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Subject: 
Re: From Harry Browne
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.off-topic.debate
Date: 
Wed, 8 Nov 2000 19:05:11 GMT
Viewed: 
557 times
  
In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Scott Arthur writes:
Personally, I quite happy to be a member of
society, and contribute to it passively and actively.

So am I. And I think my contributions, allocated by me, are more effective
than yours, allocated by bureaucrats.

More effective in reaching your goals, perhaps. As for those of greater
society, I doubt it.

That really depends on how much of your money that is taken from you
actually gets used to "benefit" people.  Do you think that any large
percentage of 1/3 of your income actually produces results?  If so, I have a
couple of bridges you might be interested in.

I would be willing to wager that no more than one third of what your
government takes from you actually manages to work its way through all the
layers of bureaucrats and departments and kickbacks and contracts awarded to
golf buddies, etc, to get to the "society" you think it is helping.  We
spend a fortune on education in this country - and yet our teachers (for the
most part) make next to nothing.

You can choose to feel satisfied that you're getting your money's worth, but
I know I'm not.  At least when I give money on my own to a charity I have
the ability to investigate the charity's efficiency.  I get no choice with
government pork programs.

I give regularly to a local rescue ministry in Knoxville - usually a few
times a year, but always around the holidays.  They send me a flier and tell
me how much each good meal costs them, and I send them a check to cover 100
of them.  I can guarantee you my money in that case is being put to use in a
MUCH more efficient "kind" way than anything the government takes from me to
funnel into our fraud-ridden welfare system.



Message is in Reply To:
  Re: From Harry Browne
 
I'm not going to reply to most of this, as I doubt we'd ever really reach a consensus. It really comes down to what your life is about: 1. Being a part of society 2. Or the accumulation of personal wealth. If you with the best way to succeed in life (...) (24 years ago, 8-Nov-00, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)

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