[Kman]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... arket.html

Someone needs to educate these people on how supply and demand works and how the price system makes sure resources are used efficiently. I could have those seats filled in short order without having to order school teachers and what looks like bored soldiers, in to the stands.

Lord Coe who is arranging all this also looks like a pussy whipped school teacher, no wonder they suck. Typical government incompetence, like Hayek said, the worst people rise to the top in government.

[Soulflytribe]

I could have those seats filled in short order without having to order school teachers and what looks like bored soldiers, in to the stands.

Exactly... Actually, any student in his first 4 months of studying Economics could!

And it's sad that this is happening in a country like the UK. A country which Hayek himself praised as one of the last bastions of freedom and wisdom. And people still ask "What happened to England?", "What happened to the UK?"... *Sigh*

[Kman]

Exactly... Actually, any student in his first 4 months of studying Economics could!

And it's sad that this is happening in a country like the UK. A country which Kayek himself praised as one of the last bastions of freedom and wisdom. And people still ask "What happened to England?", "What happened to the UK?"... *Sigh*

Exactly, England went from a country where its most famous philosopher was pretty much an anarcho-capitalist (Herbert Spencer) to a country led by incompetent people like Lord Coe and David ''is my hair sitting right?'' Cameron.

[Rugoz]

Empty seats don't mean they haven't been sold. Its what happens when you sell tickets to rich farts, companies, and cronies at the IOC instead of real fans.

The IOC is a private organization by the way.

[Fasces]

England went from a country where its most famous philosopher was pretty much an anarcho-capitalist (Herbert Spencer)

Are you joking?

[Eran]

The IOC is a private organization by the way.

True. But a thoroughly political one. The political correctedness of the opening ceremony was nauseating.

As for seats, in their infinite wisdom, the IOC rationed the number of tickets available for sale within Britain, and prohibited secondary ticket sales. I managed to "win" a couple of tickets to some preliminary event, but was stuck with them (and, eventually, two empty seats) when I could neither attend nor sell the tickets.

[Kman]

Are you joking?

No I am not joking, Herbert Spencer was the philosopher of the 19th century that sold the most books, he was a highly respected intellectual in the UK and the US at the time. Had he been alive today he would be treated as an outcast by the morons that run modern universities I am sure since he was a firm believer in human evolution (oh noes racist).

[Daktoria]

The Victorian Era was a strange time in getting stuck between utilitarian liberals and traditional conservatives. Neither side knew how to glue society together, but by blaming each other, they achieved some magnificence. The liberals wanted to treat people like machinery, and the conservatives wanted to treat people like artwork. Put together, that meant the gears were oiled, and they smelled good too.

That said, Herbert Spencer wasn't an ideal to be aspired to, nor even an-cap. He was teased and mocked constantly, and his nerves were always jittery which lead to more teasing and mocking and more jitters. Indeed, he was a victim of the very social Darwinism he advocated, and the free trade he supported funded his very opponents' pocketbooks who used it for social welfare programs which he argued against.

If only he could have seen through the obstacles he set up for himself......

[Fasces]

I guess if selling books is your metric.

For famous British philosophers, I would have thought John Locke, but so be it.

[Eran]

Several people, including Hobbes, Locke, Hume, Adam Smith and Mill are probably better known today than Spenser.

Even without Spenser, Locke, Hume and Smith provided Britain (and the world) with an invaluable liberal legacy, unfortunately (partially) abandoned today.

[Repeat to Fade]

The problem here was that they thought was a good idea to not give tickets to those that actually wanted them and were willing to pay and instead gave them to sponsors for free in the hope they would fill the seats. It was a shit idea that has pissed alot of people off that went through the whole process of applying for tickets and ended up with nothing and are now forced to watch the olympics at home and see seats they could have had sit empty. The entire system was awfully flawed.