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Old 02-07-2014, 05:11 PM   #71 (permalink)
Xist
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Wow. Page seven is entirely between my esteemed colleagues, Arragonis and Frank Lee. I was catching up on sleep after pulling an all-nighter, trying to cram for two tests, at the VA, and then trying to make another deadline.

Ah. Right. I interrupted it with this. Hmm...

I do not know how much I could have contributed, though. I think that once again, the problem is distribution. When I found and read about water.org, they said they had twenty times as much success digging wells when communities requested aid than when they initiated contact. Also, I think that helping people works better when the time, money, and resources (money) are freely given, instead of taxed.

Again, P-hack said that the world does not want to be saved.

Does the problem come down to the oversimplified social equation of:

Sex = kids

?

Frank Lee, do you have a problem with a millionaire having three or more children?

Do you have a problem with me spawning three or more, as long I support them myself, without asking or accepting help from the government or elsewhere?

Honestly, I am glad that we have differences of opinions, as long as we try to hold civilized discussions, and I accept responsibility for bringing up something that, as was pointed out, is political. Whether or not I am actually trying to figure out how to save the world, or whether I could ever do anything about it, we are discussing huge issues, and they are hugely complicated.

Solutions usually have downsides. Medications have side effects. If the side effects outweigh the benefits, they are not treatments.

So, $100 billion funding vasectomies in third-world countries?

I will add that I read an article the other day stating that reducing populations leave fewer people to support the elderly, and it explained how much of the overall expense of medical costs go to senior citizens.

My dad dropped by yesterday to do me a favor. He has run his own business for several years and has all but run out of clients. He believes in what he is doing more than almost anything. I mentioned this discussion to him and he talked about the specific population that he has been trying to help and their lack of education, training, and jobs. Almost any work done there requires bringing outside people and there are not any small businesses so that money stayed in the community.

They are going to rely on social security. My brother is autistic and my parents would not be able to take care of him without social security. I have posted here before about different efforts to help out my parents. Part of my motivation to do well in school is that I want to figure out how to help my parents retire. Maybe that is as feasible as saving the world for $100 billion, but I am going to do what I can, and I am going to start by getting back to my schoolwork.