What country reduced the Department of Transportation employees from 5,600 to 53, Forest Service employees from 17,000 to 17, Ministry of Works employees from 28,000 to 1... and, all-in-all, reduced government employees by 66%? What country reduced its government costs from 44% of GDP to 27%? What country reduced its debt from 63% of GDP to 17%? What country reduced its income tax rate by 50% and eliminated incidental taxes? What country eliminated all Boards of Education, on a single day turning COMPLETE control over to trustees elected SOLELY by parents of children at the school, gave them a block of money with no strings attached, and moved from being 15% below international peers in academic achievement to 15% above? Which country eliminated all forms of taxation except for a lowered income tax and a flat tax on consumption? Which country rewrote every one of its environmental laws, tax codes, farm acts, occupational safety and health acts, reducing them from 25 inches think to a few hundred pages, and repealed all old laws? Impossible you say?
FTA: "New Zealand trimmed the size of its coercive, regulating, and taxing government and, not only lived to tell about it, but flourished... We need to recognize that the main problem with subsidies is that they make people dependent... Freedom demonstrated that if you give people no choice but to be creative and innovative, they will find solutions."
Jump Back From the Debt Crevasse
DISCUSS!
Original posting by Braincrave Second Life staff on May 24, 2010 at http://www.braincrave.com/viewblog.php?id=209
We all admire beauty, but the mind ultimately must be stimulated for maximum arousal. Longevity in relationships cannot occur without a meeting of the minds. And that is what Braincrave is: a dating venue where minds meet. Learn about the thoughts of your potential match on deeper topics... topics that spawn your own insights around what you think, the choices you make, and the actions you take.
We are a community of men and women who seek beauty and stimulation through our minds. We find ideas, education, and self-improvement sexy. We think intelligence is hot. But Braincrave is more than brains and I.Q. alone. We are curious. We have common sense. We value and offer wisdom. We experiment. We have great imaginations. We devour literacy. We are intellectually honest. We support and encourage each other to be better.
You might be lonely but you aren't alone.
Sep, 2017 update: Although Braincrave resulted in two confirmed marriages, the venture didn't meet financial targets. Rather than updating our outdated code base, we've removed all previous dating profiles and retained the articles that continue to generate interest. Moving to valME.io's platform supports dating profiles (which you are welcome to post) but won't allow typical date-matching functionality (e.g., location proximity, attribute similarity).
The Braincrave.com discussion group on Second Life was a twice-daily intellectual group discussions typically held at 12:00 PM SLT (PST) and 7:00 PM SLT. The discussions took place in Second Life group chat but are no longer formally scheduled or managed. The daily articles were used to encourage the discussions.