The job of the government is to protect it's people from threats.
The job of government is to do things collectively that can't reasonably be done individually, like provide for a national defense or build a sewer system.
Being a grownup is something you can do individually. You don't need a government mom to keep you safe from bots.
Do you really need your government mom to protect you from the nasty bots?
I don't need them to protect me from bots per se but I need them to protect everyone, especially our less "savvy" individuals from being misled.
Step 1: Assume you are above everyone else. By implication, others are like children. You are not. Your superiority is affirmed. Step 2: Assert your protective benevolence over the lesser beings. They need your help because they are incapable. Step 3: Because you are above the lesser individuals, and because you are benevolent enough to want to protect them, your power over them is righteous. They owe you their obedience.
California needs to stop making laws on a whim, and start making laws based on study and evaluation of results.
California voters are very shallow and very self-involved. "Study and evidence" are from outside a voters' individual emotional conception of himself/herself. Politicians won't care about facts or evidence or thought or reason until voters do.
Space program technology is not distinct from missile technology. Any sensible government would be sensitive about rival nations getting their missile technology.
If your country is too corrupt to run a school system, change your government to something that doesn't suck...
Changing government doesn't change the schools. Schools are controlled by unions and bureaucrats and are mostly unresponsive to elected officials. But even so, US schools have a culture of mediocrity. Imposing a change in culture takes a very, very long time.
Fortunately, education is slowly getting better as groups of about a hundred students break off from the monolithic education system and form charter schools that aren't about mediocrity.
...but don't blame mine for your shortcomings.
I didn't bring up your country. European governments get mentioned by shallow people as a model for what the US could have -- as if one country can magically transform itself into another.
Check the percent of the population working for the Government. Those Nordic Model countries have a massive number (25% to 38%). The most important subgroup to pander to would be, in fact, Government workers. So increase taxes on all so you can continue employment/hire more at the Government level.
Government employment is a lot higher when health care and university education are government benefits. Those benefits fit the European pattern of providing services to the public rather than the US social spending pattern of one group of citizens being taxed to pay for benefits that go to client groups instead of the public at large.
But yeah, I get the point: the government workers in any country are a client group themselves.
There is literally nobody that doesn't, at some point in his life, gets to benefit from the system.
It’s not a benefit if you don’t get anything you truly value and you are forced to pay 50x the cost in taxes.
You went to school?l
Case in point. They used up 12 years of my life to provide me with 6 or 7 years worth of education. I would have been better off learning from my parents as a young child and learning on my own after that. Even at zero cost, school wasn't even close to worth the time.
I’m sure I would have received a much better education in any European or modern Asian country at a small fraction of the expenditure.
I would say the difference is that these Nordic countries have decided as a society that they want to support people like themselves and their families. Contrast that with the US-style social spending of the last 50 years, where politicians and community activists want to support specific client subgroups at the expense of, but mostly not for the benefit of, people who work and pay their own way.
You can hear it in the political messaging. US politicians promise to "fight for you", but implicit in that message is that they're fighting against other Americans, for the prize of spending money other people earned. I am guessing Nordic countries' politicians talk more about doing things for the entire society rather than for client groups.
Do Sweden's democratic socialists spend their time talking about fighting Swedish domestic political enemies?
Cuba, Venezuela, North Korea, and their historical antecedents also talk a lot about enemies. There's always a counterrevolutionary or an imperial bogeyman menacing the people there, so it's everyone's duty to support their local strongman or party leader.
More skilled people can live and work near their families and we don't need to agree to import tens of millions of welfare recipients or millions of eager workers to bid down wages. Let's go ahead with that.
Just because you can see my license plate, doesn't mean you have the right to do what you please with it. Same with the front of my house or what you can see through my windows.
Simply incorrect. If I can legally take a picture, I can legally send it. Sending it is free speech. It isn’t even a question under serious legal dispute.
You can't have privacy when you drive around in plain view with a clearly readable personal ID number. The only way to get your privacy back would be to end the requirement to display a license plate number.
Does the EU leadership actually pay attention to what the people of the EU want? I would expect them to issue ruling decrees regardless of what the poll says. But perhaps that impression of EU leaders is incorrect.
This is what legitimate policy-making looks like: draft an actual law, argue for it, put it up to a vote of elected representatives, if it passes, get it signed, then implement it.
Note how this is different than having an unelected board just make up rules that sound good.
How about alternatives like colleges that work to control costs so they can charge half as much? How about designing a college learning experience to serve the customer? And to be a good value for the customer?
The college cost bubble will burst — I predict it happens before 2030.
Some other organizations will show up and offer a better service at half the price, and they will still be able to pocket a nice profit. It will be much better for students and much better for employers.
Agreed. But technology nonetheless moves forward and jobs will be automated regardless of whether we focus on the bad things or the good things.
A 4% unemployment rate helps. Limits on illegal immigration help. A regulatory environment that encourages employers helps. A government friendly to energy industries and mining industries helps.
It would also help if education were freed from cartel control. Hopefully we will see some progress on that.
A factory worker doing manual labor who is displaced by machinery can get a job in construction — but really he can't, because construction jobs go to protected members of a union cartel or to Mexicans. He can get a job as a cab driver — but really he can't, because until Uber showed up all the taxi jobs went to protected members of a cartel. He could get a job in energy industries or mining — but really he can't, because environmentalists did everything they could to prevent the expansion of those industries. He could be a merchant, but the government regulation and taxation of any form of commerce makes any commercial business a very complex endeavor.
And mostly he didn’t lose his job to automation, he lost it to foreign workers. Foreign factories had cheaper labor and government tailwinds — foreign countries actually encouraged commercial enterprise — while US factories face government (and union cartel) headwinds.
Education is also being "automated" -- it's actually switching to an on-demand model using recorded lessons, but the productivity gains are similar to automation. College costs are a bubble that's been expanding longer than any other. Look for it to burst in the 2025-2030 timeframe.
Economists take the posture of pretending to worry about automation. They are playing to (and condescending to) an audience.
In truth, Economists know that automation and the associated productivity will make life much better, just like it always has. Automation is why you aren’t at the stream beating your dirty clothes against a rock to clean them. It’s why you aren’t manually grinding grain between 2 flat stones to make an edible paste right now.
Economists know that watching over a bunch of self-driving trucks on a computer screen is better than spending your life behind a steering wheel.
Economists should be able to see the 4% unemployment we have and the possible start of inflation due to wage pressure. And they should be able to see the productivity gains from automation, and see that automation solves the nascent labor shortage and productivity gains prevent wage inflation (because output rises faster than wages as labor becomes more productive).
But they will tell you they are worried. For some reason, that's what you want to hear. Why don't you want to hear the good news instead? The good news is actually true.
Slashdot Mirror
The job of the government is to protect it's people from threats.
The job of government is to do things collectively that can't reasonably be done individually, like provide for a national defense or build a sewer system.
Being a grownup is something you can do individually. You don't need a government mom to keep you safe from bots.
Do you really need your government mom to protect you from the nasty bots?
I don't need them to protect me from bots per se but I need them to protect everyone, especially our less "savvy" individuals from being misled.
Step 1: Assume you are above everyone else. By implication, others are like children. You are not. Your superiority is affirmed.
Step 2: Assert your protective benevolence over the lesser beings. They need your help because they are incapable.
Step 3: Because you are above the lesser individuals, and because you are benevolent enough to want to protect them, your power over them is righteous. They owe you their obedience.
California needs to stop making laws on a whim, and start making laws based on study and evaluation of results.
California voters are very shallow and very self-involved. "Study and evidence" are from outside a voters' individual emotional conception of himself/herself. Politicians won't care about facts or evidence or thought or reason until voters do.
Don't you guys get tired of government trying to be your mom? Do you really need your government mom to protect you from the nasty bots?
Be a grownup and make grownup choices. Then you won't need a government mommy watching out for you.
Mixing the magenta of TMobile with the yellow of Sprint results in an unpleasant shade of orange. Please do not allow this merger.
Space program technology is not distinct from missile technology. Any sensible government would be sensitive about rival nations getting their missile technology.
If your country is too corrupt to run a school system, change your government to something that doesn't suck ...
Changing government doesn't change the schools. Schools are controlled by unions and bureaucrats and are mostly unresponsive to elected officials. But even so, US schools have a culture of mediocrity. Imposing a change in culture takes a very, very long time.
Fortunately, education is slowly getting better as groups of about a hundred students break off from the monolithic education system and form charter schools that aren't about mediocrity.
...but don't blame mine for your shortcomings.
I didn't bring up your country. European governments get mentioned by shallow people as a model for what the US could have -- as if one country can magically transform itself into another.
Check the percent of the population working for the Government. Those Nordic Model countries have a massive number (25% to 38%). The most important subgroup to pander to would be, in fact, Government workers. So increase taxes on all so you can continue employment/hire more at the Government level.
Government employment is a lot higher when health care and university education are government benefits. Those benefits fit the European pattern of providing services to the public rather than the US social spending pattern of one group of citizens being taxed to pay for benefits that go to client groups instead of the public at large.
But yeah, I get the point: the government workers in any country are a client group themselves.
There is literally nobody that doesn't, at some point in his life, gets to benefit from the system.
It’s not a benefit if you don’t get anything you truly value and you are forced to pay 50x the cost in taxes.
You went to school?l
Case in point. They used up 12 years of my life to provide me with 6 or 7 years worth of education. I would have been better off learning from my parents as a young child and learning on my own after that. Even at zero cost, school wasn't even close to worth the time.
I’m sure I would have received a much better education in any European or modern Asian country at a small fraction of the expenditure.
Do the swedish social democrats talk about fighting swedish domestic political enemies.
Yes. Very much yes.
Yet I've heard the Nordic countries referred to as "high trust" societies.
Do people who don't get a government check trust social democrats? How so? Why would anyone trust politicians who call you an enemy?
I would say the difference is that these Nordic countries have decided as a society that they want to support people like themselves and their families. Contrast that with the US-style social spending of the last 50 years, where politicians and community activists want to support specific client subgroups at the expense of, but mostly not for the benefit of, people who work and pay their own way.
You can hear it in the political messaging. US politicians promise to "fight for you", but implicit in that message is that they're fighting against other Americans, for the prize of spending money other people earned. I am guessing Nordic countries' politicians talk more about doing things for the entire society rather than for client groups.
Do Sweden's democratic socialists spend their time talking about fighting Swedish domestic political enemies?
Cuba, Venezuela, North Korea, and their historical antecedents also talk a lot about enemies. There's always a counterrevolutionary or an imperial bogeyman menacing the people there, so it's everyone's duty to support their local strongman or party leader.
More skilled people can live and work near their families and we don't need to agree to import tens of millions of welfare recipients or millions of eager workers to bid down wages. Let's go ahead with that.
Just because you can see my license plate, doesn't mean you have the right to do what you please with it. Same with the front of my house or what you can see through my windows.
Simply incorrect. If I can legally take a picture, I can legally send it. Sending it is free speech. It isn’t even a question under serious legal dispute.
No. The other way is to prevent others from taking pictures and selling it to 3rd parties. Didn't you read the summary?
Taking pictures in public and communicating them to others are both free speech activities protected by the Constitution's first Amendment.
You can't have privacy when you drive around in plain view with a clearly readable personal ID number. The only way to get your privacy back would be to end the requirement to display a license plate number.
The backup is the "I forgot my password" button.
So they automatically sync to my phone and iPad. Why would anyone manually sync passwords when you can get the same thing to happen automatically?
A password that is too sensitive for cloud sync is too sensitive for any password manager.
Does the EU leadership actually pay attention to what the people of the EU want? I would expect them to issue ruling decrees regardless of what the poll says. But perhaps that impression of EU leaders is incorrect.
(A tip: if you're going to measure temperature trends, don't put vehicles and buildings right next to your instruments...)
What if the objective was to create hype about record temperatures in order to advance a political agenda? Then where would we locate our instruments?
This is what legitimate policy-making looks like: draft an actual law, argue for it, put it up to a vote of elected representatives, if it passes, get it signed, then implement it.
Note how this is different than having an unelected board just make up rules that sound good.
How about alternatives like colleges that work to control costs so they can charge half as much? How about designing a college learning experience to serve the customer? And to be a good value for the customer?
The college cost bubble will burst — I predict it happens before 2030.
Some other organizations will show up and offer a better service at half the price, and they will still be able to pocket a nice profit. It will be much better for students and much better for employers.
Agreed. But technology nonetheless moves forward and jobs will be automated regardless of whether we focus on the bad things or the good things.
A 4% unemployment rate helps. Limits on illegal immigration help. A regulatory environment that encourages employers helps. A government friendly to energy industries and mining industries helps.
It would also help if education were freed from cartel control. Hopefully we will see some progress on that.
Automation isn't the villain there (mostly).
A factory worker doing manual labor who is displaced by machinery can get a job in construction — but really he can't, because construction jobs go to protected members of a union cartel or to Mexicans. He can get a job as a cab driver — but really he can't, because until Uber showed up all the taxi jobs went to protected members of a cartel. He could get a job in energy industries or mining — but really he can't, because environmentalists did everything they could to prevent the expansion of those industries. He could be a merchant, but the government regulation and taxation of any form of commerce makes any commercial business a very complex endeavor.
And mostly he didn’t lose his job to automation, he lost it to foreign workers. Foreign factories had cheaper labor and government tailwinds — foreign countries actually encouraged commercial enterprise — while US factories face government (and union cartel) headwinds.
Education is also being "automated" -- it's actually switching to an on-demand model using recorded lessons, but the productivity gains are similar to automation. College costs are a bubble that's been expanding longer than any other. Look for it to burst in the 2025-2030 timeframe.
Economists take the posture of pretending to worry about automation. They are playing to (and condescending to) an audience.
In truth, Economists know that automation and the associated productivity will make life much better, just like it always has. Automation is why you aren’t at the stream beating your dirty clothes against a rock to clean them. It’s why you aren’t manually grinding grain between 2 flat stones to make an edible paste right now.
Economists know that watching over a bunch of self-driving trucks on a computer screen is better than spending your life behind a steering wheel.
Economists should be able to see the 4% unemployment we have and the possible start of inflation due to wage pressure. And they should be able to see the productivity gains from automation, and see that automation solves the nascent labor shortage and productivity gains prevent wage inflation (because output rises faster than wages as labor becomes more productive).
But they will tell you they are worried. For some reason, that's what you want to hear. Why don't you want to hear the good news instead? The good news is actually true.
Trump tried to stop it