02-15-2019, 08:51 PM
(02-15-2019, 04:09 PM)beechnut79 Wrote:(02-15-2019, 09:14 AM)pbrower2a Wrote: The ideological polarization indeed suggests an ideological, internal Cold War. We have yet to determine whether this one will turn out well. The ideological polarization resembles that in Spain in the 1930s, and the Spanish Civil War turned out well --- if one wanted to live in a society reverted to the Middle Ages in its culture and it was wise to play dumb. Spain was a great place to visit on a cheap holiday because labor was cheap and servile.
Did that mean that the cost of food and lodging there at the time was cheap also?
Much of the cost of a hotel stay reflects the cost of labor, whether of construction work (construction labor is incredibly cheap in some countries) to build it or of the cost of staffing a hotel with cleaners and desk clerks whose pay typically reflects the living standards.
At one time a fitting joke about Spain was "What do you call a successful Spaniard not born into wealth and privilege?"
French!
..If you wonder why France recovered from its huge losses of manpower after the World Wars -- it was immigration from poorer countries like Spain and Portugal.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.