Re: @LucreLout - Can you guess what I'm going to say Tim...?
You know, LucreLout, sometimes I have to wonder if you're a Matt Bryant Sock Puppet, since you and he have the same debating tactics of shifting the goalposts or insulting people's intelligence to avoid conceding a point.
Rowing boats? Yes, they fit in the same general classification of craft as Luxury Yachts, but I don't think the skills needed to build them are quite the same, are they?
"You're either ignorant of your own position or lack the vocabulary to express it coherently." Or perhaps you just don't want to listen to anything that doesn't fit in with your narrow mind-set.
> Political compass has the Conservatives being more authoritarian than labour, which is patently untrue.
Ah, now we see LucreLout's true colours (as if they weren't obvious). I have no love for Labour, but at least they didn't try to get rid of the Human Rights Act and replace it with an act which says "You get the rights *we* say you can have, provided you're someone we like"..A pox on both their houses.
> You seem not to understand that the Prince hasn't given the fortune to his staff via pay rises. In fact, as far as is publicly known information, he hasn't given them a payrise at all.
And there go those goalposts again...
"The massive handout, estimated to total more than $32 billion, includes a two-month basic stipend for all state employees, soldiers, students, and pensioners, as well as generous grants to various professional associations, and literary and sports clubs."
Fine, if it makes you happy, it's a bonus, not a "pay rise". Feeling better now?
> Employees get paid at replacement level salaries. [...] you certainly seem to understand little of how capitalism functions in the real world.
No, LucreLout, I understand perfectly well how capitalism *can* function and does, indeed, function in the minds of those who think that labour is simply another resource which needs to be chiseled down to the lowest possible level to make it as cheap as it can be in order to maximise profits.
I'm simply saying that this is not actually an absolute necessity. I'm saying that those at the top who are paying themselves nice big salaries and bonuses shouldn't forget the ones at the bottom of the ladder who are actually doing the work that *earns* that money and that maybe paying them, at the least, a Living Wage instead of the government mandated Minimum Wage might actually make things better and, who knows, they might even work harder because you get more from loyalty than fear.
If you cannot understand this, then I pity you.
Now feel free to get the last word in, then you can go back to counting your money and seeing how good that makes you feel.