Isn't it ironic that

[eppie]

The problem is that once people begin to accept being fed at the trough of government, they forget how to hunt for themselves.

Again you mistake my proposal for communism.

We need people to be self sufficient, and not dependent on the trough. If the choice is a zero hour work week and 1/2 salary, or 40 hour work week and full salary, I can tell you that people will opt for the dole every time.

You see things too black and white. Do you think somebody that is such a bad example of a human being that wants to sit on his ass to get haf a salary would certainly become a hero if the government takes away his income? No he would problem become a burglar, a drug dealer or an investment banker.
Your example of 1/2 a salary does not make sense because even in Holland a single mother with small child living on welfare does not have a great life in terms of spending money. And I have 0 possibility to think that people would choose for that 'deal' if they were able to find a normal job. And if I was that single mother on welfare reading your post I would be very insulted.

In my State, over 50% of the people here work for some form of government. The other 50% of workers already support them, and the social system.

Because their work is of no use you mean???? Too black and white again, and on the edge of insulting.

I'm in support of a safety net that keeps people from homelessness and starvation, and propels them back into the work force. Even many of those with disabilities can find some productive use for their time.

I agree, and I never stated anywhere that I think otherwise. I am not for 'giving away money for nothing'.

The purpose of Capitalism in my opinion is to allow the market to determine what "valuable" means when it comes to the use of labor and capital investment, rather than some bureaucrat.

This has been discussed here before, and I stand by my opinion then.
The form of capitalism today finds investment bankers, photomodels, britney spears and professional athletes the most valuable people......this is of course NOT a basis for a sound economy.

How do you moderate greed motives? How does this jive with your statement "you will always have people trying to profit"? Do you want your government to restrain that quest for profit?

Sorry for the incorrect sentence. I mean the goverment should make sure these greed motives can be realized to the extreme. In the society in the west today it was seen as positive to be as greedy as possible; lend as much as you can, don't study but try to be a good basketballplayer because you will be rich, play with other peoples money and get very rich and if you screw up we will bail you out etc.

We have very different ideas about what "freedom" means. The best way to enslave a person is to keep them impoverished and dependent on the masters benevolence.

The more social countries in europe like denmark and sweden are also among the richest, most productive and happy places. It is not like soviet russia here, people drive big cars, makes lots of money etc.....the only thing we do is pay a little more tax.

The idealism of "all for one and one for all" is great for herding the masses into a paddock of tyrannical dominion. History has shown repeatedly that once a population is so cowed, it becomes the next simple thing to eliminate any threat to the fence or silence any voice of dissent. Go back and reread "Animal Farm" by Orwell. I believe the concept of egalitarian utopia is unrealizable in a world where any one person can obliterate a city with the press of a button. It might work at the scale of a kibbutz, but at a national level, there are too many Berkshire boars ready to kick the eppie Snowballs off the farm.

Again you are talking to me as if I was proposing a new maoist state.....which I was not.

And poor Orwell, he would turn around in his grave when he could here all those people using his books as an argument against communism.