John Maynard Keynes wrote to Professior Hayek during the second world war

I should say that what we want is not no planning, or even less planning, indeed I should say we almost certainly want more. But the planning should take place in a community in which as many people as possible, both leaders and followers, wholly share your own moral position. Moderate planning will be safe enough if those carrying it out are rightly oriented in their own minds and hearts to the moral issue. This is in fact already true of some of them. But the curse is that there is also an important section who could be said to want planning not in order to enjoy its fruits, but because morally they hold ideas exactly the opposite of yours, and wish to serve not God but the devil.

Norway and United States compared

according to U.S. government publications, none of the population of Norway is below the poverty line, Norway has the highest standard of living in the world, and Norway has an incredibly low Gini index of 27 for the inequality of the distribution of income. Furthermore, fully 100% of the Norwegian population is literate, and they have a per capita GDP of $33,000.

Compare this to the United States, which “has the largest and most technologically powerful economy in the world”. While the US has a per capita GDP of $37,600, the population lags behind Norway in literacy — 97% — and, more alarmingly, the Gini index for the inequality of distribution of income is 40.8. (Basically, the Gini index is a scale from 0 to 100, with 0 as incomes being completely equal, and 100 as incomes being completely unequal.) Finally and worst, 12.7% of the US population is below the poverty line. Twelve point seven percent, in the most prosperous nation in the world. In other words: although the US has a significantly larger per capita GDP than Norway — in other words, per citizen, people in the United States make more money — the US also has a much, much larger proportion of people living in poverty.

The 10 Most Affordable and 10 Least Affordable Housing Markets- BusinessWeek

The 10 Most Affordable and 10 Least Affordable Housing Markets- BusinessWeek

Rising Inequality With US among Worst

OECD Report Finds Rising Income Inequality With U.S. Among Worst

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October 21, 2008 12:42 p.m. EST

Linda Young - AHN Editor

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - Only two of 30 nations, Mexico and Turkey, are ahead of the United States for income inequality and poverty rates, or the gap between rich and poor, according to a report released Tuesday.

The report was released by Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development of its 30 member-nations, most of which are developed countries.

In America, the average income of the richest 10 percent of people is $93,000. When compared to purchasing power parity, it is the highest in the OECD when compared with the average of $54,000 for OECD nations.

The poorest 10 percent of Americans have an income of $5,800 per year, compared to the OECD average of $7,000.

In addition, the richest 10 percent hold 71 percent of American's net worth and 28 percent of total income, leaving 90 percent of the population to split the remaining 72 percent of the nation's income.

While income inequality grew worse in the U.S., it decreased in France over the past 20 years because poorer workers were paid better.

The OECD report found that economic growth of recent decades benefited the rich more than the poor and in Canada, Finland, Germany, Italy, Norway and the United States, the gap also increased between the rich and the middle-class.

Social mobility is lower in countries such as Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States where there is a wide distribution of income and higher in Nordic countries where income is distributed more evenly, the OECD said in a statement on its website.

Aaron Copland: Capturing the Language of Emily Dickinson - Poets.org - Poetry, Poems, Bios & More

Aaron Copland: Capturing the Language of Emily Dickinson - Poets.org - Poetry, Poems, Bios & More

Can I Catch Clouds--by Lousie Zhang

Can You Catch The Clouds

Can you?
Can you?
Me, with my hands?
Oh, no, but I can
shut the clouds in my eyes.
I can
net the fluffy whiteness
with my brain waves,
I can
fan the clouds with my
whims and fancy
I can
darken the clouds
with my sorrows
and brighten it
with my smile.
My heart is holding every fiber
of that laden nothingness
which impresses millions of years earlier,
and floats to millions of years hither after.
In my palm, clouds evaporate into nothingness
My fingers
cling to it.
Have I caught It?

almost look like a "red guard"

From 0ctober revolution

October 1st is China's National Day. In 1949 on this day, Chairman Mao declared that "from this day on, the Chinese people are no long on their knees.' ( The Chinese People have stood up now." something to that effect). In 1966, when I was 14, I was a red guard. that was 42 years ago. I looked something like this as a red guard. I don't have my red band on my arm now, but I have the army look cap on and I am in braids. However at that time, wearing sun glasses was "politically suicidal", a no-no, an anti-communist party, anti-socialism act. Now see how much we have advanced towards a universal look. Add a comment

october revolution

October 1st is the national day of the People's Republic of China. It is our "Independence Day". I used to be a red guard like almost everyone else in 1966, and we were called the second generation of the Red China.PRC is founded in 1949, October 1st. Russian Revolution in 1918 is known as "The October Revolution", not to be confused.
The words "Red Guards" really come from the Russian Revolution.