Does anyone know how much more/less polution is put into the atmosphere by using these coal powered cars as opposed to gas powered ones? In most cases it seems that the electricity for these cars is generated by coal burning power plants. I'm not trying to start a flame war, I'm really just wondering if anyone has stats on this.
Difficult to say, and harder to collect statistics on. However, the first thing you should consider is idling. In a great many cities of the world (except maybe LA), cars spend up to 90% of their time on the road idling. In an internal combustion engine, this presents a number of problems. 1) Internal combustion engines consume fuel when they idling, even though no usefull work (kinetic) is being done. 2) Internal combustion engines are tuned to be efficient within a power band. Sadly, idling speed is not in that power band. While EFI has gone a long way to addressing this inefficiency, it hasn't completely solved the problem.
An electric motor on the other hand does not need to idle. If the circuit is closed, it can go from zero to full operation instantly. For this reason, electric motors tend to consume less energy for the same distance driven in city/urban driving. On the freeway however, the internal combustion engine is reasonably effecient.
The second thing you need to consider is C02 conversion technologies. Search for 'biodiesel from algae' on Google, and you will see that researchers are making good progress on converting C02 into biodiesel, the most promising being algae production. Collecting C02 from 100 million tailpipes is not logistically feasible, but adding C02 algae plants to 10,000 power stations is. And if George W Bush and Dickead Cheney need to keep getting butt-fucked by the Saudis, thats OK too, we can burn gasoline/diesel in powerstations just as easily as coal.
The last thing to consider is that electric engines have a lot less individual components than internal combustion engines, so widespread adoption of electric vehicles will cause massive employment upheaval in the auto parts industry (manufacturing, distribution and service). This needs to be addressed before any meaningfull change can occur. The first country that embarks on a program of subsidised re-skilling of auto-workers with electric knowledge and skills will be the first country with widespread adoption of electric cars.
But, when it comes down to it...if it is something needed for our survival....better us than 'them' every time. I dislike bloodshed, but, again...better theirs than ours in EVERY case.
And if you happen to stumble across their minerals or oil while you are killing them to ensure your survival, ah well, just happenstance I suppose.
Who the fsck have we been holding down and oppressing for 50 years??? No one that I know of....
Exactly my point. No one that you know of. Nationalism (propaganda) has been 100% successful on your feeble mind. At least take comfort that there are millions of clueless morons just like you.
I guess I don't understand the usage of this...or the danger of it. I mean, doesn't everyone want their country/nation to come out on top? Isn't that what a nation's government works for (supposedly)? I've not known many people of a nation that want to lose to someone else. What am I missing here?
You are missing the means to this end. If it took the murder of 100,000 people in another part of the world in order for yours to 'come out on top', would you be for it?
Nationalism is simply a process by which the population is distracted from the means by trumpeting the ends. Some people like to count the cost. It makes them feel better about their success if they know it wasn't achieved by fucking over someone else.
I'm not a very altruistic person.
Then you should probably consider "enlightened self interest". It tends to look at how both parties can get what they want while helping each other (altruistic?). That way when a bunch of people that your country has been murdering and oppressing for 50 years suddenly lash out and kill a few of you, you might think about how you can change your behaviour instead of asking "Why did they do this!!???? Boo hoo hoo" closely followed by "Let's kill them all."
But how the f*ck do you just change the font size for all the displayed fonts?
Wow, you actually wanted to do something complicated with emacs. I just wanted to create a new file. Hmmm... file menu has Open , Save Buffer(?), bunch of other useless crap, but no New. OK, ditch this shit.
Shaolin monks as everyone thinks of them haven't existed since the Communist Revolution of China back in 1966
Ummm... small nitpick. It was the Cultural Revolution in '66, the Communist Revolution was '49.
But apart from that, you are mostly correct, except of course that the temple had fallen into decay during Qing.
But secrets are still passed on, probably not to the shaolin monks, but there are still some living masters in Taiwan, Hong Kong, South East Asia, Canada and Australia.
These guys are cool; and by cool, I mean totally sweet.
Facts:
1. Ninjas are mammals. 2. Ninjas fight ALL the time. 3. The purpose of the ninja is to flip out and kill people.
Especially note 3 above. The Ninjas probably just went to the Shaolin Temple to talk about tea n shit, and then they just totally flipped out and killed all the monks.
Anyway, here is some more things about Ninjas.
Q: Why is everyone so obsessed about ninjas? A: Ninjas are the ultimate paradox. On the one hand they don't give a crap, but on the other hand, ninjas are very careful and precise.
Q: I heard that ninjas are always cruel or mean. What's their problem? A: Whoever told you that is a total liar. Just like other mammals, ninjas can be mean OR totally awesome.
Q: What do ninjas do when they're not cutting off heads or flipping out? A: Most of their free time is spent flying, but sometime they stab. (Ask Mark if you don't believe me.)
Hardware solutions only require big buffers of data to achieve virtually zero CPU usage. I just want to know how many of you suckers out there paying more $1000 out there for a 5% faster CPU instead of $50-$75 for a sound card which would have probably given you then same 5%.
Details, please. Brands, features/specs to look for. I don't want to get a degree in audio and/or electrical engineering just so I can choose a better audio card.
Why would a Wookiee, an eight-foot tall Wookiee, want to live on Endor, with a bunch of two-foot tall Ewoks? That does not make sense! But more important, you have to ask yourself: What does this have to do with this case? Nothing. Ladies and gentlemen, it has nothing to do with this case! It does not make sense! Look at me. I'm a lawyer defending a major record company, and I'm talkin' about Chewbacca! Does that make sense? Ladies and gentlemen, I am not making any sense! None of this makes sense! And so you have to remember, when you're in that jury room deliberatin' and conjugatin' the Emancipation Proclamation, [approaches and softens] does it make sense? No! Ladies and gentlemen of this supposed jury, it does not make sense! If Chewbacca lives on Endor, you must acquit! The defense rests.[1]
Yes, you get a lot more vacation, you get full medical benefits for free (state mandated for any permanent job), and the food is better than in the US (sp. the bread), but you do make much less money.
Yes, but you get to live in France! That's France we're talking about, you know, fine wine, fine food, fine women, crazy-assed car chases n' shit.
No, wrong. He infringed copyright. I know in wonderland where most Americans live, a word can mean whatever you want it to mean, but legally, words have precise definitions.
But in this case, where would you draw the line and why?
Well, that question begins with the assumption that this technology would be used to find individual drug users. I very much doubt that is the case. The police seem to be doing just fine already in the USoA, because your fine country now has the highest incarceration rate in the world., beating out Russia and South Africa.
No, this technology will be used by local branches of the DEA and other law enforcement agencies to bolster funding proposals to boost their stable of helicopters, snipers, and sniffer dogs. This is merely an extension of what the War On Drugs is really about; stealing billions of dollars from the public purse to enrich corporations while building a police state.
So I wouldn't worry about peeing on your neighbours lawn if I were you, I'd be looking at emigrating to somewhere that isn't a facist oligarchy while you still can.
Capital costs, raw materials cost, and transport costs are often highly subsidized by the country of origin in an effort to attract new manufacturing.
Pffff.
It isn't. It's a trick- they merely sell you smaller amounts.
Pffff.
This was front page slashdot just a couple of days ago- but I like my writeup at technocrat better. E-coli and yard waste- to the tune of 3% of America's land mass (swampland mainly) being used to create feedstock for the bacteria refineries.
Pffff.
Walmart would have a 200% profit margin if their executives were earning the same salary as the lowest associate. I consider executive salaries as a part of profit.
Art is religion. A collection of beliefs with no more fact behind them than any other myth. Same with methodologies.
Actually, that proves it- since the change in cost of manufacturing is actually a factor of 100-1000, not 5-10. (Ohio Arts is a good example of this- their wages went from $19/hr with benefits to.24/hr with no benefits). Like I said, the REAL cost reductions go straight to the bottom line, NOT to consumers.
So the cost of labour is the entire cost of manufacturing is it? No capital costs, no raw materials costs, no transport costs?
The current terms of trade mean that Americans earn less money every year, in relation to inflation.
If the cost of goods purchased is decreasing, how can there be inflation?
Plus, oil need not come out of the ground anymore, so that analysis is rather outdated.
Really!!! You have a magic process for producing oil above ground for $5 a barrel!!!!???? Please tell me what it is, I'm all ears.
Add to that the fact that if those commodities WERE produced in the United States, Americans would have good paying jobs again
Yes, but who would buy your overpriced commodities? Oh, that's right, you won't be trading with other parts of the world, so you are just going to take the increase in the cost of goods on the chin, but that's alright because you have 'good paying jobs' to pay for it.
Bullshit. Back in the 1980s, I worked retail as my first job, and EVERYTHING in the store assumed a 10% margin. If we were able to do that then, we should be able to do that now.
Are you talking about a profit margin or markup on the cost of goods? Walmart has 100-200% markup, but a 1-2% profit margin. Sorry, when you said 100-200% margin, I assumed you were talking about the markup, because Walmart certainly does not have a 100-200% profit margin, but they certainly do have a 100-200% markup.
So perhaps if I knew what you were talking about, we could debate this point further.
And perhaps if you knew anything about history, you'd know that what is "economics or business" is nothing more than fungible religion, not science.
It is neither a religion nor a science. Economics is a collection of speculative theories (an Art, if you will), and business is an evolving methodology (an intellectual technology).
Socialism has never succeeded- even in China.
Socialism has succeeded at times in Sweden, Norway, Britain,Australia and even Canada. Not raving-foam-at-the-mouth socialism, but quiet pragmatic socialism that most Americans don't quite seem to be able to comprehend.
Also good. You don't really think those cheap prices ACTUALLY made it to the consumer, did you? Of course not- they ended up as profit for the top.1% of Americans- who now earn as much as the bottom 50% combined.
No, I don't think they did, I KNOW they did. Almost every consumer item I buy has come down (in real terms, adjusted for inflation) by a factor of 5-10, from the change in the terms of trade, due entirely to outsourcing labour intensive industries to countries with a cheap labour pool.
Of course not. First we have to take back our democracy!
The rich and powerful are in the arms business as well, so I don't think you will succeed, but by all means, best of luck!
The US Dollar has been losing purchasing power for 40 years now. No, the US Dollar has been losing it's value for 40 years, not it's purchasing power. The two are completely different things. The reason the US Dollar has been losing it's value is because it has been mortgaged for future generations to pay off through the issuing of government debt. It's purchasing power is maintained by your military, by enforcing/maintaining the terms of trade. Modern economies need oil, and (almost) all oil is sold in US$, along with many other commodities that are no longer produced in the US. It's really quite complex, and whole books have been written on how this works, perhaps you could read one?
Like I said, the cheap prices don't make it to the consumer level, not really- Wal*Mart's margin is often 100-200%, and other "discount stores" are similar or worse.
Retails margins are always 100-200%, regardless of the country that the product is manufactured in. 100% markup on $1 (made in china) is $2, on $10 (made in usa) it is $20. Perhaps if you understood the first thing about economics or business, it would assist you in your quest to destroy those who profit from it.
So let's build an enormous authoritarian apparatus. If that's what it takes, it's worth it.
Once that apparatus was complete, it would be taken over by the strong, and used to control and exploit the weak. You might remember a similar occurrence in the 20th century, it happened in a place called Russia.
Oh, and I thought it was the con artists who gave socialism a bad name.
You thought wrong. Where ever socialism has succeeded in the world was because it was pragmatic, not idealistic.
Can you afford to take a 20% hit to your customer base?
Yes, but my company is unusual. Besides which, we don't really do much business with the US.
Few companies can-
True, however some companies, upon losing a large customer have sought out other markets for their products, or changed their business model. Others, of course, have gone bankrupt. But isn't that a just reward for those so lazy that they rely on the American consumer to keep their business afloat?
On the flip side of that coin, can you afford to pay 20-50% more for your consumer goods? According to the US census bureau: In 2005, 37.0 million people were in poverty. I guess your plan involves re-employing those people in all of the jobs that went overseas when manufacturers outsourced?
I'd like to see us go cold turkey- unilaterally exit the WTO, NAFTA and CAFTA, and replace them with FAIR TRADE agreements.
But that would mean that the US doesn't get to screw third world countries with one-sided trading agreements. I love your idealism, but really, do you think that the US rich and powerful are going to give up their free ride just like that? Do you think the US consumer is going to give up the purchasing power of the US dollar without complaint?
That is the entire point. With one world standard in labor and environment, there would no longer be a need for all of that crap.
Yes, but that is NEVER going to happen, so it is rather pointless planning for, or thinking about a world in which it does. The strong prey upon the weak, they can't help themselves, it's in the DNA. Universal equality will never be achieved, because it would take an enormous authoritarian apparatus to enforce it.
Misguided idealism is what gives Socialism a bad name.
Each CPU is actually a "book" of CPUs. Several run at once on the same data. If any disagree, the instruction is rerun on a different CPU. Entire backup books (in addition to the 54) kick-in if a problem is detected.
That is VERY cool. I guess that forms part of the five nines uptime.
The hardware specs are impressive, but the biggest deal about these boxes is that they don't go down. Most people I talk to question the idea of consolidating servers into one box because of "single point of failure" concerns. This is where the mainframe shines. These things have MTBF of decades, and will just churn away forever.
I want one for my team (dre-e-e-eam, dream dream dream, dre-e-e-eam, dream dream dream)
We are the world's consumers. Really? World GDP:$65.95 trillion (2006 est.) USA GDP: $13.13 trillion
Almost 20%, not bad, but hardly the world's only consumers.
Other way around- they don't accept democracy, our environmental standards, the 40 hour workweek, etc. then we simply don't import their oil. We either do without, or better yet, we develop other sources of fuel and other forms of transportation because supposedly we are the great innovators as well.
How's your plan going so far? Is this a phased approach, or are you going to go cold turkey?
No- works perfectly well for anybody else as well- don't by from people you don't consider to be equals.
Oh god, how I wish! The sooner my compatriots stop eating the bullshit junk food, junk values and junk entertainment that is vomited out of your country, the better.
Europe and America however are supposedly so advanced that we have no other equals....
Hey, close yourselves off, see how much the rest of us miss you. Oh, could you unwind your colonial empire while you're at it? You know, the military bases, the gun boats, the 1/2 million enforcers you have posted around the world. Thanks.
All the more reason I'm for Fair Trade agreements- ones where only the countries that are willing to accelerate to American labor and environmental standards get the trade. Want to do business with American consumers? Accept American laws.
So you mean that for America to import oil from the Middle East, Americans would need to accept Sharia law?
Or would it only work FOR Americans, (the most important people in the world)?
Slashdot Mirror
Does anyone know how much more/less polution is put into the atmosphere by using these coal powered cars as opposed to gas powered ones? In most cases it seems that the electricity for these cars is generated by coal burning power plants. I'm not trying to start a flame war, I'm really just wondering if anyone has stats on this.
Difficult to say, and harder to collect statistics on. However, the first thing you should consider is idling. In a great many cities of the world (except maybe LA), cars spend up to 90% of their time on the road idling. In an internal combustion engine, this presents a number of problems.
1) Internal combustion engines consume fuel when they idling, even though no usefull work (kinetic) is being done.
2) Internal combustion engines are tuned to be efficient within a power band. Sadly, idling speed is not in that power band. While EFI has gone a long way to addressing this inefficiency, it hasn't completely solved the problem.
An electric motor on the other hand does not need to idle. If the circuit is closed, it can go from zero to full operation instantly. For this reason, electric motors tend to consume less energy for the same distance driven in city/urban driving. On the freeway however, the internal combustion engine is reasonably effecient.
The second thing you need to consider is C02 conversion technologies. Search for 'biodiesel from algae' on Google, and you will see that researchers are making good progress on converting C02 into biodiesel, the most promising being algae production. Collecting C02 from 100 million tailpipes is not logistically feasible, but adding C02 algae plants to 10,000 power stations is. And if George W Bush and Dickead Cheney need to keep getting butt-fucked by the Saudis, thats OK too, we can burn gasoline/diesel in powerstations just as easily as coal.
The last thing to consider is that electric engines have a lot less individual components than internal combustion engines, so widespread adoption of electric vehicles will cause massive employment upheaval in the auto parts industry (manufacturing, distribution and service). This needs to be addressed before any meaningfull change can occur. The first country that embarks on a program of subsidised re-skilling of auto-workers with electric knowledge and skills will be the first country with widespread adoption of electric cars.
And this argument is precisely the reason I will never have children.
The Gene Pool recognises and thanks you for your efforts towards improving it.
But, when it comes down to it...if it is something needed for our survival....better us than 'them' every time. I dislike bloodshed, but, again...better theirs than ours in EVERY case.
And if you happen to stumble across their minerals or oil while you are killing them to ensure your survival, ah well, just happenstance I suppose.
Who the fsck have we been holding down and oppressing for 50 years??? No one that I know of....
Exactly my point. No one that you know of. Nationalism (propaganda) has been 100% successful on your feeble mind. At least take comfort that there are millions of clueless morons just like you.
I guess I don't understand the usage of this...or the danger of it. I mean, doesn't everyone want their country/nation to come out on top? Isn't that what a nation's government works for (supposedly)? I've not known many people of a nation that want to lose to someone else. What am I missing here?
You are missing the means to this end. If it took the murder of 100,000 people in another part of the world in order for yours to 'come out on top', would you be for it?
Nationalism is simply a process by which the population is distracted from the means by trumpeting the ends. Some people like to count the cost. It makes them feel better about their success if they know it wasn't achieved by fucking over someone else.
I'm not a very altruistic person.
Then you should probably consider "enlightened self interest". It tends to look at how both parties can get what they want while helping each other (altruistic?). That way when a bunch of people that your country has been murdering and oppressing for 50 years suddenly lash out and kill a few of you, you might think about how you can change your behaviour instead of asking "Why did they do this!!???? Boo hoo hoo" closely followed by "Let's kill them all."
Just a thought.
ROFL! That has to be the funniest troll I've seen for years.
Wow, it's like slashdot hurls chunks.
I say hurl. If slashdot blows chunks and fudgie comes back, shes yours. If it spews and fudgie runs, it was never meant to be.
A right. because building below sea level is a great idea.
Worked for Venice.
But how the f*ck do you just change the font size for all the displayed fonts?
... file menu has Open , Save Buffer(?), bunch of other useless crap, but no New. OK, ditch this shit.
Wow, you actually wanted to do something complicated with emacs. I just wanted to create a new file. Hmmm
Shaolin monks as everyone thinks of them haven't existed since the Communist Revolution of China back in 1966
... small nitpick. It was the Cultural Revolution in '66, the Communist Revolution was '49.
Ummm
But apart from that, you are mostly correct, except of course that the temple had fallen into decay during Qing.
But secrets are still passed on, probably not to the shaolin monks, but there are still some living masters in Taiwan, Hong Kong, South East Asia, Canada and Australia.
These guys are cool; and by cool, I mean totally sweet.
Facts:
1. Ninjas are mammals.
2. Ninjas fight ALL the time.
3. The purpose of the ninja is to flip out and kill people.
Especially note 3 above. The Ninjas probably just went to the Shaolin Temple to talk about tea n shit, and then they just totally flipped out and killed all the monks.
Anyway, here is some more things about Ninjas.
Q: Why is everyone so obsessed about ninjas?
A: Ninjas are the ultimate paradox. On the one hand they don't give a crap, but on the other hand, ninjas are very careful and precise.
Q: I heard that ninjas are always cruel or mean. What's their problem?
A: Whoever told you that is a total liar. Just like other mammals, ninjas can be mean OR totally awesome.
Q: What do ninjas do when they're not cutting off heads or flipping out?
A: Most of their free time is spent flying, but sometime they stab. (Ask Mark if you don't believe me.)
Hardware solutions only require big buffers of data to achieve virtually zero CPU usage. I just want to know how many of you suckers out there paying more $1000 out there for a 5% faster CPU instead of $50-$75 for a sound card which would have probably given you then same 5%.
Details, please. Brands, features/specs to look for. I don't want to get a degree in audio and/or electrical engineering just so I can choose a better audio card.
Why would a Wookiee, an eight-foot tall Wookiee, want to live on Endor, with a bunch of two-foot tall Ewoks? That does not make sense! But more important, you have to ask yourself: What does this have to do with this case? Nothing. Ladies and gentlemen, it has nothing to do with this case! It does not make sense! Look at me. I'm a lawyer defending a major record company, and I'm talkin' about Chewbacca! Does that make sense? Ladies and gentlemen, I am not making any sense! None of this makes sense! And so you have to remember, when you're in that jury room deliberatin' and conjugatin' the Emancipation Proclamation, [approaches and softens] does it make sense? No! Ladies and gentlemen of this supposed jury, it does not make sense! If Chewbacca lives on Endor, you must acquit! The defense rests.[1]
We also wouldn't be doing anything but growing food.
Given that the alternative would be to lie down and die, what is your point?
Yes, you get a lot more vacation, you get full medical benefits for free (state mandated for any permanent job), and the food is better than in the US (sp. the bread), but you do make much less money.
Yes, but you get to live in France! That's France we're talking about, you know, fine wine, fine food, fine women, crazy-assed car chases n' shit.
How is the IT industry in France anyway?
The guy did steal, he is being punished,
No, wrong. He infringed copyright. I know in wonderland where most Americans live, a word can mean whatever you want it to mean, but legally, words have precise definitions.
No stealing occurred.
But in this case, where would you draw the line and why?
Well, that question begins with the assumption that this technology would be used to find individual drug users. I very much doubt that is the case. The police seem to be doing just fine already in the USoA, because your fine country now has the highest incarceration rate in the world., beating out Russia and South Africa.
No, this technology will be used by local branches of the DEA and other law enforcement agencies to bolster funding proposals to boost their stable of helicopters, snipers, and sniffer dogs. This is merely an extension of what the War On Drugs is really about; stealing billions of dollars from the public purse to enrich corporations while building a police state.
So I wouldn't worry about peeing on your neighbours lawn if I were you, I'd be looking at emigrating to somewhere that isn't a facist oligarchy while you still can.
Best of luck!
Capital costs, raw materials cost, and transport costs are often highly subsidized by the country of origin in an effort to attract new manufacturing.
Pffff.
It isn't. It's a trick- they merely sell you smaller amounts.
Pffff.
This was front page slashdot just a couple of days ago- but I like my writeup at technocrat better. E-coli and yard waste- to the tune of 3% of America's land mass (swampland mainly) being used to create feedstock for the bacteria refineries.
Pffff.
Walmart would have a 200% profit margin if their executives were earning the same salary as the lowest associate. I consider executive salaries as a part of profit.
Art is religion. A collection of beliefs with no more fact behind them than any other myth. Same with methodologies.
Pffff.
Those aren't socialism- they're feudalism.
Pffffffffffffffffffffffff.
Actually, that proves it- since the change in cost of manufacturing is actually a factor of 100-1000, not 5-10. (Ohio Arts is a good example of this- their wages went from $19/hr with benefits to .24/hr with no benefits). Like I said, the REAL cost reductions go straight to the bottom line, NOT to consumers.
So the cost of labour is the entire cost of manufacturing is it? No capital costs, no raw materials costs, no transport costs?
The current terms of trade mean that Americans earn less money every year, in relation to inflation.
If the cost of goods purchased is decreasing, how can there be inflation?
Plus, oil need not come out of the ground anymore, so that analysis is rather outdated.
Really!!! You have a magic process for producing oil above ground for $5 a barrel!!!!???? Please tell me what it is, I'm all ears.
Add to that the fact that if those commodities WERE produced in the United States, Americans would have good paying jobs again
Yes, but who would buy your overpriced commodities? Oh, that's right, you won't be trading with other parts of the world, so you are just going to take the increase in the cost of goods on the chin, but that's alright because you have 'good paying jobs' to pay for it.
Bullshit. Back in the 1980s, I worked retail as my first job, and EVERYTHING in the store assumed a 10% margin. If we were able to do that then, we should be able to do that now.
Are you talking about a profit margin or markup on the cost of goods? Walmart has 100-200% markup, but a 1-2% profit margin. Sorry, when you said 100-200% margin, I assumed you were talking about the markup, because Walmart certainly does not have a 100-200% profit margin, but they certainly do have a 100-200% markup.
So perhaps if I knew what you were talking about, we could debate this point further.
And perhaps if you knew anything about history, you'd know that what is "economics or business" is nothing more than fungible religion, not science.
It is neither a religion nor a science. Economics is a collection of speculative theories (an Art, if you will), and business is an evolving methodology (an intellectual technology).
Socialism has never succeeded- even in China.
Socialism has succeeded at times in Sweden, Norway, Britain,Australia and even Canada. Not raving-foam-at-the-mouth socialism, but quiet pragmatic socialism that most Americans don't quite seem to be able to comprehend.
Also good. You don't really think those cheap prices ACTUALLY made it to the consumer, did you? Of course not- they ended up as profit for the top .1% of Americans- who now earn as much as the bottom 50% combined.
No, I don't think they did, I KNOW they did. Almost every consumer item I buy has come down (in real terms, adjusted for inflation) by a factor of 5-10, from the change in the terms of trade, due entirely to outsourcing labour intensive industries to countries with a cheap labour pool.
Of course not. First we have to take back our democracy!
The rich and powerful are in the arms business as well, so I don't think you will succeed, but by all means, best of luck!
The US Dollar has been losing purchasing power for 40 years now.
No, the US Dollar has been losing it's value for 40 years, not it's purchasing power. The two are completely different things. The reason the US Dollar has been losing it's value is because it has been mortgaged for future generations to pay off through the issuing of government debt. It's purchasing power is maintained by your military, by enforcing/maintaining the terms of trade. Modern economies need oil, and (almost) all oil is sold in US$, along with many other commodities that are no longer produced in the US. It's really quite complex, and whole books have been written on how this works, perhaps you could read one?
Like I said, the cheap prices don't make it to the consumer level, not really- Wal*Mart's margin is often 100-200%, and other "discount stores" are similar or worse.
Retails margins are always 100-200%, regardless of the country that the product is manufactured in. 100% markup on $1 (made in china) is $2, on $10 (made in usa) it is $20. Perhaps if you understood the first thing about economics or business, it would assist you in your quest to destroy those who profit from it.
So let's build an enormous authoritarian apparatus. If that's what it takes, it's worth it.
Once that apparatus was complete, it would be taken over by the strong, and used to control and exploit the weak. You might remember a similar occurrence in the 20th century, it happened in a place called Russia.
Oh, and I thought it was the con artists who gave socialism a bad name.
You thought wrong. Where ever socialism has succeeded in the world was because it was pragmatic, not idealistic.
Can you afford to take a 20% hit to your customer base?
Yes, but my company is unusual. Besides which, we don't really do much business with the US.
Few companies can-
True, however some companies, upon losing a large customer have sought out other markets for their products, or changed their business model. Others, of course, have gone bankrupt. But isn't that a just reward for those so lazy that they rely on the American consumer to keep their business afloat?
On the flip side of that coin, can you afford to pay 20-50% more for your consumer goods? According to the US census bureau: In 2005, 37.0 million people were in poverty. I guess your plan involves re-employing those people in all of the jobs that went overseas when manufacturers outsourced?
I'd like to see us go cold turkey- unilaterally exit the WTO, NAFTA and CAFTA, and replace them with FAIR TRADE agreements.
But that would mean that the US doesn't get to screw third world countries with one-sided trading agreements. I love your idealism, but really, do you think that the US rich and powerful are going to give up their free ride just like that? Do you think the US consumer is going to give up the purchasing power of the US dollar without complaint?
That is the entire point. With one world standard in labor and environment, there would no longer be a need for all of that crap.
Yes, but that is NEVER going to happen, so it is rather pointless planning for, or thinking about a world in which it does. The strong prey upon the weak, they can't help themselves, it's in the DNA. Universal equality will never be achieved, because it would take an enormous authoritarian apparatus to enforce it.
Misguided idealism is what gives Socialism a bad name.
Sorry for the late reply.
That was a really informative post!
Each CPU is actually a "book" of CPUs. Several run at once on the same data. If any disagree, the instruction is rerun on a different CPU. Entire backup books (in addition to the 54) kick-in if a problem is detected.
That is VERY cool. I guess that forms part of the five nines uptime.
The hardware specs are impressive, but the biggest deal about these boxes is that they don't go down. Most people I talk to question the idea of consolidating servers into one box because of "single point of failure" concerns. This is where the mainframe shines. These things have MTBF of decades, and will just churn away forever.
I want one for my team (dre-e-e-eam, dream dream dream, dre-e-e-eam, dream dream dream)
We are the world's consumers.
Really?
World GDP:$65.95 trillion (2006 est.)
USA GDP: $13.13 trillion
Almost 20%, not bad, but hardly the world's only consumers.
Other way around- they don't accept democracy, our environmental standards, the 40 hour workweek, etc. then we simply don't import their oil. We either do without, or better yet, we develop other sources of fuel and other forms of transportation because supposedly we are the great innovators as well.
How's your plan going so far? Is this a phased approach, or are you going to go cold turkey?
No- works perfectly well for anybody else as well- don't by from people you don't consider to be equals.
Oh god, how I wish! The sooner my compatriots stop eating the bullshit junk food, junk values and junk entertainment that is vomited out of your country, the better.
Europe and America however are supposedly so advanced that we have no other equals....
Hey, close yourselves off, see how much the rest of us miss you. Oh, could you unwind your colonial empire while you're at it? You know, the military bases, the gun boats, the 1/2 million enforcers you have posted around the world. Thanks.
Pretty normal in Mississippi and Texas, I'm afraid.
Would that be wenches, or spelling mistakes?
In my university they installed this huge frozen CO2 tank the size of two large trailer trucks. The next day it was gone.
Maybe it melted.
All the more reason I'm for Fair Trade agreements- ones where only the countries that are willing to accelerate to American labor and environmental standards get the trade. Want to do business with American consumers? Accept American laws.
So you mean that for America to import oil from the Middle East, Americans would need to accept Sharia law?
Or would it only work FOR Americans, (the most important people in the world)?