'Freeconomics', do you like it?

cabinteelytom

bbc.co.uk reports that 29 year old Mark Boyle, in England, intends to live without money for a year- admirable example. (Get the story on http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/7756086.stm).
What intrigued me though was further down the page. Concerning the same chap, earlier this year; 'a previous attempt to walk to India without spending money ended in Calais when his lack of French meant he could not explain his mission.'

What? Our fellow european Republic does not provide publicly-funded translators for those who arrive on it's shores, ignorant of it's language, and unprepared to pay for an interpreter. Shame.
He should have come to Ireland, which last year spent at least 3.75 million Euros providing translation services into English for individuals (who somehow missed out on the world's most widely taught language); all funded by the Irish taxpayer (or the burgeoning national debt).

brianthebard

He's from Ireland.

relying on friends

bum.

leninbenjamin

watched some BBC programme before where the presenter tried to go a day without using money. to get himself something like a bag a chips he had to trade with about 15 vendors before he could get something the chip seller actually wanted. barter died for a good reason, but good luck to him.

silverharp

leninbenjamin wrote: »

watched some BBC programme before where the presenter tried to go a day without using money. to get himself something like a bag a chips he had to trade with about 15 vendors before he could get something the chip seller actually wanted. barter died for a good reason, but good luck to him.

he should have gone to Denver

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/23/AR2008112302364_pf.html

40,000 Swarm Farm To Gather Free Food

A farm couple got a huge surprise when they opened their fields to anyone who wanted to pick up free vegetables left over after the harvest -- 40,000 people showed up.

Joe and Chris Miller's fields were picked so clean Saturday that a second day of gleaning -- the ancient practice of picking up leftover food in farm fields -- was canceled Sunday. " 'Overwhelmed' is putting it mildly," Chris Miller said. "People obviously need food."

She said she expected 5,000 to 10,000 people to show up Saturday to collect free potatoes, carrots and leeks. Instead, an estimated 11,000 vehicles snaked around cornfields and backed up more than two miles. About 30 acres of the 600-acre farm 37 miles north of Denver became a parking lot

Time Magazine

For those of you not familiar with cabinteelytom's antics on the Politics forum, his views on immigration are a little to the right of Hitler.

So take his translation rant (OMG - translation services cost us less than €1 per person last year! OMG!) as you will.

Économiste Monétaire

I fail to see the question here. Do people like receiving things for free?

Also,

The Economist wrote:

his views on immigration are a little to the right of Hitler.