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Gov't regs at their best are well-reasoned and take into account the legitimate concerns of the citizenry for their own safety and well-being and the natural dynamics of the marketplace. At their worst, they are dumb and disrupt both. But most of the regs fall someplace in between.,br>
Yeah, my sediments exactly, again, the "tool rule" applies to regulations too, they can be good, bad or indifferent. In many cases, they are good and need to be in place to protect the general public. I might get into trouble again but not everyone can handle personal responsibility at all times, you have a few that cannot handle it at all, but there are times when somebody falls flat on their face and do need a little help to get up and resume responsibility. Also there are people out there who would take advantage of people when they are down. I'm having a tough time phrasing this exactly the way I want but I think this is the fault of the Libertarian right, the free traders and the "Randroids." The Left I fault for taking it the other way where everything is so regulated, people are strangled and they endorse the idea of hand outs with no accountibility or responsibility attached. In short, we have the death of common sense. I know I get flak from both left and right, so I must be doing something right.

Getting back to Dr. Peter Whybrow, M.D. and psychiatrist, he made an interesting point where we have a Bill of Rights for the individual, maybe we also need a Bill of Rights for societial rights. I'm also a believer that in a functioning society, we are to an extent our brother's keeper, not to the point of giving handouts for non-productive behaviour, but in a way to promote a healthy society by having a hand up when needed, fostering a good economy for all and a strong nation. We are all interlinked at some level, like it or not. Again, I'm thinking as I type, so if this sounds awkward, I might have to clarify myself. All I can say is the old axis of socialism/communism at one end and capitalism on the other is obsolete and as we go into the future, we need to think outside the box on these matters. Dang, I'm starting to sound like R. Buckminster Fuller, noted futurist. B-) I don't agree with him 100% but he did have some good ideas too.

Another thing, I realize that no matter what, there will always be imperfection but I think the idea is that we need to make the system work for the benefit of as many as we can.

I'm also a believer that in a functioning society, we are to an extent our brother's keeper, not to the point of giving handouts for non-productive behaviour, but in a way to promote a healthy society by having a hand up when needed, fostering a good economy for all and a strong nation. We are all interlinked at some level, like it or not. Again, I'm thinking as I type, so if this sounds awkward, I might have to clarify myself. All I can say is the old axis of socialism/communism at one end and capitalism on the other is obsolete and as we go into the future, we need to think outside the box on these matters.

Wise words.

I've been scouring the net and finding a lot of interesting things about Wal Mart. Public opinion is divided as with everything else; I've written four politicians, called the local union (they might call me back, might not) but the lady directed me to an article in the WSJ which I don't know if I can find online or not. She didn't seem to know too much about why our local factories closed.

My little photo essay may have been more on target than I realized as I threw it together.

What I didn't show is that two of those business were clustered, and just across the street is the new, more modern replacement mall with a Home Depot and Starbuck's which we hadn't had before. And the ubiquitous Walgreen's in the prime spot on the corner.

For anyone open-minded enough, you can watch the PBS video online if you have high speed and windows media player (possibly also real player) here:

Watch the full program online - Is Wal*Mart Good for America?