Bolster our economy? Hardly. If we do the things many global warming proponents want, it will destroy our economy through insanely high taxes on current energy, likely resort in massive energy shortages (face it, solar / wind / hydro just don't produce the amount of power that coal / oil does), and cause technology to stagnate for who knows how long.
I always recycle, I drive a car that gets close to 40 mpg, don't waste electricity, etc but I'm not going to risk damning our society just because spreading fear is a great way to make money / gain political power and people realised that if they start shouting "the human race will die out / the planet will die if you don't do what we tell you to" that they'll have all the money and power they could ever imagine.
That's my biggest complaint with every American car I've driven (not saying they're crap because they're American, just that I've noticed it most in American cars) -- the steering wheel feels completely disconnected from the road. My car has amazing feel and I can tell from how the wheel feels if I'm pushing the limits of my traction. The American cars I've drive (mainly GM cars) there steering wheel feels EXACTLY THE SAME, regardless of how hard you're cornering.
If you choose a career that society eventually determines to be useless (or not nearly as useful as it used to be) that's how life goes and the rest of the population shouldn't be punished for it.
The only time the government creates a productive job is when they do something like road construction. However, those are TEMPORARY jobs since it only takes X amount of time to pave a road (granted, unions drag it out several times longer than it would take a non-union crew to get it done, but that's another issue).
The best explanation I have for your foaming at the mouth rage about getting laid off from a job society no longer deems valuable is because you had one of those jobs and are bitter that you happened to pick a career that eventually turned out to not be such a great idea.
Sure there are still some quirks here and there, but in my opinion they are no harder to deal with than any of the commercial operating systems.
Actually, I find them less of a pain to deal with. Why? If something (say playing flv's) doesn't work 100% right all the time on Linux, it's not that big of a deal because it's free. However on Windows, I get rather annoyed because I paid good money for that product.
First off, he said "eventually". Now, lets use the invention of the car as an example. When the car took off, eventually the horse and buggy died out (as we all know). When that happened, people who bred / sold horses for the purpose of pulling buggies went out of business, as did those who made the buggies. What they then did was learn to do something new. This happens quite a lot in a capitalist economy.
When the market for a particular job disappears or becomes flooded (for example, when the networking market became flooded in the 90's) and wages are depressed as a result, people either learn on their own to do another job or go back to school. Believe it or not, it DOES work and has worked for a long time. The government "creating" jobs only pays people to do something unproductive or pays people to do a job that society doesn't want, so once the government stops funding it those jobs dry up. If the private sector currently won't pay someone to build widget X because no on wants widget X, even if the government creates a thousand jobs making widget X, once the government stops paying for production and it's turned back to the private sector, those jobs will disappear since no one wants to buy widget X.
Unfortunately, I CAN conceive of a system other than capitalism. Why? Because many idiots here want to ruin the US by making it a clone of failed European ideas. If they think your way of life is so superior, why not move to Europe? Why destroy the one country that was supposed to be free?
Oh, and collectivist societies may provide the illusion of democracy, but the citizens have very little power to control what happens since everything is "for the greater good". It's kind of like the "elections" in Venezuela. Yea, Chavez is "democratically elected" because people don't have any other choice.
Falconhell, meet the founding fathers of the US. Founding fathers of the US, meet Falconhell. Get the picture now? Probably not, so I suggest you pick up a book and read up on the principles that the US was founded on.
See, in Europe you might not have this, but in the US we have places where people VOLUNTARILY give food to poor / homeless people and there are doctors and nurses who treat poor / homeless people for free. Shockingly (well, for collectivists like you who think people will only do something good when held at gun point and forced to), people in the US will do things for free to help people.
I value human life, I just realize that no one is so important that someone else's rights should be violated on their behalf.
Europe is well known for it's extensive government involvement in businesses, high taxes, in your health, etc. The more things like that they do, the closer they get to a dictatorship.
It never ceases to amaze me how people on slashdot want absolute freedom with their software / gadgets, yet so many on here (such as yourself) openly support government systems that rob people of many of their basic freedoms.
I realize you're a tool who doesn't have a clue what to think without people like Obama telling you what to think, but I'll respond anyways.
If someone does something to you causing you to be unable to work, that's why you are allowed to sue them for damages / lost wages / pain and suffering. You're using a blatant lie to excuse totalitarianism and irresponsibility.
Am I saying people should be killed or left to die? No. What I'm saying is that no one should be FORCED to give them money. You obviously didn't read the bit in my other post about charity.
Actually, times when the economy is bad (in the US at least) is when charity goes up. Why? Because people say "Well, I can still survive if I give away $500 and John and his wife both lost their jobs, so I'll give them $500 to help out". So much for your delusion of "American greed". You thinking that you should benefit from someone else's hard work, that's the real greed.
You don't get it in the slightest. I voluntarily give money to help people, as does most everyone I know. However, what (most) Americans are against is the government pointing a gun at us and taking our money from us.
It's a sad state of how far Europe has fallen that it's citizens put up with governments that every day come closer and closer to a dictatorship. What's sadder still is that you think that it's actually a good thing for the government to have absolute control over every facet of your life.
First off, your education was NOT free. Every day you work and pay taxes for your entire life, you pay for that education system. That means that in the end, your education costs several times more than an education in the US. Just because you're never handed a bill for it doesn't make it free. That's why you pay such ridiculously high taxes.
You cannot make it so that everyone has the same opportunities in life -- it's not possible and is a lie told to you by power hungry politicians. If person A happens to have a friend who works at company XYZ and that friend puts person A's name in for a job, as well as a recommendation for person A, that is an opportunity you can't recreate for everyone. Now, you may have mistakenly meant to say "equal rights", which, at least in the US, everyone DOES have. The only way people can "be equal" (without using communism to ensure that everyone is equally poor), is to provide them with equal legal rights. You cannot give people equal strength, equal mental ability, equal work ethics, equal ability to get a good looking spouse, etc. Trying to give everyone equal pay also doesn't work, because no one will do the jobs that require years of education (such as being a doctor) if they are paid just as well for never learning a thing and being a janitor.
I don't have money. I graduated from college not that long ago, but because of the crap economy can't find a job and work at a restaurant three days a week, making very little. However, I'm not arrogant enough to think that I somehow deserve money that other people earned. Everyone does have a shot in life -- stealing money from people who used their shot to make something good of their life is NOT even remotely just, nor does it increase anyone else's "shot in life". All it does is reward those who made bad choices while punishing those who made good choices. That's what socialism / communism do. I know you'll refuse to admit it and think that somehow people deserve things they didn't earn, but no one does. Not me, not you, no one.
It's amusing that when a person takes what doesn't belong to them by force, it's called theft. Yet if the government does it, you call it "giving everyone a shot in life".
See, there's something I believe in that apparently you don't -- CHARITY. Charity is people giving money VOLUNTARILY. You believe in the government pointing a gun at people and taking their money by force, giving most of the money to politicians, then what little is left will be inefficiently doled out.
In fact, I wouldn't mind if those who did nothing had as much money as I do, I could care less about money as long as I have enough to live a comfortable life.
I'm curious what you make a year (if you live in the US). Generally only two types of people support communism as you do -- those who have little and think that the fact that they're alive means they deserve more and those that have so much that they've never had to work in their lives and feel guilty about having a better life. Those of us who've worked hard to get what we have, even if what we have isn't much, are very against having our hard earned money stolen from us to give to someone else who didn't earn it.
Roads are one place where it normally is more useful for the government to deal with it, but that is a rare case!"
As for disability, why should the fact that something bad happened to you mean everyone else should be punished? Do you really think you are so important that if you could no longer work (and therefore not make money, assuming you're living alone with no family) that the rest of the population should pay you to sit at home and do nothing? That is a terrible waste of money and a huge burden to society.
School and health care are similar. Why should others be forced to pay for you to have a better life just because you failed to build a life where you could afford those things. While government run schools are crap, I can at least understand having SOME government schools for the extremely poor since an education is important in the modern world.
As for Police and Fire fighters, yes, again, those are some of the few times when it's better to have the government run things. Actually though, fire fighters it probably WOULD be more useful if you just paid a bill after you had a fire -- honestly, how many homes have you ever seen on fire in real life? I've never seen one and it does seem kind of stupid to pay for it every week for your whole life when odds are you'll never need it.
As for caring about what happens to those who can't pay? Sure, it sucks, but again I say why should everyone else be punished because some made bad choices (or in rare cases in normal economic times had bad luck)? Just because your life isn't as good as you want it to be doesn't mean everyone else in the country should be punished for it.
Very good points. Too bad most people are so brainwashed into thinking we need the government controlling everything and will call your post "anarchist propaganda" or something along those lines. The fact remains, most of the time the government causes more harm than good.
I haven't seen that behavior on COPS, but I've seen it on plenty of news shows (such as Dateline NBC's To Catch A Predator). I can't count how many times I've seen a guy doing every thing the cops say, is in no way remotely threatening either, and half a dozen cops tackle him and slam him on the ground.
I know plenty of cops personally as well (both of my brothers are cops, and I'm friends with several of their police friends). However, I've come across enough cops on an ego trip to know that it's safer to assume the cop is crooked and find out he's nice than to assume he's nice and find out the hard way that he's just a jackass with a gun.
Your anecdote further strengthens my view that American companies are all run by idiots. I swear, American companies sit down and figure out the most efficient way to run the company and then say "Ok, great -- lets do the exact opposite".
On the guns issue -- criminals who want guns WILL get guns, regardless if they're legal or not. You see, that's sort of the definition of a criminal -- someone who doesn't follow the law. If a criminal has a gun and citizens are not allowed to have them, then it puts law-abiding citizens at a distinct disadvantage.
One huge reason TO have guns is that with citizens not being allowed to carry guns, that means that the government is the only one with guns (excluding criminals here). That's a very scary thought, because how are you going to stop them? Throw rocks? Write petitions? Fat lot of good that'll do you when they can just shoot you.
I have a friend who works at a gun shop and we were talking about the process you go through when purchasing a gun. One of those things is asking you WHY you want a gun. I asked "Well, what if I said I want a gun in case I ever need to defend myself against the government?". His response? "That'll automatically get you banned from buying a gun". That is EXACTLY why you SHOULD own a gun, because the government doesn't want you to be able to stand up for yourself.
As for your comment about how police in the UK don't carry guns, I was about to rip my hair out while watching Spooks on the BBC over the stupidity of not letting MI-5 agents carry guns. Police normally aren't in the constant life or death kind of situations that an MI-5 agent will find themselves, even when they're off-duty.
None of this was meant to insult you (so I apologise if you felt that way), just giving some explanation as to why there are people who are against outlawing guns.
Apparently from most news articles I read about the UK, most citizens there are quite happy to be drones herded around by the government, told what to eat, where to eat it, how to dress, how to talk, etc and are just happy being monitored 24/7 so that the government knows that they're behaving properly.
I can't begin to understand the lack of free will / self respect that leads to that mentality. That's why I also can't comprehend people who join the military (I have no problem fighting for my country, but the military means fighting for the GOVERNMENT and doing what you're told, no questions asked).
"Plus, if you've gotten to the point that you want to stab someone, you have a mental problem"
You've obviously never worked with the general public. Once you have, you'll realise how incredibly stupid they are and have to start fighting the urge to kill them for the sake of the gene pool / for the sake of your own sanity.
Are the stories anything mind-blowing right now? No (but I haven't seen the latest episode yet). However, it's setting the ground for who the characters are and what's going on with the Dollhouse. I think the show has a lot of potential and plan on watching it. Some people will whine that it's not the most interesting thing ever right from the beginning........but those are usually the same morons that complain that the first 50 pages of Fellowship of the Ring aren't the most enthralling, because you have to take time to set up the story first!
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Bolster our economy? Hardly. If we do the things many global warming proponents want, it will destroy our economy through insanely high taxes on current energy, likely resort in massive energy shortages (face it, solar / wind / hydro just don't produce the amount of power that coal / oil does), and cause technology to stagnate for who knows how long.
I always recycle, I drive a car that gets close to 40 mpg, don't waste electricity, etc but I'm not going to risk damning our society just because spreading fear is a great way to make money / gain political power and people realised that if they start shouting "the human race will die out / the planet will die if you don't do what we tell you to" that they'll have all the money and power they could ever imagine.
That's my biggest complaint with every American car I've driven (not saying they're crap because they're American, just that I've noticed it most in American cars) -- the steering wheel feels completely disconnected from the road. My car has amazing feel and I can tell from how the wheel feels if I'm pushing the limits of my traction. The American cars I've drive (mainly GM cars) there steering wheel feels EXACTLY THE SAME, regardless of how hard you're cornering.
Numb steering wheels are very dangerous.
If you choose a career that society eventually determines to be useless (or not nearly as useful as it used to be) that's how life goes and the rest of the population shouldn't be punished for it.
The only time the government creates a productive job is when they do something like road construction. However, those are TEMPORARY jobs since it only takes X amount of time to pave a road (granted, unions drag it out several times longer than it would take a non-union crew to get it done, but that's another issue).
The best explanation I have for your foaming at the mouth rage about getting laid off from a job society no longer deems valuable is because you had one of those jobs and are bitter that you happened to pick a career that eventually turned out to not be such a great idea.
Sure there are still some quirks here and there, but in my opinion they are no harder to deal with than any of the commercial operating systems.
Actually, I find them less of a pain to deal with. Why? If something (say playing flv's) doesn't work 100% right all the time on Linux, it's not that big of a deal because it's free. However on Windows, I get rather annoyed because I paid good money for that product.
First off, he said "eventually". Now, lets use the invention of the car as an example. When the car took off, eventually the horse and buggy died out (as we all know). When that happened, people who bred / sold horses for the purpose of pulling buggies went out of business, as did those who made the buggies. What they then did was learn to do something new. This happens quite a lot in a capitalist economy.
When the market for a particular job disappears or becomes flooded (for example, when the networking market became flooded in the 90's) and wages are depressed as a result, people either learn on their own to do another job or go back to school. Believe it or not, it DOES work and has worked for a long time. The government "creating" jobs only pays people to do something unproductive or pays people to do a job that society doesn't want, so once the government stops funding it those jobs dry up. If the private sector currently won't pay someone to build widget X because no on wants widget X, even if the government creates a thousand jobs making widget X, once the government stops paying for production and it's turned back to the private sector, those jobs will disappear since no one wants to buy widget X.
Unfortunately, I CAN conceive of a system other than capitalism. Why? Because many idiots here want to ruin the US by making it a clone of failed European ideas. If they think your way of life is so superior, why not move to Europe? Why destroy the one country that was supposed to be free?
Oh, and collectivist societies may provide the illusion of democracy, but the citizens have very little power to control what happens since everything is "for the greater good". It's kind of like the "elections" in Venezuela. Yea, Chavez is "democratically elected" because people don't have any other choice.
Taxes for unnecessary things are evil.
Falconhell, meet the founding fathers of the US. Founding fathers of the US, meet Falconhell. Get the picture now? Probably not, so I suggest you pick up a book and read up on the principles that the US was founded on.
You are standing in front of an African village. >go north You are killed by AIDS.
See, in Europe you might not have this, but in the US we have places where people VOLUNTARILY give food to poor / homeless people and there are doctors and nurses who treat poor / homeless people for free. Shockingly (well, for collectivists like you who think people will only do something good when held at gun point and forced to), people in the US will do things for free to help people.
I value human life, I just realize that no one is so important that someone else's rights should be violated on their behalf.
Europe is well known for it's extensive government involvement in businesses, high taxes, in your health, etc. The more things like that they do, the closer they get to a dictatorship.
It never ceases to amaze me how people on slashdot want absolute freedom with their software / gadgets, yet so many on here (such as yourself) openly support government systems that rob people of many of their basic freedoms.
I realize you're a tool who doesn't have a clue what to think without people like Obama telling you what to think, but I'll respond anyways.
If someone does something to you causing you to be unable to work, that's why you are allowed to sue them for damages / lost wages / pain and suffering. You're using a blatant lie to excuse totalitarianism and irresponsibility.
Am I saying people should be killed or left to die? No. What I'm saying is that no one should be FORCED to give them money. You obviously didn't read the bit in my other post about charity.
Actually, times when the economy is bad (in the US at least) is when charity goes up. Why? Because people say "Well, I can still survive if I give away $500 and John and his wife both lost their jobs, so I'll give them $500 to help out". So much for your delusion of "American greed". You thinking that you should benefit from someone else's hard work, that's the real greed.
You don't get it in the slightest. I voluntarily give money to help people, as does most everyone I know. However, what (most) Americans are against is the government pointing a gun at us and taking our money from us.
It's a sad state of how far Europe has fallen that it's citizens put up with governments that every day come closer and closer to a dictatorship. What's sadder still is that you think that it's actually a good thing for the government to have absolute control over every facet of your life.
First off, your education was NOT free. Every day you work and pay taxes for your entire life, you pay for that education system. That means that in the end, your education costs several times more than an education in the US. Just because you're never handed a bill for it doesn't make it free. That's why you pay such ridiculously high taxes.
You cannot make it so that everyone has the same opportunities in life -- it's not possible and is a lie told to you by power hungry politicians. If person A happens to have a friend who works at company XYZ and that friend puts person A's name in for a job, as well as a recommendation for person A, that is an opportunity you can't recreate for everyone. Now, you may have mistakenly meant to say "equal rights", which, at least in the US, everyone DOES have. The only way people can "be equal" (without using communism to ensure that everyone is equally poor), is to provide them with equal legal rights. You cannot give people equal strength, equal mental ability, equal work ethics, equal ability to get a good looking spouse, etc. Trying to give everyone equal pay also doesn't work, because no one will do the jobs that require years of education (such as being a doctor) if they are paid just as well for never learning a thing and being a janitor.
I don't have money. I graduated from college not that long ago, but because of the crap economy can't find a job and work at a restaurant three days a week, making very little. However, I'm not arrogant enough to think that I somehow deserve money that other people earned. Everyone does have a shot in life -- stealing money from people who used their shot to make something good of their life is NOT even remotely just, nor does it increase anyone else's "shot in life". All it does is reward those who made bad choices while punishing those who made good choices. That's what socialism / communism do. I know you'll refuse to admit it and think that somehow people deserve things they didn't earn, but no one does. Not me, not you, no one.
It's amusing that when a person takes what doesn't belong to them by force, it's called theft. Yet if the government does it, you call it "giving everyone a shot in life".
See, there's something I believe in that apparently you don't -- CHARITY. Charity is people giving money VOLUNTARILY. You believe in the government pointing a gun at people and taking their money by force, giving most of the money to politicians, then what little is left will be inefficiently doled out.
In fact, I wouldn't mind if those who did nothing had as much money as I do, I could care less about money as long as I have enough to live a comfortable life.
I'm curious what you make a year (if you live in the US). Generally only two types of people support communism as you do -- those who have little and think that the fact that they're alive means they deserve more and those that have so much that they've never had to work in their lives and feel guilty about having a better life. Those of us who've worked hard to get what we have, even if what we have isn't much, are very against having our hard earned money stolen from us to give to someone else who didn't earn it.
Roads are one place where it normally is more useful for the government to deal with it, but that is a rare case!"
As for disability, why should the fact that something bad happened to you mean everyone else should be punished? Do you really think you are so important that if you could no longer work (and therefore not make money, assuming you're living alone with no family) that the rest of the population should pay you to sit at home and do nothing? That is a terrible waste of money and a huge burden to society.
School and health care are similar. Why should others be forced to pay for you to have a better life just because you failed to build a life where you could afford those things. While government run schools are crap, I can at least understand having SOME government schools for the extremely poor since an education is important in the modern world.
As for Police and Fire fighters, yes, again, those are some of the few times when it's better to have the government run things. Actually though, fire fighters it probably WOULD be more useful if you just paid a bill after you had a fire -- honestly, how many homes have you ever seen on fire in real life? I've never seen one and it does seem kind of stupid to pay for it every week for your whole life when odds are you'll never need it.
As for caring about what happens to those who can't pay? Sure, it sucks, but again I say why should everyone else be punished because some made bad choices (or in rare cases in normal economic times had bad luck)? Just because your life isn't as good as you want it to be doesn't mean everyone else in the country should be punished for it.
Very good points. Too bad most people are so brainwashed into thinking we need the government controlling everything and will call your post "anarchist propaganda" or something along those lines. The fact remains, most of the time the government causes more harm than good.
I haven't seen that behavior on COPS, but I've seen it on plenty of news shows (such as Dateline NBC's To Catch A Predator). I can't count how many times I've seen a guy doing every thing the cops say, is in no way remotely threatening either, and half a dozen cops tackle him and slam him on the ground.
I know plenty of cops personally as well (both of my brothers are cops, and I'm friends with several of their police friends). However, I've come across enough cops on an ego trip to know that it's safer to assume the cop is crooked and find out he's nice than to assume he's nice and find out the hard way that he's just a jackass with a gun.
and already slashdotted. Nice.
Your anecdote further strengthens my view that American companies are all run by idiots. I swear, American companies sit down and figure out the most efficient way to run the company and then say "Ok, great -- lets do the exact opposite".
On the guns issue -- criminals who want guns WILL get guns, regardless if they're legal or not. You see, that's sort of the definition of a criminal -- someone who doesn't follow the law. If a criminal has a gun and citizens are not allowed to have them, then it puts law-abiding citizens at a distinct disadvantage.
One huge reason TO have guns is that with citizens not being allowed to carry guns, that means that the government is the only one with guns (excluding criminals here). That's a very scary thought, because how are you going to stop them? Throw rocks? Write petitions? Fat lot of good that'll do you when they can just shoot you.
I have a friend who works at a gun shop and we were talking about the process you go through when purchasing a gun. One of those things is asking you WHY you want a gun. I asked "Well, what if I said I want a gun in case I ever need to defend myself against the government?". His response? "That'll automatically get you banned from buying a gun". That is EXACTLY why you SHOULD own a gun, because the government doesn't want you to be able to stand up for yourself.
As for your comment about how police in the UK don't carry guns, I was about to rip my hair out while watching Spooks on the BBC over the stupidity of not letting MI-5 agents carry guns. Police normally aren't in the constant life or death kind of situations that an MI-5 agent will find themselves, even when they're off-duty.
None of this was meant to insult you (so I apologise if you felt that way), just giving some explanation as to why there are people who are against outlawing guns.
Apparently from most news articles I read about the UK, most citizens there are quite happy to be drones herded around by the government, told what to eat, where to eat it, how to dress, how to talk, etc and are just happy being monitored 24/7 so that the government knows that they're behaving properly.
I can't begin to understand the lack of free will / self respect that leads to that mentality. That's why I also can't comprehend people who join the military (I have no problem fighting for my country, but the military means fighting for the GOVERNMENT and doing what you're told, no questions asked).
"Plus, if you've gotten to the point that you want to stab someone, you have a mental problem"
You've obviously never worked with the general public. Once you have, you'll realise how incredibly stupid they are and have to start fighting the urge to kill them for the sake of the gene pool / for the sake of your own sanity.
You're forgetting that parents choose to have children. Children do NOT choose to be born.
Are the stories anything mind-blowing right now? No (but I haven't seen the latest episode yet). However, it's setting the ground for who the characters are and what's going on with the Dollhouse. I think the show has a lot of potential and plan on watching it. Some people will whine that it's not the most interesting thing ever right from the beginning........but those are usually the same morons that complain that the first 50 pages of Fellowship of the Ring aren't the most enthralling, because you have to take time to set up the story first!