Instead, let's challenge China to create the most carbon efficient economy on the planet. That way even the looser wins. Wasting precious time on another space race, while the Earth warms at an exponential rate will only produced losers, no matter who "wins" the space race.
You are definitely framing the perspective correctly. However, H1B visas are only a symptom of the larger problem, the ideology and politics of trickle down economics.
One can see the hand of corporations in the new Transpacific Trade agreement, which locks in Malaysia's use of slave labor and America's and China's use of prison and parolee labor as acceptable parts of the agreement. No wonder Obama and virtually the entire GOP are working together to keep the whole things secret until after it passes. It isn't just software development but microcircuit manufacturing as well.
The offshoring of high tech skills in computer related sciences will soon turn into a flood as more and more state universities loosing funding to instead support building and staffing more prisons and more draconian law enforcement necessary to maintain the status quo, more tax deductions for the 1%, and more special tax breaks for corporations, all further driving up the cost of education and sending the best faculty overseas and increasing the costs of tuition. Improvements in world-wide networks will only facilitate this trend.
This shift in investment is creating foreign universities that are increasingly more and more competitive with US universities and as things are going now we can soon expect the most advanced research, such as that in particle physics, stem cell research, high speed train and subway technology, and robotics, to be dominated by non-US based enterprises. Its largely a function of ideology on tax policy, which says lets pay as little taxes as possible (especially for the 1%), and consequently invest as little as possible in education and leading edge research (and many other things as well, evidently except military spending, fossil fuel production, and good old fashioned special interest).
Ironically, the solution proposed recently by Saunders, would largely solve this problem by providing free college education by imposing a Wall Street transaction tax that would directly fund education of all kinds, thereby allowing the best and most creative to develop their talents. American exceptionalism notwithstanding, the reality is that human minds and talents aren't so different among countries (the differences lie predominantly in the consequences of geography and cultural history). Consequently, progress in education and technology is predominantly a function of the laws of large numbers and there are simply many more foreigners than there are Americans.
Of course commerce has been global since the late 19th century so large corporations can take advantage of local differences in talent and wages so no one should expect programs like H1B visas and other forms of special interest legislation not to emerge. The fact that they thrive is ultimately a function of lowered US investment in education and research of all kinds and sadly, a modern GOP and a significant fraction of the Democratic Party that have bought into the politics surrounding the ideology that lower taxes for corporations and the wealthy will trickle down to to improve the lot of the rest. Although it may well be true in some cases, the amount of its success is far way too small to overcome the advantage to other nations that invest more in education and research for the broadest possible segments of their populations.
It used to be that at one time, republicans believed in the importance of science to inform them and make for a better world and ensure America's preeminence in the world. Now, republicans hate science as it is the bearer of bad news, namely that republicans are bad for the environment, the long term technological security of the country, and for social progress.
It used to be that the accused were entitled to stand before their accusers to rebut their accusations. In modern republican America this right is being taken away because republicans find it politically convenient.
Sadly, it looks as if this trend will continue until global warming gets so bad that no one will be able to live in Victoria, Texas and consequently, won't be able to vote for Louis Gohmert, who seems intent on killing the messenger of the bad news rather than addressing the problem.
Thank goodness the republicans have cut funding for projects like these out of the new NSF geosciences budget.
The last thing we need to do is learn about the risk associated with living on our planet. No doubt it will be far better if the residents of Wyoming, Montana, Idaho and points east never worry about science and certainly a lot cheaper just to refer to such potential catastrophe as the "rapture". After all, who needs scientists when we have Michelle Bachmann?
Obviously, it depends upon whose children you are talking about. The ones getting infected or the ones doing the infecting. The reality is that quarantines have long been upheld in the courts and in the area of public health as an effective means of controlling communicable disease. If people don't want their kids quarantined, they can always move to a Red State like Texas, where your kid will soon even be able to bring a handgun to class and clearly, where communicable disease will be the least of their worries.
If a person has a religious objection to having their kids vaccinated, they can simply move to another state. As Ronald Reagan said, people should be able to vote with the feet. Besides, they will probably feel more comfortable going back in time to a Red State, where vaccinations are less and less common, except for the wealthy.
This bill will impinge on no one's freedom, since anyone who objects is free to move to a Red State where giving other people communicable diseases is perfectly OK and a perfectly legitimate thing to do.
You don't understand. The photo that was placed on the screen clearly indicates this kid could grow up to be a Democrat. It is essential the felony charges stick so that this kids voting rights will be permanently eliminated.
You don't understand. The photo that was placed on the screen clearly indicates this kid could grow up to be a Democrat. It is essential the felony charges stick so that this kids voting rights will be permanently eliminated.
Don't worry, with a 6 ft sea level rise expected within 50-75 years much of Miami and the coastal cities in Florida will be inundated, so this problem will largely take care of itself. The irony is that all those mansions in Palm Beach will be among the first to go.
You do't understand. The pick this kid posted suggested to them that he might grow up a Democrat. Soon he will be a felon and unable to vote. This is just one more aspect of many police state laws being put in place by the modern GOP and the shadow plutocrats that control it to make sure their grip on the public is complete.
One doen't know whether to laugh or feel sorry for at all the right wing conspirator wackjobs, who are so busy protesting against the evils of "liberalism" and "socialism", that they haven't even noticed the plutocrats have inserted a rubber glove so far up their backsides that when the time comes all the plutocrats will have to do is to reach in and yank their hearts out.
Yes, except of course for the 99% of humanity that can't afford to buy any shares. One can't presume that somehow they will sit idly by, while corporations ask them to go extinct.
Better yet, establish the same rate on capital gains as salaried income worldwide and tax all stock transactions at 1% per share without exception. Admittedly, it might require some ancillary laws that make it legal to burn at the stake, politicians, donors, and judges who think political kick-backs in return for tax breaks are acceptable, but perhaps a little alteration of current tax laws would do much to solve many of humanity's problems. With accelerating global warming that will make Earth uninhabitable for humans within 200 years, we don't have a lot of time to find solutions to come up with the money to address the problem, so some creativity will clearly be needed.
Why should Mitt Romney and his ilk only have to pay a 13% tax rate on his income, often for selling "good-will", while the vast majority of Americans pay 28%?
"Those invitations are akin to subpoenas, so yes they were forced to appear and answer questions."
Yes, and its about time. With global warming soon to make planet Earth uninhabitable for humans in as little as 200 years, massive amounts of money will be needed to radically change the infrastructure associated with energy production and delivery and transportation and manufacturing. Since only a tiny fraction of the world's population really has any money, humanity will be forced to get it from the tiny fraction of the world's population who do have money.
The question is will the ultra-wealthy be a willing part of the process to save Earth for humans or will it ultimately be necessary to take it from them by any means necessary? I would suggest that at the present rate of warming, there is perhaps only a 10-35 year window in which the tiny fraction of the population that has all the wealth will get decide whether they will cooperate or conditions will determine their fate, after that it will be everyone for themselves. One thing is for sure, as the crunch to survive becomes far more brutal than it is now, those with the money are going to have an even more difficult time trying to find a place to hide it or even hide themselves. Unless the ultra-wealthy are prepared to nuke entire populations, there simply won't be enough soldiers for hire to save themselves and as we all now know, the enemy of your enemy is not always your friend.
In the meantime, the rest of us can try to figure out what side we will likely be on. Of course, soon if we have not already made our choice, it will be made for us. The impact of global climate change in an 8+deg C world will pretty much dictate the limited choices the humans that remain will have.
"Though why anyone thinks the world will be a better place if governments have yet more billions of dollars to waste is beyond me."
The answer is obvious: so governments can waste their money on little, average guys like me and you, instead of always wasting it on a few already incredible rich people, who get every break they desire by corrupting governance by making it fundamentally unfair.
"Though why anyone thinks the world will be a better place if governments have yet more billions of dollars to waste is beyond me."
Of course, we shouldn't let governments have extra money to feed the poor, educate citizenry, provide health care, protect the environment, make streets safer, or let the citizenry vote to decide how to spend it, for after all, we should simply let corporations establish tax policy through an army of lawyers armed with political kickbacks so that the already ultra wealthy can get tax breaks denied to everyone else, so they can waste it instead.
No point worrying too much about Saudi Arabia as its about to become progressive. With global warming continuing at its current pace, the entire Arabian subcontinent will be completely unlivable in 50-100 years. The social changes there will be massive as the unstoppable momentum of global warming will dictate it soon enough.
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Instead, let's challenge China to create the most carbon efficient economy on the planet. That way even the looser wins. Wasting precious time on another space race, while the Earth warms at an exponential rate will only produced losers, no matter who "wins" the space race.
You are definitely framing the perspective correctly. However, H1B visas are only a symptom of the larger problem, the ideology and politics of trickle down economics.
One can see the hand of corporations in the new Transpacific Trade agreement, which locks in Malaysia's use of slave labor and America's and China's use of prison and parolee labor as acceptable parts of the agreement. No wonder Obama and virtually the entire GOP are working together to keep the whole things secret until after it passes. It isn't just software development but microcircuit manufacturing as well.
What developments? The emails are a SNOOZE. They show nothing other than the mundane.
The offshoring of high tech skills in computer related sciences will soon turn into a flood as more and more state universities loosing funding to instead support building and staffing more prisons and more draconian law enforcement necessary to maintain the status quo, more tax deductions for the 1%, and more special tax breaks for corporations, all further driving up the cost of education and sending the best faculty overseas and increasing the costs of tuition. Improvements in world-wide networks will only facilitate this trend.
This shift in investment is creating foreign universities that are increasingly more and more competitive with US universities and as things are going now we can soon expect the most advanced research, such as that in particle physics, stem cell research, high speed train and subway technology, and robotics, to be dominated by non-US based enterprises. Its largely a function of ideology on tax policy, which says lets pay as little taxes as possible (especially for the 1%), and consequently invest as little as possible in education and leading edge research (and many other things as well, evidently except military spending, fossil fuel production, and good old fashioned special interest).
Ironically, the solution proposed recently by Saunders, would largely solve this problem by providing free college education by imposing a Wall Street transaction tax that would directly fund education of all kinds, thereby allowing the best and most creative to develop their talents. American exceptionalism notwithstanding, the reality is that human minds and talents aren't so different among countries (the differences lie predominantly in the consequences of geography and cultural history). Consequently, progress in education and technology is predominantly a function of the laws of large numbers and there are simply many more foreigners than there are Americans.
Of course commerce has been global since the late 19th century so large corporations can take advantage of local differences in talent and wages so no one should expect programs like H1B visas and other forms of special interest legislation not to emerge. The fact that they thrive is ultimately a function of lowered US investment in education and research of all kinds and sadly, a modern GOP and a significant fraction of the Democratic Party that have bought into the politics surrounding the ideology that lower taxes for corporations and the wealthy will trickle down to to improve the lot of the rest. Although it may well be true in some cases, the amount of its success is far way too small to overcome the advantage to other nations that invest more in education and research for the broadest possible segments of their populations.
If the world isn't getting any hotter and carbon dioxide has no effect on climate, why is all the ice melting?
It used to be that at one time, republicans believed in the importance of science to inform them and make for a better world and ensure America's preeminence in the world. Now, republicans hate science as it is the bearer of bad news, namely that republicans are bad for the environment, the long term technological security of the country, and for social progress.
It used to be that the accused were entitled to stand before their accusers to rebut their accusations. In modern republican America this right is being taken away because republicans find it politically convenient.
Sadly, it looks as if this trend will continue until global warming gets so bad that no one will be able to live in Victoria, Texas and consequently, won't be able to vote for Louis Gohmert, who seems intent on killing the messenger of the bad news rather than addressing the problem.
Exactly. Who needs volcanology when we already have Pat Robertson to warn us.
Thank goodness the republicans have cut funding for projects like these out of the new NSF geosciences budget.
The last thing we need to do is learn about the risk associated with living on our planet. No doubt it will be far better if the residents of Wyoming, Montana, Idaho and points east never worry about science and certainly a lot cheaper just to refer to such potential catastrophe as the "rapture". After all, who needs scientists when we have Michelle Bachmann?
Obviously, it depends upon whose children you are talking about. The ones getting infected or the ones doing the infecting. The reality is that quarantines have long been upheld in the courts and in the area of public health as an effective means of controlling communicable disease. If people don't want their kids quarantined, they can always move to a Red State like Texas, where your kid will soon even be able to bring a handgun to class and clearly, where communicable disease will be the least of their worries.
If a person has a religious objection to having their kids vaccinated, they can simply move to another state. As Ronald Reagan said, people should be able to vote with the feet. Besides, they will probably feel more comfortable going back in time to a Red State, where vaccinations are less and less common, except for the wealthy.
This bill will impinge on no one's freedom, since anyone who objects is free to move to a Red State where giving other people communicable diseases is perfectly OK and a perfectly legitimate thing to do.
Now determined hackers will literally spill your guts to get what they want.
Evidently, this is akin to the SCOTUS definition of obscenity. I can't tell what I want, but I'll know it when I see it.
You don't understand. The photo that was placed on the screen clearly indicates this kid could grow up to be a Democrat. It is essential the felony charges stick so that this kids voting rights will be permanently eliminated.
You don't understand. The photo that was placed on the screen clearly indicates this kid could grow up to be a Democrat. It is essential the felony charges stick so that this kids voting rights will be permanently eliminated.
Don't worry, with a 6 ft sea level rise expected within 50-75 years much of Miami and the coastal cities in Florida will be inundated, so this problem will largely take care of itself. The irony is that all those mansions in Palm Beach will be among the first to go.
Yes, but with compassionate conservatism we can expect prisons to soon open up "job centers", where the prisoners can work for free.
You do't understand. The pick this kid posted suggested to them that he might grow up a Democrat. Soon he will be a felon and unable to vote. This is just one more aspect of many police state laws being put in place by the modern GOP and the shadow plutocrats that control it to make sure their grip on the public is complete.
One doen't know whether to laugh or feel sorry for at all the right wing conspirator wackjobs, who are so busy protesting against the evils of "liberalism" and "socialism", that they haven't even noticed the plutocrats have inserted a rubber glove so far up their backsides that when the time comes all the plutocrats will have to do is to reach in and yank their hearts out.
80%.
Yes, except of course for the 99% of humanity that can't afford to buy any shares. One can't presume that somehow they will sit idly by, while corporations ask them to go extinct.
Better yet, establish the same rate on capital gains as salaried income worldwide and tax all stock transactions at 1% per share without exception. Admittedly, it might require some ancillary laws that make it legal to burn at the stake, politicians, donors, and judges who think political kick-backs in return for tax breaks are acceptable, but perhaps a little alteration of current tax laws would do much to solve many of humanity's problems. With accelerating global warming that will make Earth uninhabitable for humans within 200 years, we don't have a lot of time to find solutions to come up with the money to address the problem, so some creativity will clearly be needed.
Why should Mitt Romney and his ilk only have to pay a 13% tax rate on his income, often for selling "good-will", while the vast majority of Americans pay 28%?
"Those invitations are akin to subpoenas, so yes they were forced to appear and answer questions."
Yes, and its about time. With global warming soon to make planet Earth uninhabitable for humans in as little as 200 years, massive amounts of money will be needed to radically change the infrastructure associated with energy production and delivery and transportation and manufacturing. Since only a tiny fraction of the world's population really has any money, humanity will be forced to get it from the tiny fraction of the world's population who do have money.
The question is will the ultra-wealthy be a willing part of the process to save Earth for humans or will it ultimately be necessary to take it from them by any means necessary? I would suggest that at the present rate of warming, there is perhaps only a 10-35 year window in which the tiny fraction of the population that has all the wealth will get decide whether they will cooperate or conditions will determine their fate, after that it will be everyone for themselves. One thing is for sure, as the crunch to survive becomes far more brutal than it is now, those with the money are going to have an even more difficult time trying to find a place to hide it or even hide themselves. Unless the ultra-wealthy are prepared to nuke entire populations, there simply won't be enough soldiers for hire to save themselves and as we all now know, the enemy of your enemy is not always your friend.
In the meantime, the rest of us can try to figure out what side we will likely be on. Of course, soon if we have not already made our choice, it will be made for us. The impact of global climate change in an 8+deg C world will pretty much dictate the limited choices the humans that remain will have.
"Though why anyone thinks the world will be a better place if governments have yet more billions of dollars to waste is beyond me."
The answer is obvious: so governments can waste their money on little, average guys like me and you, instead of always wasting it on a few already incredible rich people, who get every break they desire by corrupting governance by making it fundamentally unfair.
You aren't really that stupid are you?
"Though why anyone thinks the world will be a better place if governments have yet more billions of dollars to waste is beyond me."
Of course, we shouldn't let governments have extra money to feed the poor, educate citizenry, provide health care, protect the environment, make streets safer, or let the citizenry vote to decide how to spend it, for after all, we should simply let corporations establish tax policy through an army of lawyers armed with political kickbacks so that the already ultra wealthy can get tax breaks denied to everyone else, so they can waste it instead.
At least Carly Fiorina has made it clear she's no hypocrite by throwing her hat into the ring for the presidency, of Algeria.
No point worrying too much about Saudi Arabia as its about to become progressive. With global warming continuing at its current pace, the entire Arabian subcontinent will be completely unlivable in 50-100 years. The social changes there will be massive as the unstoppable momentum of global warming will dictate it soon enough.