We DO have very low cost consumer goods. Most of it's crap and breaks in a few years, but it is certainly cheaper than ever. Clothes are basically free, electronics are super cheap. Appliances and furniture are pretty cheap.
The only things going up signficantly in cost are:
housing - driven by government regulation, artificially low interest rates, and a large labour component in construction
automobiles - seemingly driven by government regulation, but also by artificially low interest rates that have allowed feature-itis. Automation is widely used and you would think there would be low cost cars around as a result, but instead we get expensive tanks with 8 year loans.
health care - huge labour costs, resistance to automation. In my country it's all unionized government labour too, which means the cost growth is practically unconstrained. In the US, cost growth is driven by monopoly practices that would be illegal in other industries and cost-shifting to third parties
education - all labour costs. Also artificially low interest rates and government regulation of student loans has made large amounts of money available to people who shouldn't qualify to borrow anything. That in turn has enabled schools to siphon off all that borrowed money. Universities and bankers get rich, students get lifetime debt servitude, what's not to like.
energy - well, we're running low on cheap fossil fuels. Not much to be done about that. It's tough to improve on "stick a pipe in the ground and free energy flows out".
Basically, any industry with a large labour component, or which experiences heavy regulation, or worse, both, has become increasingly expensive relative to how cheap everything else is becoming. Financialization and the suppression of interest rates have enabled that growth.
Labour gets more expensive as taxes get higher, and taxes get higher as more people lose their jobs or move into much lower paid work where their health care or transportation costs are subsidized by those still working higher paid jobs.
The many tribes fought each other and undoubtedly stole territory from each other and many since-exterminated tribes numerous times. It's not like a tribe settled somewhere 12,000 years ago or whatever and had lived there peaceably until Europeans showed up.
Refined sugar is a poison. It is not necessary for biological function, as it does not exist naturally.
I remember hearing about an experiment done quite a long time ago where some dogs were fed only water, some dogs fed only sugar water, and the dogs fed sugar water actually died faster than the dogs that only got water (hearsay, may not be accurate, I don't have a link, and I certainly don't condone starving animals to death).
Fats, on the other hand, are fine. Sugar and processed carbs cause obesity, not animal fats.
Hey, I totally agree. I just think speed limits are mostly bullshit. There's no such thing as "normal" road conditions, so the limit is just what some random bureacrat thinks is a good idea, regardless of whether they've ever driven a particular stretch of road or not.
He'll be screwing up some other agency before the cost details get exposed. Maybe he'll have learned what the cloud actually is at some point, though. Doubtful. But maybe.
Safe is relative. What's perfectly safe on a sunny Sunday morning with no traffic is much less safe at 10 pm in a snow storm. I'll give you 1 guess when you're more likely to run into a speed trap, too.
Ontario is just retarded. Half the province has endless highways with a 90km speed limit. Zealously enforced by the OPP, who apparently have nothing better to do. I so do not miss driving in Ontario.
You say that as if it was a bad thing. How does it affect you negatively?
Because I have to pay taxes to support them? Not only directly to them, but for all the other social services that they feel entitled to despite not paying their share of taxes to support them, especially (in my country anyway) health care.
That increases the cost of my labour, and that of the other people still willing to work, making us less competitive internationally. Which causes more jobs to be outsourced or just vanish due to being economically unproductive.
Well, the anti-capitalists seem to believe that a centrally planned economy will create a socialist utopia where no one will have to work and everyone will be better off.
Like all such proposals, it makes sense only until you realize that the people enforcing these rules will be government bureaucrats ruled by politicians, aka human beings, who will selectively enforce, abuse, bend and break the rules whenever they feel like it for personal gain, financial gain, political gain or just because they screw up.
The police lie. News at 11. When pressed in hearings, as I recall, they couldn't come up with even a couple of examples where the registry actually helped them solve a crime.
Criminals do the same things all over African and even Eastern Europe. I don't see us invading them. Screw Iraq, we have no business fighting in the middle east unless they attack us.
Of course, Obama then gave a cabinet post to Geitner, who was in charge of the NY Fed before and during the collapse. ie. the guy who was supposed to be regulating wall street.
Yep. Even if you have all the right paperwork and do nothing wrong, the officials working the border will sometimes just decide to make your life hell. They can arbitrarily refuse you entry, interrogate you for hours, and basically do whatever they want. And it's totally random.
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Yeah, or any native reserve or inner city. People don't do well on welfare.
We DO have very low cost consumer goods. Most of it's crap and breaks in a few years, but it is certainly cheaper than ever. Clothes are basically free, electronics are super cheap. Appliances and furniture are pretty cheap.
The only things going up signficantly in cost are:
housing - driven by government regulation, artificially low interest rates, and a large labour component in construction
automobiles - seemingly driven by government regulation, but also by artificially low interest rates that have allowed feature-itis. Automation is widely used and you would think there would be low cost cars around as a result, but instead we get expensive tanks with 8 year loans.
health care - huge labour costs, resistance to automation. In my country it's all unionized government labour too, which means the cost growth is practically unconstrained. In the US, cost growth is driven by monopoly practices that would be illegal in other industries and cost-shifting to third parties
education - all labour costs. Also artificially low interest rates and government regulation of student loans has made large amounts of money available to people who shouldn't qualify to borrow anything. That in turn has enabled schools to siphon off all that borrowed money. Universities and bankers get rich, students get lifetime debt servitude, what's not to like.
energy - well, we're running low on cheap fossil fuels. Not much to be done about that. It's tough to improve on "stick a pipe in the ground and free energy flows out".
Basically, any industry with a large labour component, or which experiences heavy regulation, or worse, both, has become increasingly expensive relative to how cheap everything else is becoming. Financialization and the suppression of interest rates have enabled that growth.
Labour gets more expensive as taxes get higher, and taxes get higher as more people lose their jobs or move into much lower paid work where their health care or transportation costs are subsidized by those still working higher paid jobs.
The many tribes fought each other and undoubtedly stole territory from each other and many since-exterminated tribes numerous times. It's not like a tribe settled somewhere 12,000 years ago or whatever and had lived there peaceably until Europeans showed up.
Refined sugar is a poison. It is not necessary for biological function, as it does not exist naturally.
I remember hearing about an experiment done quite a long time ago where some dogs were fed only water, some dogs fed only sugar water, and the dogs fed sugar water actually died faster than the dogs that only got water (hearsay, may not be accurate, I don't have a link, and I certainly don't condone starving animals to death).
Fats, on the other hand, are fine. Sugar and processed carbs cause obesity, not animal fats.
Hey, I totally agree. I just think speed limits are mostly bullshit. There's no such thing as "normal" road conditions, so the limit is just what some random bureacrat thinks is a good idea, regardless of whether they've ever driven a particular stretch of road or not.
He'll be screwing up some other agency before the cost details get exposed. Maybe he'll have learned what the cloud actually is at some point, though. Doubtful. But maybe.
cool :)
Safe is relative. What's perfectly safe on a sunny Sunday morning with no traffic is much less safe at 10 pm in a snow storm. I'll give you 1 guess when you're more likely to run into a speed trap, too.
Ontario is just retarded. Half the province has endless highways with a 90km speed limit. Zealously enforced by the OPP, who apparently have nothing better to do. I so do not miss driving in Ontario.
You say that as if it was a bad thing. How does it affect you negatively?
Because I have to pay taxes to support them? Not only directly to them, but for all the other social services that they feel entitled to despite not paying their share of taxes to support them, especially (in my country anyway) health care.
That increases the cost of my labour, and that of the other people still willing to work, making us less competitive internationally. Which causes more jobs to be outsourced or just vanish due to being economically unproductive.
Canada had conscription .. briefly, during WW1 and again during WW2. Not since.
Name one? Bonus points if the maker's business model doesn't revolve around selling your personal habits and data for profit.
Well, the anti-capitalists seem to believe that a centrally planned economy will create a socialist utopia where no one will have to work and everyone will be better off.
It's worked out so well in the past, after all.
Half the country collects money from .gov every month. Lots of mod points to go around in that group.
New wars in Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia. So far. Oh, and Iraq 3.
Yeah fuck that. I can host my own mail just fine, thanks. Google owns enough of the world.
Like all such proposals, it makes sense only until you realize that the people enforcing these rules will be government bureaucrats ruled by politicians, aka human beings, who will selectively enforce, abuse, bend and break the rules whenever they feel like it for personal gain, financial gain, political gain or just because they screw up.
The police lie. News at 11. When pressed in hearings, as I recall, they couldn't come up with even a couple of examples where the registry actually helped them solve a crime.
Hey, I'm talking about Canada. We export oil. We have no interests in the middle east to protect.
Criminals do the same things all over African and even Eastern Europe. I don't see us invading them. Screw Iraq, we have no business fighting in the middle east unless they attack us.
The long gun registry was solely a tool for future disarmament attempts. It had no use in criminal investigations.
Sure you can. You just can't do it with a sourceless binary.
Of course, Obama then gave a cabinet post to Geitner, who was in charge of the NY Fed before and during the collapse. ie. the guy who was supposed to be regulating wall street.
More like the Hugo Chavez foundation. I suppose you think someone should just give these poor folk a car?
Maybe you should lend them your money at more generous terms?
Yep. Even if you have all the right paperwork and do nothing wrong, the officials working the border will sometimes just decide to make your life hell. They can arbitrarily refuse you entry, interrogate you for hours, and basically do whatever they want. And it's totally random.