You have it backwards. Having ridiculous laws is much worse than not having laws at all. Ridiculous laws will be broken and this is what undermines the very respect for the law. Also protecting the precious snowflakes at all costs has dire consequences when they meet the harsh bitch called life completely unprepared.
amend the constitution to have it your way, problem solved
RP is a strict constitionalist and what constitution says (in plain English not in some wishful-thinking-mumbo-jumbo) takes precedence over his personal opinions because the rule of law is where it's at. Well intentioned interpretations that broaden the power of federal government to do good (the ends justify the means) start the slippery slope that sooner or later becomes the rule of men who don't give a shit what the law says and the rights you supposedly have (the patriot act, sopa, ndaa,... ).
cutting deficit by $2T over 10 years is what, 200B/year? Great, instead of $1.5T/year deficits you get 1.3T/year. Besides it was more in $1.2T-$1.5T range so the change would be even smaller. In reality it was not about shrinking the budget and the debt, but decreasing the projected rate of growth of the budget - putting lipstick on a pig comes to mind.
you didn't think it over, did you? you think that the US is a disaster, that there is a gap between the ruling elite and the masses... so tell me this - who would be responsible for implementing that plan? Wouldn't that be the same bureaucrats that are a part of the problem? Who says they wouldn't take advantage of the situation and brainwash the kids with massive propaganda to support the status quo? And to be clear, Reps are bad, but Dems are not angels either.
When your problem is too much power in the hands of corrupted elites, you don't solve it by giving them even more power.
RP wants to allow competing currencies, some of which could be backed by precious metals (as mentioned in the constitution) or whatever. You would be free to do business in any currency you want.
Bank runs happen because banks overstretch themselves not because there is no body to bail their asses out. If the central reserve is so good, then tell me why banks failing like a domino in 2008 burned everything FDIC had in vaults and then more? Reserve is not safety, it's an illusion of safety. Taxpayer had to step in so people paid for it one way or another. In case of bank run damage is small in scope, while you offload it on the taxpayer, everybody pays.
with the federal reserve you got the financial sector growing like cancer, devouring everything in its path, offloading bank risk on taxpayers and a systemic collapse of world economy. Yup, sounds a lot like progress. Besides you don't bank runs because there is no lender of last resort, but because banks are allowed to have tiny amount of reserves (fractional reserve banking)
There is that thing called the US constitution. It says that the federal level of government can do only so much and there rest is none of its business. RP being strict constutionalist thinks that the constitution says what it says in plain English and the words written there have precedence over his personal beliefs. If you want to have something else, you need to do it the right way and amend the constitution, not to reinvent the meaning of the words only because the ends would justify the means. Well intentioned creative interpretations start the slippery slope and sooner or later you go from the rule of law to the rule of men who don't care what the law actually says and what rights you supposedly have.
1. regulators are bought and paid for, besides they are not the brightest of the pack - if they were they would be farming gold on wallstreet themselves 2. regulations are always looking backwards at the last crisis, never predict origins of the next one 3. when everything is leveraged 30-50x there is nothing you can do to provide stability that is not make-believe 4. you don't need fancy regulation to crack down on good ol' fraud, you just make it harder for small players to comply
pay for the upgrades with money you save thanks to cheaper pc versions. Avg console game is what, 10-20 bucks more expensive? Also who said you need 400 bucks for gfx card? 150 dollar ones are plenty fine and wipe the floor with 6 year old console hardware. Besides, you may even stop upgrading your pc altogether, consoles in general hold multiplatform games back due to limited specs and the whole thing pretty much plateaued. Yes there are ultra-high-whatever quality settings in pc versions but even medium is leaps and bounds above the consoles.
you are right that high quality graphics alone don't equal good gameplay but half gig of total memory that xbox360 and ps3 have is pathetic by today's standards no matter how you slice it. It actually harmed many games with great concepts because the memory constraints made them simplified and linear.
it's about warming the hands up and keeping the intensity high, so you can easily pull off these 300apm with no filler in decisive moments of the game. Some spam apm to enlarge the e-peen but they are not pros and more often than not it makes them play much worse. It's not a measure of skill but more like a measure of physical potential, what you do with that potential is an entirely different story.
So you've found a better example of people exploiting the hospitality of local people, good for you. Yes, many of my countrymen have no shame and if you think they suck, we got it much worse here.
seriously, i consider arguments using Somalia and Scandinavia equally broken. Mentioning Sweden or Norway ignores the fact that nations have different 'personalities'. You guys are from other planet or something - unbelievably honest and you have way way too much money to blow.
Not that far to the south across the Baltic Sea, in Poland, if you had slapped 40% tax rate on income (median gross income is about E600/$800 a month, avg +40%) to redistribute the shit out of it, you'd have so much of it stolen or wasted it's not even funny and the employment level among the useless bureaucrats would be skyhigh (it's already 4x higher than in formally socialist country that ended in 1989!). Spending other people's money is a hassle-free activity here, just win elections and you can start blowing money left and right. There is not even one thing under the government's control that doesn't suck monkey balls. Your politicians resign when they buy few chocolate bars for private use at taxpayer's expense.... what? here you can waste millions and nothing happens. I kid you not, my personal experience tells me that at least here 'free for all' is the best system, because in any other case there will be people who will exploit good hearts of others without batting an eye. We have the highest percentage of registered people with disabilities here (you know, free money) - just bribe a doctor to give you a paper and you get a free ride.
Also even if you live in Sweden and all of you share 'hippie' ideas, because of your good hearts you let others in who might have a different idea what's cool and what's not. What about big chunk of imported muslims who do not intend to assimilate (honor killings anyone?), are not too willing to work for common good but will gladly take the welfare checks and multiply like mad?
Ever heard of amendments, you know, the legit way to make changes? that's how you keep up with the times, not by wiping your ass with the constitution. if the commerce clause and general welfare are enough to authorize anything, why bother with constitution in the first place?
so the founders went through the pain of enumerating the powers of the federal administration and saying the rest is up to the states and the people themselves only to throw that concept under the bus with a vague idea of general welfare... Somehow i doubt that. Imo the clause merely provides the context in which the federal government operates, but doesn't give any authority to arbitrarily extend the scope.
I see money as something similar to shares of company. A unit of currency is a share in the country's economy. When there is a fixed amount of shares you know exactly what you 'own'. When some bureaucrats in government decide that the amount of shares in economy is to jump because they say so - this is a scam. Investing and saving in such arbitrary environment is like trying to learn how to walk while some fucker is playing with the value of g. The only way to stand a chance is to be friends with said fucker and know his next move.
Deflation being harmful is bullshit. When it is a result of increased productivity and efficiency everybody wins (more stuff for the same amount of money), when it's a result of economy imploding from excess leverage then it is a move towards natural equilibrium and wipes entities that are not viable and destroy wealth - it's a good thing, we don't need toxic assets poisoning the economy for many years to come.
Governments love inflation, they can cut corners when it comes to payments updates (all liabilities), it wipes the debt in real terms (lenders get fucked over), it bumps people's income into higher tax brackets. Have you noticed how everybody says that if only southern europe could devalue the shit of their money everything would be honey and unicorns once again? Ongoing currency war (aka race to the bottom) makes no sense - it's the only war that is about shooting at your own troops. You win when your citizens become dirt poor. Banks also love inflation - it forces everybody and their dog to use their services to at least try to break even and they get make a killing. If you wonder why financial sector is huge and like an octopus entangling whole economy, look no further and thank mainstream economists who love inflationist policies. What about people on dicretionary income (ordinary workers, retirees) as in 90 fucking percent of people? They are getting killed and only the rich have know-how, time and money to fight the uphill battle against inflation - somehow everybody is surprised that the share of top income brackets is increasing? wtf... In stable/slightly deflationary environment you would be able to save without jumping through the flaming hoops and having some assets for retirement would be no problem.
stability comes from the size of userbase. More users = greater inertia. Either way central banks have no problem with playing dirty. Imagine having tons of swiss francs and losing 8% in a matter of seconds as it happened early September when they announced pegging to euro.
liquidity provided by HFT is phony (they shuffle same stocks back and forth) but the minute shit hits the fan it disappears - just look what happened during the flash crash. Also there needs to be some amount of friction in the system that acts as a dampener, otherwise it is prone to destructive resonance-like processes.
Paris Hilton makes a ton of money on her own. Granted, she can do that because she is a celebrity because she was born in an ungodly rich family, but still she knows perfectly well how to profit from her popularity.
Also 100% inheritance tax would have one effect i am 100% sure you wouldn't like. Soon everything would be owned by the state and the corporations - they don't die and would never pay that tax.
Buffet is well-known for bemoaning the fact that he pays less (as a percentage) in taxes than his secretary does
1. it's not true 2. he is the boss there - he could go with the fat wage with much higher marginal tax rate, but chose the dividends 3. corporate tax should be included in these calculations - it diminishes the pool of money that goes to him.
Slashdot Mirror
microloans that were supposed to solve all problems of the poor in Bangladesh are actually very destructive and many have lost their last shirt.
http://lesstoldstories.blogspot.com/2011/03/micro-debt-small-loans-big-problems.html
You have it backwards. Having ridiculous laws is much worse than not having laws at all. Ridiculous laws will be broken and this is what undermines the very respect for the law.
Also protecting the precious snowflakes at all costs has dire consequences when they meet the harsh bitch called life completely unprepared.
amend the constitution to have it your way, problem solved
RP is a strict constitionalist and what constitution says (in plain English not in some wishful-thinking-mumbo-jumbo) takes precedence over his personal opinions because the rule of law is where it's at. Well intentioned interpretations that broaden the power of federal government to do good (the ends justify the means) start the slippery slope that sooner or later becomes the rule of men who don't give a shit what the law says and the rights you supposedly have (the patriot act, sopa, ndaa, ... ).
cutting deficit by $2T over 10 years is what, 200B/year? Great, instead of $1.5T/year deficits you get 1.3T/year.
Besides it was more in $1.2T-$1.5T range so the change would be even smaller. In reality it was not about shrinking the budget and the debt, but decreasing the projected rate of growth of the budget - putting lipstick on a pig comes to mind.
you didn't think it over, did you?
you think that the US is a disaster, that there is a gap between the ruling elite and the masses... so tell me this - who would be responsible for implementing that plan? Wouldn't that be the same bureaucrats that are a part of the problem? Who says they wouldn't take advantage of the situation and brainwash the kids with massive propaganda to support the status quo? And to be clear, Reps are bad, but Dems are not angels either.
When your problem is too much power in the hands of corrupted elites, you don't solve it by giving them even more power.
RP wants to allow competing currencies, some of which could be backed by precious metals (as mentioned in the constitution) or whatever. You would be free to do business in any currency you want.
Bank runs happen because banks overstretch themselves not because there is no body to bail their asses out. If the central reserve is so good, then tell me why banks failing like a domino in 2008 burned everything FDIC had in vaults and then more?
Reserve is not safety, it's an illusion of safety. Taxpayer had to step in so people paid for it one way or another. In case of bank run damage is small in scope, while you offload it on the taxpayer, everybody pays.
with the federal reserve you got the financial sector growing like cancer, devouring everything in its path, offloading bank risk on taxpayers and a systemic collapse of world economy. Yup, sounds a lot like progress.
Besides you don't bank runs because there is no lender of last resort, but because banks are allowed to have tiny amount of reserves (fractional reserve banking)
There is that thing called the US constitution. It says that the federal level of government can do only so much and there rest is none of its business. RP being strict constutionalist thinks that the constitution says what it says in plain English and the words written there have precedence over his personal beliefs.
If you want to have something else, you need to do it the right way and amend the constitution, not to reinvent the meaning of the words only because the ends would justify the means. Well intentioned creative interpretations start the slippery slope and sooner or later you go from the rule of law to the rule of men who don't care what the law actually says and what rights you supposedly have.
1. regulators are bought and paid for, besides they are not the brightest of the pack - if they were they would be farming gold on wallstreet themselves
2. regulations are always looking backwards at the last crisis, never predict origins of the next one
3. when everything is leveraged 30-50x there is nothing you can do to provide stability that is not make-believe
4. you don't need fancy regulation to crack down on good ol' fraud, you just make it harder for small players to comply
Deus Ex 1 [pc] vs Deus Ex 2 [xbox]
severe case of consolitis, sequel got nothing on its predecessor - tiny levels, simplified mechanics
pay for the upgrades with money you save thanks to cheaper pc versions. Avg console game is what, 10-20 bucks more expensive?
Also who said you need 400 bucks for gfx card? 150 dollar ones are plenty fine and wipe the floor with 6 year old console hardware.
Besides, you may even stop upgrading your pc altogether, consoles in general hold multiplatform games back due to limited specs and the whole thing pretty much plateaued. Yes there are ultra-high-whatever quality settings in pc versions but even medium is leaps and bounds above the consoles.
you are right that high quality graphics alone don't equal good gameplay but half gig of total memory that xbox360 and ps3 have is pathetic by today's standards no matter how you slice it. It actually harmed many games with great concepts because the memory constraints made them simplified and linear.
it's about warming the hands up and keeping the intensity high, so you can easily pull off these 300apm with no filler in decisive moments of the game. Some spam apm to enlarge the e-peen but they are not pros and more often than not it makes them play much worse. It's not a measure of skill but more like a measure of physical potential, what you do with that potential is an entirely different story.
So you've found a better example of people exploiting the hospitality of local people, good for you. Yes, many of my countrymen have no shame and if you think they suck, we got it much worse here.
seriously, i consider arguments using Somalia and Scandinavia equally broken.
Mentioning Sweden or Norway ignores the fact that nations have different 'personalities'. You guys are from other planet or something - unbelievably honest and you have way way too much money to blow.
Not that far to the south across the Baltic Sea, in Poland, if you had slapped 40% tax rate on income (median gross income is about E600/$800 a month, avg +40%) to redistribute the shit out of it, you'd have so much of it stolen or wasted it's not even funny and the employment level among the useless bureaucrats would be skyhigh (it's already 4x higher than in formally socialist country that ended in 1989!). Spending other people's money is a hassle-free activity here, just win elections and you can start blowing money left and right. There is not even one thing under the government's control that doesn't suck monkey balls. Your politicians resign when they buy few chocolate bars for private use at taxpayer's expense.... what? here you can waste millions and nothing happens.
I kid you not, my personal experience tells me that at least here 'free for all' is the best system, because in any other case there will be people who will exploit good hearts of others without batting an eye. We have the highest percentage of registered people with disabilities here (you know, free money) - just bribe a doctor to give you a paper and you get a free ride.
Also even if you live in Sweden and all of you share 'hippie' ideas, because of your good hearts you let others in who might have a different idea what's cool and what's not. What about big chunk of imported muslims who do not intend to assimilate (honor killings anyone?), are not too willing to work for common good but will gladly take the welfare checks and multiply like mad?
pot calling the kettle black - are you sure you haven't misused the word 'fascist'?
if all parents think their children shouldn't work, what difference repelling such laws would make?
Ever heard of amendments, you know, the legit way to make changes? that's how you keep up with the times, not by wiping your ass with the constitution.
if the commerce clause and general welfare are enough to authorize anything, why bother with constitution in the first place?
so the founders went through the pain of enumerating the powers of the federal administration and saying the rest is up to the states and the people themselves only to throw that concept under the bus with a vague idea of general welfare...
Somehow i doubt that. Imo the clause merely provides the context in which the federal government operates, but doesn't give any authority to arbitrarily extend the scope.
I see money as something similar to shares of company. A unit of currency is a share in the country's economy. When there is a fixed amount of shares you know exactly what you 'own'. When some bureaucrats in government decide that the amount of shares in economy is to jump because they say so - this is a scam. Investing and saving in such arbitrary environment is like trying to learn how to walk while some fucker is playing with the value of g. The only way to stand a chance is to be friends with said fucker and know his next move.
Deflation being harmful is bullshit. When it is a result of increased productivity and efficiency everybody wins (more stuff for the same amount of money), when it's a result of economy imploding from excess leverage then it is a move towards natural equilibrium and wipes entities that are not viable and destroy wealth - it's a good thing, we don't need toxic assets poisoning the economy for many years to come.
Governments love inflation, they can cut corners when it comes to payments updates (all liabilities), it wipes the debt in real terms (lenders get fucked over), it bumps people's income into higher tax brackets. Have you noticed how everybody says that if only southern europe could devalue the shit of their money everything would be honey and unicorns once again? Ongoing currency war (aka race to the bottom) makes no sense - it's the only war that is about shooting at your own troops. You win when your citizens become dirt poor.
Banks also love inflation - it forces everybody and their dog to use their services to at least try to break even and they get make a killing. If you wonder why financial sector is huge and like an octopus entangling whole economy, look no further and thank mainstream economists who love inflationist policies.
What about people on dicretionary income (ordinary workers, retirees) as in 90 fucking percent of people? They are getting killed and only the rich have know-how, time and money to fight the uphill battle against inflation - somehow everybody is surprised that the share of top income brackets is increasing? wtf... In stable/slightly deflationary environment you would be able to save without jumping through the flaming hoops and having some assets for retirement would be no problem.
stability comes from the size of userbase. More users = greater inertia.
Either way central banks have no problem with playing dirty. Imagine having tons of swiss francs and losing 8% in a matter of seconds as it happened early September when they announced pegging to euro.
mass media corps are hand picking presidential candidates and you have absolutely no problem with that - got it.
liquidity provided by HFT is phony (they shuffle same stocks back and forth) but the minute shit hits the fan it disappears - just look what happened during the flash crash.
Also there needs to be some amount of friction in the system that acts as a dampener, otherwise it is prone to destructive resonance-like processes.
Paris Hilton makes a ton of money on her own. Granted, she can do that because she is a celebrity because she was born in an ungodly rich family, but still she knows perfectly well how to profit from her popularity.
Also 100% inheritance tax would have one effect i am 100% sure you wouldn't like. Soon everything would be owned by the state and the corporations - they don't die and would never pay that tax.
Buffet is well-known for bemoaning the fact that he pays less (as a percentage) in taxes than his secretary does
1. it's not true
2. he is the boss there - he could go with the fat wage with much higher marginal tax rate, but chose the dividends
3. corporate tax should be included in these calculations - it diminishes the pool of money that goes to him.