Author Topic: Race, politics, and stupidity  (Read 57478 times)

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Re: Race, politics, and stupidity
* -Joshua- seriously considers moving to Tenesse Tennessee.

As a resident of Tennessee, I'm inclined to ask:  Why would you want to do something stupid like that?  Is it the 9.25% sales tax (because an income tax is something to be feared!)?  Is it the 10.2% unemployment rate (a full percentage point higher than the national average)?  The ~$40,000 median annual household income (a figure that's actually skewed way high, due to a number of wealthy "residents" using TN as a tax haven)?  Could it be that you were looking for the new murder capitol of the United States (Memphis stole the title from D.C. a couple years back)?  Were you looking for the kind of education that can only be found in the state that ranks 48th in the nation?  Maybe you'd love to be a part of the state sophisticated enough to legalize the consumption of roadkill (that particular internet rumor has a strong basis in fact)?  Do the state's border disputes fascinate you (one involves denying a freshwater source to Atlanta, and the other purely involves NASCAR)?  Were you interested in learning about "clean coal" by moving to Kingston?  What, exactly, is the appeal of Tennessee?

I guess if you live in New Jersey, I can understand, but otherwise, Tennessee kind of sucks balls.

 
Re: Race, politics, and stupidity
Nah, the Barett 50 cal. I got a tad angry at Mustang, although be it for a silly reason.

I live in the US and I've had two jobs before. It's pretty easy to get hired in normal times and there's minimal government paperwork other than the stupid I-9s (citizenship/visa verification). Overall though if I was the average working class person I'd prefer to get one job and not worry about loosing it all my life even if it makes it a little harder to get employed. Isn't the Netherlands doing some kind of economic liberalization like a lot of other EU countries, rolling back the welfare state and so forth? What do people over there think?

Its not 'Rolling back the welfare state'. There have been a lot of cuts, but they have not been in the welfare state much, instead the goverment focusses on cutting education, the finances that allows every student to go to university if he or she wants to and is adequately schooled to do so (yes, there's an entry level requirement, you would need to have done the highest high school education, called VWO, or Pre-University-Education, along with the required subjects for that study, to do a university study). They are also moving up the pension age to 66 (which is an age which previously had been agreed on by other parties anyway), but that is the only welfare state thing I remember they touched. And that was only because it had been previously agreed upon anyway.

Sounds good if you like the welfare state, but unfortenatly, the new kabinet is cutting greatly into education, and just about everything that is run directly by the goverment (police, firemen, defense). I really do not like it, since they are basically upholding an 'Old Men are the Future' policy. Instead of cutting aids for people who get a lot anyway (such as Home_mortgage_interest_deduction, which is more benificial for high income people), they cut aids for people who will either never get a lot or are still on their way (Such as education aids).

 
Re: Race, politics, and stupidity
Quote
'Old Men are the Future'

hahaha

Sounds very true. The US has a similar mortgage deduction. Higher education isn't as much of a political football though since that funding is mostly distributed at the state level. Good for you guys, though. There are a lot of changes going on in countries like Britain and France that people are really pissed about.

  
Re: Race, politics, and stupidity
Got a source on that, other than Glenn Beck?

I'll help you with your ignorance in 3 easy steps:

1st: Don't use Glenn Beck in a discussion. (That was a period, with emphasis) - and especially not to gloss over your own ignorance with some kind of silly insult.
2nd: Open a textbook on national economics and read up on the goals and function of a central bank.
3rd: Look at what the Fed is doing. Check the current interest rates. If necessary: Read up in your textbook what the inevitable dangers of such behavior are.

Once you got the basics and are willing to leave the insults out, we can gladly continue to discuss on a more in depth basis.

Frankly... I'm at a loss of words that people still don't get it. I mean the financial crisis by itself hardly came as a surprise if you've been following the scientific discourse of the last decade.
And Kontratieff will hardly save us from our own long lasting irresponsible behavior - if that was your hope.

Mikes, I'd like to point out that even the economies that have practiced free banking have had severe crises (eg the Australian land price crash of 1890, which was worse than the great depression in that country). What are you advocating, abolition of the federal reserve and free banking or just higher interest rates? In any case the fed isn't the sole or even primary cause of GFC. There are other things the government did like push subprime mortages to low-income families to exacerbate the crisis but there were already severe moral hazard and principal-agent problems worked into the financial system especially with the rise of the shadow banking sector.