Location: In a land without pants, or war, or want. But mostly we care about the pants.
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Originally Posted by GGG
The theory behind trade is that you can be more efficient at producing things in concentrated centres with the most skill/ lowest cost and you are able to replace the loss of work with focusing on the industries you have advantages in. Then everyone benefits from lower costs of goods.
The world runs on inefficient labour, free trade and technology are going to destroy that and leave both the unskillled and lesser skilled with no role in the economy other than as consumers. Tariffs and protectionism will only delay future economic pain at the cost of current economic disaster, as the other driver, technology, can't be successfully legislated against in a world where it produces wealth and military advantage to nation-states that embrace it.
I prefer to think there is vast human potential that will become available as more and more efficient industries create vast surpluses of wealth. Gettign there from here, however, will involve a lost generation or two of people who won't see this future utopia as meaningful to them in the eternal now - and why should they? There's not even a certainty that there is any utopia at the end of the process, that's just my hope, not any kind of guarantee. There's arguments to be made that the result will be 90% proles under the rule of 9% technocrats and the 1% wealthy.
This natural resentment and anger against being part of a lost generation doesn't excuse people who prefer stupidity and ignorance to reality. It does, however, explain why finding some way to find them meaning and purpose should be a top priority of the so-called elites. There will always be opportunistic demagogues like Trump willing to exploit the discontented. The trick is not to let them become a significant minority of the population, as committed zealots in sufficient numbers can overthrow a complacent, uncommitted majority - that's how you end up with Bolsheviks, Nazis and islamic theocracies.
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Better educated sadness than oblivious joy.
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Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump
If the press would cover me accurately & honorably, I would have far less reason to "tweet." Sadly, I don't know if that will ever happen!
The guy really thinks he's won the right to be above criticism. Going to be an amazing four years.
So Al Gore is at Trump Tower today meeting with Ivanka on climate change. Conservatives are predictably losing their #### and thinking they have been duped by a Democrat (Trump). It seems like everyone is feeling a little duped right now.
Meeting with Ivanka. Not Donald, but Ivanka. Like that's going to have a huge impact. So long as the congressional discussion on Climate Change is lead by this guy, nothing changes.
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__________________ "The great promise of the Internet was that more information would automatically yield better decisions. The great disappointment is that more information actually yields more possibilities to confirm what you already believed anyway." - Brian Eno
The fact that no one in the article was named Bruce should have been the hint.
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Originally Posted by Oling_Roachinen
No, but Austria did have compulsory voting...a long time ago.
I'm actually kind of impressed that you know the history of Austria's voting system.
__________________ "The great promise of the Internet was that more information would automatically yield better decisions. The great disappointment is that more information actually yields more possibilities to confirm what you already believed anyway." - Brian Eno
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Seeing a man hit a kangaroo in the face with a right hook is surprisingly hilarious
Seeing the reaction from the kangaroo is even better. Normally a kangaroo would come back firing with his legs as a counter, but this one stands there all like, "WTF??? Did Bruce just hit me in the mouth? That isn't like Bruce. I better leave Bruce and his dingoes alone. Time to hop off and apologize to Bruce later."
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True. But a great many Americans deeply resent being lectured to by smug and narcissistic actors and musicians. The way the vast majority of America's entertainment celebrities so vocally and passionately opposed Trump probably earned him more votes than it lost him. Hollywood was just another of the groups that Americans were giving the finger to by voting Trump.
Really? Because I'm pretty sure I've seen Scott Baio, Ted Nugent, Clint Eastwood, etc., firmly embraced and celebrated by Trump supporters.
__________________ "The great promise of the Internet was that more information would automatically yield better decisions. The great disappointment is that more information actually yields more possibilities to confirm what you already believed anyway." - Brian Eno
Can you see that is annoying to those who are living this reality and deal with the consequences on a daily basis? Jesus, a guy walked into a pizzeria and opened fire because of fake news - protected by free speech. You don't see that as problematic?
So how to you fix that? How do you legislate truth on the internet?
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Originally Posted by fotze
If this day gets you riled up, you obviously aren't numb to the disappointment yet to be a real fan.
This isn't American politics, but it's related, and at least it's a reason to be cheerful this morning. The Austrian election featured a "Trump-alike"; a right wing populist xenophobe who was gaining a lot of steam. But having seen what happened with Brexit and Trump, the adults in the room actually turned out to vote - 75% of eligible voters, in fact. Apparently, he ran on "don't let it happen here", and won.
So how to you fix that? How do you legislate truth on the internet?
The obvious answer would be that people saying stupid things on the internet aren't as big a problem as stupid people doing stupid things in the real world because they read stupid things on the internet.
That being said, pizzagate is pretty obviously libel and the guys who own that store should be basically suing those responsible for it into bankruptcy. Where did that story actually originate? Was it someone within the USA or someone in Eastern Europe being funded by the Russians? The latter is a bigger problem because there's no obvious remedy.
__________________ "The great promise of the Internet was that more information would automatically yield better decisions. The great disappointment is that more information actually yields more possibilities to confirm what you already believed anyway." - Brian Eno
Seeing the reaction from the kangaroo is even better. Normally a kangaroo would come back firing with his legs as a counter, but this one stands there all like, "WTF??? Did Bruce just hit me in the mouth? That isn't like Bruce. I better leave Bruce and his dingoes alone. Time to hop off and apologize to Bruce later."
It's definitely not the way I would expect that scenario to go down. I would have laid money on the man on the ground clutching his shattered liver after a double footed kangakick
