Claire it's good to hear from you. I was only wondering a couple of days ago where you might be and I guessed on vacation. Wrong!!

James you have become more liberal while you have been in the land of the beach. The sun must have got to you.  There you are telling all of us that we have to take revenge if you are killed by a monster but there you are writing articles about it instead of shooting the surf in Australia reaping revenge on the said monsters.

You need to get those sharp teeth set into the sharks and not discuss the eco-freaks.  Don't let journalism keep you from your life's mission.

Running the math it doesn't make any difference (simplistically) to the spending reduction if the salaries are reduced by 5% or 5% are layed off.

Using the UK as an example the lay offs were focused on QUANGO reduction. Then middle managers as it was felt (correctly in my limited opinion) that they would not be missed. After that it is a case of thinning out the employees so fewer are cruising.

A big bonus with laying people off is that they are mostly highly qualified people who can gain new employment and start producing tax dollars by working in the productive sectors. 

The rate at which these changes will occur in the UK was planned to take 5 years from 2010. It now expected to take 7 years. This period is likely to grow as global (EU) uncertainty continues.

85% of the doctors now practicing in the UK were trained outside of the European Union.

I found this document on the web.

I quote "The NHS currently employs around 30 per cent of nurses and doctors from black and minority ethnic (BME*) groups with approximately 30 per cent of doctors and 40 per cent of nurses born outside the UK."

Note that is 30% of doctors born outside of the UK not outside of the EU.

Also where they won't build reservoirs to alleviate the water shortatage because there won't be enough rain to fill them. Then when the floods came and the Greens went very quiet.

Also discuss the conflating of "The Green Movement" with a political party rather than people who are interested in ecology.

It also has to be remembered that you are in Australia where each State has built a desalination plant but can't run it because of the amount of energy it would use. 

Why would there be a black market in Europe, which has socialized medicine?

European governments provide free health care to everybody… don’t they?

Answer No. They say they provide the same health care to everyone.

85% of the doctors now practicing in the UK were trained outside of the European Union.

I'm not sure which UK you are talking about but I doubt it is true of the one I live in. What is the source for that statement?

Please,  please do not even in jest suggest that Europe has a leader.

Paul A Rahe

Just when I thought you were going to make an intellectual leap you fizzed out by creating a quiz . Let me try.

With the coming revolution in payments being made by cell/smart phone it is not a problem to have multiple currencies in the US. Each state could have its own (and only be legal tender within that state) and the greenback could also circulate.  The exchange rates would be set by the markets and on the basis of Greshams's Law (bad money drives our good) in the loser states people will mostly do business in the state's currency. Whereas in the winner states people will do business mostly in the greenback. 

As an aside the US hasn't devalued against the Aussie. The Aussie has appreciated worldwide on the back of commodity prices.

(Continued from above)

So what am I trying to say? We can see that things have got to where they are because it fits the culture of the country. But cultures change albeit very slowly.

I feel that neither a socialised nor a private health insurance system is appropriate. There will have to be some other system which merges them both. I have read bits and pieces about the Singapore system which uses the idea of health lockers. Citizens get money put in and the citizens spend it. They can top it up if they want better care and if they haven't used much during their life they can have a great old age. I don't have the details and maybe this is something which Ricochet could try to discuss rather than continue the sterile private/socialized argument which achieves so little.

BTW The UK has an NHS and also a very vibrant private healthcare sector. Some of you might have heard of Harley Street for instance.

Gosh where do I start?

My view is I like socialized medicine because it attempts to provide a reasonable level of benefits for everyone. The reason I don't like it is for the same reason.  The reason I like private medicine is that it allows some people to fund the level they want and I don't like it for the same reason.

Let's get back to France.  Calling everyone a socialist in France is silly.  They like dirigism, rule from the top. Some are socialist and others are not.

How did they get there? Nations try to maintain their original constructions. Louise XV1 was an autocratic ruler who ran the show. The French like that and expect their government to do the same.

The US likes having a president who was modelled on George III. The states like their governors and are a left over from the colonial days. The citizens of California ignore their governor and spend and don't tax which is how the colonialists treated their governors (quite rightly I hear you say).

(Continued)

John Maynard Smith said something like "The problem is there are many people who are highly trained in one subject who think they know a lot about everything".

I've just read 3 pages of comments and I do not know where to start contributing. There are so many great ideas and great Ricocheters behind them.

Thanks everyone.

No way.  College football is as American as apple pie. OK Apple pie isn't American but that doesn't alter a thing. If the colleges can't afford it then get the faculty to cut their wages. There's plenty of Asians and Eastern Europeans who can do their jobs. If the faculty don't like it then they can go get a real job.

This is one third of the issue about how will the three great labor intensive industries of education, health and government adapt to the changing world.

Sticking to the task of looking at the extinction of universities I would say it will not happen. But they will change. My expectation is there will be a convergence of many technologies to provide a changing, more enriching, and more affordable experience.  

Lectures: I expect providers of a series of on-line lectures to emerge around which a course can be constructed.  

Tutorials: I expect tutorials to become more one on one. This will be achieved by using Skype type technologies and not necessarily using in house professors.

Fraternizing: Universities will organize week long meets of students to undertake academic and team building activities.

Networking: The concept of Skype will mean that students and faculty can continue to network long after the degree is completed.

Ricochet: This website will start the trend by organizing learning experiences along the lines of the above utilizing their network of Ricocheters to get things moving.

An open learning experience is provided in the UK 

I guess it'll get fixed tomorrow.  it is Sunday and this is a conservative site and all that...