I agree. I think our standard of living in the US is quite nice, but I don't think anyone is willing to give up that standard to be competitive with China in manufacturing.
A quick google search reveals the average manufacturing job in China pays $134 per month. It has little to do with laziness or stupid jobs, its simple economics.
I think it's important to point out how US-centric this article is. People in China need jobs too. They apparently need them so badly, they are willing to work for $134 per month. The jobs go to those that need them the most, those that will take the lowest pay. Americans simply don't need those jobs bad enough, even if they are unemployed. Our standard of living is too high.
I only see a few ways out of this situation:
1. Return to protectionist policies.
2. Create enough growth to saturate the economies of the third world and raise their standard of living. (The ultimate goal IMHO)
3. Reduce the standard of living in the US to remain competitive with the third world. (Hint: this plan will not be popular)
Another option would be to hold all bonuses in escrow for some defined period (I would suggest at least 5 years). At the end of that period, the bonus may be claimed.
No, for two reasons:
1. There is no downside risk for the executives. If the company does well, they get a bonus. If it does poorly, they get nothing, while the investors, taxpayers, etc. lose money.( i.e. the point of TFA )
2. Stock options already work this way. Some executives get them instead of bonuses (more should). When bonus time comes around, they are offered the chance to buy stock at today's price, years later. Therefore, if their stock performs well, they make lots of money in the future. If it performs poorly, they get nothing.
That is a very good point, while they are probably right that the EAS was not needed on 9/11, it is the type of incident that the system was created for.
No, it was created for thermonuclear war. The only people that would know about such an impending catastrophe would be NORAD, so the EBS (now EAS) was created to disseminate this information to the general public.
The government didn't know the September 11th attacks were about to occur, and had very little information after the attack. Therefore they had no reason to use the EAS.
If you read the document (the document contains the paper, and a rough draft with emails about the paper), you will note that one of the emails mention that it was a bit early to worry about this issue. The authors knew they were getting ahead of themselves, but wanted to be prepared.
Congress would have found plenty of ways to spend the excess cash, in particular, infrastructure. Or they could have rebated back the difference to tax payers.
From the fine paper:
Like many nations at present the US faces a demographic shift that precipitates a pension
finance shortfall. For this reason we intuitively believe that "Fiscal policy should avoid
optimistic assessments about the room for future tax cuts or spending increases in order to avoid
undue stimulus to the economy in the near term and the need for large reversals later on, as the
population ages." How the Nation will accomplish financing this future shortfall remains to be
seen, but is worthy to consider in the current period of surplus.
Basically he's saying there are two reasons not to mess with taxes and spending.
1. It will stimulate the economy, and cause a bubble.
2. It will only be followed by an increase in Medicare and Social Security costs a few years later, so it's probably better to bankroll the money until then.
The govt. can still issue bonds even if they have no debt, to assist the global market, the question being what they do with the cash that is raised.
That's exactly what this paper is about. They discuss using Federal debt to finance private/municipal debt. However, if the loans the government buys default, the Federal Government would be on the hook for the losses. (similar to a credit default swap)
Public education is entirely the responsibility of the states. Which is why federal efforts to reform it never work.
no more low income housing
Maybe, but states have a role in that too.
no more roads & bridges
Once again, the responsibility of the states. However, the federal government is needed to organize roads throughout states, and is firmly within the realm of the interstate commerce clause.
We had a set of airport lights we could place along the runway, complete with PAPI lights to guide incoming planes. These were not permanently mounted, but would only require a couple of hours to get in place. I find it odd that Amundsen-Scott does not have something similar.
Slashdot Mirror
I agree. I think our standard of living in the US is quite nice, but I don't think anyone is willing to give up that standard to be competitive with China in manufacturing.
A quick google search reveals the average manufacturing job in China pays $134 per month. It has little to do with laziness or stupid jobs, its simple economics.
I think it's important to point out how US-centric this article is. People in China need jobs too. They apparently need them so badly, they are willing to work for $134 per month. The jobs go to those that need them the most, those that will take the lowest pay. Americans simply don't need those jobs bad enough, even if they are unemployed. Our standard of living is too high.
I only see a few ways out of this situation:
1. Return to protectionist policies.
2. Create enough growth to saturate the economies of the third world and raise their standard of living. (The ultimate goal IMHO)
3. Reduce the standard of living in the US to remain competitive with the third world. (Hint: this plan will not be popular)
Please mod up! TFA claims Super Mario 3 was released in 1998!
I aslo thugoht it was ovibuos
Another option would be to hold all bonuses in escrow for some defined period (I would suggest at least 5 years). At the end of that period, the bonus may be claimed.
No, for two reasons:
1. There is no downside risk for the executives. If the company does well, they get a bonus. If it does poorly, they get nothing, while the investors, taxpayers, etc. lose money.( i.e. the point of TFA )
2. Stock options already work this way. Some executives get them instead of bonuses (more should). When bonus time comes around, they are offered the chance to buy stock at today's price, years later. Therefore, if their stock performs well, they make lots of money in the future. If it performs poorly, they get nothing.
Their stress is nothing compared to what we routinely ask soldiers, detectives, judges, and other people to do for a fraction of the pay.
Heck, while we're at it, even The President of the United States.
Sphere packing is related to all crystalline structures, not just liquid crystals. This could have a profound impact on material science, as a whole.
Sounds like they are developed a new method to analyze the results of a photoshop contest.
You can report them to the state attorney general. I've heard of auto-dialer companies that were shut down recently by the attorney general's office.
We used to call them Meals Rarely Excreted.
My favorite is "Meals Rejected by Ethiopians".
Just because the 9/11 attack caught our government by surprise, doesn't mean such a system isn't needed. Put the tin foil down!
That is a very good point, while they are probably right that the EAS was not needed on 9/11, it is the type of incident that the system was created for.
No, it was created for thermonuclear war. The only people that would know about such an impending catastrophe would be NORAD, so the EBS (now EAS) was created to disseminate this information to the general public.
The government didn't know the September 11th attacks were about to occur, and had very little information after the attack. Therefore they had no reason to use the EAS.
Unfortunately, debt *is* money.
More accurately money=debt^time. If you pay of debt early, you save a ton of money!
This makes a lot of assumptions.
If you read the document (the document contains the paper, and a rough draft with emails about the paper), you will note that one of the emails mention that it was a bit early to worry about this issue. The authors knew they were getting ahead of themselves, but wanted to be prepared.
Congress would have found plenty of ways to spend the excess cash, in particular, infrastructure. Or they could have rebated back the difference to tax payers.
From the fine paper:
Basically he's saying there are two reasons not to mess with taxes and spending.
1. It will stimulate the economy, and cause a bubble.
2. It will only be followed by an increase in Medicare and Social Security costs a few years later, so it's probably better to bankroll the money until then.
The govt. can still issue bonds even if they have no debt, to assist the global market, the question being what they do with the cash that is raised.
That's exactly what this paper is about. They discuss using Federal debt to finance private/municipal debt. However, if the loans the government buys default, the Federal Government would be on the hook for the losses. (similar to a credit default swap)
ust not a national cascading system test.
That's what I meant. Sorry for the confusion.
The Emergency Broadcast System (EBS) was decommissioned in 1997, it was replaced with the Emergency Alert System (EAS) which has never been tested until now. The two should not be confused.
No more energy research, no more parks
True, and True for national parks.
no more public education
Public education is entirely the responsibility of the states. Which is why federal efforts to reform it never work.
no more low income housing
Maybe, but states have a role in that too.
no more roads & bridges
Once again, the responsibility of the states. However, the federal government is needed to organize roads throughout states, and is firmly within the realm of the interstate commerce clause.
Because that would make too much sense. While your at it, don't forget to combine the CIA, NSA, NGA, etc., as there is a lot of overlap there too.
In the business world this kind of management would never fly. Why not merge similar departments and share overlapping resources?
You forgot Betty White. She's probably had more roles in her 80s than in the rest of her career.
I was saving for years to be able to buy an RX-9 if/when it hit the market
Last rumor I heard Mazda was going to call the RX-9 the RX-7. I guess someone in marketing decided that was a better name.
We had a set of airport lights we could place along the runway, complete with PAPI lights to guide incoming planes. These were not permanently mounted, but would only require a couple of hours to get in place. I find it odd that Amundsen-Scott does not have something similar.
I went to a job interview with a company that manufactures such systems. I was told that each of the antarctic stations had one of their systems.
shouldn't we be emulating the much less intrusive Israeli model?
They are planning to do so, but such a major change like this will take time.
"We're not being attacked, we just are totally incompetent and can't keep our site up under normal conditions"
It's not a normal conditions, they can't keep up with the throngs of angry customers closing their bank accounts.
On your eyes you're running the risk of cataracts.
No, he's not, he has a interocular lens implant that isn't susceptible to cataracts.
for five minutes. After that, the malware writers will identify the Facebook servers and show them a different page.