Quote from: Dingo Ate My Drugs on April 24, 2013, 11:17 amAustralia is very lucky that we have lots of natural resources and that is why the economy has grown well in the past, but this won't last forever and it is already slowing. Once it starts to slow a bit more and the Government debt gets even higher, the country will be fucked - it will be like Detroit. I agree that there will be riots, etc. However I think this will happen in a lot of countries. I'm not saying it will be World War 3, but in my opinion there will be a lot of political disruption in a lot of countries around the world in 5 - 20 years time.Also, +1.I wish I could meet some of the people on here in real-life. Think how well we'd get along! Pine, chaosforpeace and many, many more who I can't remember the usernames to right now.Alas, impossible.Quote from: Dingo Ate My Drugs on April 24, 2013, 11:17 amIt would be good if the majority of the population who are clueless and dim can stay where they are and continue being "protected" by the Government.And those of us who do not wish to be protected can go and start our own country which will given us supreme freedom and rights. A country that has no leader. Instead every citizen would have equal leadership. That country would thrive and the people living there would be happy. Think about how many things there are to worry about these days. There are so many things that people spend their lives worrying and stressing about. How they will afford to pay off their mortgage because the average house price in Australia is nearly $500,000. No housing boom lasts forever. And when the bust comes, hey! Super cheap property! Everybody is always "they're not making more of it [land] anymore" and other bullshit that passes for economic wisdom, until they're practically giving houses away. The key thing is to wait it out and be patient.Quote from: Dingo Ate My Drugs on April 24, 2013, 11:17 amWorrying if they were speeding past that speed camera on the way home from their 12 hour day at work. Worrying about getting caught walking home with 1/4 of weed or a gram of speed. Everything that we worry about diminishes our happiness and that is why so many people have anxiety and depression. And the way they fix these problems is with prescription pills which have side effects. so they get more prescription pills, etc. I know someone who has depression and anxiety and they were prescribed xanax. That made them lethargic, hungry and put on weight, which made them even more depressed. So they were given phentermine (a type of amphetamine used for weight-loss). That made them not able to sleep at night, so their xanax dose was made higher. After several months they had to stop the phentermine because they can only prescribe it for a certain amount of time. Then they put on more weight and got more depressed and were put on a second type of anti-depressant. It only got worse - Prescription pills are given out like candy. Pills do not fix problems. They temporarily relieve the problem, but they do not fix it.That is true. Take morphine. It's a fantastic substance. Without it, the world would be a much less civilized place, especially in times of war. But there is huge potential for painkiller addiction in general.The central problem is that people don't want to take responsibility for their actions. Like learning encryption, many people want to outsource their problems to others. Now, normally this is a good idea. That's why I don't try and make a homemade car in the garage, other people can do it better than me. But. There are certain things that simply cannot be outsourced to others, you have to investigate the area yourself or you'll fuck it up or get fucked up by somebody else. Money, drugs and encryption are good examples of such things.I think a practical libertarian realizes this, and stays somewhere between Richardo's Law of Comparative Advantage and his or her instincts about the appropriate level of self sufficiency.Quote from: Dingo Ate My Drugs on April 24, 2013, 11:17 amSorry for the rant... My point is that people have too much to worry about these days. Governments only make more things for people to worry about and less things for people to enjoy. When will it stop? When will people stop and think to themselves about how dire their life is. The majority of people spend their weekends at home, inside watching TV. It is safe, but personally I would rather go and do something new and exciting. Not watch race cars go around a track for 10 hours. How does watching TV all weekend refresh your mind and make you feel good? I just don't get it...Life in the 1800's would have been a lot tougher but at least people didn't have the worries and stress that they have now. In a little while when I have a bit of time, I will make a post here and have a proper argument about the future of politics... If anyone is interested?Well, that's the thing with governments vs corporations. If the people get enough product, they slow down on their consumption of that product. If people pay for governance from our modern governments, our governments invent more things to govern. It's a fundamentally perverse arrangement, many people other than libertarians think so too.And if you want to make an argument, well, that's why the Philosophy subforum exists :)