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37 comments on Burning coal in place or in-situ gasification

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oilaholic on March 5, 2006 - 10:12am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
As you must know at some level (probably a level that is automatically shut off when you push your RANT button), the western system of property rights, a part of the legal framework that is the heart of western societies, is what has allowed for the most efficient and effective capital formation in history.   It's resulted in a level of comfort, liesure, and opportunity for self-fulfillment unmatched in history.  More importantly, the lack of an effective system of property rights and it's accompanyingg legal framework, is the main reason for the poverty that besets and tragicly defines all "third world" countries today.  That we are a "country of laws" (along with all other "developed" countries) is what keeps the level of corruption low enough and the system of justice effective enought that we can sit around and cry in our beer about how tough things are going to get when the era of cheap oil is over.
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Don Sailorman on March 5, 2006 - 1:44pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
I believe in the rule of law just as much as you do--perhaps more.

What I object to is government of the lawyers, by the lawyers and for the lawyers.

Compare, for example, the U.S. and Japan. The U.S. has--what? 2 million lawyers? Very rapid rate of growth in enrollment in law schools . . . . true?

Now look at Japan. Hardly any lawyers, a few tens of thousands. Guess what:
1. Japanese live longer than Americans.
2. Japanese have far more leisure than Americans because they retire younger and have far fewer women in the work force.
3. Japanese have far less drug addiction, depression and other diseases rampant in U.S.
4. Japanese have a high and positive saving rate. U.S. has a negative saving rate.
5. GM and Ford are headed to bankruptcy; Honda and Toyota flourish.
6. Do we begin to see a pattern here? I am not blaming everything on lawyers, although after viewing the "Bleak House" series on PBS and rereading the novel by Dickens I am tempted to do so. As Socrates and Plato realized, the proliferation of sophists (i.e. lawyers) is as much a symptom as a cause of decay.

Note that never in their gloomiest nightmares did our Founding Fathers envision a rule by lawyers. They thought the lessons of history were so clear that we could not be stupid enough to fall into that trap.

Well, they were wrong.

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Solaris on March 5, 2006 - 2:12pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
I've got to disagree with oilaholic here.  Although your post was somewhat off-topic, Don, I found it quite interesting.  I had never heard about the scam lawyers of late Greece and Rome.  You've piqued my interest enough that I'm going to go do a little research about this now.
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enviro attny on March 5, 2006 - 8:41pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
So how do you feel about those of us that are both engineers and attorneys (and have worked in both fields)?
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Don Sailorman on March 6, 2006 - 12:55am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
You few guys I respect and honor because from my experience,
1. Generally you are honest and
2. You can think quantitatively.

Alas, you are few.

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37 comments on Burning coal in place or in-situ gasification

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