Re: Alarum!

On Jul 6, 7:42 pm, "Peter Jason" <p...@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
"William Black" <william.bl...@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
messagenews:h2t92k$ckd$8@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx



David H Singanas wrote:

On Jul 5, 5:14 am, William Black
<william.bl...@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Peter Jason wrote:
I heard on the news today that the population of Cairo
is
reaching unmanageable levels.  The vast swell of
people is
increasing by about 1million per year, and that the
erection
of slums is quite uncontrolled, and these are built
with the
dwellings so close together that cars and trucks
cannot
enter the narrow walkways.  Clearly a population bomb
is
about to go off.

Bombay's been growing at that rate for years and is,
when you count the
suburbs, now over four times the population of Cairo.

And it has been growing in much the same way.

A vast and on-going influx of illiterates with low skill
levels who live
in slums.

What stops Bombay exploding is that India is a democracy
and EVERYONE
gets to vote,  so the huge number of slum dwellers get
influence
commensurate with their numbers.

These vast cities have no system of welfare payments and
very little in
the way of social services.  Nobody goes there if
they're a pauper to
sponge off the state.

They go to the cities because that's where the work
is...

Cairo's problems stem not from the size of the city's
population but from
its tyrannical system of government.  Look at the
Wikipedia entries for
both cities.  Cairo,  not a mention of how the place is
governed,
Bombay,  the city administration has a page of its
own...

--
William Black

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yet still and all Obama and Clinton did right to duck
Egyptian
internal
politics. during their recent visits.  Since the US no
longer has  the
means to bankroll "peaceful change" overseas,  it's best
not to bring
up
issues requiring dollar solutions.

All they have to do is wait.

All tyrannies carry with them the seeds of their own
destruction.

The problem is that sometimes what replaces the tyranny is
another tyranny,
but I remain convinced that in the end democracy will
triumph.

--
William Black

Democracy has been 'triumphant' in India for some time.

Yet Ghandi could do nothing with the Muzzies who Jinnah took
off to Pakistan, raise the poverty of most of the people,
remove the caste system and wipe out child labour.

Democracy requires a certain universal education level, and
this really means compulsory education for children, which
in itself is not very democratic.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It remains a puzzle to most of the world why democracy works so
well in the West and why it cannot be successfully exported to the
East
and Middle East except in the rare instances of India and Japan.

There are so many factors that it is hard to select one main factor
that
makes democracy the best agent for capital formation. I will have to
place the bet on "orderly and frequent transfers of power" as the
principal
ingredient of material progress. China leads the world when it comes
to
frequent, orderly changes in leadership. Since the fall of Maoist
gangs,
the Central Committee in China has been for the most part democratic.

"Violent transfer of power" is the downfall of most nondemocratic
systems.
Violence paralyzes commerce, scares off investment, and perpetuates
corruption , tyranny, and stagnation.

The United States can perpetually "bounce back" from economic
disasters
due to the frequent and orderly electoral process and of course to an
economically secure majority of inhabitants. Even at the depths of the
Great Depression, 75% of the populace was employed and provided the
safety net for the 25% who were standing in breadlines and soup
kitchens.

David H
~~~~~~~~~~~
.

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