Nihil's News Thread (Keeping you informed when you are not)
+3
Dray The Fingerless
Aureus
Nihil
7 posters
Jedi vs Sith :: General :: Rancor Pit
Page 2 of 3
Page 2 of 3 • 1, 2, 3
Re: Nihil's News Thread (Keeping you informed when you are not)
Shocking Alabama Television ad, running a Republican against a... Republican
BRADELY BYRNeS!
In OTHER news...
BRADELY BYRNeS!
In OTHER news...
Nihil- Join date : 2009-10-23
+Light/-Dark : -912
Posts : 4431
Experience Points : 12469
Location : Arkansas
Comments : https://www.facebook.com/mattbcarr
Re: Nihil's News Thread (Keeping you informed when you are not)
still waiting for John McCain and Sarah Palin to come say "Aww Shucks... maybe that wasn't a great idea after all" Chances of it happening, 0.01%
Nihil- Join date : 2009-10-23
+Light/-Dark : -912
Posts : 4431
Experience Points : 12469
Location : Arkansas
Comments : https://www.facebook.com/mattbcarr
Re: Nihil's News Thread (Keeping you informed when you are not)
By Paul Krugman
May 15, 2010, 11:17 AM
MisIMFormation?
The IMF has a new report (pdf) on fiscal troubles ahead; it’s characteristically full of useful information. But the way it’s written, it’s actually quite hard to figure out what’s going on — and when you do decipher it, the story is quite different from the impression most people will get.
You see, what the report says is that there has been a fundamental deterioration in the fiscal outlook for advanced countries. Not only are they running up a lot of debt in the crisis, but — and much more important — they will emerge from the crisis with large structural deficits that weren’t there before. So spending cuts and tax increases loom.
But here’s the question: where are those structural deficits coming from? It’s not interest on the debt: the IMF shows a large increase in primary (non-interest) structural deficits. So is it permanent increases in spending? No: the report shows that discretionary spending increases are a minor cause of rising deficits even in the crisis, and these increases will be reversed as stimulus winds down.
It takes careful reading to discover what’s really going on:
The persistence of deficits reflects permanent revenue losses, primarily from a steep decline in potential GDP during the crisis, but also due to the impact of lower asset prices and financial sector profits.
Aha. Most people who look at the IMF report will, I suspect, read it as telling a tale of government profligacy getting us into a hole. But what the report actually says is quite different: it says that the financial crisis has made us permanently poorer, which among other things reduces revenue, and governments have to tighten their belts to make up for that loss.
The first thing we might ask is, do we really believe that a financial crisis permanently depresses the trend line of economic growth? Yes, I know that the IMF has statistical analyses that seem to say that; but it’s not clear what the mechanism is, it’s not what standard growth models would say, so we might at least wonder how sure a thing it is.
Second, if financial crises really do that much harm, isn’t the real message of this report that we should respond to these crises with a maximum effort to prevent damage to the economy? In particular, if having the economy depressed for a number of years reduces future potential output and hence revenue, isn’t this an argument for more aggressive — not less aggressive — fiscal policy?
In fact, I’m pretty sure that if you take the IMF’s model of the effect of slumps on potential output seriously, it actually implies that increasing government spending in a slump more or less pays for itself: it leads to higher output not just in the short run but in the long run, and therefore leads to higher revenue that very likely more than offsets the original expense. I’m not saying that this is necessarily the truth, but it is an implication of the long-run pessimism that underlies this IMF report.
Anyway, back to the report and how it reads: my guess is that most readers won’t get, at all, the real story the IMF is telling — because that story is in effect hidden in the fine print. So the report isn’t literally misinformation, but in practice it’s likely have that effect.
Also The Link
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/15/misimformation/
May 15, 2010, 11:17 AM
MisIMFormation?
The IMF has a new report (pdf) on fiscal troubles ahead; it’s characteristically full of useful information. But the way it’s written, it’s actually quite hard to figure out what’s going on — and when you do decipher it, the story is quite different from the impression most people will get.
You see, what the report says is that there has been a fundamental deterioration in the fiscal outlook for advanced countries. Not only are they running up a lot of debt in the crisis, but — and much more important — they will emerge from the crisis with large structural deficits that weren’t there before. So spending cuts and tax increases loom.
But here’s the question: where are those structural deficits coming from? It’s not interest on the debt: the IMF shows a large increase in primary (non-interest) structural deficits. So is it permanent increases in spending? No: the report shows that discretionary spending increases are a minor cause of rising deficits even in the crisis, and these increases will be reversed as stimulus winds down.
It takes careful reading to discover what’s really going on:
The persistence of deficits reflects permanent revenue losses, primarily from a steep decline in potential GDP during the crisis, but also due to the impact of lower asset prices and financial sector profits.
Aha. Most people who look at the IMF report will, I suspect, read it as telling a tale of government profligacy getting us into a hole. But what the report actually says is quite different: it says that the financial crisis has made us permanently poorer, which among other things reduces revenue, and governments have to tighten their belts to make up for that loss.
The first thing we might ask is, do we really believe that a financial crisis permanently depresses the trend line of economic growth? Yes, I know that the IMF has statistical analyses that seem to say that; but it’s not clear what the mechanism is, it’s not what standard growth models would say, so we might at least wonder how sure a thing it is.
Second, if financial crises really do that much harm, isn’t the real message of this report that we should respond to these crises with a maximum effort to prevent damage to the economy? In particular, if having the economy depressed for a number of years reduces future potential output and hence revenue, isn’t this an argument for more aggressive — not less aggressive — fiscal policy?
In fact, I’m pretty sure that if you take the IMF’s model of the effect of slumps on potential output seriously, it actually implies that increasing government spending in a slump more or less pays for itself: it leads to higher output not just in the short run but in the long run, and therefore leads to higher revenue that very likely more than offsets the original expense. I’m not saying that this is necessarily the truth, but it is an implication of the long-run pessimism that underlies this IMF report.
Anyway, back to the report and how it reads: my guess is that most readers won’t get, at all, the real story the IMF is telling — because that story is in effect hidden in the fine print. So the report isn’t literally misinformation, but in practice it’s likely have that effect.
Also The Link
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/15/misimformation/
Nihil- Join date : 2009-10-23
+Light/-Dark : -912
Posts : 4431
Experience Points : 12469
Location : Arkansas
Comments : https://www.facebook.com/mattbcarr
Re: Nihil's News Thread (Keeping you informed when you are not)
More on Greece
"The high level of false statements and open disinformation about the current crisis in Greece, and its implications for the Euro, shows both the way ideologies have captured even so-called expert economists, and the media's general failure to understand, much less convey, the complexities of monetary policy.
A few largely ignored facts:
1. False story: "Greek public profligacy caused the crisis." NO. Greece has indeed spent more than it took in -- but the problem was not one caused by a particularly high expenditure level. Greek public spending has been average for the Euro zone countries; but Greek tax collection has been much lower than the Euro zone countries, in part because of massive tax evasion and corruption. If Greece had simply collected legally-mandated taxes from their own elite and corporations, the crisis would never have happened.
2. False story: "The best solution to a large public deficit is cutbacks in spending, which would allow the Greek government to pay its bondholders." NO. Cutting back public spending in a modern economy causes recession (especially when the world is in recession). Recession has a leveraged effect on public revenue, decreasing revenue disproportionately, and raising public costs. Thus, the series of sharp cuts in public spending that the Greek government faces will in fact make the government LESS able to pay off its bonds.
3. False story: "Public money is bailing out lazy Greek hairdressers." NO. Public money from German, European and even American taxpayers is bailing out wildly-leveraged European banks (these banks took on leverage levels comparable to the most risky American investment banks, and now face huge losses). Those banks, and the hedge-fund industry, no doubt leveraged up in with toxic 'fiscal products' when they saw the inevitable crunch (they are smart, some of these folks!), and now expect public money from the trough because, sadly, giant banks that collapse because of gross greed and incompetence are a danger to everyone, and must therefore be propped up.
Of course, the Greek fiscal imbalance over the last 10 years was a real, if rather modest problem. The Conservative government in power happily conspired with investment banks, including Goldman Sachs, to lie about public finances, year after year, while allowing the wealthy to dodge even the too-low taxes on the books.
Only when a social-democratic government that honestly reported the facts was elected was there suddenly a 'crisis', with loud cries about how 'government had failed.' Once again, the lie that political conservatives are somehow 'responsible about public spending' is revealed to be false. The story is really not so different from what happened in the United States. Lies, greed and denial persisted under conservative rule, sharks saw the coming collapse and leveraged up (making it worse), and the progressives had to clean up the mess by helping out the worst culprits with public money (since the gun of a massive depression was at their heads, and they themselves still had too many ties to the banks and the 'system')."
"The high level of false statements and open disinformation about the current crisis in Greece, and its implications for the Euro, shows both the way ideologies have captured even so-called expert economists, and the media's general failure to understand, much less convey, the complexities of monetary policy.
A few largely ignored facts:
1. False story: "Greek public profligacy caused the crisis." NO. Greece has indeed spent more than it took in -- but the problem was not one caused by a particularly high expenditure level. Greek public spending has been average for the Euro zone countries; but Greek tax collection has been much lower than the Euro zone countries, in part because of massive tax evasion and corruption. If Greece had simply collected legally-mandated taxes from their own elite and corporations, the crisis would never have happened.
2. False story: "The best solution to a large public deficit is cutbacks in spending, which would allow the Greek government to pay its bondholders." NO. Cutting back public spending in a modern economy causes recession (especially when the world is in recession). Recession has a leveraged effect on public revenue, decreasing revenue disproportionately, and raising public costs. Thus, the series of sharp cuts in public spending that the Greek government faces will in fact make the government LESS able to pay off its bonds.
3. False story: "Public money is bailing out lazy Greek hairdressers." NO. Public money from German, European and even American taxpayers is bailing out wildly-leveraged European banks (these banks took on leverage levels comparable to the most risky American investment banks, and now face huge losses). Those banks, and the hedge-fund industry, no doubt leveraged up in with toxic 'fiscal products' when they saw the inevitable crunch (they are smart, some of these folks!), and now expect public money from the trough because, sadly, giant banks that collapse because of gross greed and incompetence are a danger to everyone, and must therefore be propped up.
Of course, the Greek fiscal imbalance over the last 10 years was a real, if rather modest problem. The Conservative government in power happily conspired with investment banks, including Goldman Sachs, to lie about public finances, year after year, while allowing the wealthy to dodge even the too-low taxes on the books.
Only when a social-democratic government that honestly reported the facts was elected was there suddenly a 'crisis', with loud cries about how 'government had failed.' Once again, the lie that political conservatives are somehow 'responsible about public spending' is revealed to be false. The story is really not so different from what happened in the United States. Lies, greed and denial persisted under conservative rule, sharks saw the coming collapse and leveraged up (making it worse), and the progressives had to clean up the mess by helping out the worst culprits with public money (since the gun of a massive depression was at their heads, and they themselves still had too many ties to the banks and the 'system')."
Nihil- Join date : 2009-10-23
+Light/-Dark : -912
Posts : 4431
Experience Points : 12469
Location : Arkansas
Comments : https://www.facebook.com/mattbcarr
Nihil- Join date : 2009-10-23
+Light/-Dark : -912
Posts : 4431
Experience Points : 12469
Location : Arkansas
Comments : https://www.facebook.com/mattbcarr
Re: Nihil's News Thread (Keeping you informed when you are not)
In other News, Republicans see negative trends, will it be another 1948 for Dems?
Nihil- Join date : 2009-10-23
+Light/-Dark : -912
Posts : 4431
Experience Points : 12469
Location : Arkansas
Comments : https://www.facebook.com/mattbcarr
Nihil- Join date : 2009-10-23
+Light/-Dark : -912
Posts : 4431
Experience Points : 12469
Location : Arkansas
Comments : https://www.facebook.com/mattbcarr
Re: Nihil's News Thread (Keeping you informed when you are not)
LOL EXTREMIST NOMINATED IN KENTUCKY!
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/20/pauls-views-on-civil-rights-cause-a-stir/?nl=us&emc=politicsemailema1
Dems have the seat for sure!
Good job Tea Party!
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/20/pauls-views-on-civil-rights-cause-a-stir/?nl=us&emc=politicsemailema1
Dems have the seat for sure!
Good job Tea Party!
Nihil- Join date : 2009-10-23
+Light/-Dark : -912
Posts : 4431
Experience Points : 12469
Location : Arkansas
Comments : https://www.facebook.com/mattbcarr
Re: Nihil's News Thread (Keeping you informed when you are not)
LOL EXTREMIST IN KENTUCKY OWNED
Nihil- Join date : 2009-10-23
+Light/-Dark : -912
Posts : 4431
Experience Points : 12469
Location : Arkansas
Comments : https://www.facebook.com/mattbcarr
Re: Nihil's News Thread (Keeping you informed when you are not)
Baghdad Oasis in Rubble, a Cosmopolitan Era Ends
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/22/world/middleeast/22house.html?pagewanted=2&hp
That really is a tragedy
Excerpts:
Nor did Col. Hussein’s report mention that the home belonged to Jabra Ibrahim Jabra, a renowned Arab novelist, poet, painter, critic and translator who built it along the date palms and mulberry trees of Princesses Street nearly a half-century ago and lived there until his death in 1994.
“Any music you bring along will make me happy — esp. 18th c and earlier,” Mr. Jabra once wrote to Mr. Allen. “When you come to us you’ll see I’ve got quite a bit of it (from 15th to 18th centuries). It is, literally, my daily bread. It sustains my mind and my writing.”
“Jabra represented a particular period in the meeting of different cultures,” he said. More wars have followed his death, though. So have occupations. His secular notion of identity has withered before the ascent of sectarian and religious forces. In an asymmetric conflict, at times cartoonish, an aggressive West faces a seething East.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/22/world/middleeast/22house.html?pagewanted=2&hp
That really is a tragedy
Excerpts:
Nor did Col. Hussein’s report mention that the home belonged to Jabra Ibrahim Jabra, a renowned Arab novelist, poet, painter, critic and translator who built it along the date palms and mulberry trees of Princesses Street nearly a half-century ago and lived there until his death in 1994.
“Any music you bring along will make me happy — esp. 18th c and earlier,” Mr. Jabra once wrote to Mr. Allen. “When you come to us you’ll see I’ve got quite a bit of it (from 15th to 18th centuries). It is, literally, my daily bread. It sustains my mind and my writing.”
“Jabra represented a particular period in the meeting of different cultures,” he said. More wars have followed his death, though. So have occupations. His secular notion of identity has withered before the ascent of sectarian and religious forces. In an asymmetric conflict, at times cartoonish, an aggressive West faces a seething East.
Nihil- Join date : 2009-10-23
+Light/-Dark : -912
Posts : 4431
Experience Points : 12469
Location : Arkansas
Comments : https://www.facebook.com/mattbcarr
Re: Nihil's News Thread (Keeping you informed when you are not)
In other news....
Immigration Law in Arizona Reveals G.O.P. Divisions
Debate and Discuss
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/22/us/politics/22immig.html?nl=us&emc=politicsemailema1
Bill Passed in Senate Broadly Expands Oversight of Wall St.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/21/business/21regulate.html
Immigration Law in Arizona Reveals G.O.P. Divisions
Debate and Discuss
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/22/us/politics/22immig.html?nl=us&emc=politicsemailema1
Bill Passed in Senate Broadly Expands Oversight of Wall St.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/21/business/21regulate.html
Nihil- Join date : 2009-10-23
+Light/-Dark : -912
Posts : 4431
Experience Points : 12469
Location : Arkansas
Comments : https://www.facebook.com/mattbcarr
Re: Nihil's News Thread (Keeping you informed when you are not)
Your free market fails Gulf Oil Spill Style
Good Job Free Market Capitalism! You just made my life a whole lot worse!
http://www.examiner.com/x-34382-Volusia-County-Headlines-Examiner~y2010m5d21-BP-Untrustworthy-Says-Officials-as-New-Video-Released-of-Gulf-Oil-Spill-VIDEO-AND-PHOTOS
Good Job Free Market Capitalism! You just made my life a whole lot worse!
http://www.examiner.com/x-34382-Volusia-County-Headlines-Examiner~y2010m5d21-BP-Untrustworthy-Says-Officials-as-New-Video-Released-of-Gulf-Oil-Spill-VIDEO-AND-PHOTOS
Nihil- Join date : 2009-10-23
+Light/-Dark : -912
Posts : 4431
Experience Points : 12469
Location : Arkansas
Comments : https://www.facebook.com/mattbcarr
Re: Nihil's News Thread (Keeping you informed when you are not)
Nihil wrote:Your free market fails Gulf Oil Spill Style
Good Job Free Market Capitalism! You just made my life a whole lot worse!
http://www.examiner.com/x-34382-Volusia-County-Headlines-Examiner~y2010m5d21-BP-Untrustworthy-Says-Officials-as-New-Video-Released-of-Gulf-Oil-Spill-VIDEO-AND-PHOTOS
The oil spill is gods way of telling ppl to stop using fossil fuels.
Champion- Founder
- Join date : 2009-10-21
+Light/-Dark : 415
Posts : 4837
Experience Points : 17391
Location : Pennsylvania, USA
Comments : Champion (n):
3. An ardent defender or supporter of a cause or another person: a champion of the righteous.
Re: Nihil's News Thread (Keeping you informed when you are not)
Australia Searching Tourists For Porn
Update on Crazy Texas Textbook Changes (Why America Genuinely Sucks, IMHO)
In other news, for all you noneconomists, here is Nobel Prize Winning Economist Paul Krugman On the possibility of the Lost Decade, how we aren't doing enough:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/21/opinion/21krugman.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
And Finally Krugman on why your silly Libertarianism won't work:
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/21/why-libertarianism-doesnt-work-part-n1/
Update on Crazy Texas Textbook Changes (Why America Genuinely Sucks, IMHO)
In other news, for all you noneconomists, here is Nobel Prize Winning Economist Paul Krugman On the possibility of the Lost Decade, how we aren't doing enough:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/21/opinion/21krugman.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
And Finally Krugman on why your silly Libertarianism won't work:
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/21/why-libertarianism-doesnt-work-part-n1/
Nihil- Join date : 2009-10-23
+Light/-Dark : -912
Posts : 4431
Experience Points : 12469
Location : Arkansas
Comments : https://www.facebook.com/mattbcarr
Re: Nihil's News Thread (Keeping you informed when you are not)
Nihil wrote:Australia Searching Tourists For Porn
Update on Crazy Texas Textbook Changes (Why America Genuinely Sucks, IMHO)
In other news, for all you noneconomists, here is Nobel Prize Winning Economist Paul Krugman On the possibility of the Lost Decade, how we aren't doing enough:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/21/opinion/21krugman.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
And Finally Krugman on why your silly Libertarianism won't work:
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/21/why-libertarianism-doesnt-work-part-n1/
A> I would do anything to get a sex tape of one of those screeners parents doing it so they can see it as I pass through customs.
B> Texas is the reason why the world hates the United states. No, seriously. It is.
Champion- Founder
- Join date : 2009-10-21
+Light/-Dark : 415
Posts : 4837
Experience Points : 17391
Location : Pennsylvania, USA
Comments : Champion (n):
3. An ardent defender or supporter of a cause or another person: a champion of the righteous.
Re: Nihil's News Thread (Keeping you informed when you are not)
Why Rand Paul has Finally Shut Up!
Nihil- Join date : 2009-10-23
+Light/-Dark : -912
Posts : 4431
Experience Points : 12469
Location : Arkansas
Comments : https://www.facebook.com/mattbcarr
Champion- Founder
- Join date : 2009-10-21
+Light/-Dark : 415
Posts : 4837
Experience Points : 17391
Location : Pennsylvania, USA
Comments : Champion (n):
3. An ardent defender or supporter of a cause or another person: a champion of the righteous.
Re: Nihil's News Thread (Keeping you informed when you are not)
Son of Ron Paul lol
he won the kentucky primary
he won the kentucky primary
Nihil- Join date : 2009-10-23
+Light/-Dark : -912
Posts : 4431
Experience Points : 12469
Location : Arkansas
Comments : https://www.facebook.com/mattbcarr
Re: Nihil's News Thread (Keeping you informed when you are not)
Never heard of him.
BgFighter/Ghost- Join date : 2009-10-22
+Light/-Dark : -1022
Posts : 3514
Experience Points : 9865
Thing- Senator - Forum Enforcer
- Join date : 2009-10-22
+Light/-Dark : 143
Posts : 6860
Experience Points : 17873
Location : New York
Comments :
See ya in anothah life, brothah. - Desmond Hume
Re: Nihil's News Thread (Keeping you informed when you are not)
My thoughts on:
Minimum wages
Conservatism
Many people argue that the minimum wage is too high. This makes me think, well, if you are not performing a minimum wage job, wouldn't that same logic make your job require a minimum wage too? If you say its because the small portion of people who perform that job would strike, then what about minimum wage workers? I think there is a moral imperative for a living wage, not a minimum wage.
The death of true conservatives began with Reagan, the thing about Reagan is that you either love him to death, are like meh, or hate him. There isn't a really in-between. For those like "meh" they realize that he improved the economy, his giant fiscal and deficit spending acted as a Keynesian boom, however, they may also realize that he added tremendously to the debt and deficit, and didn't act as a republican should, tax and spend, not spend spend. The True conservative, Nixon and Eisenhower, understood that deficit spending was needed in dire situations, and they also raised taxes, truly fiscally responsible presidents, but, after Reagan, I believe a GIANT partisan gap appeared and we shifted our ideas from what was needed to what we want. That is how american politics went down the drain. Now we see tons of hypocrisy, most specifically Republicans, not conservatives in general, mind you, want to decrease the deficit by... lowering taxes? I would vote for an Eisenhower Republican, I don't think that liberals should be in office all the time, but todays conservative party, the republicans, don't really give me much of a choice, if I could vote.
Minimum wages
Conservatism
Many people argue that the minimum wage is too high. This makes me think, well, if you are not performing a minimum wage job, wouldn't that same logic make your job require a minimum wage too? If you say its because the small portion of people who perform that job would strike, then what about minimum wage workers? I think there is a moral imperative for a living wage, not a minimum wage.
The death of true conservatives began with Reagan, the thing about Reagan is that you either love him to death, are like meh, or hate him. There isn't a really in-between. For those like "meh" they realize that he improved the economy, his giant fiscal and deficit spending acted as a Keynesian boom, however, they may also realize that he added tremendously to the debt and deficit, and didn't act as a republican should, tax and spend, not spend spend. The True conservative, Nixon and Eisenhower, understood that deficit spending was needed in dire situations, and they also raised taxes, truly fiscally responsible presidents, but, after Reagan, I believe a GIANT partisan gap appeared and we shifted our ideas from what was needed to what we want. That is how american politics went down the drain. Now we see tons of hypocrisy, most specifically Republicans, not conservatives in general, mind you, want to decrease the deficit by... lowering taxes? I would vote for an Eisenhower Republican, I don't think that liberals should be in office all the time, but todays conservative party, the republicans, don't really give me much of a choice, if I could vote.
Nihil- Join date : 2009-10-23
+Light/-Dark : -912
Posts : 4431
Experience Points : 12469
Location : Arkansas
Comments : https://www.facebook.com/mattbcarr
Re: Nihil's News Thread (Keeping you informed when you are not)
Republican Stupidity on the Rise, Conservatism on the fall!
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/28/health/policy/28ultrasound.html?hp
IT RAISES HEALTHCARE COSTS AND INVADES PRIVACY! EVERYTHING YOU WANT AND MOOOOOOOOOOAR!
my thoughts on the conventional conservative argument comparing the government taxing and giving to the needy to giving grades away:
An A in a class represents you work and skill. $500,000 can represent as little as an investment. Money is the end, the grades are, usually, the means. A better education nearly always leads to a higher paying job, thus, it is improbable that the comparison can hold. Taking away a grade and averaging them with another person doesn't work with taking money and giving to the needy. Have you ever heard of charity? Well, why isn't there a grade charity? It is as simple as that, people are willing to give up money, but not grades. This makes one think, what difference could it entail. Truly, we all know there is a difference, how we look at it, though, is through a faulty comparison that lacks the depth to truly relate the two. Another thing, the starting line isn't always in the same place, and neither is the finish line, thus, people struggle with school more than others, this doesn't always correlate to wealth, because, a public institution can still offer training, unfortunately, however, not always for the not-so-well-off.
The other thing to think about is that, while welfare may not be perfect, which is better, improving it, or abolishing it. I think we can all reach agreement upon something there. I'd like to see a guaranteed income for families, and especially, if not already in existence, free birth control and condoms, and such, for the needy.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/28/health/policy/28ultrasound.html?hp
IT RAISES HEALTHCARE COSTS AND INVADES PRIVACY! EVERYTHING YOU WANT AND MOOOOOOOOOOAR!
my thoughts on the conventional conservative argument comparing the government taxing and giving to the needy to giving grades away:
An A in a class represents you work and skill. $500,000 can represent as little as an investment. Money is the end, the grades are, usually, the means. A better education nearly always leads to a higher paying job, thus, it is improbable that the comparison can hold. Taking away a grade and averaging them with another person doesn't work with taking money and giving to the needy. Have you ever heard of charity? Well, why isn't there a grade charity? It is as simple as that, people are willing to give up money, but not grades. This makes one think, what difference could it entail. Truly, we all know there is a difference, how we look at it, though, is through a faulty comparison that lacks the depth to truly relate the two. Another thing, the starting line isn't always in the same place, and neither is the finish line, thus, people struggle with school more than others, this doesn't always correlate to wealth, because, a public institution can still offer training, unfortunately, however, not always for the not-so-well-off.
The other thing to think about is that, while welfare may not be perfect, which is better, improving it, or abolishing it. I think we can all reach agreement upon something there. I'd like to see a guaranteed income for families, and especially, if not already in existence, free birth control and condoms, and such, for the needy.
Nihil- Join date : 2009-10-23
+Light/-Dark : -912
Posts : 4431
Experience Points : 12469
Location : Arkansas
Comments : https://www.facebook.com/mattbcarr
Re: Nihil's News Thread (Keeping you informed when you are not)
The War on Drugs is a Failure (no really?)
http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/06/03/wood.jamaica.drug.war/index.html?hpt=T2
http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/06/03/wood.jamaica.drug.war/index.html?hpt=T2
From a scientific perspective, we must accept that law enforcement will never meaningfully reduce the flow of drugs. Economists know that the drug seizures we see over and over again as part of police photo ops have the perverse effect of making it that much more profitable for someone else to sell drugs. The laws of supply and demand have simply overwhelmed police efforts. With young people reporting that obtaining illicit drugs is easier than getting alcohol or tobacco, the situation could not get much worse.
The American "get tough" approach, although politically popular in certain circles, has failed to achieve its intended objectives: The supply of illicit drugs has increased, the costs of illicit drugs have dropped, and drug purity has risen. The mounting bloodshed in Mexico and the recent mayhem in Jamaica clearly demonstrate that the U.S. is exporting violence, breaking up families and increasing the taxpayer burden to help fight these fruitless battles.
Champion- Founder
- Join date : 2009-10-21
+Light/-Dark : 415
Posts : 4837
Experience Points : 17391
Location : Pennsylvania, USA
Comments : Champion (n):
3. An ardent defender or supporter of a cause or another person: a champion of the righteous.
Re: Nihil's News Thread (Keeping you informed when you are not)
Eh...
was that a reply to something I posted? w/e, our legal system is strange in a lot of ways, we jail druggies longer than murderers? that isn't just unfair, thats creepy
was that a reply to something I posted? w/e, our legal system is strange in a lot of ways, we jail druggies longer than murderers? that isn't just unfair, thats creepy
Nihil- Join date : 2009-10-23
+Light/-Dark : -912
Posts : 4431
Experience Points : 12469
Location : Arkansas
Comments : https://www.facebook.com/mattbcarr
Re: Nihil's News Thread (Keeping you informed when you are not)
I wanted to post news and didnt think starting a new thread was worth it.
Champion- Founder
- Join date : 2009-10-21
+Light/-Dark : 415
Posts : 4837
Experience Points : 17391
Location : Pennsylvania, USA
Comments : Champion (n):
3. An ardent defender or supporter of a cause or another person: a champion of the righteous.
Page 2 of 3 • 1, 2, 3
Similar topics
» Old, important, News that No One was talking about in my News Thread
» More Fox News Funnies
» Former thread is now Spam thread former
» And now for some news...........
» TFU 2 News.
» More Fox News Funnies
» Former thread is now Spam thread former
» And now for some news...........
» TFU 2 News.
Jedi vs Sith :: General :: Rancor Pit
Page 2 of 3
Permissions in this forum:
You cannot reply to topics in this forum