I'm sure the idea of working less but still getting paid full time wages is VERY appealing...to everyone but the employers. Where's the value in it for them?
No. No I haven't. So please stop attempting to put words in my mouth.
What I'm saying is that business owners should not be arbitrarily used as a bottomless piggy bank. Nor should they allow themselves to be used in such a way.
Nobody is saying that business owners should contribute to infrastructure. They do. Through their taxes and other expenses.
After that, who the fuck should have the right to tell them they don't contribute 'enough"?
Sure, some people might have their safety compromised by encryption stopping law enforcement. But how many people's safety is going to be endangered by mandating lack of encryption or that encryption violate MATH and back doors be put in "just for the good guys"? Because those back doors WILL be found and WILL be used! And not just by the "good guys". If there IS any such thing.
There is NO such thing as perfect safety. And anyone selling you that is blowing smoke up your ass. With a leaf blower.
Given the choice between freedom and safety, I'll take freedom. Thanks.
Well, since you simply referenced "You didn't build that" and didn't actually state your point... Technically, you didn't argue anything. You simply stated "I disagree".
The "you didn't build that" speech was bullshit. Sure, it wasn't saying you shouldn't be able to benefit from your hard work. What it was doing is forwarding a notion that someone (usually the government) should be able to arbitrarily limit HOW MUCH you should be able to benefit from your hard work.
And basically using the bogus excuse of "infrastructure cost freeloading".
Sure, a lot of the infrastructure being used wasn't initially paid for by many businesses. But their corporate taxes, and the taxes of those they employ, go towards the maintenance and refurbishment of those pieces of infrastructure. The money they pay out in power bills goes towards keeping grid power providers operational.
So the insistence that one should just cut the bottoms off their pockets and accept any and all financial encumbrances, simply because some government yoohoo thinks they should be able to use them like a piggy bank...Bullshit, first to last.
So, basically, penalizing a company for being successful.
I could see some GLARING problems with that.
So long as they aren't a monopoly, abusing employees or customers or breaking the law, I don't see why government intervention should be forced on them.
I ALSO don't believe that anyone else is entitled to "a cut" of the proceeds just because they decide it should happen and have access to governmental force.
Those who benefit the most DO contribute the most.
Or do you think things like property ownership and massive, multi-tier employment IN NO WAY contribute to society?
How many people does Amazon employ directly? How many people at their partners, service providers, and downstream business adjuncts do they employ indirectly? How much money does their simple EXISTENCE pump into the economy?
"God! He smells like a pig roast! His entire head caught fire!" "But he won't commit any more crimes now!" "Why not just shoot him!" "Because that would be inhumane..."
Slashdot Mirror
Americans are WAY too attached to their cars.
So why are people dumping money down this bottomless pit?
Oh yeah. Shiny new snake oil!
Exactly.
I'm sure the idea of working less but still getting paid full time wages is VERY appealing...to everyone but the employers. Where's the value in it for them?
No. No I haven't. So please stop attempting to put words in my mouth.
What I'm saying is that business owners should not be arbitrarily used as a bottomless piggy bank.
Nor should they allow themselves to be used in such a way.
Nobody is saying that business owners should contribute to infrastructure.
They do. Through their taxes and other expenses.
After that, who the fuck should have the right to tell them they don't contribute 'enough"?
Sorry, but less safe than WHAT?
Sure, some people might have their safety compromised by encryption stopping law enforcement.
But how many people's safety is going to be endangered by mandating lack of encryption or that encryption violate MATH and back doors be put in "just for the good guys"? Because those back doors WILL be found and WILL be used! And not just by the "good guys". If there IS any such thing.
There is NO such thing as perfect safety. And anyone selling you that is blowing smoke up your ass. With a leaf blower.
Given the choice between freedom and safety, I'll take freedom. Thanks.
Well, since you simply referenced "You didn't build that" and didn't actually state your point...
Technically, you didn't argue anything. You simply stated "I disagree".
No. No I'm not.
The "you didn't build that" speech was bullshit.
Sure, it wasn't saying you shouldn't be able to benefit from your hard work.
What it was doing is forwarding a notion that someone (usually the government) should be able to arbitrarily limit HOW MUCH you should be able to benefit from your hard work.
And basically using the bogus excuse of "infrastructure cost freeloading".
Sure, a lot of the infrastructure being used wasn't initially paid for by many businesses.
But their corporate taxes, and the taxes of those they employ, go towards the maintenance and refurbishment of those pieces of infrastructure.
The money they pay out in power bills goes towards keeping grid power providers operational.
So the insistence that one should just cut the bottoms off their pockets and accept any and all financial encumbrances, simply because some government yoohoo thinks they should be able to use them like a piggy bank...Bullshit, first to last.
So, basically, penalizing a company for being successful.
I could see some GLARING problems with that.
So long as they aren't a monopoly, abusing employees or customers or breaking the law, I don't see why government intervention should be forced on them.
I ALSO don't believe that anyone else is entitled to "a cut" of the proceeds just because they decide it should happen and have access to governmental force.
They also deliver services.
Why is this so hard to grok?
Oh yeah. #YouWantFreeShit
It's, again, another "popular term" that's understood.
Yeah. And Obama was DEAD WRONG.
Those who benefit the most DO contribute the most.
Or do you think things like property ownership and massive, multi-tier employment IN NO WAY contribute to society?
How many people does Amazon employ directly?
How many people at their partners, service providers, and downstream business adjuncts do they employ indirectly?
How much money does their simple EXISTENCE pump into the economy?
Sorry but when you use government force to "entitle yourself", YOU are the one who has broken the social contract.
The social contract in the US says you are entitled to your property, your goods and your earnings.
If you want to come and just rip that way, prepare to eat a fucking bullet in the civil war.
Sorry, money is a first level abstraction of goods and services.
Is it artificial? YES. But they represent goods YOU produce and the labor expended to produce them or deliver a service.
So yes, it's YOURS.
The same thing is going to happen in Solar, eventually too.
Sure! Years and years of "free" power.
Then megatons of trash nobody has the money to haul away or the landfill to occupy.
Amazon is an enormous concentration of wealth.
Never mind that it done through hard labor and smart business practice.
There's always going to be people envious of that.
And there's always people who think they deserve a "cut" of it. Even if they don't.
And, considering the fact that Seattle is every bit as crazy socialist as the bastions in Commiefornia, and it's no surprise.
Remember, the money YOU earn is not YOUR money. It's OUR money...comrade...
Fuck these people and the horse they rode in on.
And the new buzzword is "CRYPTO!"
Like "The Cloud" before it.
And like "The Internet" before that.
*Dumb Idea* + *BUZZWORD* = a bunch of stupid lemmings screaming "BRILLIANT!" and diving off their cliffs.
If? We've been told, multiple times now, that we're already totally fucked.
So, what's changed? What new data has come in to point to a conclusion that we have NOT passed the point of no return?
And you get Robert Patrick pop up asking "Have you seen this boy?"
There goes any value in HBO.
Or the craptastic jail cell of the tablet-only, Windows Store-only crap?
We're going to take your tax money and buy a bunch of shit you don't need or use.
And you'll LIKE IT!
Because it's for your own good!
You crank the power up high enough.
"God! He smells like a pig roast! His entire head caught fire!"
"But he won't commit any more crimes now!"
"Why not just shoot him!"
"Because that would be inhumane..."
Not even if the plate read "California needs Lex Luthor's nuclear missle!"
Some websites work, generally big providers (Google/FB/Twitter/etc).
IRC works.
Interestingly, Discord works.
But my IP phone is hosed.
Craigslist doesn't come up.
And most of my other IM services don't work right now.
I can't even log into my damn Xfinity account.
I dunno!!!!!!!111111ELEVENTY!!!!1111
My basic point is, there is NO government out there that is "healthy".
Government is a necessary evil (emphasis on both evil AND necessary).
But we should NEVER delude ourselves into thinking that ANY of them are ANYTHING but a giant, pustulating fistula on ass of society.