gardeners who used the seeds to start their own gardens in exchange for the gardener getting a tiny percent of the profits they generated.

But then one day, the king decided socialism was a more "humane" way of doing things. He forced all the gardeners to give him all the extra vegetables they made to give out to the "poor".

Because of this, the gardener didn't have any extra vegetables to provide to up and coming gardeners to get them started.

In short order, the number of new gardeners came to a stand still while the population continued to grow even higher since, for now, there was a lot of free food thanks to the socialist king.

But soon after, people began to starve because there was no longer enough food to feed the growing population. The king couldn't understand why and decided he should take more and more food from the "Greedy" gardeners. But the problem only got worse as now no gardeners had enough vegetables to use to plant more crops in their own gardens for next year.

The moral of the story is that it's never a good idea for the government to confiscate from those who are producing things to give to those who are not producing - especially if it interferes with the ability for the producers to produce even more. Because in the end, all the people will suffer as a result.

 


Comments (Page 3)
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on Mar 05, 2007
Most bottled water is just that, plain old city water, drawn from municipal taps and served up as "Aquafina" and the like.


You are simply uninformed on this subject, I don't blame you personally, most people are extremely uninformed about this topic. Some, not most is bottled from city water but only AFTER it is run through either steam distillation or reverse osmosis systems.(99%+ purification processes) Aquafina is a fine example, which is reverse osmosis and ozoone processed with the end result being the most pure water available. It is illegal to bottle tap water straight from the tap, without any major purification (99%+), federal law prohibits bottled water from containing any Chlorine that isn't naturally present in the water and therefore tap water doesn't quality - it would be a federal offense. There really isn't any question among informed sources that our tap water is quite unhealthy, you can find the reports of your own water supply on your city website. Generally, you will find levels of 1-3% of Fecal Matter in end product tap testing, various VOC's, Chlorine, Fluoride and usually a slight amount of toxic Cryptosporidia and Giardia cysts. There has been at least 2 recent major studies that found people that consume fluoridated tap water have much poorer bone structure (including teeth). There has recently been a study that found that cancer rates directly correlate with consuming chlorinated water.

I know this veers off topic, but it gets my goat to see people who are presumeably concerned about their own health and our nation's ecology paying good money for TAP water in PLASTIC bottles, plastic which causes more pollution when it's made, and wastes vital energy resources.


Incorrect as pointed about above. Reverse Osmosis is vastly superior to any other method, either install a RO unit in your home, or drink bottled RO purified water. The former is much cheaper in the long term. But both are vastly more healthy, this isn't even in dispute, the studies are in.

Municipal water supplies in this country are the safest in the world

As are our cancer rates..

For your reference;

Is chlorine harmful?

Chlorine has been used to disinfect municipal water for over 80 years and has had some positive effects on public health. In the 1970s, it was discovered that chlorine, when added to water, forms Trihalomethanes (chlorinated byproducts) by combining with certain naturally occurring organic matter, such as vegetation and algae. In 1992, the American Journal of Public Health published a report that showed a 15% to 35% increase in certain types of cancer in people who consume chlorinated water. This report also stated that many of these effects were due to showering in chlorinated water. The National Cancer Institute estimates cancer risks for people who consume chlorinated water to be 93% higher than for people who do not. The effects of drinking chlorinated water have been debated for decades. However, most experts now agree that there are some significant risks related to consuming chlorine and chlorination byproducts.

"Drinking chlorinated water may as much as double the risk of bladder cancer."
NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE - KENNETH CANTOR

"Scientists discovered that chlorine reacted with organic material in water to produce hundreds of chemical by-products, several of which have proved in animal studies to be carcinogenic."
U.S. NEWS AND WORLD REPORT - JULY 29, 1991

"Drinking tap water that is chlorinated is hazardous if not deadly to your health."
HEALTHY WATER FOR LONGER LIFE - DR. MARTIN FOX

"Known carcinogens are found in drinking water as a direct consequence of the practice of
chlorination"
MUNICIPAL ENVIROMENTAL RESEARCH LAB - FRANCIS T. MAYO, DIRECTOR

"Cancer risk among people drinking chlorinated water is 93% higher than among those whose
water does not contain chlorine."
US COUNCIL OF ENVIROMENTAL QUALITY

"Chlorine is the greatest crippler and killer of modern times. While it prevented epidemics of one
disease, it was creating another. Two decades ago, after the start of chlorinating our drinking
water in 1904, the present epidemic of heart trouble, cancer and senility began."
SAGINAW HOSPITAL - DR J.M. PRICE

The National Academy of Sciences estimate that 200-1000 people die in the United States each year from cancers caused by ingesting the contaminants in water."
SCIENCIES NEWS, VOLUME 130 - JANET RALOFF

"The cause of atherosclerosis and resulting heart attacks and strokes is none other than the
ubiquitous chlorine in our drinking water."
CORONARIES/CHOLESTEROL/CHLORINE - DR. JM PRICE

Chlorine gas was used despicably during WWI. When the war was over, the use of chlorine was diverted to poisoning the germs in our drinking water. All water supplies throughout the country were chlorinated. The combination of chlorine and animal fats results in atherosclerosis, heart attacks and death."
WATER CAN UNDERMINE YOUR HEALTH - DR. N.W. WALKER, D.S.

"48-49 states are failing to adequately enforce existing drinking water regulations."
JAMES ELDER - U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

"Florida had 521 excessive contaminants violations and 5,250 monitoring and reporting violations."
NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL - USA TODAY SEPTEMBER 27, 1993

Even the American Dental Association is starting to speak out against Flouride in water. Not only is Fluoride a PESTICIDE RESIDUE, but ironically enough it is illegal for them to dump it, or expell it in the air, but the FDA doesn't regulate adding it to the water supply. Essentially you are being used as a biological filter for an industrial polutant. It is found that fluoridated water is CAUSING rotted teeth - the biggest irony of all!

http://www.dailynews.com/entertainment/ci_5355306
Drinking fluoridated water may ruin your baby's smile.








on Mar 05, 2007

You are simply uninformed on this subject

No, Informed.  best check out Dasini. Before calling the kettle black.

on Mar 05, 2007
No, Informed. best check out Dasini. Before calling the kettle black.


You make it so easy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dasani

Coca-Cola uses water from local municipal water supplies, filters it using the process of reverse osmosis and adds trace amounts of minerals, including Magnesium sulfate (Epsom salt), Potassium chloride (a sodium-free substitute for table salt), and common salt.

Once again, this is exactly what I said above. Given reverse osmosis is a 99%+ pure method of filtration, it simply would be disingenuous to write it off as "Tap water". That would be akin to saying the feces in your toilet this morning is the same as the $20.00 "Steak" you ate last night ignoring all facts of the processes that took place between the end product and the consumed product. FYI, Reverse Osmosis is hyperfiltration, resulting in removal of 99%+ of organic and inorganic compounds, there simply isn't a more pure method of filtering water generally available.

Once again, as I said above, it is illegal to directly bottle tap water without using a fairly advanced filtration system on it first. It is illegal to bottle water containing non-naturally occuring chlorine such as directly from the tap, and is a violation of federal regulations due to studies showing significant health risks associated with chlorine consumption.
on Mar 05, 2007

Coca-Cola uses water from local municipal water supplies,

Nuff said.  The rest is just hokum.  But buy your snake oil anywhere you want, I will drink the same stuff from the tap for less.

on Mar 05, 2007

That would be akin to saying the feces in your toilet this morning is the same as the $20.00 "Steak" you ate last night

Hey now, that's closer to the truth than I'd like to get!

on Mar 05, 2007

Sure. Having lived as close as it's possible for me to be native (I am, after all, a whitie foreigner) in both cultures I definitely prefer Australia.

It's just when I look at the available and traditional paths to wealth - the kinds of work where 10k a year in savings is a reasonable goal and not 1/3 or more of post-tax salary - all these jobs require 60+ hours a week. I want a better work/life balance than that.

So I'll give up a little wealth later for a little fun while I'm still healthy enough to really enjoy it.

First off, we prefer to refer to you as "white devil" rather than whitie foreigner.

Secondly, if we don't watch Dancing with the Stars, they might get canceled. Are you prepared to risk that?

I think for the people who work 60 hours per week (like I do) that the job has to be part of the fun too.  I mean, I make video games as part of my job. I get paid to do that.

on Mar 05, 2007

As for tap water vs. distilled water, can you guys have that debate elsewhere. It has nothing to do with what we're talking about.

on Mar 06, 2007
Maybe Brad should have used crayons, then some folks might "get it".


I want the blue one!!!
on Mar 07, 2007
I don't think many people, while lying on their death bed, look back at their lives and say "Gee, I wish I had made more money." I do, however, think many of them look back and say..."I wish I had spent more time with my loved ones."

I absolutely agree with this statement.


As the child of a father who was always, and I mean ALWAYS working, (even when he was at home he was most often found at his desk, deeply involved in some sort of 'work' or another) I can easily say that for all the material comforts his efforts provided (we always had a nice house, good cars, exciting vacations) I'd trade them all today for a little more of his attention growing up.

Agreed again. My dad wasn't "There" as much as I wanted him to be, and even when he was home, he seemed to be thinking about work and talking about it. I wouldn't subject my kids to that kind of life, I started to be that way years ago then took a step back and realized I was starting to be just like my father. He was a good dad, don't get me wrong, but he wasn't there like he should have been.

With that being said, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to be "Rich", and it certainly doesn't take a brain surgeon to be a "Millionaire" at retirement! My family lives very very comfortably, we have 3 kids, my wife works a mere 36 hours a week part time making a fantastic income (by any standard of measurement). I am already basically retired at 37 and just take care of the kids and house and do contract work when I feel like it for great money from a home office (on my time, without anyone telling me what to do, and no time clocks to punch). We don't do stupid stuff like have expensive car payments, high insurance, credit card debt, or eat out 5 days a week or whatever. Yet as I said, we live VERY comfortable on very very little money and have many comforts people would envy - 50% of the money we make goes immediately into investments/savings.. Yet with that in mind, our kids already have college funds, we have our retirements growing with weekly additions, our investments are performing very well, and we are growing wealth with very little to no work. Right now, using Dave Ramseys formula, we'll have about $8,000,000.00 at the age of 60. (far more than we'd ever need)

Its all about how you play the game and manage your life. I know people that make more, but have less, and have much more debt. They drive fancy expensive cars, have high consumption lifestyles and more debt than they care to admit. Those people will be working until the day they die. They look like millionaires but they aren't by a long shot, they just live the "Image".
on Mar 07, 2007

~decides to play the devil's advocate for a moment~

I don't think many people, while lying on their death bed, look back at their lives and say "Gee, I wish I had made more money."

I do, however, think many of them look back and say..."I wish I had spent more time with my loved ones."

As the child of a father who was always, and I mean ALWAYS working, (even when he was at home he was most often found at his desk, deeply involved in some sort of 'work' or another) I can easily say that for all the material comforts his efforts provided (we always had a nice house, good cars, exciting vacations) I'd trade them all today for a little more of his attention growing up.

Even in his retirement, the man is driven, involved in condo associations, church finances and assisting their neighbor Steffie in everything from tax preparation to hiring contractors, and nine times out of ten, when I call home, he passes the phone off to my mother immediately...because he's busy 'working.'

He's seventy-two years old. Work is a hard habit to break.

There's a myth here that people just don't understand: Wealthy people usually have MORE time.

Hollywood tends to distort reality to the point where what they portray is believed to be real.

For instance, in the movies, nerds are clueless and unsophisticated and easily fooled by the "cool people". But in real life, yea, nerds "get it".  As a nerdy kind of a guy, it always annoyed me to see someone "subtlely" insult me at a party thinking that, as a nerdy guy, I wouldn't get it because I might be "book smart" but I wasn't "street wise" which was such ridiculous bullshit.

I know quite a few entrepreneurs and time and time again what hits me is how much more time they spend enjoying life and spending time with their families than most people do.

The difference is this: The successful business guy spends an extra hour or two a day at work over the average person but in return generates so much more income that they don't lose their weekends doing anything they dn't want to do. They don't spend their evenings doing anything they don't want to do. They get quality and quantity.

Sure, some guy might say "But people like to come home every night and spend hours working on their basesments" (rather than just hiring it out). And if that's really the case, good for them. But I don't think I've ever met anyone who could honestly say that they LIKE painting their walls or putting up dry wall or fixing the plumbing themselves. 

But if they do like to spend hours and hours doing grunt work around the house, fine, they like it. Meanwhile, I'll hold my baby daughter in my arms while someone else is edging my yard or trimming the bushes or whatever.

on Mar 07, 2007

With that being said, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to be "Rich", and it certainly doesn't take a brain surgeon to be a "Millionaire" at retirement! My family lives very very comfortably, we have 3 kids, my wife works a mere 36 hours a week part time making a fantastic income (by any standard of measurement). I am already basically retired at 37 and just take care of the kids and house and do contract work when I feel like it for great money from a home office (on my time, without anyone telling me what to do, and no time clocks to punch). We don't do stupid stuff like have expensive car payments, high insurance, credit card debt, or eat out 5 days a week or whatever. Yet as I said, we live VERY comfortable on very very little money and have many comforts people would envy - 50% of the money we make goes immediately into investments/savings.. Yet with that in mind, our kids already have college funds, we have our retirements growing with weekly additions, our investments are performing very well, and we are growing wealth with very little to no work. Right now, using Dave Ramseys formula, we'll have about $8,000,000.00 at the age of 60. (far more than we'd ever need)

Its all about how you play the game and manage your life. I know people that make more, but have less, and have much more debt. They drive fancy expensive cars, have high consumption lifestyles and more debt than they care to admit. Those people will be working until the day they die. They look like millionaires but they aren't by a long shot, they just live the "Image".

I think we can all agree on that.

It doesn't really take much to make a lot of money. That's the thing that's often frustrating is that people simply choose not to do the things that will make them financially secure.

Money is just a tool. What people choose to do with that tool is up to them.

Unfortunately, most people do do stupid stuff like eat out 5 days a week or squander their money on cars (I have an expensive car but only because it's a lease which I can write off) and don't take advantage of 401Ks or IRAs or whatever.

What I prefer to do is use that money to purchase time. Time doing things I want to do like having fun with my kids and wife and going to interesting places. And I purchase that time in the sense that I hire others to do things tha tthey can do better than me and I wouldn't want to do anyway (home repair or lawn maintainence or messing with cars, etc.).

on Mar 07, 2007
Most people are a bit or too much too lazy to go the extra effort, even for themselves. I.e. working that 9th or 10th hour in an 8 hour day. They may look at house work as that 9th or 10th hour otherwise. Like you said Brad if you worked that 9th or 10th hour and made the rate you make on that, you could invest that and make plenty of return on the interest to supplement weekends or throw a party, or dump it into a bank for a rainy day, say when you are ready to retire. It's why I work a 12 hour day, 4 days a week and 8 on Friday. Only about 9 of those hours each day are "for the man" the other 3 are mine. I figure doing this I can either relax and go with a 40 hour work week when I turn 35 or a reduced one of 25-30 hours by age 40 or retire by the time I am 45. It would be real cool to flip that around and make it so I'm working 9 a day for myself and none or just a few for somebody else, but that will come in time.

That would be nice huh, retired by 45. Can build lots of sandcastles at the beach at 45 I bet.
on Mar 07, 2007
But I don't think I've ever met anyone who could honestly say that they LIKE painting their walls or putting up dry wall or fixing the plumbing themselves.

I love working around the house myself. Sure our house has largely been gutted and remodelled by professionals over the last few years. But I still enjoy tinkering around and doing this, painting is something I enjoy. Some people knit socks, some people play MMO's, some people like to paint or rewire a lamp, or whatever. Everyone is different, but to say nobody actually LIKES doing this stuff just isn't true.

Unfortunately, my parents, coming from desperately poor backgrounds (my maternal grandfather was an alcoholic ditch-digger with seven kids and my paternal grandfather was a coal miner...'nuff said) they are both so frugal by nature I don't think they ever really learned how to enjoy their money. Hire a landscaper? Wasteful! Pay someone to do oil changes and basic auto repair? Sacrilege! Order anything but the very cheapest dish on the menu when we went out to eat? Better not, the eating out is the treat itself, not what you eat, so get the chicken, damnit. And ice water to drink. No sense in paying a buck and a half for a glass of fountain soda when you can buy a 2-liter bottle for that and have soda when you get home!


I am this way with a lot of things, but not because I am poor (quite the opposite), but because it is fun to be frugal. Why be wasteful? We live in a society of waste, everyone around is squanders everything they have and wastes money like they only plan to live 20 years or something. To say they aren't "Enjoying" their money or lives is pretty ridiculous of a claim. This is what they CHOOSE to do, and for them, this is how they WANT to be.

I am sure some people think it is ridiculous I mow my lawn with a $115.00 manual engineless reel mower when I could just hire someone for $65 a week to do it. (They pay $21,000.00 over 10 years to have their lawn cut, I pay $115 over 10 years for the same cut) Or how I shop at very specific places to get the best deals with the best refund policies. Or how I buy organic meat half a cow at a time to pay $2.80 a pound for the best meat you'd ever taste when I could go to whole foods and pay $12.00 a pound for the same stuff. Or maybe how I have a VOIP phone in the home that has saved me $4500.00 over the last 5 years in phone bills - and all of that savings has been earning 8% interest. Or how I call my cable company every 6 months and threaten to cancel to get 80% knocked off my bill for another 6 months. Etc... Etc....

There is a difference in being "Smart Cheap" and "Stupid Cheap". Someone that drives 8 extra miles to a different gas station to save 3 cents a gallon is stupid cheap. Someone that buys a Costco Membership to get gas 10-30cents a gallon cheaper at the local Costco gas station is smart-cheap. Often people with high consumption lifestyles think they are taking the high road, and looking down at the guy below with contempt. What they don't realize is that often, the people they are looking down on are already millionaires in their 30's and have vastly more wealth than they ever will - and the *TIME* to enjoy it because they grow money.

little-whip, your parents understand how to grow wealth, when you want to grow wealth every dime counts. Anyone wise to the ways of millionaires will tell you what they are doing is actually very smart. They aren't suffering, seriously, is having a water at dinner instead of a coke suffering or is it actually healthier and makes more sense financially? This is how you grow wealth, the "Latte Factor" is a well published methodoloy you can research. We're frugal in this household, but I already explained we live incredibly good - far better than most people we know - because we are at the stage where our money is working for us for the most part. If someone asked me right now if I found 5 million dollars on the ground I could keep, what would I do with it? I would toss it in the bank, we need nothing we don't already have - doesn't sound like suffering to me!


on Mar 07, 2007

I love working around the house myself. Sure our house has largely been gutted and remodelled by professionals over the last few years. But I still enjoy tinkering around and doing this, painting is something I enjoy. Some people knit socks, some people play MMO's, some people like to paint or rewire a lamp, or whatever. Everyone is different, but to say nobody actually LIKES doing this stuff just isn't true.

I said *I* don't know anyone who does. I didn't say nobody actually likes doing it. If someone wants to paint their walls themselves or fix cabinetry, then good for them.

The point is that having money gives people the option on what to spend their time on.

I am sure some people think it is ridiculous I mow my lawn with a $115.00 manual engineless reel mower when I could just hire someone for $65 a week to do it.

I don't think that's ridiculous at all. I used to mow the lawn with one like that too. Good excercise, out in the sun. No noise.  BTW I pay $25 per week for my lawn to be mowed.

I stopped doing it mainly because I'm lazy and just found other things I preferred to do.

There is a difference in being "Smart Cheap" and "Stupid Cheap". Someone that drives 8 extra miles to a different gas station to save 3 cents a gallon is stupid cheap. Someone that buys a Costco Membership to get gas 10-30cents a gallon cheaper at the local Costco gas station is smart-cheap. Often people with high consumption lifestyles think they are taking the high road, and looking down at the guy below with contempt. What they don't realize is that often, the people they are looking down on are already millionaires in their 30's and have vastly more wealth than they ever will - and the *TIME* to enjoy it because they grow money.

I agree and frankly, people who look their nose down at others based on ones accumulation of material things are to be pitied IMO.

Differnet people have different philosophies. I use money to purchase time. Other people use it to purchase figurines. To each their own.

Getting back to the original article, what I don't like is someone tryign to say that the government can spend money they've confiscated from people better than the peopel who first earned it.

I prefer to see government work on projects that only governments could do. Only the government, for instance, could realistically build an interstate road system. I like the government keeping our food and medicine safe. I like the government providing a common defense. 

But taking the money away from the people who have demonstrated a knack for creating wealth to give it to people who have proven that they simply consume is not good for a society IMO.

on Mar 08, 2007
But taking the money away from the people who have demonstrated a knack for creating wealth to give it to people who have proven that they simply consume is not good for a society IMO.


If somebody's spending it, (those 'simply consume' types you mentioned), then somebody must be making it, (probably one of those 'knack for creating wealth' types you referred to). Seems like the balance is maintained anyway.

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