That graph was probably produced by the CPGB.
For this sort of stuff we would need a “politics and other stuff” forum section, but that has been done, everybody got the t-shirt, and it merely results in alienating a lot of good forum contributors who quietly leave and never come back. Same with a section where you can post jokes… it isn’t long before somebody posts some racial joke and then you get a meltdown.
So please keep blatent politics out of here.
A degree of politics can’t be avoided because most regulatory and business management/tactical behaviour is politically driven (some call it a “conspiracy” and label everybody who refers to it as a “conspiracy theorist”) but we can keep it focused on where it impacts aviation. But some of the above is way over the line which will lead to lots of trouble, deleted posts, and then we get a sh_tstorm in the background where a bunch of people (always the same one(s)) start telling many others to leave the forum. The situation is impossible for a mod/admin to deal with because he is branded the Great Satan no matter which way he moves (which actually becomes the objective of some participants).
Peter wrote:
That graph was probably produced by the CPGB.
There is an attribution in the graph… Anyway, there has been lots and lots of academic research that supports the gist of that graph. (I hope this is considered a fact-based posting rather than a blatantly political one.)
Of course it is political because the bulk of the academic community is left-wing – due to many factors, including the research funding sources preferentially funding certain types of research objectives. So the way the x and y axes are scaled depends mostly on what point you want to make. Of course the Nordic countries will be at the top and the Great Satan country will be at the bottom because the USA is (stereotypically) hated by all self proclaimed European intellectuals 
Bear in mind I come from Czechoslovakia (1957-1969) so have had a very thorough exposure to both ends of the “social equality” scenario. In fact my first 2 years were across the road from a “prison” where the live movements were mostly in one direction.
So let’s keep politics to where it impacts aviation. By all means dig around mandatory handling cartels, etc…
Peter wrote:
So please keep blatent politics out of here.
Sorry. But that graph isn’t politics per se, it’s pure economics actually, and is well founded and understood. The graph is fact, not politics. It shows a relations of one of the main economic guiding principles used in the Nordic countries in particular, but also in Canada and Germany. That you call it blatent politics, didn’t come as a surprise to me, but I had a small hope you were a bit less biased than referring to communists 
(not that I take it very seriously mind you) From a wider (political) perspective it’s some form of social democratic corporatism, or simply social democracy for short.
The relation to aviation and GA is of course indirect and vague, as all economic relations are. Nevertheless, it is not entirely without cause that the Nordic countries are the easiest to fly within and with simple rules (IFR in homebuilts, no issue etc), and that Germany has the most vital GA communities in Europe (despite seemingly draconian regulations and habits, flugleiters etc ) Canada speaks for itself. USA is the exception in this respect.
USA is the exception in this respect.
Exactly. That the USA has by far the most free and vibrant GA community in the world renders that graph irrelevant to aviation.
That you call it blatent politics, didn’t come as a surprise to me
I work hard to stop EuroGA descending into anarchy which would happen at various “opportunities”, and each time somebody tries that, and fails (which they always will), it does a lot of damage because the mod is made to look like a [a very useful English 4-letter word which has a very specific meaning and which starts with a c and ends with a t]. And bear in mind that quite a lot of people out there want to achieve exactly that. Such is the “chimpanzee politics” of GA.
A lot of people just don’t “get it”.
Peter wrote:
Bear in mind I come from Czechoslovakia (1957-1969) so have had a very thorough exposure to both ends of the “social equality” scenario
Then you misunderstand. “Social equality” is very different from social mobility. You can say they are opposite more or less, even though that is not entirely precise. It is very straight forward. Higher income inequality leads to less social mobility. In other words, high income inequality will eventually lead to a stagnated society with classes that people simply cannot escape out of.
high income inequality will eventually lead to a stagnated society with classes that people simply cannot escape out of.
Well, there is always the “deeply unattractive to most” route: getting one’s finger out and doing some work and thus improving one’s situation, rather than relying on heavy taxation to keep everybody on the same (not very high) social level.
I came to the UK with nothing (less than £20 total family assets) i.e. total income inequality and thus allegedly zero social mobility, and got my finger out, worked hard and improved my position. Karl Marx didn’t allow for that option so I must be a fake. I also paid enough tax to pay for the State education of probably all children living in my village…
This is pure left/right wing politics. It’s pointless.
Peter wrote:
That the USA has by far the most free and vibrant GA community in the world renders that graph irrelevant to aviation.
Not for Europe. The freedom in spirit and mind that exist in the USA and which is the main cause of the vibrant GA community there, will never be a factor in Europe, not in our lifetime at least. The graph correlates perfectly with the GA aviation scene in Europe. Who come in hundreds, if not thousands each summer to Scandinavia to fly in the easy and straight forward air space, and to enjoy hundreds of free and open strips and airports? German GA pilots.
Peter wrote:
This is pure left/right wing politics.
Just one last comment. If you look at the history of how the social democratic corporatism grew into existence in the 1930s in Scandinavia, you will see it’s a blend of socialism, market liberalism and a (not too small a dash) of fascism/nationalism. It cannot be described in left/right in a British sense, nor conservative/liberal in the US sense. It has more in common with the neo communism/capitalism in China than any other “system”. Just for the record, personally I’m more on the market liberal side of things (but probably way too “brain washed” to really believe in it )
Peter wrote:
So let’s get back to freelance instructing.
As I get older the great thing with politics is it is a bit like medicine.
Let me explain. You can come up with all sorts of snake oil, and people will variously say it works for various reasons. It is only when you do a truly double blind study you realise either it was always snake oil or there was something in it.
Politics is a bit like that you can always argue a position, but it is very difficult to ever prove your argument because there are some many factors that influence the outcome. Even when you think you have tested the outcome with a radom sample, you dont really know if the sample was truly random.
So Peter may have achieved even more in the USA, or in Norway, and who knows which country would have brought the best out in him even potentially for the wrong reasons.
