In light of Victoria's local government decision to remove a historical statue because one group wanted that done, it seems like a good time to remind British Columbians that you don't need your government to do everything for you. They may or may not stand for you. Anyone in Victoria, particularly if they have commercial space downtown, can set up a new statue of John A. Macdonald, and they can even make a new plaque detailing the new events in the life of the historical memorial. If ever they move, the statue can be relocated again, and at some point the city may even reinstall it.
discussConsidering the problems we're running into these days with large percentages of our population crippled by mounting debt, what if a 1-year limit was placed on credit card interest? Interest would accumulate every month but after 1 year from the time the amount was credited, no further interest could accumulate on that existing debt. Further debt would have its own 1-year term. This would allow card holders to pay off their debt after which they could borrow again, resulting in less (or no) people crippled with this kind of mounting, long term, stressful and depressing debt, but maintaining profits for lenders.
Credit scores would still be valid, reflecting past debts paid off and outstanding or unmet obligations, but there would be a limit to how far in debt a person could get. Lenders would have to keep this in mind when setting lending limits, so while lending for profit could be continued, lending to make a profit of debt could be reduced.
Of course, inflation would have to be reflected in debt amounts still, but people who had not yet paid off debt would simply have a hard time finding new lenders until they paid their debt, without the compounded social problems we're seeing.
My main question would be for economists and lending business experts: Would this still be viable as a business? since lending is such an important part of an economy. Could lenders still make a good profit from 10 or 20% interest for one year on regular credit borrowing?
discuss this idea specifically (now locked, so anyone who wants to discuss can do so on the regular subreddit: discussWhat should be a crime? What makes something legitimately criminalizeable?
Direct and demonstrable harm. Unless this type of harm is caused, criminalization is unjustifiable. Some things called crimes are not justifiable by this standard and some not called crimes could be.
Examples of direct and demonstrable harm: Crimes of unprovoked force, crimes of trickery, and crimes against individual liberty. Crimes of force include murder, assault, causing a person to do something against their will by threat of harm, destruction of property. Examples of crimes of trickery: Fraud, corruption of the innocent. Crimes against individual liberty: Invasion of privacy. discuss
Does your government make things you want to do easier or harder?
The role of government should be making things easier for the people who pay for government. If you want to do something not directly and demonstrably harmful to others, such as start a business or engage in commerce, go out and have fun or do activities, travel around in your own vehicle or a service vehicle, or enter new fields of study, work, or other pursuits or interests, does your government make these things easier for you, while taxing you for any exchange of money that happens through them as well as adding their own fees? Or does your government make it harder for you to do these things, while taxing you for any exchange of money that happens through them as well as adding their own fees?discuss
You want other people to make money. When they do, they can pay workers; they can spend their money on other things in the community and bring things from outside into the community; their business thrives, and they make it bigger, bringing in more products and services for the community, trying to employ more people, developing new products and services; they can open more businesses, further increasing access to goods and services, new products and tools, employing more people, moving more currency around, requiring nearby supplementary businesses, their ability to succeed in business in a given location means other people also can succeed, so others can begin businesses, competing or not. Business success provides a community with economically happy people and families, more activity, more available currency for other people to receive, better schools and education, higher quality goods, services and tools. discuss
Considering the high and rising rates of income and corporate tax, increasingly displeasing encroachments on human rights, increasing business and other regulations, increasingly problematic family law, limitations on medical services, restrictions on medications and drugs, and lack of fun things to do in many first world countries, I'm curious why other nations don't try to attract the wealthy, educated, or otherwise valuable citizens of nations like ours. Continue reading or discuss
"To the men of other nations, it set forth the absolute fact that verity might be assumed when the Persian of all men spoke." Continue reading or discuss
The other day my sister made a comment that struck me as a good point. Our conversation touched on tokenism in sitcoms, and I said something about how Indians (South Asians, not Native Americans) are probably featured more as token characters recently because they cover the race diversity requirement but also don’t seem to mind racist jokes as much as blacks (who would be candidates for the same roles), which offers the show more to work with. “No, they think they’re hil-arious,” she said. She works with Pakistanis in one of those jobs where no one around her really knows what she does because its some kind of boring paperwork-accounting-processing company, but the one thing we are familiar with is the South Asians she works with, and that their friendship and mostly humor are the bright spots of her days. Continue reading or discuss
Recently, it came to my attention that Somalia had a completely different type of law. It may be the only country in the world that has shown that they “don’t need central government” and was functioning fine. Continue reading or discuss
Those who have been around for the last 3 decades of internet have seen 3 phases. First, in the 90s, when people spoke about the internet with hope, optimism, and pride, as a great tool that would connect all people, improve everyone's lives, access to information, and allow us to reach any person or the world so simply. Continue reading or discuss
These might be unfamiliar to anyone unexposed to the internet before 2005 or so, and may be all-but-forgotten for many others, obscured by the last 10 years of relentless internet development, but before mass social media platforms and amazing business opportunities on the internet, it was largely a collection of websites made by people who were interested in some subject enough to write about it and put it online. Continue reading or discuss