Oh yeah not gonna happen without tariffs, delays at the border, and so on.
Well we're not China, so Alabama can't afford to ship you cheap plastic shit anyhow. We are smart and capable enough to start out own industries. Best of luck to you.
They're mostly the poorest states that use the most welfare and medicaid and medicare per capita.
We can do without your fucking charity, asshole.
About the time they realize how bad off they are it'll be too late and the rest of us can finally move forward without the half of Congress that always stonewalls efforts to fix the mess.
Have fun! When you realize what a shithole you've inherited, maybe we'll close our borders so you can suffer in your police state.
As an American living in Europe for more than 12 years, I can unequivocally say that it is more stable and safe on this side of the Atlantic. I don't need to worry much about my job, and if I do lose it I can count on a social safety net while I look for another good paying job, rather than take the fist shit-job that happens along just so I can (almost) pay my bills. There are far too many Americans in this position today.
#1 your "social safety net" is unsustainable.
#2 you think Americans are in that position because of a lack of safety net? Or could it be....lack of financial intelligence? Which, not coincidentally, is also strongly correlated with thinking that "social safety nets" (i.e. welfare) are a good thing. lol
I would also like to point out that the economic problems in most of Europe are not nearly in the same class as the USA. We did not have a housing market crash at the same time due to an unregulated mortgage system that was free to take huge risks with the people's money.
And who was it applying for these mortgages they couldn't afford? Don't they bear the most responsibility for their own foolish actions?
The countries in Europe that have serious problems have mainly brought that on themselves, for example in Greece and Italy where tax avoidance is an art form and a large percentage of people pay zero tax.
Greecy and Italy's problems have nothing to do with tax avoidance. Their problems are because of too much tax. Why do you think people go to such great lengths to avoid taxes? Because if they had to pay it all, it would impossible to live!
That's what nobody gets, and this is why Europe will soon destroy itself. People are rushing to pour gasoline on the fire.
I hate to break it to you, but the economic systems do not operate when people and businesses do not pay their equal and fair share of taxes.
I hate to break it to you, but just because you create a government program out of thin air and mandate that people pay for it, doesn't mean they actually will, regardless of how much you drone out propaganda about "fair and equal" and "paying your fair share."
In the US, a major problem is that so many large multi-national corporations pay little or zero taxes (GE, I'm looking at you).
An even bigger problem is the government spending way too much fucking money. If the government would stop wasting so much money...guess what....they wouldn't need to rob people at gunpoint to pay the bills!
When companies do not pay their taxes, guess who has to make up the slack?
The only people who pay taxes are those too foolish to avoid them. The bigger you make the tax, the more incentive there is to avoid it. That's one of many reasons why heavy taxation schemes are fundamentally flawed.
This is the single biggest problem in US economics today, that companies are allowed and even encouraged to evade paying taxes. Until this loophole is fixed, the US economy will not recover.
You are deluded. If the US continues following your completely wrong and flawed advice to "tighten down the screws", the only result will be revolution. Clearly you don't understand what the economy even is.
Did you realize that, when adjusted for inflation, the average middle income in the US has basically been unchanged for the past several decades? The "middle" class is not any better off today than they were in the 60's, it's stagnant. Do the research yourself, the numbers and facts are out there. At least in Europe, the middle-class is much better off over the same time period, and depending on where you live you are hugely better off (e.g. former Soviet republics, eastern Europe).
Yes, it's true: socialism and price controls inevitably result in a lower standard of living. The average American is significantly worse off than he was back in the 60s, and a huge reason is due to ever-increasing taxation.
I don't think most Americans would agree with your definitions of lower/working/middle/upper classes. I think most consider the classes are more of a lifestyle and materials thing, rather than a stability thing.
Those who think it's based on "lifestyle" are called wage slaves, and those are the exact people the GP was referring to. Those people aren't "middle class." They are POOR.
I am going to post AC, but what I see coming from heavy pot users is two things:
This is your problem, in a nutshell. It's all about YOU, and what YOU like and want to see. Therefore why is it a surprise when YOU see what you want to see?
Loss of intelligence. For an artist, waiter, or musician, or someone who does not function at a high level of activity, pot is fine. For someone doing heavy mental work, pot only will hinder their occupation.
I smoke all day every day. My occupation affords me that luxury. In fact I'm puffing on a stub of a OG Kush cigarillo right now as I type. My projects at this stage in my life include revolutionizing the microcomputer industry with a new programming language (which is actually new in some respects), as well as (among other things) helping to revolutionize the multi-billion dollar agricultural industry. Statistically speaking, I'm smarter than you'll ever think about being, and likely a far better programmer (and designer) than you'll ever be. You can go ahead and step down off your high horse now cause the world is full of people like me, who are smarter than you, better than you, and yes, we smoke the hell out of some cannabis.
"I don't care" attitude. Yes, it is cool to have that attitude, but when it turns into "no electricity due to no electric bill paid... guess I'll just bust out the candles," it turns into a really non-functioning way of life.
Sounds like self-sufficiency to me. What's the problem? Or do you think a better scenario would be freaking the fuck out and panicking to go get a job working in a shithouse for $6/hour, something, ANYTHING, oh my fucking God, to avoid having that power shut off and (*GASP*) having to rough it for a while?
Or maybe it could be better to take some time off and relax, conserve energy and resources, and spend some mental energy thinking about the best way to approach and solve this problem?
Ironic that not so long ago in history, having access to candles and lamp oil was considered an expensive luxury only the rich elites could afford....and nowadays there are too people who are way too good to live that way.
You see what smoking cannabis really gives you? Perspective.
The heavy marijuana users I know end up not holding down anything past entry level work because they don't really care enough. What sharp mental facilities they have had are quite dulled.
Maybe you should stop hanging around with losers. Marijuana use does not cause the symptoms you describe.
And, yes, lab tests have proven that pot use makes a person stupider. To put it in computer terms, the CPU gets underclocked and eventually stays that way.
What a cute analogy. Maybe if a digital computer worked anything at all in the slightest like a human brain, or if you had the faintest clue what you're talking about, then that analogy might hold some water. No reputable lab tests have ever proven or hinted at a thing. The only thing they have shown is that "short term memory" is affected, and the effect is not permanent.
They've also shown that heavy marijuana smoking is linked to a reduced risk of lung cancer, even counteracting the effects of tobacco smoking to a large degree. It causes a better reduction in intra-ocular pressure (with fewer side effects) than any other available glaucoma medicine, by far. Some of the latest research is even showing that cannabis cause stimulate the growth of new brain cells. Some strains are extremely euphoric which is a fantastic tool for helping with depression. Its uses in medicine go on and on and on. I can rip to shreds any bullshit Drug War fueled propaganda "research" you can possibly present which shows any harm. Hell, I'm living proof that you're full of shit.
My problem is every mother fucking post I make gets modded -1, Flamebait, to the point where my once Excellent karma is now abysmal and I can't post more than like 5 fucking posts per day with like 2-3 minutes forced delay between each. I've been on the site for 11 years and had excellent karma up until now. What the mother fuck?
Well, you know, that's a free human society for you. If people are uncomfortable with you for whatever reason and don't want to be around you then they have every right to send you packing. It's called the right to free association and it's essential to freedom, so suck it up and deal with it. If you don't like being discriminated against then kill yourself, or move to somewhere you feel more welcome.
A present-day scientist maybe, but going into the past when we knew so much less, and more people were superstitious, only shows that smart people lacking today's knowledge could come to the same wrong conclusions that stupid people today who deny knowledge do.
Sounds like something somebody back in 1632 would say.
I bet they'd also all be nodding their heads in agreement, convinced that their "present-day" clique of followers has a monopoly on the truth, etc, just as you and your smug "modern day scientists" know everything today.
What makes you think a "present-day scientist" in any less superstitious than any other human? What makes you think the conclusions being reached today are not in fact stupid and wrong?
Realistically speaking though, what's the harm? So now a bad guy has the keys to your building... that same bad guy could have just thrown a brick through the window or kicked down a door and gotten in anyway.
Not if your house is fortified, stupid ass. Try to keep up.
And you know what the solution to that panic was? A bunch of rich guys injected liquidity into the system because there was no central bank to do so. 100 years later, when confronted with the same market situation, our central bank injected liquidity into the system and kept things from getting worse.
Yes, I feel exactly the same way. The first time I used a widescreen display I never wanted to go back. I don't at all understand the hatred from those who don't like widescreen ratios. This is one of the best changes/evolutions in computing IMO. I love the fact that there is "whitespace" on either side of the window while I'm working, if it's not maximized. That's exactly what I want. I like having my beautiful background image visible and desktop icons accessible even when I have a bunch of windows stacked on top of each other. I like being able to click among things without having to go the taskbar, and to easily monitor what's happening in underlying windows (terminals etc) while I'm working/typing elsewhere. 16:10 is simply the best aspect ratio IMO.
Also, I'm really high, so I totally thought you were talking about Robert Heinlein instead of the person you were actually talking about, L. Ron Hubbard.
Slashdot Mirror
You have 2 choices: OSX and/or Linux, pick your poison.
What if I want something that's not poisonous?
On a whole other page that Windows is a giant turd
Syntax error on line 17
Otherwise everyone woudl drive 30 year old cars with 200k miles on them if someone else footed the bill.
Instead they trade up for a new one every three years while only getting themselves further and further into debt for no reason.
Yes, I think a car analogy is quite appropriate here.
Today you can do a blur brush instantly over and over just like clicking.
And yet, on my quad core 3.3 ghz machine with 16gb, I can't even maximize a video on Youtube without the mother fucker skipping. lol
Oh yeah not gonna happen without tariffs, delays at the border, and so on.
Well we're not China, so Alabama can't afford to ship you cheap plastic shit anyhow. We are smart and capable enough to start out own industries. Best of luck to you.
They're mostly the poorest states that use the most welfare and medicaid and medicare per capita.
We can do without your fucking charity, asshole.
About the time they realize how bad off they are it'll be too late and the rest of us can finally move forward without the half of Congress that always stonewalls efforts to fix the mess.
Have fun! When you realize what a shithole you've inherited, maybe we'll close our borders so you can suffer in your police state.
Did you miss the fact that the world population has, what, doubled in that time frame?
As an American living in Europe for more than 12 years, I can unequivocally say that it is more stable and safe on this side of the Atlantic. I don't need to worry much about my job, and if I do lose it I can count on a social safety net while I look for another good paying job, rather than take the fist shit-job that happens along just so I can (almost) pay my bills. There are far too many Americans in this position today.
#1 your "social safety net" is unsustainable.
#2 you think Americans are in that position because of a lack of safety net? Or could it be....lack of financial intelligence? Which, not coincidentally, is also strongly correlated with thinking that "social safety nets" (i.e. welfare) are a good thing. lol
I would also like to point out that the economic problems in most of Europe are not nearly in the same class as the USA. We did not have a housing market crash at the same time due to an unregulated mortgage system that was free to take huge risks with the people's money.
And who was it applying for these mortgages they couldn't afford? Don't they bear the most responsibility for their own foolish actions?
The countries in Europe that have serious problems have mainly brought that on themselves, for example in Greece and Italy where tax avoidance is an art form and a large percentage of people pay zero tax.
Greecy and Italy's problems have nothing to do with tax avoidance. Their problems are because of too much tax. Why do you think people go to such great lengths to avoid taxes? Because if they had to pay it all, it would impossible to live!
That's what nobody gets, and this is why Europe will soon destroy itself. People are rushing to pour gasoline on the fire.
I hate to break it to you, but the economic systems do not operate when people and businesses do not pay their equal and fair share of taxes.
I hate to break it to you, but just because you create a government program out of thin air and mandate that people pay for it, doesn't mean they actually will, regardless of how much you drone out propaganda about "fair and equal" and "paying your fair share."
In the US, a major problem is that so many large multi-national corporations pay little or zero taxes (GE, I'm looking at you).
An even bigger problem is the government spending way too much fucking money. If the government would stop wasting so much money...guess what....they wouldn't need to rob people at gunpoint to pay the bills!
When companies do not pay their taxes, guess who has to make up the slack?
The only people who pay taxes are those too foolish to avoid them. The bigger you make the tax, the more incentive there is to avoid it. That's one of many reasons why heavy taxation schemes are fundamentally flawed.
This is the single biggest problem in US economics today, that companies are allowed and even encouraged to evade paying taxes. Until this loophole is fixed, the US economy will not recover.
You are deluded. If the US continues following your completely wrong and flawed advice to "tighten down the screws", the only result will be revolution. Clearly you don't understand what the economy even is.
Did you realize that, when adjusted for inflation, the average middle income in the US has basically been unchanged for the past several decades? The "middle" class is not any better off today than they were in the 60's, it's stagnant. Do the research yourself, the numbers and facts are out there. At least in Europe, the middle-class is much better off over the same time period, and depending on where you live you are hugely better off (e.g. former Soviet republics, eastern Europe).
Yes, it's true: socialism and price controls inevitably result in a lower standard of living. The average American is significantly worse off than he was back in the 60s, and a huge reason is due to ever-increasing taxation.
I don't think most Americans would agree with your definitions of lower/working/middle/upper classes. I think most consider the classes are more of a lifestyle and materials thing, rather than a stability thing.
Those who think it's based on "lifestyle" are called wage slaves, and those are the exact people the GP was referring to. Those people aren't "middle class." They are POOR.
I am going to post AC, but what I see coming from heavy pot users is two things:
This is your problem, in a nutshell. It's all about YOU, and what YOU like and want to see. Therefore why is it a surprise when YOU see what you want to see?
Loss of intelligence. For an artist, waiter, or musician, or someone who does not function at a high level of activity, pot is fine. For someone doing heavy mental work, pot only will hinder their occupation.
I smoke all day every day. My occupation affords me that luxury. In fact I'm puffing on a stub of a OG Kush cigarillo right now as I type. My projects at this stage in my life include revolutionizing the microcomputer industry with a new programming language (which is actually new in some respects), as well as (among other things) helping to revolutionize the multi-billion dollar agricultural industry. Statistically speaking, I'm smarter than you'll ever think about being, and likely a far better programmer (and designer) than you'll ever be. You can go ahead and step down off your high horse now cause the world is full of people like me, who are smarter than you, better than you, and yes, we smoke the hell out of some cannabis.
"I don't care" attitude. Yes, it is cool to have that attitude, but when it turns into "no electricity due to no electric bill paid... guess I'll just bust out the candles," it turns into a really non-functioning way of life.
Sounds like self-sufficiency to me. What's the problem? Or do you think a better scenario would be freaking the fuck out and panicking to go get a job working in a shithouse for $6/hour, something, ANYTHING, oh my fucking God, to avoid having that power shut off and (*GASP*) having to rough it for a while?
Or maybe it could be better to take some time off and relax, conserve energy and resources, and spend some mental energy thinking about the best way to approach and solve this problem?
Ironic that not so long ago in history, having access to candles and lamp oil was considered an expensive luxury only the rich elites could afford....and nowadays there are too people who are way too good to live that way.
You see what smoking cannabis really gives you? Perspective.
The heavy marijuana users I know end up not holding down anything past entry level work because they don't really care enough. What sharp mental facilities they have had are quite dulled.
Maybe you should stop hanging around with losers. Marijuana use does not cause the symptoms you describe.
And, yes, lab tests have proven that pot use makes a person stupider. To put it in computer terms, the CPU gets underclocked and eventually stays that way.
What a cute analogy. Maybe if a digital computer worked anything at all in the slightest like a human brain, or if you had the faintest clue what you're talking about, then that analogy might hold some water. No reputable lab tests have ever proven or hinted at a thing. The only thing they have shown is that "short term memory" is affected, and the effect is not permanent.
They've also shown that heavy marijuana smoking is linked to a reduced risk of lung cancer, even counteracting the effects of tobacco smoking to a large degree. It causes a better reduction in intra-ocular pressure (with fewer side effects) than any other available glaucoma medicine, by far. Some of the latest research is even showing that cannabis cause stimulate the growth of new brain cells. Some strains are extremely euphoric which is a fantastic tool for helping with depression. Its uses in medicine go on and on and on. I can rip to shreds any bullshit Drug War fueled propaganda "research" you can possibly present which shows any harm. Hell, I'm living proof that you're full of shit.
While I find the criminal
Yes, I would.
I hope you die in a fire.
My problem is every mother fucking post I make gets modded -1, Flamebait, to the point where my once Excellent karma is now abysmal and I can't post more than like 5 fucking posts per day with like 2-3 minutes forced delay between each. I've been on the site for 11 years and had excellent karma up until now. What the mother fuck?
Well, you know, that's a free human society for you. If people are uncomfortable with you for whatever reason and don't want to be around you then they have every right to send you packing. It's called the right to free association and it's essential to freedom, so suck it up and deal with it. If you don't like being discriminated against then kill yourself, or move to somewhere you feel more welcome.
You must not get out much.
A present-day scientist maybe, but going into the past when we knew so much less, and more people were superstitious, only shows that smart people lacking today's knowledge could come to the same wrong conclusions that stupid people today who deny knowledge do.
Sounds like something somebody back in 1632 would say.
I bet they'd also all be nodding their heads in agreement, convinced that their "present-day" clique of followers has a monopoly on the truth, etc, just as you and your smug "modern day scientists" know everything today.
What makes you think a "present-day scientist" in any less superstitious than any other human? What makes you think the conclusions being reached today are not in fact stupid and wrong?
Realistically speaking though, what's the harm? So now a bad guy has the keys to your building... that same bad guy could have just thrown a brick through the window or kicked down a door and gotten in anyway.
Not if your house is fortified, stupid ass. Try to keep up.
What about if some trusted third party, like Porter Industries, held the key in escrow?
What if no?
And you know what the solution to that panic was?
A bunch of rich guys injected liquidity into the system because there was no central bank to do so.
100 years later, when confronted with the same market situation, our central bank injected liquidity into the system and kept things from getting worse.
So you claim.
This is of course one of the two fatal flaws of bit coins - like gold - you severely limit the flexibility of the currency to cope with a crisis
Anyone who knows anything about economics and politics knows that's a benefit, not a drawback.
Only in the same way that the number of professional glass makers would be reduced if vandals stopped breaking windows.
Do you think the professional glass makers will willingly just give up all that "free" business "for the good of the economy"?
Can you prove you own 100% of the stuff you have on that site?
No, but I can aim and fire a rifle.
The only one who is ignorant here is you. You stupid fuck. I'm not angry at all. I'm sad that our failed country is full of fucktards like yourself
Tell you what. You come up with a better idea, you be sure and tell us.
How about MAKING A DEVICE THAT FUCKING WORKS LIKE IT'S SUPPOSED TO? Do you think that would be a better idea, JACKASS?
Fucking Christ this site is full of dense pedants.
Yes, I feel exactly the same way. The first time I used a widescreen display I never wanted to go back. I don't at all understand the hatred from those who don't like widescreen ratios. This is one of the best changes/evolutions in computing IMO. I love the fact that there is "whitespace" on either side of the window while I'm working, if it's not maximized. That's exactly what I want. I like having my beautiful background image visible and desktop icons accessible even when I have a bunch of windows stacked on top of each other. I like being able to click among things without having to go the taskbar, and to easily monitor what's happening in underlying windows (terminals etc) while I'm working/typing elsewhere. 16:10 is simply the best aspect ratio IMO.
Also, I'm really high, so I totally thought you were talking about Robert Heinlein instead of the person you were actually talking about, L. Ron Hubbard.
I agree. L Ron Hubbard is a really creepy guy.
Carry on.
*slowly tiptoes away*