with your shield or on it, as the Greeks say
The Spartans. Athenians were also Greeks, and they didn't have this saying. Not being a stickler it's just as I'm reading I'm looking for something I can comment on!
Never heard of that story with the fox and the mosquitoes before! Unless I heard and forgot it. Nice! Sounds like Aesop or something.
Interesting thoughts, toward the end. Sounds like a justification of monarchy. I'm not well-versed in politics, not enough to argue the point. But my view is that solutions exist, and everybody knows they're good, it's just people at the top don't want them implemented. As I've said before more than once, I live on an island that has sunlight year-round. Why isn't every single roof lined with solar panels? Why doesn't the government institute programs, loans, whatever, that will provide financial incentive for house-owners to install them? Well because the Electricity provider in Cyprus has a monopoly and the powers that be don't wanna disturb that, and also who wants every household to have an extra 500+ euro a month to spend on other services? That would only help the economy grow. So clearly it's a bad idea.
Hehe. Yes, Thank you. I was attempting to illustrate my fictional Carnot's ignorance wrapped in a facade of superficial erudition. Also, the preferred term for those who lived in the area of Southeastern Europe, the Aegean Islands, and Coasts of Asia Minor would be Hellenes, as the term "Greek" was a Roman convention. Further, the Hellenes themselves, were divided also into Dorian and Ionian in language, so my fictional Carnot lumping this complex socio-political arrangement with the flippant "Greeks" highlights the depth of his ignorance and self-assured arrogance.
Are you suggesting that the government interfere in the economic realm to determine winners and losers? The current electricity provider in Cyprus likely received (and currently receives) massive government subsidies and support; the justification in the use of public treasury for the benefit of a small group of families was likely for the infrastructure development of once agrarian society into an industrial one. Similar argument to the one you are raising in modernizing the current Cyprian economy.
I personally agree 100% with your desire to shift the electric grid to more decentralized system than the current centralized one. The renewable energy sector is becoming increasingly competitive against the more "traditional" energy factions. I think instituting central government policy to achieve certain desired goals can have consequences as negative as the current situation. We will need increasingly sophisticated battery systems to operate a decentralized grid; the companies that provide the batteries will inevitably become yet another energy monopoly. If the grid is centralized, then those who operate central power distribution will become a monopoly.
Sometimes, social change occurs without political interference, which can be more effective and permanent than enforced political fiats. I believe one Jesus of Nazareth retorted to a Roman procurator that "His kingdom is not of this world" for the obvious limits of politics in effecting social change.
Cypriot!
My argument (though not exactly an argument) was exactly that, since the government interferes anyway, let them interfere in this case too. And if renewable energy is in any way better than non-renewable energy, that means a monopoly in the first case is less bad than a monopoly in the second case. It means money would be freed to do some other work in the economy.
But yeah, I'm no expert.
Oh. Sorry. It is entirely my ignorance.
I have certain distrust for monopolies. Merchants are not known for their humanitarian tendencies. In the past, aristocratic social convention frowned upon excessive accumulation and display of wealth. In the modern democratic times, those whose only philosophy in life is "money, money, money" tend to rise to fame.
No worries! In the UK, when I was telling people where I'm from, over loud music and drinks, they often thought I had changed the subject to music, and said things like, "Cypress Hill, I like them too" or "didn't take you as a Miley Cyrus fan".
True story.
They are called sociopaths.