The kind of dog eat dog capitalism you're advocating isn't far from it. You're a human being. Your worth shouldn't be determined by the number of of other humans starving to death at the moment (and neither should theirs, either).
I hear you saying "I'm just lucky not to be them", but why rely on luck? ensuring a stable, high quality of life should be the purpose of society. The only other possible purpose is to enrich the 1% at the expense of everyone else. 'Freedom' doesn't really come into it, because you can't be free if you're not economically secure. I control your supply of food, shelter and medicine you will do as I say even if you're technically 'free'. It's the real reason slavery went away in the US...
that are better paid then their workers? I don't remember that one. But that said, you _have_ to pay Union Bosses well, because they are _completely_ blacklisted for life for running a Union. It's sorta why ex-presidents get Secret Service protection.
Corruption can and will happen. You'll never stamp it out completely. It's the old "Capitalism for the poor, socialism for the rich". You'll never keep some people from gaming the system. The 1% are going to use the gov't and society to their benefit. If you think your by yourself can stand up to their power and wealth you're being silly. The question is: what will you do?
as soon as the House can get everyone to look away long enough to pass that immigration bill. They just need to hold out for a terrorist attack or the death of a major celebrity.
The 1% that is. The owners. When Walmart employees try to unionize there's Lawyers on the ground in hours shutting it down in the most efficient way's possible. Even that's not enough, so that we're getting ready to bring millions of low-skill workers in on Visas to further depress the market. Finally our media has a heavy corporate anti-Union bias that we ignore because they're liberal on a few social issues. You turn on your TV and it's non-stop anti union everywhere you go. Once in a blue moon MSNBC is neutral, but never positive. They'd lose their jobs if there did.
Basically the fox is in the hen house. Things are going to get worse for all of us as workers in America lose more and more fighting among themselves
and I hope to God you're an astro turfer and that you don't really believe that. The price of freedom is eternal vigilance and all that... Right now there's an entire class of people asking how they can take what you have and give it to themselves. It's all they do. They're called "Venture Capitalists" when we're being charitable and "Vulture Capitalists" when we're being honest. The human race had a 1000 years of dark ages. Did you ever stop to question why? What do you get the man who has everything? Nothing. Conservationism will monopolize societies resources and than throw us into the dark ages out of fear of losing that monopoly.
And don't think Science will save you. We can lose science. There's a good percentage of American who think it's the devil's work anyhow.
and your job will never, ever be outsource. You'll never see your wages go down and you'll never have your standard of living drop. They'll never take away your air conditioning to save money, or your clean air and water. Life can never get worse. It just keeps getting better. Right? Right...?
Did you notice that the corps have you fighting with the Union workers to lower your standard of living? They've got you asking: "Why do those guys get to live well?" instead of "Why am I struggling to retire?".
That's the entire point of the anti-union narrative we see non-stop. It's what progressives mean when they say 'a race to the bottom'....
Pay close attention to your views on workers rights and what a reasonable quality of life should be. Then ask yourself who's really shaping them and why...
I can't figure out why the powers that be seem to care about patent trolls now. Big corps used to love them because it kept upstarts like google from upending whole industries. Investors didn't seem to mind them since like bookies they make their money either way so long as the market stays reasonable stable. The only ppl I know that get the short end are little guys like me.
in 'free' market capitalism like you're probably in favor of Trusts develop that control all capital. Cyclic down turns like what happen in 2008 wipe out the wealth of all but the well connected (capitalism is for the poor, while socialism for the rich).
You're dreaming of an idealized capitalism you were taught in grade school that never has, and never will exist. It just doesn't happen. You will never keep people from using their privilege to your detriment. The only solution is for us all to band together to regulate that privilege. That's called Government.
it was largely an accident. Following WWII large parts of the world were destroyed and in need of rebuilding. Also, Eisenhower recognized that without a large scale gov't effort we'd slip back into the policies of wealth inequality that lead to so much unnecessary suffering, so he kicked off the Military Industrial complex (or as I like to call it, Weaponized Keynesianism). Finally the cold war scared companies and prevented the global race to the bottom that Karl Marx predicted (but all you can remember about him is that Mao/Stalin used his books for their dictatorships).
The cheap imports won't last. Already the price of almonds is skyrocketing because they're being exported. You will compete and lose on the global marketplace.
Also, what in God's good name makes you think most Americans own stock? Half of them are below the freakin' poverty line, which we haven't changed since the 50s'.
The jobs aren't going because of need. They're going because people in those countries lack an EPA, access to medical care, a social safety net, low cost education, etc, etc. They're going there because the super rich in those countries, e.g. the real 1%, have made those people's lives hell for their own profit.
I can't complete with some who drinks dirty water, dies of cancer at 45, and if his house catches fire he burns to death before he can open a window. I suppose if I want to tank my quality of life I could. But why in God's good name would I do that for some misguide notion of "Libertarianism"? Christ, if you want to do that go off to Galt's Gulch already. We don't need or want you here.
people who just plain don't like being told what to do, even when it's the _right_ thing.
Also, the iPad fallacy is just that, a fallacy. Those people aren't worse off because they don't have an iPad. They're worse off because 76% of them are living Paycheck to Paycheck. The highest percentage since the 1940s!
or did Ranton spend the first half of his post saying everything was A-OK because we have the same quality of life as we did in 1960, then finish by saying how much better things are 50 years later (1960 + 53 = 2013)?
Seriously, is anyone buying this? What the hell happened to _progress_? I know slippery slope is a 'logical fallacy' and all that rot, but 'come on. If you think the rich are content with rolling us back just to the 60's in wealth inequality you're nuts.
wages are going down, prices are going up. Sure, _toys_ are cheaper. But housing, food and medicine all cost a _lot_ more. You're lunch is more like $6 or $7 now, even at McDonalds, and you're probably making $9/$9.50.
Also, I'd be interested in _which_ logical fallacy you'd like to site disproves the broad statistical evidence of declining wages and what debate techniques you would use to show prices are going down.
The trouble I've found with ATI is since the 9800 they've gone back to the bad 'ole days of stability issues on their low end. Top tier stuff like Batman is rock solid, but oddball stuff like Psyconauts, No One Lives Forever 2, Streetfighter X Tekken, Sonic Generations, Sonic/Sega All Stars Racing, etc crash. Lots:(.
I miss my 1650 (an overclocked 9800 with a smaller die for less heat). The image quality blew my GT240 away. But it couldn't keep up with SFxT much less Arkham. I tried one of the low end 4xxxx serious (4050? Can't remember), but it crashed lots. I've heard if you shell out the big bucks for the $300 range you don't get that, but that's too rich for my blood...
because I have an nVidia GT240. It likes to pretend it's a Directx 10 card, but it's not fooling anyone. Games run like crap in Win7 for me, but run great in XP. If I had $200 lying around I could just buy a new card, but I've got better things to spend, and Arkham City runs just fine on my 6 year old 6000+ with a GT240.
and it's incredibly frustrating. I'm a bright guy and I can help her with her homework, but I don't remember everything from high school physics or algebra/trig. And with humanities and the Arts there's often a 'right' answer from the teaching materials.
I used to wonder why this stuff wasn't online until I saw the profits those textbook companies make. Stupid capitalism.
That's the number of actual H1-B workers in this country. E.g. take the legal limit and multiply it by 3. We don't send them home when their Visas expire, so lots of them stay. The estimates are around 3 times the limit. 180,000 today. Once we raise the limit to 300,000 we'll have a million new tech workers hitting the economy within 3 years. Forget the tech economy, that'll depress _everyone's_ wages.
is because we started letting private businesses run schools for profit. You want to curb that? Turn them back into real public institutions instead of quasi-private ones where the costs are paid by you and me and the profits go to 1%.
Slashdot Mirror
If that's all it takes why am I still paying $60/mo for 1 mb down...?
The kind of dog eat dog capitalism you're advocating isn't far from it. You're a human being. Your worth shouldn't be determined by the number of of other humans starving to death at the moment (and neither should theirs, either).
I hear you saying "I'm just lucky not to be them", but why rely on luck? ensuring a stable, high quality of life should be the purpose of society. The only other possible purpose is to enrich the 1% at the expense of everyone else. 'Freedom' doesn't really come into it, because you can't be free if you're not economically secure. I control your supply of food, shelter and medicine you will do as I say even if you're technically 'free'. It's the real reason slavery went away in the US...
Spending billions of dollars protecting the ruling class is never a waste.
that are better paid then their workers? I don't remember that one. But that said, you _have_ to pay Union Bosses well, because they are _completely_ blacklisted for life for running a Union. It's sorta why ex-presidents get Secret Service protection.
Corruption can and will happen. You'll never stamp it out completely. It's the old "Capitalism for the poor, socialism for the rich". You'll never keep some people from gaming the system. The 1% are going to use the gov't and society to their benefit. If you think your by yourself can stand up to their power and wealth you're being silly. The question is: what will you do?
as soon as the House can get everyone to look away long enough to pass that immigration bill. They just need to hold out for a terrorist attack or the death of a major celebrity.
The 1% that is. The owners. When Walmart employees try to unionize there's Lawyers on the ground in hours shutting it down in the most efficient way's possible. Even that's not enough, so that we're getting ready to bring millions of low-skill workers in on Visas to further depress the market. Finally our media has a heavy corporate anti-Union bias that we ignore because they're liberal on a few social issues. You turn on your TV and it's non-stop anti union everywhere you go. Once in a blue moon MSNBC is neutral, but never positive. They'd lose their jobs if there did.
Basically the fox is in the hen house. Things are going to get worse for all of us as workers in America lose more and more fighting among themselves
and I hope to God you're an astro turfer and that you don't really believe that. The price of freedom is eternal vigilance and all that... Right now there's an entire class of people asking how they can take what you have and give it to themselves. It's all they do. They're called "Venture Capitalists" when we're being charitable and "Vulture Capitalists" when we're being honest. The human race had a 1000 years of dark ages. Did you ever stop to question why? What do you get the man who has everything? Nothing. Conservationism will monopolize societies resources and than throw us into the dark ages out of fear of losing that monopoly.
And don't think Science will save you. We can lose science. There's a good percentage of American who think it's the devil's work anyhow.
and your job will never, ever be outsource. You'll never see your wages go down and you'll never have your standard of living drop. They'll never take away your air conditioning to save money, or your clean air and water. Life can never get worse. It just keeps getting better. Right? Right...?
Did you notice that the corps have you fighting with the Union workers to lower your standard of living? They've got you asking: "Why do those guys get to live well?" instead of "Why am I struggling to retire?".
That's the entire point of the anti-union narrative we see non-stop. It's what progressives mean when they say 'a race to the bottom'....
Pay close attention to your views on workers rights and what a reasonable quality of life should be. Then ask yourself who's really shaping them and why...
I can't figure out why the powers that be seem to care about patent trolls now. Big corps used to love them because it kept upstarts like google from upending whole industries. Investors didn't seem to mind them since like bookies they make their money either way so long as the market stays reasonable stable. The only ppl I know that get the short end are little guys like me.
in 'free' market capitalism like you're probably in favor of Trusts develop that control all capital. Cyclic down turns like what happen in 2008 wipe out the wealth of all but the well connected (capitalism is for the poor, while socialism for the rich).
You're dreaming of an idealized capitalism you were taught in grade school that never has, and never will exist. It just doesn't happen. You will never keep people from using their privilege to your detriment. The only solution is for us all to band together to regulate that privilege. That's called Government.
it was largely an accident. Following WWII large parts of the world were destroyed and in need of rebuilding. Also, Eisenhower recognized that without a large scale gov't effort we'd slip back into the policies of wealth inequality that lead to so much unnecessary suffering, so he kicked off the Military Industrial complex (or as I like to call it, Weaponized Keynesianism). Finally the cold war scared companies and prevented the global race to the bottom that Karl Marx predicted (but all you can remember about him is that Mao/Stalin used his books for their dictatorships).
The cheap imports won't last. Already the price of almonds is skyrocketing because they're being exported. You will compete and lose on the global marketplace.
Also, what in God's good name makes you think most Americans own stock? Half of them are below the freakin' poverty line, which we haven't changed since the 50s'.
The jobs aren't going because of need. They're going because people in those countries lack an EPA, access to medical care, a social safety net, low cost education, etc, etc. They're going there because the super rich in those countries, e.g. the real 1%, have made those people's lives hell for their own profit.
I can't complete with some who drinks dirty water, dies of cancer at 45, and if his house catches fire he burns to death before he can open a window. I suppose if I want to tank my quality of life I could. But why in God's good name would I do that for some misguide notion of "Libertarianism"? Christ, if you want to do that go off to Galt's Gulch already. We don't need or want you here.
people who just plain don't like being told what to do, even when it's the _right_ thing.
Also, the iPad fallacy is just that, a fallacy. Those people aren't worse off because they don't have an iPad. They're worse off because 76% of them are living Paycheck to Paycheck. The highest percentage since the 1940s!
or did Ranton spend the first half of his post saying everything was A-OK because we have the same quality of life as we did in 1960, then finish by saying how much better things are 50 years later (1960 + 53 = 2013)?
Seriously, is anyone buying this? What the hell happened to _progress_? I know slippery slope is a 'logical fallacy' and all that rot, but 'come on. If you think the rich are content with rolling us back just to the 60's in wealth inequality you're nuts.
wages are going down, prices are going up. Sure, _toys_ are cheaper. But housing, food and medicine all cost a _lot_ more. You're lunch is more like $6 or $7 now, even at McDonalds, and you're probably making $9/$9.50.
Also, I'd be interested in _which_ logical fallacy you'd like to site disproves the broad statistical evidence of declining wages and what debate techniques you would use to show prices are going down.
whichever one doesn't involve me competing head on with 1 million new (and desperate) working in the worst economy since WWII?
The trouble I've found with ATI is since the 9800 they've gone back to the bad 'ole days of stability issues on their low end. Top tier stuff like Batman is rock solid, but oddball stuff like Psyconauts, No One Lives Forever 2, Streetfighter X Tekken, Sonic Generations, Sonic/Sega All Stars Racing, etc crash. Lots :(.
I miss my 1650 (an overclocked 9800 with a smaller die for less heat). The image quality blew my GT240 away. But it couldn't keep up with SFxT much less Arkham. I tried one of the low end 4xxxx serious (4050? Can't remember), but it crashed lots. I've heard if you shell out the big bucks for the $300 range you don't get that, but that's too rich for my blood...
because I have an nVidia GT240. It likes to pretend it's a Directx 10 card, but it's not fooling anyone. Games run like crap in Win7 for me, but run great in XP. If I had $200 lying around I could just buy a new card, but I've got better things to spend, and Arkham City runs just fine on my 6 year old 6000+ with a GT240.
And I've got a host of Steam games and Indie titles to play. Nice try though.
and it's incredibly frustrating. I'm a bright guy and I can help her with her homework, but I don't remember everything from high school physics or algebra/trig. And with humanities and the Arts there's often a 'right' answer from the teaching materials.
I used to wonder why this stuff wasn't online until I saw the profits those textbook companies make. Stupid capitalism.
that part's not rocket science. Americans make too much money. We live too well. Our air is too clean and our food too nutritious.
That's the number of actual H1-B workers in this country. E.g. take the legal limit and multiply it by 3. We don't send them home when their Visas expire, so lots of them stay. The estimates are around 3 times the limit. 180,000 today. Once we raise the limit to 300,000 we'll have a million new tech workers hitting the economy within 3 years. Forget the tech economy, that'll depress _everyone's_ wages.
you're too lazy to google.
is because we started letting private businesses run schools for profit. You want to curb that? Turn them back into real public institutions instead of quasi-private ones where the costs are paid by you and me and the profits go to 1%.