Socialism is simply Communism-lite. The difference is quantitative.
Socialism certainly does allow for a reasonably free market.
Socialism/Communism can be measured — the measure is the percentage of the country's GDP, that is spent by the government. The US is at about 50% these days (once you add up Federal, State, and local government spending), which is terrible.
Other countries have more or less. At some point — I'd guess, at 90%? — it can be said to become bona fide Communist.
It just makes sure that said free market doesn't fuck over the people
Yes, yes. I know, Hugo Chavez was great, was not he?
detrimental to society to simply hand over to the free market, such as roads and healthcare.
And the Internet, and food (can't be healthy without good nutrition, can you?), and transport, and just about anything else — that's exactly, how the above-mentioned metric goes up, yes.
Because you can't just randomly call *anyone* specific, like you can with a phone.
You can still "call" the local phone-company's relay (on a dedicated frequency), from where your voice will be carried over the regular cables. Radio can — and could even back then — solve the "last mile" problem.
Radio did not have to replace wires completely, just the uneconomical stretches of them, which the government mandated in exchange for the monopoly status.
If each pizzeria had to build their own road to your house
Running a wire is nowhere near the complexity and the expense as building a road. But even in case of a road it is not any of our business. If a particular pizzeria decides, investing in building such a thing is worth the the money, fine... You can stand there with a placard arguing, that such building is a "duplication of effort", but, so long as you aren't the pizzeria's share-holder, you should not be in a position to stop them.
Haven't you seen the old photos of tons of separate telephone wires from many different companies?
I don't need photos — I can look outside the window, where the same pole that carries a FiOS cable to my house, also hosts a Comcast cable for my neighbors and the old-fashioned copper wires to some other houses — plus electrical cables. That's fine — certainly much better, than having a monopoly. (I would rather they buried those wires under ground — to be less susceptible to weather-related disruptions — but that's another topic altogether.)
Without the AT&T monopoly Unix and by extension Linux would probably not exist.
Yeah, let's grant a few more corporations official monopolies now. Maybe, with all the profits they'll be raking in the absence of competition, they'll fund something cool again.
Having a two-way radio *instead* of a telephone? That's madness.
Why?
there were tons of different companies stringing wires around, thus duplicating effort.
There are two pizzerias on my block today. Should the government grant one of them a monopoly — for great justice?
The survivor would then be able to use the increased economies of scale and improved bargaining powers to negotiate better prices on supplies to reduce prices. Oh, wait, their supplier would also have to become a monopoly, if we follow the same "let's avoid duplicating effort" principle further. And, being a monopoly anyway, why would anybody care to reduce the prices?
Ah, the great new world without competition. Are you still sure, that's a good idea?
government subsidies can accelerate the development
The chance of "accelerating" into a wrong direction is prohibitively high. For just one example, consider the case of telephony — by granting AT&T the official monopoly on phone service, the US has "accelerated" wired connections (by mandating that even remotest dwellings be connected upon owners' request).
This delayed the onset of wireless communications by decades... The technology for tiny portable cell-phones of today did not exist, but a stationary two-way radio could've been placed into every house located "too far" for a wire to be economical.
Yes, open-source software may be buggy too, but you have the power to do something about it, if it affects you — and the OS-vendor has no way to stop you.
Open-source may not be good on some absolute scale, but it certainly is better than the closed-source software. If you value your privacy over ease of use and animated file-transfers, that is.
Over twenty years ago there was a FreeBSD-hacker with the following signature: "Do not trust an operating system you don't have sources for".
Though I was then a fresh FreeBSD convert myself, the maxim seemed a little too radical to me... Not any more.
If you absolutely must use Windows, get a stripped-down variant via a Russian or Chinese torrent (there are reputable ones, which will not infect you). If you don't want to rob Microsoft, send them a check... But best is to just get an OS, for which sources are also available.
Because if so, then we would soon see Heinlein fans submitting his works
Interestingly, Heinlein holds a record of five Hugo awards, including one for the "nazi" Starship Troopers and another — for the "libertardian" The Moon is a Harsh Mistress .
Clearly, there was a point, when Hugo Award was given for other than "progressive" works. But then, again, there was a point when Nobel Peace Price was given for actual contributions to world peace too...
Except those wiretaps were lawfully obtained with a search warrant approved by a judge.
Except, according to TFA, we aren't talking about wiretaps here — the contents of the phone calls is not accessed by the police. Only the locations of the devices and the fact of the calls.
IANAL, but warrant is, probably, not necessary in such cases — long ago it was established, that although police need a warrant to open a letter, they can study the envelopes to their hearts' content.
Of course you did — and the Anonymous' posting pointed it out to you even before I did. You suggested, that "cracking down on the causes of crime" and allowing citizens to arms themselves are two mutually exclusive things.
identifies the man as simply Jesus Deniz — Señor Mendoza became Mister Deniz,
omits his mug-shot,
but fails not to point out, that the victims were Crow Indians.
Voilà, instead of an article about a Latino-immigrant murdering Americans, we get a report about violence against a long-suffering minority committed by somebody named Deniz. No, we didn't say he was a White Supremacist, but if you thought so based on his last name and choice of victims, we aren't going to correct you — because in our progressive opinion, White Supremacy is far more dangerous than illegal immigration.
That was a very recent example — less than month old — of how a flagship newspaper of record "plays with language" and "rephrases things" to misrepresent situations, hide inconvenient realities and otherwise push their preferred narrative.
Oh, an pointing this all out has made me a racist, has it not? Please, don't hate...
thank heavens for the US war industry, otherwise a lot of lives could have been lost.
Indeed... Count the number of years between WW1 and WW2. Then compare with the period between WW2 and WW3... Oh, that's right, the US "war industry" is so overwhelming WW3 is nowhere in sight...
Weather Underground has posted a fascinating discussion of the recent improvements made to the major weather models that are used to forecast hurricanes and the like
Pardon me, but Weather Underground was (is?) a far-left terrorist organization with a respectable number of murders and robberies to its name. Some of its surviving members are teaching students these days, and have likely influenced the President, but they aren't teaching them anything about predicting weather.
You're so afraid of the idea of gay people getting married
I'm not afraid of that in the slightest. I'm deathly afraid of dissenters getting fired for having incorrect opinions — even if those pertain to areas, that have nothing to do with their area of expertise and business endeavours. You should be too.
Your impotent fear [...] How does it feel to be an endangered species?
There once was a time when you hovered over a link to check the 'real link' before you clicked on it. Well no more. Just looking at it makes a 'silent request.'
Maybe. But, that's nothing compared to some of the Komrades at Mozilla having inkorrekt thoughts. Thathad to be end...
Slashdot Mirror
Socialism is simply Communism-lite. The difference is quantitative.
Socialism/Communism can be measured — the measure is the percentage of the country's GDP, that is spent by the government. The US is at about 50% these days (once you add up Federal, State, and local government spending), which is terrible.
Other countries have more or less. At some point — I'd guess, at 90%? — it can be said to become bona fide Communist.
Yes, yes. I know, Hugo Chavez was great, was not he?
And the Internet, and food (can't be healthy without good nutrition, can you?), and transport, and just about anything else — that's exactly, how the above-mentioned metric goes up, yes.
They aren't efficient... Communism/Socialism really does suck... Even Fascism — which does allow for reasonably free market — is much better...
You can still "call" the local phone-company's relay (on a dedicated frequency), from where your voice will be carried over the regular cables. Radio can — and could even back then — solve the "last mile" problem.
Radio did not have to replace wires completely, just the uneconomical stretches of them, which the government mandated in exchange for the monopoly status.
Running a wire is nowhere near the complexity and the expense as building a road. But even in case of a road it is not any of our business. If a particular pizzeria decides, investing in building such a thing is worth the the money, fine... You can stand there with a placard arguing, that such building is a "duplication of effort", but, so long as you aren't the pizzeria's share-holder, you should not be in a position to stop them.
I don't need photos — I can look outside the window, where the same pole that carries a FiOS cable to my house, also hosts a Comcast cable for my neighbors and the old-fashioned copper wires to some other houses — plus electrical cables. That's fine — certainly much better, than having a monopoly. (I would rather they buried those wires under ground — to be less susceptible to weather-related disruptions — but that's another topic altogether.)
Yeah, let's grant a few more corporations official monopolies now. Maybe, with all the profits they'll be raking in the absence of competition, they'll fund something cool again.
Why?
There are two pizzerias on my block today. Should the government grant one of them a monopoly — for great justice?
The survivor would then be able to use the increased economies of scale and improved bargaining powers to negotiate better prices on supplies to reduce prices. Oh, wait, their supplier would also have to become a monopoly, if we follow the same "let's avoid duplicating effort" principle further. And, being a monopoly anyway, why would anybody care to reduce the prices?
Ah, the great new world without competition. Are you still sure, that's a good idea?
The chance of "accelerating" into a wrong direction is prohibitively high. For just one example, consider the case of telephony — by granting AT&T the official monopoly on phone service, the US has "accelerated" wired connections (by mandating that even remotest dwellings be connected upon owners' request).
This delayed the onset of wireless communications by decades... The technology for tiny portable cell-phones of today did not exist, but a stationary two-way radio could've been placed into every house located "too far" for a wire to be economical.
Yes, open-source software may be buggy too, but you have the power to do something about it, if it affects you — and the OS-vendor has no way to stop you.
Open-source may not be good on some absolute scale, but it certainly is better than the closed-source software. If you value your privacy over ease of use and animated file-transfers, that is.
Yes, that's a good idea too.
USA Today — the newspaper — are doing their job. The legal organizations — governmental and NGOs alike — do not.
Your daughter has the great advantage over a sad number of other Black kids — a father... But let's no descend any further off-topic.
Over twenty years ago there was a FreeBSD-hacker with the following signature: "Do not trust an operating system you don't have sources for".
Though I was then a fresh FreeBSD convert myself, the maxim seemed a little too radical to me... Not any more.
If you absolutely must use Windows, get a stripped-down variant via a Russian or Chinese torrent (there are reputable ones, which will not infect you). If you don't want to rob Microsoft, send them a check... But best is to just get an OS, for which sources are also available.
In that case, I want ACLU to refund my donations. They aren't doing their job...
"Should not have used" is not quite the "it was illegal to use", is not it? Has a different ring to it...
Interestingly, Heinlein holds a record of five Hugo awards, including one for the "nazi" Starship Troopers and another — for the "libertardian" The Moon is a Harsh Mistress .
Clearly, there was a point, when Hugo Award was given for other than "progressive" works. But then, again, there was a point when Nobel Peace Price was given for actual contributions to world peace too...
Except, according to TFA, we aren't talking about wiretaps here — the contents of the phone calls is not accessed by the police. Only the locations of the devices and the fact of the calls.
IANAL, but warrant is, probably, not necessary in such cases — long ago it was established, that although police need a warrant to open a letter, they can study the envelopes to their hearts' content.
I made no such suggestion, of course, which makes you a lying sack of shit. Have a nice weekend.
Of course you did — and the Anonymous' posting pointed it out to you even before I did. You suggested, that "cracking down on the causes of crime" and allowing citizens to arms themselves are two mutually exclusive things.
In denial much?
Here is a very recent example... Here is a local newspaper's report of somebody named Jesus Deniz Mendoza killing a couple, that stopped to help him on a road. The police mug-shot of the accused is also attached, as is perfectly normal for a simple-minded newspaper, that has no particular agenda — yes, he is obviously a Latino, which might increase "anti-immigrant backlash", but the journalist ethics requires factual reporting....
Now here is the New York Times report of the same crime — posted on the same day, an hour later. Note, how it:
Voilà, instead of an article about a Latino-immigrant murdering Americans, we get a report about violence against a long-suffering minority committed by somebody named Deniz. No, we didn't say he was a White Supremacist, but if you thought so based on his last name and choice of victims, we aren't going to correct you — because in our progressive opinion, White Supremacy is far more dangerous than illegal immigration.
That was a very recent example — less than month old — of how a flagship newspaper of record "plays with language" and "rephrases things" to misrepresent situations, hide inconvenient realities and otherwise push their preferred narrative.
Oh, an pointing this all out has made me a racist, has it not? Please, don't hate...
Indeed... Count the number of years between WW1 and WW2. Then compare with the period between WW2 and WW3... Oh, that's right, the US "war industry" is so overwhelming WW3 is nowhere in sight...
To paraphrase a famous saying, a well-trained person with a gun can achieve more than a well-trained person without one.
Wow, didn't you just accuse an imaginary strawman of a "false dichotomy"?.. Or are you trying to show us, how to commit the same fallacy better?
Pinochet and other adherents of using military to keep internal order laugh from their graves.
+5 Funny or -1 Unethical?
Pardon me, but Weather Underground was (is?) a far-left terrorist organization with a respectable number of murders and robberies to its name. Some of its surviving members are teaching students these days, and have likely influenced the President, but they aren't teaching them anything about predicting weather.
I'm not afraid of that in the slightest. I'm deathly afraid of dissenters getting fired for having incorrect opinions — even if those pertain to areas, that have nothing to do with their area of expertise and business endeavours. You should be too.
Please, don't hate.
Maybe. But, that's nothing compared to some of the Komrades at Mozilla having inkorrekt thoughts. That had to be end...