Wal Mart is estimated to have 4,400 factories in Asia region that run, 14 hour shifts, seven days a week thirty days a month, for an average of 3 cents a hour. Ages of girls working at these factories average from 12 to 20.
If they force anyone to work there -- more power to you exposing the bastards. But they don't... Would you rather those 12-20 girls have no work at all?
Don't confuse exploitation with aiding
The "exploitation", that is willingly accepted is not really exploitation. Of course, the corporations don't do this out of sheer benevolence -- nor should they. But offering a chance to earn decent (by local standards) salary is much better than charity. And, BTW, one does not rule out the other.
(BTW, last I heard, the textile industry in China pays 69 cents per hour -- low by our standards, but way 23 times higher than your figure. Does not matter really, as long as no side is forcing the other.)
the supposedly liberal crowd, that would often complain about the rich countries not giving enough aid to the poor ones, quickly rushes to highly illiberal views depriving the poor of ways to build honest wealth through honest work.
There is simply nothing to do. Both candidates know it. Kerry is simply making populist vote-buying statements. His promise is not going to change anything -- keeping the "call centers" in India makes great economic sense with or without the "tax loophole".
A politician voting for something, he does not like, because it is part of bigger proposal is fine by me, unless he/she considers that part horrible. And that is the term you used defending Kerry, thus making him look worse than a flip-flopper -- like a whore (in the bad sense of the word). Oops.
Gee, I'm a "Flamebait", but you are "Insightful" already:-) Guess, how the Slashdot crowd is voting...
You really think republicans don't vote for bills they agree with it if the bill has an onorous rider?
"Onerous" is not "horrible" -- may be they do. And this would've been an acceptable defense of Kerry from you. But by allowing, that he "sometimes votes for something [he perceives as -mi] horrible in order to get something he needs or wants", you made my dichotomy perfectly proper -- a whore or a flip-flopper.
Indeed, I don't have to "buy it". I'll just vote to retire the guy.
This is something the "kerry is a flip flopper" crowd just does not seem to understand. Sometimes you have to vote for something horrible in order to get something you need or want.
Sorry, I don't buy this. We have representative (rather than direct) democracy exactly for this reason, so that generally unpopular decisions can be taken by the representatives convinced of the decisions' wisdom.
Either Kerry is, indeed, a flip-flopper changing his opinions honestly but too frequently for a grown up man, or he is a whore caring more about his electability than integrity.
The former of these two charges is, actually, quite charitable...
Budget size really does need to be calculated in 'real funds' (after inflation).
This is true. And adjusted for inflation, the budget is about the same since 1999 -- by your own calculations.
Even if inflation rate is slightly higher, the efficiency of modern technology should compensate for that handsomely -- a simple PC now can do more computations, than a multi-million dollar mainframe of the 1960s, for example.
And, finally, I personally heard the NASA's head's interview on Bloomberg Radio a few months back, in which he was asked about the budget shortage. His answer was, there is no budget shortage. Everything they asked for, was approved by Congress. So, there, find some other cause to rally behind.
"You go there and vote the way you are told, or....
Oh, and be sure to bring back the receipt, so we know, you did not cheat voting for that slimebag of yours instead."
There should be a paper trail, but it should be encoded/encrypted somehow, as to keep a person's vote impossible to determine without cooperation of the government.
You've probably a potential remotely exploitable flaw.
I use KDE and KMail and Kopete, both of which crash daily -- the 3.3.0 release of KDE sucked, but there is no FreeBSD port of 3.3.1 yet.
Neither is a big problem, because they only talk to the trusted servers and KMail uses SSL to check them. But both can be taken over by a properly crafted e-mail or instant message. I just hope, that nobody will figure out, how exactly to do it (rather than just cause it to crash). I compile stuff myself (from port) with my own compiler options, which should make any attack a lot more difficult...
Once in a while Mozilla crashes too, BTW, but Konqueror has been pretty good lately.
In this case, it's meant to prevent the tight oligopoly made up by the large recording companies from monopolizing the airwaves and effectively barring the competitive fringe from getting some airplay.
For there being a threat of monopoly, the start-up costs must be high. Starting up a radio station is rather cheap -- unlike getting decent content... Should the mass public truly begin to suffer from the poor content of the "tight oligopoly", new stations will spring up and make lots of money on advertisers eager to reach their audience.
I'm curious, you mentioned your native country. What country is that?
Ukraine. Governmental corruption is high there, which totally stinks -- I don't find it acceptable at all. But what businesses are doing between themselves -- I don't care. With possible exceptions of anti-trust/monopoly laws violations...
What you keep advocating is heavy government meddling with markets. This sort of intrusion can only be justified by emergency situations -- like wars, or the onset of the predicted suffocation.
Long term, free market works best -- oil goes up in price, everyone starts buying economical cars, volunteerly.
The sooner it's done, the cheaper it is.
Why so? The technology is not quite here yet, forceful introduction of it will be expensive and wasteful -- as is everything done by a government.
You would have felt bad if a big kid beat you up and took your new skateboard. You would have called on some authority to stop this unfair behaviour.
Beating up is made illegal to protect individuals. Protecting businesses from each other is a different story, and I don't see a use for it -- unless, may be, in case of a credible threat of there appearing a true monopoly.
We stopped throwing wretched newborns from cliffs long ago, but market still benefits from survival of the fittest businesses.
Various political groups -- left and right -- gobble up that kind of money on just logistics.
Anything below 5-10 million dollars is still very low.
Finally, yes, you can start with covering "five blocks" and if there are listeners, there will be advertisers. And with advertisers, there will be money for expansion.
Payola is bribery, just because it's over something as trivial as popular music doesn't make it OK.
Then all business transactions are "bribery".
Anyway, I don't see, how bribery should concern anyone other than the bribe-taker's employer and -- in an enlightened society -- the bribe-giver's employer too.
I'm not even sure, we are right punishing our businesses for bribing foreign governments (Europeans don't object to that). But bribing each other? Please -- that is just business.
In this case I don't think it's wrong, since the richer companies could use their money to effectively monopolize radio for their artists.
Does not make sense to me -- there are almost no up-front costs in starting your own radio station, AFAIK -- may be a $100K. And the high startup costs for the field is one of the main requirements to even begin discussing the possibility of there being a monopoly in it.
Most of my music is imported from my native country anyway.
But government's meddling in what businesses can pay to each other seems wrong to me.
That said, Spitzer is right enforcing the law -- the practice of having stupid laws on the books without enforcing them for years is even more worrysome -- it simply leaves the door open for selective enforcement in the future.
Slashdot Mirror
If they force anyone to work there -- more power to you exposing the bastards. But they don't... Would you rather those 12-20 girls have no work at all?
The "exploitation", that is willingly accepted is not really exploitation. Of course, the corporations don't do this out of sheer benevolence -- nor should they. But offering a chance to earn decent (by local standards) salary is much better than charity. And, BTW, one does not rule out the other.
(BTW, last I heard, the textile industry in China pays 69 cents per hour -- low by our standards, but way 23 times higher than your figure. Does not matter really, as long as no side is forcing the other.)
Oh, well, another flamebait...
the supposedly liberal crowd, that would often complain about the rich countries not giving enough aid to the poor ones, quickly rushes to highly illiberal views depriving the poor of ways to build honest wealth through honest work.
There is simply nothing to do. Both candidates know it. Kerry is simply making populist vote-buying statements. His promise is not going to change anything -- keeping the "call centers" in India makes great economic sense with or without the "tax loophole".
The article is quite short on details -- what exactly were the questions, and how were the response calibrated.
I'm also curious, who they found in North Korea to talk to?
A politician voting for something, he does not like, because it is part of bigger proposal is fine by me, unless he/she considers that part horrible. And that is the term you used defending Kerry, thus making him look worse than a flip-flopper -- like a whore (in the bad sense of the word). Oops.
Gee, I'm a "Flamebait", but you are "Insightful" already :-) Guess, how the Slashdot crowd is voting...
"Onerous" is not "horrible" -- may be they do. And this would've been an acceptable defense of Kerry from you. But by allowing, that he "sometimes votes for something [he perceives as -mi] horrible in order to get something he needs or wants", you made my dichotomy perfectly proper -- a whore or a flip-flopper.
Indeed, I don't have to "buy it". I'll just vote to retire the guy.
Sorry, I don't buy this. We have representative (rather than direct) democracy exactly for this reason, so that generally unpopular decisions can be taken by the representatives convinced of the decisions' wisdom.
Either Kerry is, indeed, a flip-flopper changing his opinions honestly but too frequently for a grown up man, or he is a whore caring more about his electability than integrity.
The former of these two charges is, actually, quite charitable...
This is true. And adjusted for inflation, the budget is about the same since 1999 -- by your own calculations.
Even if inflation rate is slightly higher, the efficiency of modern technology should compensate for that handsomely -- a simple PC now can do more computations, than a multi-million dollar mainframe of the 1960s, for example.
And, finally, I personally heard the NASA's head's interview on Bloomberg Radio a few months back, in which he was asked about the budget shortage. His answer was, there is no budget shortage. Everything they asked for, was approved by Congress. So, there, find some other cause to rally behind.
Have you donated to GreenPeace lately?
However creative is one's accounting, the point stands: NASA's budget is not "ever shrinking" -- as TrollBridge incorrectly claimed. Ooops.
There should be a paper trail, but it should be encoded/encrypted somehow, as to keep a person's vote impossible to determine without cooperation of the government.
I use KDE and KMail and Kopete, both of which crash daily -- the 3.3.0 release of KDE sucked, but there is no FreeBSD port of 3.3.1 yet.
Neither is a big problem, because they only talk to the trusted servers and KMail uses SSL to check them. But both can be taken over by a properly crafted e-mail or instant message. I just hope, that nobody will figure out, how exactly to do it (rather than just cause it to crash). I compile stuff myself (from port) with my own compiler options, which should make any attack a lot more difficult...
Once in a while Mozilla crashes too, BTW, but Konqueror has been pretty good lately.
For there being a threat of monopoly, the start-up costs must be high. Starting up a radio station is rather cheap -- unlike getting decent content... Should the mass public truly begin to suffer from the poor content of the "tight oligopoly", new stations will spring up and make lots of money on advertisers eager to reach their audience.
Ukraine. Governmental corruption is high there, which totally stinks -- I don't find it acceptable at all. But what businesses are doing between themselves -- I don't care. With possible exceptions of anti-trust/monopoly laws violations...
And what? Did somebody die? Did ambulances stop running? Did the "Emergency Broadcast System" malfunction?..
Since when is the government responsible for entertainment's quality or lack thereof?
Long term, free market works best -- oil goes up in price, everyone starts buying economical cars, volunteerly.
Why so? The technology is not quite here yet, forceful introduction of it will be expensive and wasteful -- as is everything done by a government.
Beating up is made illegal to protect individuals. Protecting businesses from each other is a different story, and I don't see a use for it -- unless, may be, in case of a credible threat of there appearing a true monopoly.
We stopped throwing wretched newborns from cliffs long ago, but market still benefits from survival of the fittest businesses.
Anything below 5-10 million dollars is still very low.
Finally, yes, you can start with covering "five blocks" and if there are listeners, there will be advertisers. And with advertisers, there will be money for expansion.
Then all business transactions are "bribery".
Anyway, I don't see, how bribery should concern anyone other than the bribe-taker's employer and -- in an enlightened society -- the bribe-giver's employer too.
I'm not even sure, we are right punishing our businesses for bribing foreign governments (Europeans don't object to that). But bribing each other? Please -- that is just business.
Exactly! The law is ripe for repeal.
-2 Bad Troll :-)
Does not make sense to me -- there are almost no up-front costs in starting your own radio station, AFAIK -- may be a $100K. And the high startup costs for the field is one of the main requirements to even begin discussing the possibility of there being a monopoly in it.
That, or what you think, they ought to want to hear?
But government's meddling in what businesses can pay to each other seems wrong to me.
That said, Spitzer is right enforcing the law -- the practice of having stupid laws on the books without enforcing them for years is even more worrysome -- it simply leaves the door open for selective enforcement in the future.
And this still has nothing to do with the wisdom of not picking up fights... You remain flamebaitingly offtopic.
All modern "progressive taxation" schemes are like that too, taxing the rich higher to support the poor.