Back in the days of proprietary applications that were displaced by (mostly) free web applications, you would be spending something like $20 or $50 for something like this.
More likely it would be downloaded for "free". But for $5 I would actually pay for it rather than download it. Its closer to what its worth.
Having examples to run in a browser is a nice perk though. You get to mess with a GUI without knowing much more than HTML.
In the 80s there was an absolute fixation on teaching kids control flow etc by making them write little animated graphics on apple2s and C64s using basic. We mostly turned out OK anyway. This is pretty much the 10s version of the same concept, kids like looking at things.
I was thinking more along the lines of newbies who are still learning the concept of sequential execution, the concept of breaking down a big problem into little tasks, the concept of a flowchart and what it represents, or even the general idea that variable assignment, control flow statements, and recursion exist. What is a picket fence mistake? That type of basic learning.
Data structures and algorithm design and big O notation is pretty far beyond really newbie stuff like "how can a computer be told to count to 10". Maybe next semester.
It could be argued that CS should follow the lead of math... you don't start math majors out with basic algebra, although there are remedial classes. JS would be great for a remedial class.
For utter newbs not going into CS, JS is a good choice, because any machine with a web browser is a dev box, but for actual CS students, a debian boot disk is probably more appropriate.
You should have heard the screams of pain in my cobol class many years ago. What, you mean a "dos" application? And the alternative is a AS/400 that doesn't even support telnet? Someone who suffered thru that kind of experience probably went to the other extreme in selecting JS.
JS isn't even all that bad of a language for newbies to learn the basic concepts.
I say, give the man custody over the rock for the duration of his life if it is his "lucky charm".
Legally safer to do the opposite, the state owns it and the state is legally forced to rent it to him until his death for $1.
Otherwise when he dies or goes bankrupt, the ownership gets kind of tricky. Also if he refuses to insure it, the state can take it back.
See, for example, how hackerspaces encourage people to maintain ownership while leasing machines to the hackerspace. That way if the hackerspace goes bankrupt, the equipment owners get their machines back (at least in theory)
It isn't like email storage requirements are a practical limitation
Talk like that is going to result in the lawyers requiring all emails to be hidef videos with 5.1 sound, no more plain text. Keep quiet lest a lawyer hear us, unless you look forward to supporting that kind of a monstrosity...
Those people who distract themselves with gadgets and get into accidents are probably the bad drivers who would have managed to get into accidents anyway.
... by being distracted by hottie on sidewalk, by being distracted by billboard advertising their favorite TV show, by being distracted by screaming at their kids in the back seat, by being distracted by the music on the radio...
The problem isn't the good drivers are being distracted, the problem is bad drivers who can be distracted by ANYTHING. Take away the gadgets, they'll find another way to create mayhem on the roads.
Also, a lot of people think that they _can_ safely use their phones while driving. They know that accidents happen when people do that, but they always happen to _other_ people, you know.
Naah, its more of a slippery slope thing. The media pounds it into your head that its terrifying and you'll kill people. You start with texting perfectly safely while using the car as an expensive chair, sitting in a parking lot, engine off and transmission in park. Once your heart rate is normal in that situation, you try texting with the engine running, but still in "Park". After that hurdle, you're texting at stop lights. Then you only need to enter one more word when the light turns green, so why not?
Next thing you know, you're going 80 MPH in dense fog weaving on the freeway while voting on american idol. After all, the media lied when they said it was dangerous to text in a car... while its in "park"... so they must be lying about texting while freeway driving, right?
Does this mean that the number of car accidents has increased by 25?
It means its more socially acceptable to tell people you were distracted by an incoming SMS message than you were scratching your itchy rear.
It means its more socially acceptable to tell people its a terrible shame that your boss requires you to carry and respond to a cellphone, than to say you were just plain ole spacing out or staring at a hottie on the sidewalk.
It means its more socially acceptable to tell people your cellphone ringtone startled you, than to admit you were driving sleepy and nodded off.
Remember when the media told people that anytime a toyota crashed, it was because the accelerator stuck? The result of the reports was, the reported stats indicated toyota crashes were caused by stuck accelerators, until about a week after the media stopped chasing that ambulance, and the reports dropped to their normal just about zero...
I am certain if the media stopped reporting that gadgets magically caused accidents because they are evil voodoo totems straight from the devil leading us on the path to hell, the REPORTED gadget-caused accident rate would drop to just about zero and we'd return to the real, true causes... "I was spacing out" "I drifted off to sleep" "I was screaming at my kids in the back seat"
I tried switching to Chrome again but, like the last time, the extensions weren't half as good. Even the ones developed by the same teams as FireFox! From what I understand it is the difference between the two browser extension APIs that is causing the problem. So, I'll stick with FireFox for now.
My web browser is adblock plus, flashblock, noscript, xmarks. Also firebug. They define my "internet experience". I currently use firefox as the backend, as long as the backend stays out of the way of adblock and noscript, and cooperates with xmarks, I'm pretty happy. If chrome makes a better backend for my addons, then I'll switch to chrome. Not till then. All I need is a working, configurable ad blocker, flash blocker, JS blocker, and bookmark syncer.
And if you think even not that further out, there may be a future where nobody buys a "TV" anymore
Actually, right now, nobody can buy a "Monitor" anymore. Only 1080 and 720 "widescreen" TV panels are being manufactured. Some are marketed into computer monitors.
Don't believe me? Try to buy a 4:3 "monitor" like a 1600x1200. I've used 1600x1200 monitors since the 90s, from analog VGA CRT to my current LCD with DVI. All were bought off the shelf at local retailers like compusa and best buy. When it needs replacement, I don't think there are any retail available monitors above 1080 vertical pixels... Also there are no "small" monitors they're all giants like 25 inches with very large visible pixels. I will be forced to downgrade. Which sucks.
Problem: This is a protest. The government probably isn't going to approve, and that long pipe is just a very easy target. A man with an axe, or even a deniable 'accident' with a truck to lessen the diplomatic fallout, and the coolant supply is gone.
Bucket brigade... its only "two blocks". Where I live that means either about 100 feet or about 2000 feet. Either way, they seem to have enough people. It would only take at most a thousand people to pass buckets.
The obvious solution, is to move the protest where its cool. If the square is symbolic, you only need enough people in it to be symbolic, and put the masses along the cool riverbank? If they're trying to get international press, when I hear Egypt I think the pyramids (hard to keep cool) and the nile, where its easier to keep cool. Some square I've never heard of before the protests? Naah.
Schengen's not particularly relevant - that's about whether the countries are friendly enough with each other to demand passports when people travel between them. Iceland's not part of the Euro Zone, and is a candidate for membership in the EU but hasn't yet been admitted (and since it just lost a lot of economic stability, that may take a while). It is a part of the European Economic Area, so it gets to do relatively free trade with Europe.
True but I thought Schengen and EEA was a very large fraction of the way to EU... For all intents and purposes they're part of the EU other than some signatures?
Kind of like those guys that insist Texas is technically a separate country and not a state of the US because of some ancient irregularity in the statehood process a long time ago, which may even be technically and historically true, but frankly doesn't matter, for all intents and purposes its a US state. Does that comparison alter your opinion?
That is NOT waste but growing a new constituency of middle class means testing jobs. This is mostly a board of hard core science diploma holders or equivalent. Where do you think most of the French Lit or Modern Art diploma holders end up? Not McD's that's all illegal aliens where I live, unless you're an illegal with a Russian History degree thats off limits. Not on the streets. Maybe 1 in 1000 become famous or professors or famous professors. The remainder work up at the state office building and the fed building downtown etc as mid level whatevers.
why they always assume the optimal point is with LESS taxes, and no with more?
Back when Laffer was new, as a species we had a century of experience with increasing taxes, never decreasing. Or at least the ratio must have approached 1000 to 1.
Less taxes was radical, something new is bound to have "some" reaction, good or bad. More taxes was ultraconservative, been doing that since my great great great grandfather's era.
Its hard for young people born after that era to understand taxes had more or less never been lowered in human history other than as part of invasion or revolution.
Given centuries of experience, vs "Regan tried it for a decade in the 80s" I'm still not certain we have enough data.
During a revolution you never know what to expect in the end. Look at France, look at Iran.
Bad examples. Iran especially bad example. Assuming you're talking about the 1970s revolution and not alexander the great era. Even France during the revolution, fundamentally, didn't really change much other than killing a bunch of pigs at the top, some pigs had royal blood, some pigs did not, but it didn't really matter all that much, other than as an oddity that the royals got a rare and sound smashing.
As for the tea party types, come on, think about it. Look at who they hang out with, to see who they like. I feel extremely confident taking the completely wild guess that a fundamentalist christian theocracy is a somewhat more likely outcome, than say a Buddhist monarchy or Sharia law.
Thru current media and govt propaganda, with the assistance of the media, I'm not even sure formalizing the christian theocracy would really change all that much. We already have an informal christian theocratic / fascistic state. For example, instead of politicians being required by the media to be Christian, they would in addition have some redundant law requiring it. Would it really change anything for 99% of the population? Probably not. Back to American Idol, now wearing slightly less skimpy outfits. Who cares.
Right now the FBI does it, but assume the FBI somehow cannot pay their agents or set their budget, what happens then?
Local cops and county sheriffs? Not thinking one of numerous "safety nets" disappearing will automatically result in complete systemic collapse. Also not saying nothing bad at all will happen. But somehow I'm not seeing the local cops going "Oh you're in a militia? Oh OK you can fire that AK down the street then. I thought for a second you were a gang member. But its all good. Carry on, citizen..."
Considering how in bed the GOP is with Wall Street, I'm surprised that they're even willing to contemplate not paying our bills.
Its both sides, not the GOP. Check Obama's campaign donor record. The govt and the corps have merged, thats the definition of fascism, which is our system.
The reason wall street likes the idea, is wall street makes money of stock trading commissions.
Not increasing the limit doesn't mean we stop paying on previously issued debt, it means we stop issuing new debt. An investor with an extra $1B isn't going to sti on it, they're going to put it somewhere... How about that nice stock exchange?
What it really means, is wall street expects stock prices to implode soon, they need more buyers to push the price up or at least hold it steady. Perhaps their purchased lackeys in the govt could stop competing with them by selling govt bonds, thus resulting in at least some more stock purchases resulting in higher prices?
Or they expect HFT and retail investment volume to collapse, and since they mostly make money on commissions, they need a way to churn transaction volume, perhaps by getting their purchased lackeys in the govt to stop selling their govt bond product, they gotta invest their dough somewhere, how bout that NYSE?
Or there is some kind of inflation play going on here, but I'm not sure exactly what.
You know those old people who complain about a commie plot where technological is just a smokescreen to get them to buy "the white album" for the 20th different media format?
The first thing that comes to mind when I hear about "3D" or "smell-o-vision" or whatever other useless frippery of the week, is "I'm gonna have to download Star Wars... again?"
I mean really, the scene in the Death Star's garbage compactor or the Bar Scene on Tattoine isn't really going to be any better, its just... again.
But make no mistake: there are real, serious, and immediate consequences of not raising the limit, and those consequences will rain down upon everyone.
Why are we better off defaulting later, than sooner? Is there any reason not to get it over with and be done with it?
1) Every year for decades, since the 70s, the middle class has gotten poorer, and there is no reason to think this trend will reverse anytime soon. No matter how awful it will be, it will be easier on richer people. Therefore defaulting now will cause less pain than defaulting in a decade. Unless your goal is to increase suffering, you should want to get it over with today.
2) The sooner its over... the sooner its over. Recessions / Depressions linger until the malinvestment is flushed out of the system. Lets get this train back on the tracks and default today so tomorrow we can begin to live again. It would be nice to see a healthy economy again, someday.
3) No one lives forever. In 20 years, I'd rather have 19 years of growth behind me if we default today, rather than dragging the default out a decade thus only having 10 years of growth behind me. I'm still gonna be 20 years older, I'll just be 9 years richer, more or less, if we default today.
4) Kicking the can down the road is expensive. What do we, as a country, really gain by making interest payments for an extra month / year / decade? The only thing worse than throwing money away, is throwing good money after bad. Flush it, and get on with life.
The only people who dont seem to understand this are the tea-baggers, but I don't find that particularly surprising, since their total understanding of economics is, "Taxes Bad."
WTF have tea-baggers got to do with economics or politics? Is it really true the USA now has a political movement devoted to tea-bagging?
Yes the politicians are the "catchers" and the big corporations are the "pitchers". Note we live in a cultural structure called fascism where the corps and govt have merged, so its kind of ambiguous as to who is who, but if they're "catching" in the media, then they're the politicians and if they're not discussed in the media except by the loyal opposition, they're probably the "pitchers".
Not true. I'm middle class and my percentage of taxes is less than 15%. Rich people pay above 30%. That's why it's called a progressive tax system.
Unlikely. My county sales tax is about 5% of the fraction I spend retail, and my property tax alone is about 3% of my gross annual income. And the state got about 4% of my gross annual income. Not counting the feds, or excise or use taxes, I'm already approaching 10%.
Its possible to structure your lifestyle to match the current social engineering tax code, but even then, probably not as low as 15%.
On a big enough scale, its overall a regressive tax system. One of the larger components is vaguely progressive if you stick to wage (not cap gains) income, but that's just for PR reasons, to convince people the overall system is progressive.
Slashdot Mirror
Back in the days of proprietary applications that were displaced by (mostly) free web applications, you would be spending something like $20 or $50 for something like this.
More likely it would be downloaded for "free". But for $5 I would actually pay for it rather than download it. Its closer to what its worth.
"The app costs $4.99"
Hey wait a minute I thought currency was outdated by the PADDs were out?!
You have to pay in bitcoins.
Having examples to run in a browser is a nice perk though. You get to mess with a GUI without knowing much more than HTML.
In the 80s there was an absolute fixation on teaching kids control flow etc by making them write little animated graphics on apple2s and C64s using basic. We mostly turned out OK anyway. This is pretty much the 10s version of the same concept, kids like looking at things.
I was thinking more along the lines of newbies who are still learning the concept of sequential execution, the concept of breaking down a big problem into little tasks, the concept of a flowchart and what it represents, or even the general idea that variable assignment, control flow statements, and recursion exist. What is a picket fence mistake? That type of basic learning.
Data structures and algorithm design and big O notation is pretty far beyond really newbie stuff like "how can a computer be told to count to 10". Maybe next semester.
It could be argued that CS should follow the lead of math... you don't start math majors out with basic algebra, although there are remedial classes. JS would be great for a remedial class.
For utter newbs not going into CS, JS is a good choice, because any machine with a web browser is a dev box, but for actual CS students, a debian boot disk is probably more appropriate.
You should have heard the screams of pain in my cobol class many years ago. What, you mean a "dos" application? And the alternative is a AS/400 that doesn't even support telnet? Someone who suffered thru that kind of experience probably went to the other extreme in selecting JS.
JS isn't even all that bad of a language for newbies to learn the basic concepts.
I say, give the man custody over the rock for the duration of his life if it is his "lucky charm".
Legally safer to do the opposite, the state owns it and the state is legally forced to rent it to him until his death for $1.
Otherwise when he dies or goes bankrupt, the ownership gets kind of tricky. Also if he refuses to insure it, the state can take it back.
See, for example, how hackerspaces encourage people to maintain ownership while leasing machines to the hackerspace. That way if the hackerspace goes bankrupt, the equipment owners get their machines back (at least in theory)
It isn't like email storage requirements are a practical limitation
Talk like that is going to result in the lawyers requiring all emails to be hidef videos with 5.1 sound, no more plain text. Keep quiet lest a lawyer hear us, unless you look forward to supporting that kind of a monstrosity...
Those people who distract themselves with gadgets and get into accidents are probably the bad drivers who would have managed to get into accidents anyway.
... by being distracted by hottie on sidewalk, by being distracted by billboard advertising their favorite TV show, by being distracted by screaming at their kids in the back seat, by being distracted by the music on the radio...
The problem isn't the good drivers are being distracted, the problem is bad drivers who can be distracted by ANYTHING. Take away the gadgets, they'll find another way to create mayhem on the roads.
Also, a lot of people think that they _can_ safely use their phones while driving. They know that accidents happen when people do that, but they always happen to _other_ people, you know.
Naah, its more of a slippery slope thing. The media pounds it into your head that its terrifying and you'll kill people. You start with texting perfectly safely while using the car as an expensive chair, sitting in a parking lot, engine off and transmission in park. Once your heart rate is normal in that situation, you try texting with the engine running, but still in "Park". After that hurdle, you're texting at stop lights. Then you only need to enter one more word when the light turns green, so why not?
Next thing you know, you're going 80 MPH in dense fog weaving on the freeway while voting on american idol. After all, the media lied when they said it was dangerous to text in a car ... while its in "park" ... so they must be lying about texting while freeway driving, right?
Does this mean that the number of car accidents has increased by 25?
It means its more socially acceptable to tell people you were distracted by an incoming SMS message than you were scratching your itchy rear.
It means its more socially acceptable to tell people its a terrible shame that your boss requires you to carry and respond to a cellphone, than to say you were just plain ole spacing out or staring at a hottie on the sidewalk.
It means its more socially acceptable to tell people your cellphone ringtone startled you, than to admit you were driving sleepy and nodded off.
Remember when the media told people that anytime a toyota crashed, it was because the accelerator stuck? The result of the reports was, the reported stats indicated toyota crashes were caused by stuck accelerators, until about a week after the media stopped chasing that ambulance, and the reports dropped to their normal just about zero...
I am certain if the media stopped reporting that gadgets magically caused accidents because they are evil voodoo totems straight from the devil leading us on the path to hell, the REPORTED gadget-caused accident rate would drop to just about zero and we'd return to the real, true causes... "I was spacing out" "I drifted off to sleep" "I was screaming at my kids in the back seat"
I tried switching to Chrome again but, like the last time, the extensions weren't half as good. Even the ones developed by the same teams as FireFox! From what I understand it is the difference between the two browser extension APIs that is causing the problem. So, I'll stick with FireFox for now.
My web browser is adblock plus, flashblock, noscript, xmarks. Also firebug. They define my "internet experience". I currently use firefox as the backend, as long as the backend stays out of the way of adblock and noscript, and cooperates with xmarks, I'm pretty happy. If chrome makes a better backend for my addons, then I'll switch to chrome. Not till then. All I need is a working, configurable ad blocker, flash blocker, JS blocker, and bookmark syncer.
Essentially a copy of Debian development:
Stable
Testing
Unstable
Experimental
Someone should make an ISO standard for naming, or a design pattern for standardized naming, or similar.
Mozilla hasn't suddenly started to number their versions geometrically, although that would be hilarious.
Try it and chrome will one up them by releasing Chrome .... google...
Should I quit this IT stuff and do stand-up comedy?
And if you think even not that further out, there may be a future where nobody buys a "TV" anymore
Actually, right now, nobody can buy a "Monitor" anymore. Only 1080 and 720 "widescreen" TV panels are being manufactured. Some are marketed into computer monitors.
Don't believe me? Try to buy a 4:3 "monitor" like a 1600x1200. I've used 1600x1200 monitors since the 90s, from analog VGA CRT to my current LCD with DVI. All were bought off the shelf at local retailers like compusa and best buy. When it needs replacement, I don't think there are any retail available monitors above 1080 vertical pixels... Also there are no "small" monitors they're all giants like 25 inches with very large visible pixels. I will be forced to downgrade. Which sucks.
Problem: This is a protest. The government probably isn't going to approve, and that long pipe is just a very easy target. A man with an axe, or even a deniable 'accident' with a truck to lessen the diplomatic fallout, and the coolant supply is gone.
Bucket brigade... its only "two blocks". Where I live that means either about 100 feet or about 2000 feet. Either way, they seem to have enough people. It would only take at most a thousand people to pass buckets.
The obvious solution, is to move the protest where its cool. If the square is symbolic, you only need enough people in it to be symbolic, and put the masses along the cool riverbank? If they're trying to get international press, when I hear Egypt I think the pyramids (hard to keep cool) and the nile, where its easier to keep cool. Some square I've never heard of before the protests? Naah.
Schengen's not particularly relevant - that's about whether the countries are friendly enough with each other to demand passports when people travel between them. Iceland's not part of the Euro Zone, and is a candidate for membership in the EU but hasn't yet been admitted (and since it just lost a lot of economic stability, that may take a while). It is a part of the European Economic Area, so it gets to do relatively free trade with Europe.
True but I thought Schengen and EEA was a very large fraction of the way to EU... For all intents and purposes they're part of the EU other than some signatures?
Kind of like those guys that insist Texas is technically a separate country and not a state of the US because of some ancient irregularity in the statehood process a long time ago, which may even be technically and historically true, but frankly doesn't matter, for all intents and purposes its a US state. Does that comparison alter your opinion?
we'll probably waste money with means testing.
That is NOT waste but growing a new constituency of middle class means testing jobs. This is mostly a board of hard core science diploma holders or equivalent. Where do you think most of the French Lit or Modern Art diploma holders end up? Not McD's that's all illegal aliens where I live, unless you're an illegal with a Russian History degree thats off limits. Not on the streets. Maybe 1 in 1000 become famous or professors or famous professors. The remainder work up at the state office building and the fed building downtown etc as mid level whatevers.
why they always assume the optimal point is with LESS taxes, and no with more?
Back when Laffer was new, as a species we had a century of experience with increasing taxes, never decreasing. Or at least the ratio must have approached 1000 to 1.
Less taxes was radical, something new is bound to have "some" reaction, good or bad. More taxes was ultraconservative, been doing that since my great great great grandfather's era.
Its hard for young people born after that era to understand taxes had more or less never been lowered in human history other than as part of invasion or revolution.
Given centuries of experience, vs "Regan tried it for a decade in the 80s" I'm still not certain we have enough data.
During a revolution you never know what to expect in the end. Look at France, look at Iran.
Bad examples. Iran especially bad example. Assuming you're talking about the 1970s revolution and not alexander the great era. Even France during the revolution, fundamentally, didn't really change much other than killing a bunch of pigs at the top, some pigs had royal blood, some pigs did not, but it didn't really matter all that much, other than as an oddity that the royals got a rare and sound smashing.
As for the tea party types, come on, think about it. Look at who they hang out with, to see who they like. I feel extremely confident taking the completely wild guess that a fundamentalist christian theocracy is a somewhat more likely outcome, than say a Buddhist monarchy or Sharia law.
Thru current media and govt propaganda, with the assistance of the media, I'm not even sure formalizing the christian theocracy would really change all that much. We already have an informal christian theocratic / fascistic state. For example, instead of politicians being required by the media to be Christian, they would in addition have some redundant law requiring it. Would it really change anything for 99% of the population? Probably not. Back to American Idol, now wearing slightly less skimpy outfits. Who cares.
Right now the FBI does it, but assume the FBI somehow cannot pay their agents or set their budget, what happens then?
Local cops and county sheriffs? Not thinking one of numerous "safety nets" disappearing will automatically result in complete systemic collapse. Also not saying nothing bad at all will happen. But somehow I'm not seeing the local cops going "Oh you're in a militia? Oh OK you can fire that AK down the street then. I thought for a second you were a gang member. But its all good. Carry on, citizen..."
Considering how in bed the GOP is with Wall Street, I'm surprised that they're even willing to contemplate not paying our bills.
Its both sides, not the GOP. Check Obama's campaign donor record. The govt and the corps have merged, thats the definition of fascism, which is our system.
The reason wall street likes the idea, is wall street makes money of stock trading commissions.
Not increasing the limit doesn't mean we stop paying on previously issued debt, it means we stop issuing new debt. An investor with an extra $1B isn't going to sti on it, they're going to put it somewhere... How about that nice stock exchange?
What it really means, is wall street expects stock prices to implode soon, they need more buyers to push the price up or at least hold it steady. Perhaps their purchased lackeys in the govt could stop competing with them by selling govt bonds, thus resulting in at least some more stock purchases resulting in higher prices?
Or they expect HFT and retail investment volume to collapse, and since they mostly make money on commissions, they need a way to churn transaction volume, perhaps by getting their purchased lackeys in the govt to stop selling their govt bond product, they gotta invest their dough somewhere, how bout that NYSE?
Or there is some kind of inflation play going on here, but I'm not sure exactly what.
You know those old people who complain about a commie plot where technological is just a smokescreen to get them to buy "the white album" for the 20th different media format?
The first thing that comes to mind when I hear about "3D" or "smell-o-vision" or whatever other useless frippery of the week, is "I'm gonna have to download Star Wars ... again?"
I mean really, the scene in the Death Star's garbage compactor or the Bar Scene on Tattoine isn't really going to be any better, its just... again.
But make no mistake: there are real, serious, and immediate consequences of not raising the limit, and those consequences will rain down upon everyone.
Why are we better off defaulting later, than sooner? Is there any reason not to get it over with and be done with it?
1) Every year for decades, since the 70s, the middle class has gotten poorer, and there is no reason to think this trend will reverse anytime soon. No matter how awful it will be, it will be easier on richer people. Therefore defaulting now will cause less pain than defaulting in a decade. Unless your goal is to increase suffering, you should want to get it over with today.
2) The sooner its over... the sooner its over. Recessions / Depressions linger until the malinvestment is flushed out of the system. Lets get this train back on the tracks and default today so tomorrow we can begin to live again. It would be nice to see a healthy economy again, someday.
3) No one lives forever. In 20 years, I'd rather have 19 years of growth behind me if we default today, rather than dragging the default out a decade thus only having 10 years of growth behind me. I'm still gonna be 20 years older, I'll just be 9 years richer, more or less, if we default today.
4) Kicking the can down the road is expensive. What do we, as a country, really gain by making interest payments for an extra month / year / decade? The only thing worse than throwing money away, is throwing good money after bad. Flush it, and get on with life.
The only people who dont seem to understand this are the tea-baggers, but I don't find that particularly surprising, since their total understanding of economics is, "Taxes Bad."
WTF have tea-baggers got to do with economics or politics? Is it really true the USA now has a political movement devoted to tea-bagging?
Yes the politicians are the "catchers" and the big corporations are the "pitchers". Note we live in a cultural structure called fascism where the corps and govt have merged, so its kind of ambiguous as to who is who, but if they're "catching" in the media, then they're the politicians and if they're not discussed in the media except by the loyal opposition, they're probably the "pitchers".
Not true. I'm middle class and my percentage of taxes is less than 15%. Rich people pay above 30%. That's why it's called a progressive tax system.
Unlikely. My county sales tax is about 5% of the fraction I spend retail, and my property tax alone is about 3% of my gross annual income. And the state got about 4% of my gross annual income. Not counting the feds, or excise or use taxes, I'm already approaching 10%.
Its possible to structure your lifestyle to match the current social engineering tax code, but even then, probably not as low as 15%.
On a big enough scale, its overall a regressive tax system. One of the larger components is vaguely progressive if you stick to wage (not cap gains) income, but that's just for PR reasons, to convince people the overall system is progressive.