Southern border. I hate those who take advantage of this country's generosity to do damage with meth and nukes. MS13 needs to be eliminated- and since that gang is entirely made up of Mexican Illegal Immigrants, the easest way to do so is at the border.
Are there an infinite number of atoms in the solar system? Or merely a very large number? If the first is true, then you're right, you can always make more economic pies. If the second is true, I'm right- economics is a zero sum game, but we might not have squeezed out the total economic potential YET. We will, because we're adding 80 million people a year to the planet, but we might not be there yet.
Registrant:
jbwebcraft
3885 Kingswood Dr.
Boise, ID 83704
US
Registrar: DOTSTER
Domain Name: NEILCB.COM
Created on: 21-JUN-04
Expires on: 21-JUN-06
Last Updated on: 21-JUN-04
Administrative, Technical Contact:
, support@jbwebcraft.com
jbwebcraft
3885 Kingswood Dr.
Boise, ID 83704
US
208/869-2093
Domain servers in listed order:
NS1.JAMESBRENNAN.ORG
NS2.JAMESBRENNAN.ORG
Based on this, I'd guess a teenager is taking advantage of his father's webhosting business to get his own webpage. In addition to that, he's either been hacked, or he's running phishing scams himself. In either case- an e-mail to the father, James Brennan, is in order, and maybe a phone call, but you should at least forward the phishing scam on to him *before* his business is ruined by this.
Is to take it to ludicrous extremes. The Patent System and the Stock Market are outdated 19th century ideas- I applaud anything that takes them to ludicrous extremes.
They'll take notice alright- but maybe not the kind of notice we'd want to see. Remember what Katrina proved- Constitutional duties and guarantees don't matter to the duopoly any more. It's gone too far, in the 119 years since SCC vs SPR, we've lost it all. It will take a new continental congress to make it right- and we need to be allowed to actually vote to do that.
OK. Like I said, its been years and I've even moved 3 or so times since then so it may have been the phase issues. I remember looking into the phase issues, but don't remember any details beyond that.
That's the number 1 reason for your reported behavior. You see, X10 uses 60hz (yes, I said 60 hz, that's 60bps) 5v signals on the power line during the zero crossings of the 120v AC signal. But this is far too small to get through a transformer- and the average American house uses at least two phases maybe more. Plug the lamp into one phase, and the transciever into the other, and you might, if you're lucky, be able to control the light reliably when there's no noise on the line or when the dryer or overn is on (joining the two 120V phases in a 240V appliance gives a path for the X10 signal to go on). In addition- this whole setup was designed for a small appartment with fewer than 16 devices (which is why the addressing is called a house code), so if somebody else in your neighborhood was on the same house code things would go on and off at random. I've also found that a dying-but-not-quite-dead battery in a remote or worse yet in a motion detector can turn on the wrong light by sending out the wrong RF code to the transciever.
At the time, I was not that terribly interested in learning how to be an electrician and whatnot just so I could dim a light while sitting on my couch. I guess I loose my geek merit badge for that. Since then, I bought a $100 ceiling fan with a light and I can dim the light and change the speed of the fan from my couch. Thats good enough for me.
Yeah- it takes a special kind of geek to get an X10 system working right alright. And while to me the hardware side is simple and the software side is relatively easy- I still have over 400 hours invested in getting my house working right.
I own about $600 worth of their (and other manufactuerers- Levitron is my friend) equipment; and I say different. Works great IF you figure out how it works, and have the software and hardware ability to get it to work. Works sucky if you don't know that your house is wired two phase or even what a phase is.
For this purpose though- I wouldn't bother with buying X10 for the transciever (notice I linked to a different retailer entirely for that) or the computer module (ditto). The main thing X10 makes that is good is their remotes- and if you'll notice that's the ONLY X10 branded device in my list.
2nd answer- here's the real "secret" to cheap filmmaking. In any given movie, most of the footage you shoot is going to end up on the cutting room floor anyway. That's footage that could be shot with a camera on a tripod (no need to pay the camera guy) and recorded to digital media- making the editing as easy as erasing. Where the talent lies is in the ability to edit- give me somebody who's able to edit and *also* a relatively good script, and the special effects become a software cake walk.
My only real question in all of this is why the people on Cable Access channels never found the ability to use a automatic volume control device.
Depends on the script.:-) That's the real key, is learning not to make crap. Actually, though, most $30,000 films make back their initial investment these days- if nothing else then in DVD & download sales. One of my examples is actually an extension of a very popular TV show- and they've made enough that they're working on thier third episode, with some big name actors from the original TV show wanting to be involved. I suggest you go to http://www.newvoyages.com/ and do a little research before sticking your foot into your mouth again.
It occurs to me you might be able to do something with cheap X10 remotes- but you'd be limited to 16 students per class, or alternatively, using the 8 button keychain remotes programed to split each housecode into 4 students for a total of 64 addresses (4 on, 4 off per student). That's still pretty small for some college classes- but at least it's reasonable on price. There are now whole-housecode recievers and the software is just interpreting a serial stream.
MZ Tools for Visual Studio makes nice XML documentation in a large number of languages- then you only need an XSL transform to output it to a web page. I'm sure there's something similar out there for PHP- though it seems to me PHP's only real API is the CGI interface itself, which leaves you with only one interface per script.
One sided destruction could win wars against terrorist groups- you have very few terrorists left if you kill everybody they ever knew.
I morn the loss of our ability to destroy a city on the other side of the planet without sending troops- because in the end, that will be the only thing that stops terrorism.
Ahhh, now I see what you mean. For less than 5000 I'd agree, as the cost of trading doesn't scale down far enough yet (there are some no-fee investment approaches, but you're stuck with the companies you choose). But I'd argue that anyone not crippled by consumer debt can save that much: it's a simple matter of priorities. I knew a minimum-wage security guard who was saving ~750/month - he did work a *lot* of hours, but he worked so he could save so he could eventually escape, and it worked out well for him.
Not crippled by consumer debt is one of those keys- I bought into the lie that more experience means more money. Work hard and you'll get ahead is what they taught us- it's a lie. You can't borrow against it- and if you try you'll end up with far more consumer debt than you'll ever be able to handle.
It's a cultural thing I guess. Teach your kids how money works and they can certainly become wealthy, over time, even if others choose not to do so. The American dream is alive and well; just learn to avoid the minefield.
If the American Dream was alive and well, the minefield wouldn't be allowed to exist- the minefield exists because we allow business people to have only one ethic: profit.
This statement actually adresses most of the rest of the discussion (credit card debt, intrest-only ARMS, saying "I bought the house" but meaning "I took on a huge amount of debt tied to the house" etc., etc.), so I'll leave it at that.
You're completely right- but the other choices are equally bad. You start out -$200,000 in debt and you'll be exactly where I am; with exactly the same attitudes.
I was- and that was a part of my error. You see, the ruling elite has a special class for people like me- we're told that we will have continual increases in pay, so it's worthwhile to borrow now for the things we want and need, we can always pay it back later. That's a lie- in reality, the more experience you have, the less your work is worth, and the harder it is to find a job. So the pay ladder becomes a pay slide instead.
Wow! Are you saying that you've found a way to eliminate 99% of the financial risk of feature film production? That's a license to print money! Congratulations, I'll be looking for you on the red carpet.
Not me- independenant filmmakers have. Not every blockbuster hit costs millions to make- quite a few live action films cost only tens of thousands. Blair Witch Project? $30,000. Read the rest of the discussion- many people have introduced me to a new sci-fi film that only cost $10,000 to produce. The average Star Trek New Voyages episode costs less than $100,000; even with all of the special effects.
Hate to call you there, but that's absolutely wrong. The defense industry job situation here is booming, because the important work *can't* be outsourced overseas due to security issues.
I'd rather you be right on this- but from the way the War on Terror and the War on Drugs is going, I see no evidence that the federal government is actually interested in security issues anymore.
For the work I do, you have to be an American citizen. That's job security - good luck outsourcing that to Bangalore. In the end, the high-level work is not leaving this country at any appreciable pace. You need to get into a business where you actually meet with customers, that won't go overseas.
Unfortuneately for me, that's exactly where my weakness lies. I can't talk to customers- because I have this horrible tendency to tell the truth.
Right now, my company cannot hire people quickly enough. Especially PhDs/engineers, and especially people with security clearances.
I'd have a problem with the security clearance as well- my grandmother was Candadian.
You might consider a MS from a state school - don't know what tuition is in OR, but where I went, tuition was something sick like $3000/yr.
It's now up to $10,000/yr- my current credit rating won't handle it.
Alternatively, if you have the skill bill yourslif as an algorithm expert and get into more analyst work as opposed to development. The markit is admittedly thin for experienced people, BS only, who don't claim anything other than coding experience.
I'm working on that- been enhancing my resume in that area- that's one thing State Work is good for.
Risk vs return, like normal- it wouldn't be 1/100th as risky if they'd use modern technology and lower their prices.
But all of that is really beside the point- they want to reduce piracy, and the way to reduce piracy is to reduce cost to the consumer. Every time. I understand that's against the so-called "free market" (which I call the rape-the-consumer market, since there ain't nothing free about it)- but that is unfortuneately the case.
I've got a 6 year bachelor's degree in software engineering. But as for the defense industry- China and India have that sewn up, at a quarter the cost of doing it here.
The real growth, as far as jobs are concerned, are in the service industries- exactly where my talents don't lie. I piss too many people off, and I have that college degree that shows up on my credit report that prevents me from working at McDonald's (I've tried).
Well, some people choose such accounts - it's still pretty much a free country after all, but each investment choice has it's on risk/reward tradeoffs, and there are lots of choices. As long as you actually understand risk (and how to price things like ARMs and callable bonds, at leats qualitatively) it's not a problem. Did you know that the children of rich Americans bebefit more (statistically speaking) from the knowledge they inherit than from any money they may inherit? Once you know how money works it's easy enough to build wealth, and all you really need to start with is a decent understanding of math.
You missed a common one- a college diploma. But from what I've seen, from practical experience, the return on that is negative.
A rich kid with knowledge of risk and return, plus a loan of more than $5000 (the break even point on any brokerage account, below which you WILL slowly lose money and above which you WILL slowly gain) will do better than the poor kid whose parents scrimped and saved and gave him a $50,000 education. Guaranteed.
I'm sure you have a reason why each of these is a scam? If I thought banks and brokers did so well, I'd just buy stock in banks and brokers.
It isn't so much the investment itself that is the scam- it's the brokerage fees you'll pay to get into and out of each of those investments, plus the fact that Corporate America in general is paid to embezzle (it's basically in every CEO contract if you look hard enough). Put together, unless you can come up with $5000 to invest (not possible for most people in this country) you will lose every dime with the next "business cycle downturn"- the biggest scam of all (there is no real business cycle, it's a fake put together of bad decisions and even worse management).
Well, people define "standard of living" in different ways. If you define standard of living as "one's ability to smoke some weed without being Hassled by The Man" then - actually I have no idea. But if you define it in terms of real purchasing power then the median American's purchasing power has gone up by more than 50% over that time period (hooray for technology). Purchasing power per household has gone up only modestly, but the nuber of people per houseold has gone way down.
I put it as the savings/debt ratio- quality of technology changes, but the real question is, are you able to put something away at the end of the month, or are you just further in debt at the end of the month? I finally wised up- I was further in debt at the end of every month- but then I was unemployed for 26 months and saw even my meager savings disappear into debt service and brokerage house charges.
Speaking of which, the average number of rooms per American in living space has gone from significantly less than one per person to more than one per person. Great news for kids, as sharing a bedroom has become quite rare (new two bedroom houses simply aren't build in my area, as there's just no demand, and 4 bedrooms is the most common arrangement - I never saw a 4 bedroom house growing up!). We seem to be doing better in terms of territory as well.
Only if you don't understand that it's China that actually owns it all- we're just paying more for the service. Interest only mortgages are what is paying for it- no equity at all.
The safety, quality, and performance of a car one can buy for, say, 6 months' pay has gone way up. Air travel was a rare luxury 30 years ago, and it's clear from looking around an airplane that *anyone* can fly these days. The quality of computer you can buy has gone up at an unbelievable rate.
I haven't been able to afford to fly in 6 years now. And quality of computers to me is up time- my up time is WAY down from 1978.
Unless you want to define "standard of living" in some non-economic way, you've really got to reach to find even a single aspect of life that hasn't gotten better. Your pessimism is unj
Exactly right- though that wasn't too shabby in those days, the average salary being less than $4k/year. The point was one Jefferson made- preventing a noble class from arising. You see, in the 1890s we had the first big rise in individual income- and we did see a noble class arise (at least they had the concept of Noblese Oblige- the obligation of the rich to the poor- that's why you see Carnege libraries and Rockefeller art centers all over the country) and it ended in the Great Depression. In the 1980s and 1990s and early 2000s we saw a similar rise of a noble class- and I suspect it's ending much the same way.
Noble right of inheritance is bad for everybody- you can either limit it on income or on death, but if you fail to limit it at all it trends towards a two-class society with no mobility.
You should be chipping in on one of those threads where people complain that they need to take business and science and english classes when all they want to do is learn PHP.
That's for sure- unless you know something else and can prove it, you're virtually unemployable these days.
People hire programmers to solve domain-specific problems. It helps when you hire a person to work on your accounting system that they actually understand business processes and accounting...
Oh, we had the theory of both- didn't make much sense beyond myth to me though, nobody could tell me any non-religious reason for the time value of money.
Well, you do have 1 good point in your rant. But I'll keep voting for less intrusive government and hoping for the best. Some bastard like you will probably come along and raise my taxes to the point I can no longer save, however.
Apparently you haven't noticed yet- that's already happened. Of course, it's not GOVERNMENT taxes- it's CORPORATE taxes- but the whole point in a savings account or an investment account is to make money for the bank or the investment house- on high risk to the investors with little or no risk to the bank.
What you completely fail to realized is that the rich-vs-poor divide is much less significant than the now-vs-then divide. 99% of Americans have a higher standard of living than 95% of humans who have ever lived. I could care less how much better off the rich are (those bastards) compared to me, what matters is making my standard of living go up.
For the last 30 years- the American standard of living has been going DOWN not UP.
And the success of my society in general (i.e., not punishing success) is far more important to that goal than some silly idea about redistributing income.
Sorry- not punishing success means that in general (that is when you take the ENTIRE population into account) you only have two real classes- the con artists and the conned. Guess which you are- you poor blind bastard.
Slashdot Mirror
Southern border. I hate those who take advantage of this country's generosity to do damage with meth and nukes. MS13 needs to be eliminated- and since that gang is entirely made up of Mexican Illegal Immigrants, the easest way to do so is at the border.
Are there an infinite number of atoms in the solar system? Or merely a very large number? If the first is true, then you're right, you can always make more economic pies. If the second is true, I'm right- economics is a zero sum game, but we might not have squeezed out the total economic potential YET. We will, because we're adding 80 million people a year to the planet, but we might not be there yet.
Here's his Whois record:
Registrant:
jbwebcraft
3885 Kingswood Dr.
Boise, ID 83704
US
Registrar: DOTSTER
Domain Name: NEILCB.COM
Created on: 21-JUN-04
Expires on: 21-JUN-06
Last Updated on: 21-JUN-04
Administrative, Technical Contact:
, support@jbwebcraft.com
jbwebcraft
3885 Kingswood Dr.
Boise, ID 83704
US
208/869-2093
Domain servers in listed order:
NS1.JAMESBRENNAN.ORG
NS2.JAMESBRENNAN.ORG
Based on this, I'd guess a teenager is taking advantage of his father's webhosting business to get his own webpage. In addition to that, he's either been hacked, or he's running phishing scams himself. In either case- an e-mail to the father, James Brennan, is in order, and maybe a phone call, but you should at least forward the phishing scam on to him *before* his business is ruined by this.
A gun that you're not willing to use is useless. Information that you're not willing to abuse is likewise useless.
Is to take it to ludicrous extremes. The Patent System and the Stock Market are outdated 19th century ideas- I applaud anything that takes them to ludicrous extremes.
Nah- I want about 40,000 of these, with real P90s, on the Arizona border.
They'll take notice alright- but maybe not the kind of notice we'd want to see. Remember what Katrina proved- Constitutional duties and guarantees don't matter to the duopoly any more. It's gone too far, in the 119 years since SCC vs SPR, we've lost it all. It will take a new continental congress to make it right- and we need to be allowed to actually vote to do that.
OK. Like I said, its been years and I've even moved 3 or so times since then so it may have been the phase issues. I remember looking into the phase issues, but don't remember any details beyond that.
That's the number 1 reason for your reported behavior. You see, X10 uses 60hz (yes, I said 60 hz, that's 60bps) 5v signals on the power line during the zero crossings of the 120v AC signal. But this is far too small to get through a transformer- and the average American house uses at least two phases maybe more. Plug the lamp into one phase, and the transciever into the other, and you might, if you're lucky, be able to control the light reliably when there's no noise on the line or when the dryer or overn is on (joining the two 120V phases in a 240V appliance gives a path for the X10 signal to go on). In addition- this whole setup was designed for a small appartment with fewer than 16 devices (which is why the addressing is called a house code), so if somebody else in your neighborhood was on the same house code things would go on and off at random. I've also found that a dying-but-not-quite-dead battery in a remote or worse yet in a motion detector can turn on the wrong light by sending out the wrong RF code to the transciever.
At the time, I was not that terribly interested in learning how to be an electrician and whatnot just so I could dim a light while sitting on my couch. I guess I loose my geek merit badge for that. Since then, I bought a $100 ceiling fan with a light and I can dim the light and change the speed of the fan from my couch. Thats good enough for me.
Yeah- it takes a special kind of geek to get an X10 system working right alright. And while to me the hardware side is simple and the software side is relatively easy- I still have over 400 hours invested in getting my house working right.
I own about $600 worth of their (and other manufactuerers- Levitron is my friend) equipment; and I say different. Works great IF you figure out how it works, and have the software and hardware ability to get it to work. Works sucky if you don't know that your house is wired two phase or even what a phase is.
For this purpose though- I wouldn't bother with buying X10 for the transciever (notice I linked to a different retailer entirely for that) or the computer module (ditto). The main thing X10 makes that is good is their remotes- and if you'll notice that's the ONLY X10 branded device in my list.
2nd answer- here's the real "secret" to cheap filmmaking. In any given movie, most of the footage you shoot is going to end up on the cutting room floor anyway. That's footage that could be shot with a camera on a tripod (no need to pay the camera guy) and recorded to digital media- making the editing as easy as erasing. Where the talent lies is in the ability to edit- give me somebody who's able to edit and *also* a relatively good script, and the special effects become a software cake walk.
My only real question in all of this is why the people on Cable Access channels never found the ability to use a automatic volume control device.
Depends on the script. :-) That's the real key, is learning not to make crap. Actually, though, most $30,000 films make back their initial investment these days- if nothing else then in DVD & download sales. One of my examples is actually an extension of a very popular TV show- and they've made enough that they're working on thier third episode, with some big name actors from the original TV show wanting to be involved. I suggest you go to http://www.newvoyages.com/ and do a little research before sticking your foot into your mouth again.
URLs for the hardware I talked about:
Clicker: http://www.x10.com/automation/x10_kr22a.htm
Reciever: http://www.smarthome.com/4017.HTML
Computer Interface: http://www.smarthome.com/1132U.HTML.
Mr House software for Linux would also be a good start- it's very scriptable and would eliminate the need to write your own drivers.
It occurs to me you might be able to do something with cheap X10 remotes- but you'd be limited to 16 students per class, or alternatively, using the 8 button keychain remotes programed to split each housecode into 4 students for a total of 64 addresses (4 on, 4 off per student). That's still pretty small for some college classes- but at least it's reasonable on price. There are now whole-housecode recievers and the software is just interpreting a serial stream.
MZ Tools for Visual Studio makes nice XML documentation in a large number of languages- then you only need an XSL transform to output it to a web page. I'm sure there's something similar out there for PHP- though it seems to me PHP's only real API is the CGI interface itself, which leaves you with only one interface per script.
One sided destruction could win wars against terrorist groups- you have very few terrorists left if you kill everybody they ever knew.
I morn the loss of our ability to destroy a city on the other side of the planet without sending troops- because in the end, that will be the only thing that stops terrorism.
Ahhh, now I see what you mean. For less than 5000 I'd agree, as the cost of trading doesn't scale down far enough yet (there are some no-fee investment approaches, but you're stuck with the companies you choose). But I'd argue that anyone not crippled by consumer debt can save that much: it's a simple matter of priorities. I knew a minimum-wage security guard who was saving ~750/month - he did work a *lot* of hours, but he worked so he could save so he could eventually escape, and it worked out well for him.
Not crippled by consumer debt is one of those keys- I bought into the lie that more experience means more money. Work hard and you'll get ahead is what they taught us- it's a lie. You can't borrow against it- and if you try you'll end up with far more consumer debt than you'll ever be able to handle.
It's a cultural thing I guess. Teach your kids how money works and they can certainly become wealthy, over time, even if others choose not to do so. The American dream is alive and well; just learn to avoid the minefield.
If the American Dream was alive and well, the minefield wouldn't be allowed to exist- the minefield exists because we allow business people to have only one ethic: profit.
This statement actually adresses most of the rest of the discussion (credit card debt, intrest-only ARMS, saying "I bought the house" but meaning "I took on a huge amount of debt tied to the house" etc., etc.), so I'll leave it at that.
You're completely right- but the other choices are equally bad. You start out -$200,000 in debt and you'll be exactly where I am; with exactly the same attitudes.
I was- and that was a part of my error. You see, the ruling elite has a special class for people like me- we're told that we will have continual increases in pay, so it's worthwhile to borrow now for the things we want and need, we can always pay it back later. That's a lie- in reality, the more experience you have, the less your work is worth, and the harder it is to find a job. So the pay ladder becomes a pay slide instead.
Wow! Are you saying that you've found a way to eliminate 99% of the financial risk of feature film production? That's a license to print money! Congratulations, I'll be looking for you on the red carpet.
Not me- independenant filmmakers have. Not every blockbuster hit costs millions to make- quite a few live action films cost only tens of thousands. Blair Witch Project? $30,000. Read the rest of the discussion- many people have introduced me to a new sci-fi film that only cost $10,000 to produce. The average Star Trek New Voyages episode costs less than $100,000; even with all of the special effects.
Hate to call you there, but that's absolutely wrong. The defense industry job situation here is booming, because the important work *can't* be outsourced overseas due to security issues.
I'd rather you be right on this- but from the way the War on Terror and the War on Drugs is going, I see no evidence that the federal government is actually interested in security issues anymore.
For the work I do, you have to be an American citizen. That's job security - good luck outsourcing that to Bangalore. In the end, the high-level work is not leaving this country at any appreciable pace. You need to get into a business where you actually meet with customers, that won't go overseas.
Unfortuneately for me, that's exactly where my weakness lies. I can't talk to customers- because I have this horrible tendency to tell the truth.
Right now, my company cannot hire people quickly enough. Especially PhDs/engineers, and especially people with security clearances.
I'd have a problem with the security clearance as well- my grandmother was Candadian.
You might consider a MS from a state school - don't know what tuition is in OR, but where I went, tuition was something sick like $3000/yr.
It's now up to $10,000/yr- my current credit rating won't handle it.
Alternatively, if you have the skill bill yourslif as an algorithm expert and get into more analyst work as opposed to development. The markit is admittedly thin for experienced people, BS only, who don't claim anything other than coding experience.
I'm working on that- been enhancing my resume in that area- that's one thing State Work is good for.
Risk vs return, like normal- it wouldn't be 1/100th as risky if they'd use modern technology and lower their prices.
But all of that is really beside the point- they want to reduce piracy, and the way to reduce piracy is to reduce cost to the consumer. Every time. I understand that's against the so-called "free market" (which I call the rape-the-consumer market, since there ain't nothing free about it)- but that is unfortuneately the case.
I've got a 6 year bachelor's degree in software engineering. But as for the defense industry- China and India have that sewn up, at a quarter the cost of doing it here.
The real growth, as far as jobs are concerned, are in the service industries- exactly where my talents don't lie. I piss too many people off, and I have that college degree that shows up on my credit report that prevents me from working at McDonald's (I've tried).
Final post for me in this thread:
Well, some people choose such accounts - it's still pretty much a free country after all, but each investment choice has it's on risk/reward tradeoffs, and there are lots of choices. As long as you actually understand risk (and how to price things like ARMs and callable bonds, at leats qualitatively) it's not a problem. Did you know that the children of rich Americans bebefit more (statistically speaking) from the knowledge they inherit than from any money they may inherit? Once you know how money works it's easy enough to build wealth, and all you really need to start with is a decent understanding of math.
You missed a common one- a college diploma. But from what I've seen, from practical experience, the return on that is negative.
A rich kid with knowledge of risk and return, plus a loan of more than $5000 (the break even point on any brokerage account, below which you WILL slowly lose money and above which you WILL slowly gain) will do better than the poor kid whose parents scrimped and saved and gave him a $50,000 education. Guaranteed.
I'm sure you have a reason why each of these is a scam? If I thought banks and brokers did so well, I'd just buy stock in banks and brokers.
It isn't so much the investment itself that is the scam- it's the brokerage fees you'll pay to get into and out of each of those investments, plus the fact that Corporate America in general is paid to embezzle (it's basically in every CEO contract if you look hard enough). Put together, unless you can come up with $5000 to invest (not possible for most people in this country) you will lose every dime with the next "business cycle downturn"- the biggest scam of all (there is no real business cycle, it's a fake put together of bad decisions and even worse management).
Well, people define "standard of living" in different ways. If you define standard of living as "one's ability to smoke some weed without being Hassled by The Man" then - actually I have no idea. But if you define it in terms of real purchasing power then the median American's purchasing power has gone up by more than 50% over that time period (hooray for technology). Purchasing power per household has gone up only modestly, but the nuber of people per houseold has gone way down.
I put it as the savings/debt ratio- quality of technology changes, but the real question is, are you able to put something away at the end of the month, or are you just further in debt at the end of the month? I finally wised up- I was further in debt at the end of every month- but then I was unemployed for 26 months and saw even my meager savings disappear into debt service and brokerage house charges.
Speaking of which, the average number of rooms per American in living space has gone from significantly less than one per person to more than one per person. Great news for kids, as sharing a bedroom has become quite rare (new two bedroom houses simply aren't build in my area, as there's just no demand, and 4 bedrooms is the most common arrangement - I never saw a 4 bedroom house growing up!). We seem to be doing better in terms of territory as well.
Only if you don't understand that it's China that actually owns it all- we're just paying more for the service. Interest only mortgages are what is paying for it- no equity at all.
The safety, quality, and performance of a car one can buy for, say, 6 months' pay has gone way up. Air travel was a rare luxury 30 years ago, and it's clear from looking around an airplane that *anyone* can fly these days. The quality of computer you can buy has gone up at an unbelievable rate.
I haven't been able to afford to fly in 6 years now. And quality of computers to me is up time- my up time is WAY down from 1978.
Unless you want to define "standard of living" in some non-economic way, you've really got to reach to find even a single aspect of life that hasn't gotten better. Your pessimism is unj
Exactly right- though that wasn't too shabby in those days, the average salary being less than $4k/year. The point was one Jefferson made- preventing a noble class from arising. You see, in the 1890s we had the first big rise in individual income- and we did see a noble class arise (at least they had the concept of Noblese Oblige- the obligation of the rich to the poor- that's why you see Carnege libraries and Rockefeller art centers all over the country) and it ended in the Great Depression. In the 1980s and 1990s and early 2000s we saw a similar rise of a noble class- and I suspect it's ending much the same way.
Noble right of inheritance is bad for everybody- you can either limit it on income or on death, but if you fail to limit it at all it trends towards a two-class society with no mobility.
You should be chipping in on one of those threads where people complain that they need to take business and science and english classes when all they want to do is learn PHP.
That's for sure- unless you know something else and can prove it, you're virtually unemployable these days.
People hire programmers to solve domain-specific problems. It helps when you hire a person to work on your accounting system that they actually understand business processes and accounting...
Oh, we had the theory of both- didn't make much sense beyond myth to me though, nobody could tell me any non-religious reason for the time value of money.
Well, you do have 1 good point in your rant. But I'll keep voting for less intrusive government and hoping for the best. Some bastard like you will probably come along and raise my taxes to the point I can no longer save, however.
Apparently you haven't noticed yet- that's already happened. Of course, it's not GOVERNMENT taxes- it's CORPORATE taxes- but the whole point in a savings account or an investment account is to make money for the bank or the investment house- on high risk to the investors with little or no risk to the bank.
What you completely fail to realized is that the rich-vs-poor divide is much less significant than the now-vs-then divide. 99% of Americans have a higher standard of living than 95% of humans who have ever lived. I could care less how much better off the rich are (those bastards) compared to me, what matters is making my standard of living go up.
For the last 30 years- the American standard of living has been going DOWN not UP.
And the success of my society in general (i.e., not punishing success) is far more important to that goal than some silly idea about redistributing income.
Sorry- not punishing success means that in general (that is when you take the ENTIRE population into account) you only have two real classes- the con artists and the conned. Guess which you are- you poor blind bastard.