You assume that money is the only way to reward someone, and that the only motivation is money.  Look beyond money, quality of life, community, society, relationships, resources; these things are important.  Money is an illusion.

"So you think that money is the root of all evil?" said Francisco d'Aconia. "Have you ever asked what is the root of money? Money is a tool of exchange, which can't exist unless there are goods produced and men able to produce them. Money is the material shape of the principle that men who wish to deal with one another must deal by trade and give value for value. Money is not the tool of the moochers, who claim your product by tears, or of the looters, who take it from you by force. Money is made possible only by the men who produce. Is this what you consider evil?

      "When you accept money in payment for your effort, you do so only on the conviction that you will exchange it for the product of the effort of others. It is not the moochers or the looters who give value to money. Not an ocean of tears nor all the guns in the world can transform those pieces of paper in your wallet into the bread you will need to survive tomorrow. Those pieces of paper, which should have been gold, are a token of honor – your claim upon the energy of the men who produce. Your wallet is your statement of hope that somewhere in the world around you there are men who will not default on that moral principle which is the root of money. Is this what you consider evil?

      "Have you ever looked for the root of production? Take a look at an electric generator and dare tell yourself that it was created by the muscular effort of unthinking brutes. Try to grow a seed of wheat without the knowledge left to you by men who had to discover it for the first time. Try to obtain your food by means of nothing but physical motions – and you'll learn that man's mind is the root of all the goods produced and of all the wealth that has ever existed on earth.

      "But you say that money is made by the strong at the expense of the weak? What strength do you mean? It is not the strength of guns or muscles. Wealth is the product of man's capacity to think. Then is money made by the man who invents a motor at the expense of those who did not invent it? Is money made by the intelligent at the expense of the fools? By the able at the expense of the incompetent? By the ambitious at the expense of the lazy? Money is made – before it can be looted or mooched – made by the effort of every honest man, each to the extent of his ability. An honest man is one who knows that he can't consume more than he has produced.

      "To trade by means of money is the code of the men of good will. Money rests on the axiom that every man is the owner of his mind and his effort. Money allows no power to prescribe the value of your effort except by the voluntary choice of the man who is willing to trade you his effort in return. Money permits you to obtain for your goods and your labor that which they are worth to the men who buy them, but no more. Money permits no deals except those to mutual benefit by the unforced judgment of the traders. Money demands of you the recognition that men must work for their own benefit, not for their own injury, for their gain, not their loss – the recognition that they are not beasts of burden, born to carry the weight of your misery – that you must offer them values, not wounds – that the common bond among men is not the exchange of suffering, but the exchange of goods. Money demands that you sell, not your weakness to men's stupidity, but your talent to their reason; it demands that you buy, not the shoddiest they offer, but the best your money can find. And when men live by trade – with reason, not force, as their final arbiter – it is the best product that wins, the best performance, then man of best judgment and highest ability – and the degree of a man's productiveness is the degree of his reward. This is the code of existence whose tool and symbol is money. Is this what you consider evil?

      "But money is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver. It will give you the means for the satisfaction of your desires, but it will not provide you with desires. Money is the scourge of the men who attempt to reverse the law of causality – the men who seek to replace the mind by seizing the products of the mind.

      "Money will not purchase happiness for the man who has no concept of what he wants; money will not give him a code of values, if he's evaded the knowledge of what to value, and it will not provide him with a purpose, if he's evaded the choice of what to seek. Money will not buy intelligence for the fool, or admiration for the coward, or respect for the incompetent. The man who attempts to purchase the brains of his superiors to serve him, with his money replacing his judgment, ends up by becoming the victim of his inferiors. The men of intelligence desert him, but the cheats and the frauds come flocking to him, drawn by a law which he has not discovered: that no man may be smaller than his money. Is this the reason why you call it evil?

...   "Until and unless you discover that money is the root of all good, you ask for your own destruction. When money ceases to be the tool by which men deal with one another, then men become the tools of men. Blood, whips and guns – or dollars. Take your choice – there is no other – and your time is running out."

.... the money speech is well worth reading in total.

collaboration between big capitalist companies and .govt.

Yes, crony capitalism, which is to capitalism what sea horses are to horses. You need to learn what capitalism is.

A BALANCE OF GRATITUDE AND VIGILANCE

GBH - I think we are extremely fortunate in having Interest Co NZ.  It is a great credit to David Chaston, the old glumster Bernard Hickey and the team, in how they have set the whole thing up.

In fact, I think it is the best of its type in the world - and just another illustration of how Kiwis can be world beaters, when they put their minds to it.

Interest Co NZ could best be described as a free for all public conversation forum, where people can say whatever they like (within reasonable bounds of decency) immediately, without being moderated / censored.

Some of the "purists" (particularly academics) sneer at this - but they are wrong. "Schooled" academics are too often nowhere near as clever, as they would like to think they are. Indeed much of the "sneering" is because they cant stand their opinions being tested in the public arena.

Sure - there are times I disagree with Bernard and the team, but then no doubt there are things I say, they disagree with as well. And understandably, things can get pretty tense, when discussing political issues too.

We have so much to be grateful for, when one considers human progress over just the past 200 years or so - around just 8 generations (this will send PDK in to a frenzy!).

The average life expectancy for a male in London 160 years ago, was just 28 years - before sewage was put underground. With that and horses, one shudders to think how cities must have stunk to high hell. To say nothing of personal hygiene generally.

One important thing we have yet to learn though, is how to better control and discipline public bureaucracies.

Poorly governed ones really are a cancer in a democracy and its biggest threat (Christchurch attempting to recover is a glaring example).

 I sure would be a lot more relaxed, if they focused on simply refining their skills as public referees - instead of us having to constantly dig them out of the bottom of the scrum all the time. Simply because they dont know where to draw the line.

So I think a good mix of gratitude and vigilance is hugely important.

Hugh Pavletich

www.PerformanceUrbanPlanning.org

Make a point of reading the Evans Pritchard Telegraph article noted above.

America's great strength is its dynamism and diversity. Its America's business that makes the place and its entrepreneurial culture. America prospers in spite of its political difficulties along the way.

I was delighted to see for example the State of Florida banning Smart Growth recently. they do have the capacity to deal with problems as Chrirchill said - eventually.

History has been very harsh indeed on those predicting the downfall of the United States.