Comments by "" (@jmitterii2) on "David Pakman Show"
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Ancient Greek, Ancient Rome, and Europe in the middle ages filled themselves with childishness of various entertainment to the point of harm too, and the aristocracies/rulers and theocracies used it to control the masses... theater and track games, chariot races and gladiator fights, jousting, fencing, sword, and archery matches.
Today we include the ball sports, concerts, movies, and video games.
When entertainment becomes too extreme holding too much attention and taking more time than other things in life happiness and means of fulfillment we're in trouble.
My experience thus far in my mid 30's, having traveled on business around the US including several southern states, western states, mid-west, and eastern states as well as abroad in Europe... people in general are dumb. We're not born with brilliance in general. Some are naturally curious... but most just think they are, but aren't. So in short, people are inherently stupid, and never go beyond trying to fill their stupidity with non-stupid.... instead often they do the opposite... digging that hole of stupidity deeper instead.
Just look at some of the woowoo youtube channels and flat or young earth or other such channels. Ideas that evidence already exists, and methods to examine evidence that exist that they apparently haven't the time. And critical thought and understanding how to be skeptical appears to not exist with a large number of people... its usually a minority, but a large minority... about 37% to 40%.
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Wasn't actually super low interest rates. But the principle amount borrowed was much smaller, because housing was inflated in schemes of get rich quick gimmicks.
Homes depreciate in value as they require upkeep, and often need remodeling, and in some cases complete demolishing and rebuild. Just as vehicles depreciate rapidly after their sold, you lose 25% of the original price paid.
So prices weren't super inflated. And to ensure people could afford homes, many various subsidies were provided to build the roads, sewers, water, electricity, and other utilities so developers couldn't racketeer off their building them then charging the racketeering prices; basically our tax money actually benefited the people. We didn't depend on privatized utilities or development rackets.
People understood how to determine what sectors are competitive and contribute well via a for profit motive, and those sectors that don't, and require various regulation or outright collective ownership and operation as well as how to spend tax money on such operations to get the best price, supply, and quality.
Thatcher/Reagan dogmas are utterly failed. And the boomer generation are clinging onto the hopes that it hasn't as they're heading toward retirement and whatever they've accumulated; their interest is to keep it. Fuck everyone else. They're desperate too.
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People naturally dislike going to the doctor for check ups and dental visits even in universal medical nations. Because people dislike being poked, jabbed, scraped, etc. So part of what many of those nations do, is promote their system to ensure they do get check ups; to catch anything early.
The hair brain notion that people would start using universal medical system as if free upgrades to mansions for all is insanity. That's one of the jokes in Germany and UK, if I had to pay the prices to have them take blood, drill my teeth, rip my skin off, etc. I certainly wouldn't bother to go the doctor until I absolutely was at death's door.
Unless your a hypochondriac, normal people dislike going to the doctor/dentists; its just a necessary annoyance so you catch things early before they become chronic, or terminal.
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And even when they're in dire straights within their own family, they deflect or irrationally ignore it. Case in point, a coworker who has over $50K medical debt, due to thinking he had insurance at the time, but didn't and a member of his family need hospitalization and a surgery... he may file for bankruptcy... he even worked for our state's welfare department, and with his 3 kids and low income has subsidized housing.
Yet he dislikes welfare, despite the fact it's the only thing keeping him afloat. He doesn't like the idea of universal healthcare because he's afraid the "government" will take over everything, despite the medicare single payer model doesn't imply this at all. And despite the fact he's over $50K in medical debt likely to declare bankruptcy on it. He doesn't think medical care is a right despite he thinks people needing medical treatment should get it.... here I'm at a loss, there is no logic in the void.
What I think makes him think irrational ways is that he's highly religious, his family conducts some church with his father as preacher, his wife "works" at the church, and his extended family are all right wingers politically, at one point he mentioned his uncle called him a bleeding heart liberal because he voted against a proposition that would allow slot machines if horse race tracks were built in association with any casinos. He doesn't like how horse race industry historically treats most horses.
He almost didn't want to pass medicare expansion despite the fact he's in dire straights of needing good such to cover himself, wife, and 3 kids.
Again, there is no logic in the void.
These people are utterly brainwashed.
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No its not. For two main reasons:
The good news, this only accounts for about 25% or less of the population. Keep in mind 45% didn't vote in the presidential election and last mid term 63% didn't vote.
And last election it was split almost 50/50 with the loser somehow getting the prize between those two they have about 25% or less of the population. And major reason many don't bother to vote, is media dogma decry certain states are always this and that, becomes as self fulfilling prophecy, along to the fact that many seats in the locality have uncontested candidates... that's starting to change a little recently, but we'll see if that has staying power.
And about democracy, we don't have democracy or the loser wouldn't have won via an insane electoral method, something that effects us all shouldn't be done in the manner that represents the least the most... that's anything but democracy.
So this isn't necessarily a perfect example of democracy with a majority stupid.
We have minority of oligarchs with all the money who select puppets as it takes lots of money to run for office, puppets who gerrymander districts, and fomenting a minority that's less than the plurality let alone a majority to bother to vote among a bogus hedged candidate selection, again many seats that go uncontested.
Several decades ago, even our major media outlets would have reporters and anchors reporting in the US, and currently many other countries, about a government with the same obvious government would say that nation has no actual democratic representative government, but a kleptocracy oligarchy, and they would make that preface every time they spoke about that governments name.... "the Kleptocracy of America today declares it will...."
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"To deny God is to deny reason, logic, morals, justice, meaning, truth, certainty, values, virtues, sacredness, dignity, honor, or anything immaterial, abstract, universal, and absolute. These attributes don't fit into the atheistic worldview of empiricism."
Nice circular argument. My turn!
"To deny the great and almighty unicorns, and rubber ducky is to deny reason, logic, morals, justice, meaning, truth, certainty, values, virtues, sacredness, dignity, honor, or anything immaterial, abstract, universal, and absolute. These attributes don't fit into the atheistic worldview of empiricism."
Hope I demonstrated why your argument sucks.
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+Nicholas Zounis Constitutional democracy ensures the majority doesn't run rough shot over the minority. Checks and balances in such constitutions ensure mob rule of barbarism doesn't get out of control.
I think that's what you're major concern is over majority rule.
With a constitution to protect the minority, majority rule in most aspects is much better than other alternatives have utterly failed including oligarchy of a few aristocrat merchant mobster rule, or ministers of some nepotistic government like essentially all communist governments functioned, or theocratic authoritarian government either direct theocratic or monarchy.
As far as anarchy no government, that never works. The wild west of the US including many other places even today don't work well, look at Yemen and Somalia and other places where anarchy has and some places still exists. They're shit holes often without running water, sewer systems, other basic essentials.
You're bark raving mad.
You won't be considered too mad once humans have technology that eliminates all scarcity. But even then, you'd have some judiciary and legal system for people who do terrible things to others like murder.
A person isn't an island unto themselves. Unless they're stuck on some island in the middle of the ocean, in the middle of some forest, desert, or grass plains. And when they find themselves adrift in such places, their standards of living are diminished severely to the point they're concerned about where they'll find the next meal and water to drink. If they end up breaking their leg or having an illness they're overall prospects are bleak. Essentially, they have no standard of living, they're then too busy just trying to survive; its akin to the stone age. Fuck, even feudalism has a better standard of living.
Hence why you are stark raving mad about your libertarian anarchism horseshit that only results in creating a vacuum to be quickly filled with worse governmental types.
The very computer, clothes, water you use to shower and drink and cook with, the toilet you shit and piss in and that shit magically disappears, isn't unto your magical individual self, sure you pull the lever that takes that shit away, but that shit goes into a pipe that the rest of society takes care of as well as makes your clothing, provides the water that is safe to drink and shower, and everything else. Everyone running around doing their own thing without some type of rules generally creates a vacuum of necessity of needs of setting the rules judiciary, executing the rules, judiciary of the rules, economic distribution of the rules will always exist ( and better to be collective rules with constitutional rules protecting minorities) ensures it's not anarchy.
Otherwise, you'll be like so many currently other places that do exist under anarchy who exist without literally a pot to piss and shit in, and certainly no toilet paper to wipe the shit off their ass. This is why so many often refer to libertarian philosophy as childish; they can't reflect beyond their own egotistical self absorbed self-centered universe of their self.
"Don't register your car, try to avoid using governments services, which can be difficult I know." No kidding. Because it's impossible. Because you're brilliance of your self centered universe doesn't provide essential services or needs that make up a meaningful advancing standard of living. And thanks for freeloading of the roads the rest of us do register our vehicles and pay taxes, you fucking self centered freeloader. Even bitcoin requires the internet which the backbone of the internet is actually provided via major university hubs, and US universities and many around the world are government subsidized. Whoops. No bit coin can't use that, that's there be goberment LOL! Gold and silver? Most gold and silver stashes are actually held by governments as well, whoops. And most businesses will not accept silver or gold as their prices fluctuate fairly extreme per traded units.
"Take a stand and help free this world from fuckers like the non human entity in this video." And yourself centered universe has just condemned someone into not being human so you can now feel the authority to treat that person as a non-human possibly non living creature. "Put the lotion on its skin or it gets the hose again." You're already passing your own egotistical legislature and judicial review appointed by your own fiat ego. You're already trying to fill the vacuum created by your own idiotology (SIC).
Please reflect on your philosophy as it's self refuting, so much so, it's childish at worst it psychotic.
In other words: grow up.
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+Eero Haapala I'm a socialist, in the mixed market sense.
Economically, empirically it means competitive market principles in some sectors competitive market principles don't exist with complete private production due to natural monopolies such as utilities or essential services like medical, fire, police, judicial, legislature, executive entities, etc. And over time under completely private markets competitive market principles tend to become distorted because private business is at odds with competitive market principles and tends to invoke various activities that violate competitive market principles such as collusion, price wars killing smaller competitors with the capacity to make losses for the short term until their smaller competitors are either bought or out of business, as well as corning the market with unnatural monopoly power, etc.
It's about empirical economics.
Social-capital mixed markets using the concept of competitive market principles and applying social regulation and/or social collective production when competitive market principles are violated provide the best prosperity to everyone. Mixed market economies provide better standards of living in terms of more goods and ability to buy the goods, as well as better education, and advancement in technology that actually enhance standards of living a little more so than distribution of goods that social economic functions do.
So socialism works. A social mixed market system of private production mixed with collective production and/or regulation based on the competitive market principle. As well as assistance on both demand side and supply side.
It's the most reasonable and demonstrated to be the most successful economic structure to ever exist in human history. And such economic structures actually maximize democracy in legislature and avoids plutocratic oligarchies from becoming entrenched. It's the best method of society economically and government. It's the best method to realize a government and economy that allows the government to be for, by, and of the people.
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Democracy is actually the best form of government, because all other forms are authoritarian. What people mistake democracy for being bad, is that a democracy is a mirror, it will give them a reflection of themselves they may not like.
Also democracies can be tainted... constitutions can be too weak or too strong in enforcing or amending making the democracy not very representative of the people, super rich can buy candidates (stack candidates) so no matter the candidate the rich get whatever they want even if it is verily at odds with what the majority want or even harms the majority.
And apathy can kill the wisdom of the crowd effect, you only have a few establishment or radicals voting.
And if incumbents are able to draw up their own districts, they basically get to pick the voters instead of other way around... might as well call them Duke or Duchess of whatever office they hold. It's there's now for keeps.
Safe guards need to be in place to ensure actual democracy exists in the system.
Unfortunately in the US we have all 4 problems, and in order to fix our constitution is too strongly rigid in its amendment process. And it's all leading to apathy.
A democracy though will show the people who they are... currently we're apathetic, cowards, plutocrat dick/pussy sucking know nothing bozo the clowns who are more concerned about some coach or sports player or musicians pimple on their ass than ensuring we have a functioning government that works for all of us.
For the same type of people, it's much easier to blame it on democracy itself... hurts to look at our hideousness. Denial is the most immediate remedy... its easy and you don't have to do much but bitch. Until it becomes too apparent and painful to bare and we finally change our ways.
Basically, when doing nothing hurts more.
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Problem with DNA tests used for Ethnicity or ancestry is that they use their own current defined groups of who they think qualify as indigenous. My understanding none of them have very much if any US Native DNA to compare. And that is for the same of many locations. And of European through African to Middle East to Asia etc. ancestry certain areas have long been a mix, you're not likely to get an accurate representation of the past ancestry locations.
The best method and its only good as a group as individual ancestry end doing Y chromosome mapping if no males were the product of you, or X chromosome mapping when at some point a male was product of you, so trying to use X or Y chromosome mapping creates blind spots of other ancestry as those markers weren't past down from that particular generation.
Genetic information becomes diluted after just 3 generations, if you had one person who was Hispanic, and all subsequent were western European, physically the 3rd generation and especially the 4th generation will have no Hispanic physical traits, and the DNA key markers will have that 90% to higher in common with the western European DNA groups, which is typical for all Europeans, it tells you nothing of small variations.
You can only hope that you can use Y chromosome mapping and X chromosome mapping on every generation of that family, and someone may show up as set of special markers indicating there was Hispanic and Western European in the family at one point, then those offspring just reproduced with western European groups. It's very expensive. Entire families need to be DNA tested and Y and X chromosome mapping undertaken.
That's why those ancestry dna tests are a joke. Take them with a grain of salt. DNA as a whole can only carry so many generational information, there are blind spots just after the 3rd or 4th generations, then after those generations, the blind spots become exponentially bigger. The chromosome markers (which commercial DNA tests don't use because they're only for group analysis) are the only long term source to discern anything.
So you're only looking back about 3 to 4 generations, and they're not that accurate since some of these commercial genetic checkers have a piss poor indigenous definition and sample volume.
Just keep that in mind.
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We're in the middle of the biggest bubble ever. Everything bubble or mother of all bubbles... mortgage debt is beyond that of 2007 crash, stock market margin debt is double to that all time reach in 2007 before that bust, credit card is beyond that of last recession, vehicle/auto loan debt is $1.3 trillion well beyond that of 2007 at only $400 billion, corporate debt was about $4 trillion is now $9.1 trillion much of it was used to finance stock buy backs and merger acquisitions... it's insane.
The stock market was the fugazi generating lots of debt pile up and miss allocation of desperate affluent and oligarch rich trying to find a better return on a portion of their portfolio, going into various tech unicorn companies some of which made IPO and some already showing the fraudulent activity like Theranos... much more of that type of bullshit hot air to bust.... this fooled high profile people like retired General Colin L. Powell, George P. Shultz, and military general now US SOS Jim Mattis, Hillary Clinton, Betsy DeVos, etc. all having board roles in the company.... demonstration that these people aren't "smart" they're just greedy and creepy.
Get ready for the postponement of what was going to be a major depression in 2007, happening likely by 2019-2020 transition... Lots of collateralized debt obligations in business debt... yes similar to that of the housing crisis mortgage nonsense... most of these loans chopped up are destine for failure, and many payments on them are due in 2019 and especially 2020.
Currently, we have lots of this type of stuff going on already in China in their P2P lending. China undertook massive debt over the 2008 to 2015 period to keep production and jobs stable while US, Australia, Europe and rest of Asia were in recession and stopped buy as much.
This time is odd. Last time commodity prices were starting to soar higher in 2007 period... this time commodity prices are only mildly up from their recession lows and commodity bust that happened about 2011-12. Busting Brazil completely. And many commodities in the tank still and losing more ground... last time I just suspected lost of speculation out of stocks that were tanking into commodity contracts that were bubbling up and crashed in 2011-12, proceeds went back into stocks and fueled tech unicorns.
Major industrial companies like GE, 3M, caterpillar, and various car sectors have taken on massive debts and their revenues are quickly vanishing. Really the only companies with large cash piles are only the top richest 40, all others are in dire straights.
This next economic downturn is going to be something we haven't seen since the great depression... but even worse. Lot's of us will be out of a job.
All I can say is save your money as much as possible, and don't be in anything that is too risky... stocks, fuck no... wait for at least a 45% to 50% drop in stocks from their all time S&P500 highs. And even then only put a partial allocation maybe 25% or 50%... because the likely drop will be more like 80% to 90%. Just wait for the discounts. And this severity... you might not get much of a bounce. This next bust looks to be one that may finish out the current financial corporate business structure completely. Likely will cause more pressure in Italy which has massive amounts of debt liabilities orders of magnitude bigger than that of Spain and especially Greece.... the complete dissolution of the EU is very likely by 2022-2025.
Hold on to your butts. The next 10 years is going to fucking suck ass for just about everyone.
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Trump is an idiot. The polar vortex that rotates about the poles becomes weakened as it warms in the polar area causing the cold polar air masses to go further south into lower latitudes causing super cold temperatures in those areas. We've been dealing with vortex weakening increasingly over the past 10 years. It means winters in higher latitudes just beyond the polar latitudes will have severe cold temps in winter, while sever warm temps in the summer, dry regions will experience more dryness, and wet regions will experience more precipitation. Latitudes just north and south of the equator, the tropical latitudes will experience increasing temperatures every year; rainy seasons and dry seasons will be extended. All bad for crops, and already begun in latitudes of Mexico, S. Texas and California, North Africa through to Egypt, Sudan, Syria, and this movement will continue north and south latitudes of the equator. Many of these places are already experience political unrest, famine, as well as mild food shortages.
Crop disaster in the making. Nations fall apart when food becomes scarce.
Based on the data so far using a best case scenario, crop yields will have an abrupt and increasing decline in just a decade. You'll notice the problem when once year round crops like tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers, oranges, berries etc. become seasonal at grocery stores. That's likely to occur in 2030-2040.
Then grains and seasonal crops become expensive and some not even available some years about 2050-2060.
Even developed nations may face isolated famine like conditions by 2070 to 2080, if wars aren't already contributing to food production problems making food shortages and famine even worse.
The major sea level rises that will effect every coast doesn't really start causing severe problems until about 2100 to 2120 on the best case scenario. But by that time, nations will be economic cluster fucks from reduced world wide crop yields. Hardly in any economic situation to even rebuild cities further inland, let alone try to create massive projects in a vane attempt to save the cities location.
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Our system, if all national debt was paid off you would have hyper deflation since most money in existence is based on national bonds that come into existence due to deficit spending. Even if you exclude private debts, private debts is how most money is created in the first place in fractional reserve lending system called Money multiplier, creates most money in the system, but has a catch, there's never enough money to pay off all debts, so you would have massive defaults.
US the reserve amount is only 9% of bank deposits, so 91% maybe lent out... its a factor by 9.1 times more money due to fractional reserve lending, than what underlying money actually exists.
There's never enough money at one time to pay off all the debts, often government spending provides a cushion for lack of liquidity at any given time, and even has an emergency should any one bank have issue can borrow at a discount that essentially promises profits to banks, over night, and sometimes at longer periods to keep them liquid... enough cash to service deposits waiting for loans to be repaid.
Anyway, if government paid all deficits off, money supply to pay principle and interest would become insufficient, liquidity problem would occur, and many loans would go into default. Pressuring most banks into default themselves, runs on banks would occur particularly with depositors with more than the FDIC $250K insured amount.
And if everyone tried to pay of their private loans all at once, banks wouldn't have sufficient deposits on hand to repay all those loans, FDIC insures up to $250K, but generally has a budget limit that would need to be increased or removed by congress to continue FDIC on failed banks to pay deposits.
Our system is based on financial time value of money.
More people should understand how such a system works. No matter what system you have, there is always an element of time that changes that value of money.
What makes having a low national debt handy, is if the country for whatever reason wants to spend large sums of money into the economy, giant sums of GDP increase in spending without causing price distortions, having a lower debt to GDP ratio gives that wiggle room to do so.
The more government debt to GDP, the more harmful effects are possible when the government wants to spend more money... there's also the interest on such debt... servicing greater volumes of debt means a substantial amount of a national budget is tied up in paying principle and interest on rotating bonds... less money to use for actually spending into the economy (building roads, fire, healthcare, etc.).
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We're also in bigger crisis in areas that won big after WWII. There is a 40 year malaise in the richest countries. And the developing countries like China are paper tigers with large income growth over the last 20 years, but it's comparably too small; 300 million out over poverty in China, but 1.1 billion still in poverty. That's not stable. Same with Brazil, which has already returned to a deep recession yet again. Developing nations in a state of perpetual state of "developing".
And developed nations are in a vicious race to the bottom in return to oligarchy robber baron economies that gave us various collapses through history; the most recent was the 1900's which gave us USSR Stalin/Mao/Pol Pot and fascist Spain/Italy/Germany and collapsing UK, and continuing backwater of the US.
We've instituted the same conditions of the early 1900's.
And as the other person mentioned, we now have technology that is more powerful/deadly than WWI and WWII. And we're even more "global" in production than various other times in history that makes economic hit when wars break out more painful to various nations. Too interconnected increases the risk of a wide spread economic collapse causing vicious cycle of civil war and war with other nations. The great bronze age collapse was in part due to incredibly required interconnected not enough self reliance Egypt, Minoan Crete, Mycenaean Greece, the Hittite Empire, Mittani, Assyria, and Kassite Babylonia collapsed over a course of a 100 years in period of 1200 BCE. Trade is good, but becoming to reliant on trade invokes "You can give a person a fish, they eat for a day; you can teach them to fish, and they can eat for life."
Over connected causes us to be so specialized that nations are incapable of supplying their own basic goods.
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Underlying fundamentals is a mountain of debt, this time same major 3 (mortgage debt, stock margin debt which is now about doubled, and weak diminishing real income) are now larger than before with 4 more major bubbles that didn't exist before ( $1.3 trillion in vehicle debt, was only $400 billion in 2008, corporate debt topping $8 trillion with lots of junk rated bonds, most companies are in debt to their eyeballs, the slush money some say corporations are holding only apply to the top 1% of the richest companies, Credit Loan Obligation topping $1 trillion well beyond 2008 and essentially subprime loans for businesses, commercial real-estate debt up beyond 2008 while retail literally is imploding, and of course the student loan over $1.5 trillion was only $500 billion in 2008).
We're literally at the top of an insane leveraged economy that is strung across essentially all sectors that when the eventual bust happens will be more catastrophic than combining the last several recessions together: the "great recession", smaller than the savings and loans disaster of 1989, the first tech bubble of the 90's.
And the problem doesn't seem to be just with the US, but even China with it's massive P2P lending debt along with softening demand from US, Canada, EU nations, Australia, etc. And many other nations that had run ups in commodity prices in 2006 thru 2009 crashed and are in horrible recessions to this day like Brazil.
Anyway, expect an insane crisis unlike anything before in modern history, this maybe even darker than 1929 stock market crash and eventual depression.
Essentially, our economic systems will demonstrate they're utter failure. And unfortunately, society brainwashed in wonderment of this asinine system are ill equipped to handled the collapse... we're seeing how we're handling it before it's collapse world wide by electing buffoons and rise nationalists and theocratic superstitious fools turn murderers.
Since huge amounts of leverage loans need paid more than 13% in 2019, a larger chunk is due 2020... that's the most likely period of the insolvency of the entire system... oh nations will print money and some nations won't. But at that point, the gigs up.
The conditions are set that nations that print money to again re-inflate assets like housing/buildings will only cause hyper inflation, and those that don't will suffer deflation; neither work. The system is quite literally bankrupt.
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We're overblown the idea of what China is... it's simply the dumping ground for cheap labor... it failed to provide a virtuous cycle of a middle class. And they're facing a debt binge as huge as the US and many other countries both in private and public debt. The recent P2P lending has already crashed.
Production is saturated in China along with all other countries with massive manufacturing capacity with the inauthentic advantage of low wage workers... of China's 1.4 billion population 1.1 billion are still in poverty conditions.
And this is much the same around the world in all persistently "developing" nations... Brazil, all the central American countries, most of the S. American Countries, the Middle Eastern countries and along N. Africa are basket cases even those not hit so hard by the so called Arab Spring, India still has over a billion in poverty despite having vast resources, wealth, but their fatalistic culture I think keeps people in a state of apathy there.
There is no place in the world that is stable in this race to the bottom economic structure.
US $19.39 trillion, $12.24 trillion China, and Russia is already a tiny economic power at $1.578 trillion.... doesn't matter the country we're head for major world wide depression, the eventuality of race to the bottom supply side economics.
Every nation took part in it, even the most socially mixed nations like Germany, Norway, Sweden, etc. No nation will be unaffected.
Trump is just a symptom of the collapsing nature of 40 years with the race to the bottom supply side economic strategy... the symptom that speeds up its own collapse.
Good luck.
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First off, it's absurd to call universal healthcare slavery, a right to something doesn't necessarily imply conscription. Doctors and nurses and other medical staff in universal healthcare are not forced to do the work, they were never forced to go to medical school. You wouldn't want someone forced to do anything, they'll likely botch the work... it's idiotic... that would basically calling fire, police, air traffic control, USPS, city utility, etc. all slaves... it's just absurd.
Secondly, not surprise. Libertarians are nothing but walking talking contradictions. Listening long ago to Molyneux praising the wonders of our US for profit non-universal healthcare system, how wonderful it was... then to find out he was Canadian living in Canada... I thought... FUCK YOU! You don't have to suffer our fucking idiot healthcare system... you don't even live here! Come on over! See how much you'll like potentially bankrupt should you need a critical medical procedure.
Lastly, most hospitals and clinics are private, what is socialized in the system is a universal payer (insurance like structure). Germany is the same... so is France... most universal healthcare is that method. It's a single payer system. And where there isn't enough hospitals, clinics and countries other than Canada that doesn't cover dental (which is absurd) also have some government dental clinics... but most are privately owned and operated with a single payer being the government.
Nobody is forced to work in any job. They do it for a variety of reasons, they like doing surgeries they like the work they do, and they do get compensated more so than almost any other profession.
The only country that I'm aware that has most medical establishments and workers as their government employees is the UK... and they're always rated best in all categories in overall care year after year. None of them are forced to work... and in fact, the MD's dental and medical (stupid we make a distinction even in the general sense) are all paid the same high incomes, but also registered and just licensed nurses... the ones who change bed pans and do most of the difficult labor, get paid even more so... they're system just cuts out profit motive, no need to steal from the doctors and especially subordinate medical staffs' incomes so that a collection of do nothing shareholders and owners and racketeer of injuries and sickness.
And they pay half of what we pay per capita... just about all the universal healthcare countries only by about half per capita than our nation. And they get much better results.
Libertarian arguments on economics are pure unadulterated bullshit.
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+Robert Devino Tax expenses are used to help educate a population so that new technologies and innovations are implemented that have effect of giving you better goods and services and cheaper manufacturing and delivery of such goods and services. Having educated population also tends to help them be employed in a gainful way that allows them to also purchase goods/services from your employment and labor or shares of business that provide you with an income.
Having healthier population that is collectively being cared for means that not one set of businesses have the complete burden to ensure their workforce remains healthy thereby able to maximize their productivity.
Essentially you benefit by having an educated workforce capable of both supplying and demanding (being able to purchase) your goods/services and providing goods/services to you, as well as a the population healthy enough to provide such productivity at their optimal output, and as well as creating ever better innovations that are essential for higher standards of living.
Technologies such as refrigeration, modern sewer, electrical works, water works, transportation systems including vehicle and aircraft, agricultural advancements such as nitrates being able to break the at nitrogen triple bonds of the N2 di-nitrogen that is about 76% of the atmosphere to produce fertilizer nitrates that allow for huge food production, etc.
The next technological advancements will include thorium fission, and especially deuterium-tritium fusion reactor systems that supply a huge amount of energy safely and cleanly and since its a huge supply means extremely cheap, which allows making many chemical energy when required for space advancements such as mining asteroids for other minerals even cheaper as it provides more access to such compounds and raw inputs. Electrolysis using over abundant energy from thorium fission or deuterium fusion provides any compound plastic, fuel, etc. one needs and opens up even more resources in space for various other elements and base input compounds like precious metals and energy elements required like more deuterium and lithium etc.
What's in it for you is a better standard of living.
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Candidates for various offices from Judge, Governor, congress (senate and house), president, etc. should be required to take basic knowledge battery tests, and may only run for office when they pass; they may take the test as often as needed, retakes requiring to wait 1 week.
It wouldn't be to keep the average idiot from running, just the extreme stupid who doesn't really give a fuck because they're a spoil rotten brat and is just running for their sick perverted amusement. If they don't care, they won't bother to study, nor keep retaking the test.
Basic science from chemistry, geology, physics, as well as basic mathematics including algebra and geometry would be required, and geography exam maps as current date announced on the study aid. As well as world history and basic government types.
If they were able to get through high school or college, they should be able to pass it with no problems, so long as they study.
The idea would not only be to test them on their knowledge to know if they're idiots, but to force them to be current with knowledge that may have been rusty. They're about to work for us.... okay bitches, know your shit, or no job for you. This isn't like some free loading corporate whore house where you only got your executive job because your daddy happens to be friends with the CEO nonsense. And you literally do nothing, but rubber stamp shit all day.
Successful battery test would only be good for 4 years. After which, they would have to retake the test before they can run again.
Voters are only one vote. They need not take a test to vote.
The candidates do.
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Several articles are bitching that the stock market recent declines are due to the appreciating dollar over a basket of other currencies. The dollar is actually increasing in value over the past 10 years, and recently spiking upward because interest on savings and CD's are increasing, and bond yields are increasing as our interest rates are better than most other currencies of similar purchasing power.
Wall Street is bitching about having too strong a dollar at the moment.
My personal opinion about strong or weaker dollar... I just want a currency that is stable as possible, no big dips up nor down. Flat as possible, no deflation nor inflation. That requires national debt GDP not to go too insane... we must cut our idiot military budget by more than half. And we must commit to an universal healthcare system that has direct negotiating authority with pharma, clinics, and hospitals like 173 of the 201 other nations already have.
We must fast track a massive set of programs such as our own LFTR fission program, ITER/Wendelstein 7x, high speed rail, and drinking and irrigation water systems. And we need to rethink completely our educational system so it is effective in teaching critical thinking skills, and application to various career fields.
Our spending needs to be on actually moving our nation toward real sustainable and orders of magnitude more bountiful than what our systems have for us today.
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It's why I always put unaffiliated on all government stuff.
I tend to vote democrat and independent.
I did once vote for a republican, the candidate won being in a red state, he was over the school in our state... and his term ended in corruption and scandal over his idea to issue K-12 students HP lap tops. He stood to make millions from the deal.
Why anyone would trust GOP candidates is beyond me anymore, even if they appear to have some interesting ideas. And I'm about the same thought on DNC candidates.
We're a empty republic; corrupt like so many other countries other non-corrupt countries laugh at. And we probably still today laugh at. But now all nations are laughing at us.
Time to trust bust both corporations, but also our bogus two party system. They're not two parties, they're pacifiers representing oligarchs that like gays and think abortion is legal for the woman to decide, and the other that doesn't. About the only difference.
Two decisions that have long since decided, in probably in the best logical manner.
So there's no difference. Other than who they pacify.
Right wingers: Pacify the usually utterly ignorant and superstitious religious advocating cultists, and wanna be oligarchs and mid to high level management.
Left Wingers: pacify the green, I'm not a hippy okay, but I think we need to take care of mother earth... usually ignorant on all subjects they're not formally trained or educated but have similar strong convictions based on cultural circumstances and random butt yank made up stuff from friends and themselves... similar to that of the general right winger.
And they only have to pacify 30% of the population when about half or 1/3 vote... the rest don't even bother.
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And one wouldn't "free markets" or better explained in definition as "let whoever do whatever with whatever to sell or buy stuff".
Because you would constantly being sold bad stuff, wrong stuff, shitty stuff. And capitalism always concentrates towards duopolies and monopolies as she's explaining in the video.
The only reason for profit motive function works is for competitiveness. Rules must be established firstly on what sectors of the economy even have natural competition or don't: utilities like roads, sewers, water, electricity, etc. are natural monopolies not competitive at all, and forcing many sewer providers to exist would only cause more redundancy forcing per customer break even cost to go up, as each sewer company would pay the same costs laying pipe and sewer treatment plants, but with sharing fewer customers to make up for the identical redundant cost.
Various sectors that seriously violate competitive market principles should never be privately owned and operated or should be highly regulated: prisons, civil and criminal courts, police force, military forces, healthcare particularly hospitals and clinics, health insurance programs, pension provisions and protection programs, etc.
And even for the most competitive sectors like grocery retail, food processing, clothing production, clothing retail, household appliance production, building construction, etc. still requires rules to ensure competition avoids inauthentic comparative advantage: cutting corners, not disclosing corners being cut: such as adding poor ingredients, not using sound construction methods, piss poor wiring, etc. And prohibiting certain corners that must not be cut ever to avoid fire, sickness, and injury using the product or services; usually requiring inspections and certifications on those inspections, education with a license demonstrating knowledge in that field, etc.
Let it be markets are a free for all, whenever attempted they seem great at first for about a year in, then suddenly they crash in gigantic bust.
Globally nations moved very far to that just in the last 60 years, and we see booms and busts, each one often more violent than the last. This oscillation shakes itself apart in war and civil war always.
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That shit was a symptom of the larger problem... inflated speculation much of debt driven and the other concentrated wealthy looking to make a return on their wealth holdings... aka it was hyped up worthless bullshit, in less than 5 years it will already be laughed about how ridiculous fad as pogs in the 90's or pyramid schemes in the early 1900's... tulips in the 1630's.
Shit's worthless.
Not easy to use (takes over an hour for a transaction).
Not protected for fraudulent unfilled transactions (tantamount of sending someone cash in the mail or a cashiers check, doesn't eliminate central assistance in assisting and making secure transactions).
Not stable (prices going up and way down, is impossible to know pricing terms)
Not secure (moment quantum computers reach quantum supremacy, the entire transaction log can be solved for all passwords to tokens in a few minutes... what took miners several decades, in just a few short minutes of QM iterations... go to spend your bit coin or others of its type, and find it's already spent... no longer valid.
No intrinsic value (requires electricity and lots of people continuously using it, as soon as just a few players leave, particularly big ones, you're left with literally passwords to an elaborate algorithm program that not only allows iterations, but requires iteration and transaction completion now takes weeks... and as more drop out months... then years... unless of course your using a QM computer... in that case solving most of the transaction log enough to identify enough passwords/coins, making the entire thing pointless).
Among the biggest scams in human history.
Anyway, yes. Crypto is down as it goes to 0. It's only reason it was up in the first place was the symptom of the overall flawed economic system we have.... everything was bubbled back up.... low interest rates on treasury bonds and bank deposits meant those left with wealth had to go find some hype and splash cash... one of those places was this goofy scheme of crypto crap.
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Capital systems have and still have labor camps to. Our prison systems in the US do labor.
But NAZI Germany very much against communists used labor camps. US pre Civil war used labor camps, and post civil war used a variety of tactics to kill unionization often at gun points from the coal wars from 1890 to 1935 and so many other insanity.
And most nations are based on money exchange for goods and leverage; hallmark of capitalism; every nation has had a revolution or deep depression. They collapse, wax and wane.
All economic systems thus far have been unsustainable.
So we need to think of better inventions of methods of production.
My opinion a co-op reserve bank to lend leverage to sectors that require huge economies of scale like mining, large farming, refining, development, utilities, etc. And instead of just wage/salary compensation, include voting rights and share collection and dividend payouts. Don't allow a few elites to corner markets as happens under authoritarian models and let it be capital robber baron mafioso markets... which become tyrannical too; and when two or more oligarchs start fighting each other, you get civil war or war against nations.
We need to come up with a better economic system.
Feudalism was abandoned for mercantilism which was a step up, then mercantilism abandoned for industrial let it be oligarchy, which was then abandoned for social-capital mixed markets, each being better than former.
So we need to come up with something even better than just social-capital mixed markets.
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Perhaps your comments were too vague... like completely vague... saying he is toxic and a useful idiot needs to have reasons supporting such comments otherwise you are being tribal and disruptive to useful conversation. I have disagreed with Jimmy and find some of his "reporting" lacking when he gets things wrong... I comment on his posts about what he's not discussing. But it's constructive criticism. Calling people toxic and useful idiot is just a put down. It is toxic. It has no conversation to clarify reality.
Just stick to I think something to the effect "Jimmy is wrong about X because he's forgetting about Z or not thinking about Y". Or he has a misunderstanding on how X works.
He's actually reasonable, when he makes idiot mistakes, he does correct them eventually. Just as everyone... I think too much ego has been going around some of these channels, they all act like they have an vendetta of "See, I told you so." way too prematurely often claiming evidence that isn't supportive, but counter to their argument.
Thus I have actually unsubscribed from your show and his and a few others... I'm literally only subscribed to Captain Big Seltzer LOL! He just sticks to policies. Ego can fuck it. Just fuck ego. Otherwise in movement will collapse under it's own tribalism weight... ego is the key to tribalism... at the heart of it, our culture is very sycophantic... we like to pretend we're all individuals, but reality we love to gravel over super heroes... people from Italy, UK, even Germany with its vestige of old nobility see that we have a weird fetish for royalty... hence why coaches are paid the highest of most states in our country, we worship musicians and actors like they're the second coming or child of one of the pantheon... we have a fucked up culture of irrational boot sucking that must turn toward rationality.
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Our country lost its fucking mind. We've gone so far right, they've gone mentally bankrupt.
"We're not ready for reasonable rationality... in fact we should probably go back to being even dumber and crueler and eviler... kids should probably have to work again, stop the prohibition of child labor... and education, school? Really, these kids are freeloading, no school, let them figure stuff out on their own. And I'm not racist... I'm liberal cuz I'm gay, but I think we should endorse slavery again, get people to work... make them, and not do it based on race, because I might have some Jew or black in me somewhere.... and I'm already working, so I don't need to be owned to get me to work, I'm already working.
Get what I'm getting at? I hope... I'm not that educated as you are probably, but you know... I think sometimes, but it's fun to talk more. And seriously, we should probably do away with fire departments.
You know I just don't think we're ready for public roads anymore either."
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Because they are or were totalitarian right wingers of capitalism even though they claimed to be leftist socialists.
Seriously, they never gave up capital (money). Property rights were still enforced. It's just the "state" owned most of the means of production, and in many cases the "state" meant a few oligarchs they termed "leaders of the proletariat which often power and the wealth and its income passed down to successive family members. Similar to monarchies, mercantilism, patronage/oligarchy capitalism.
USSR always had money. The other term for money is capital. Link below shows all issuance of USSR money throughout its history.
http://russianmoney.info/USSR/1961/
Simon, we see various types of capitalism fail all the time.
This is just a definition setting. Getting hung on terms and not specifics is idiotic.
National Socialist German Workers' Party (NAZI's) were a capitalistic socialism system that allowed oligarchs to retain ownership of production with a strong totalitarian government that kept the oligarchs in check and under control.
I think its better to be specific on policies we want.
Because otherwise you just get people not accepting definitions because they have their preference definition.
It's like saying that bottle is blue, and someone screaming at you saying no, its indigo, and another person say nope its more sky blue, and another saying nope I would say that color is baby blue.
It doesn't matter what anyone calls it. Just use that particular reference of blue be that particular reference, compared to other shades of blue.
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I don't understand this capitalist vs socialist... every country that exists still relies on markets and investment money using aristocratic large sums of money for investment.
Venezuela in the 1990's and through most of the 1900's 80% of all wealth in the nation was and still is controlled by 200 oligarch families. The new regime with Chavez and now the new guy Maduro never banished or kill any of them, despite some of them committing overt coupe attempts to over throw the government under Chavez. Venezuela still relies heavily on investment activity for businesses to exist. Venezuela just nationalized their oil and a few other sectors... Norway government owns most of its oil sector too.
Specifically, the only difference is that Chavez did change constitution that made the power of the president override checks and balances of legislature and judicial. Something that I think can be dangerous for any country.
Currently, the oligarchs in Venezuela continue to try to influence the vote, but often fail since prior to the 1990's before Chavez, Venezuela was among the most impoverished... the people don't have it that great now, but it was a nightmare for most before.
Many Venezuelan oligarchs are still trying to actively get US and other countries to aid in overthrowing their government non-democratically.
What's happening to Venezuela is a story of when oligarchs turn completely tyrannical, and the choice between oligarch puppets is a party that somewhat inept in governing as well as needs the oligarchs much of its economy to function.
By the way, people aren't "eating dog in the street". Shortages exist on very specific food items. When famine or extreme food shortages exist, you don't just get inflation, you literally get people in the streets... go look at anyone taking current footage from there... they're not eating dog or scrounging for food like Sudan or some areas of Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua... to which you see like in Sudan and Libya... thousands migrating in large packs like we see in Mexico.
To be blunt, most nations worldwide are in terrible times using this current underlying economic models of oligarchical model of corporations.
As far as Swedes and Norwegians doing better... 2011 went back to school and stayed in dorms... one girl said she was there because she thought she would take it more serious since she had to actually pay for school... she didn't. She was a party animal. And eventually flunked most of her classes and back to Sweden... another Norwegian 20 year old was a raging alcoholic before he came here... and he left a raging alcoholic when he left just after one quarter semester... I'm not sure if he even went more than two times to classes. None of them took anything serious here, I guess under hopes of themselves and their parents the harshness of the US would make them take responsibility... nope. Didn't pan out for them. The Swedish girl to at least last longer, almost a full 4 quarters before she was actually suspended due to poor grades, and couldn't stay at the dorms anymore. They both had visas to attend school and work while they were here. None of them got a job, which I found funny. Their story was, coming to America to get toughened up, they're screw balls because their respective countries are too relaxed.... either way didn't pan out for them.
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Social-Capital mixed market is the method of economics almost all nations have adopted that does better than total communism or capitalism markets which had replaced slavery, feudalism, and mercantilism.
And determining whether to have a sector collective or private owned and operated requires the competitive market principles if it violates these principles severely, and for all sectors to ensure competitive markets principles are increasingly met toward "perfect competitive markets" like food sector does well from farming and manufacturing and retailing at the private sector meeting easier entry to market, price is influenced by supply and demand as plenty of substitutes exist, etc.with only perfect knowledge not always being available thus we require nutrition facts and ingredient lists as well as statements of allergens contained or if processed nearby so people with severe allergies know to use caution or simply not to purchase that good.
Also, externalities exist on food sector, ie. if farmers have a poor crop yield due infestation of fungus, insects, or other disease, or bad weather you can have sudden price increases in food over time as food supply can drastically drop... so a backstop to prevent food shortages and especially famine, all nations subsidize farming in some way using government money in some fashion often via insurance and price floors for crops.
For natural monopolies that violate entry to barrier, requiring economy of scale, severe externality, etc. those items are not competitive markets thus profit motive fails providing better quality and more supply and you get worse outcome (lesser supply, higher prices, and poorer quality). Utilities, roads, ports, etc. are all natural monopolies.
Economics isn't a mystery.
Really, mostly in just our country, the US has just become a dogmatic idiocy founded on pure insanity since Milton Friedman and Ayn Rand cult and politicians horrible return to plutocratic economic policy. Most nations understand economics.
Our nation's thoughts and understanding on economic science/philosophy from professionals to everyday persons has become as misguided, contradictory, and flat out stupid and wrong in violation of not just logic but of observed facts to be tantamount to flat earther, young earther, ancient aliens built everything, and those that mix and match such as flat earthers space isn't real but aliens still somehow did it contradictory lunatics.
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We have a republic that limits democracy and causes many to be apathetic (gerrymandering, candidate stacking, electoral college, etc.).
Democracy is really the only way to go... votes. And democracies require a strong constitution, but one that can be amended just a bit easier than our constitution with big majority vote so as no to harm a large minority.
Any other alternative is monarchy, theocracy, military or non-military dictatorship, a select oligarchy/leader of the proletariat to which only a handful of select people are eligible for voting.
What we have in the US is a broken republic democracy where our candidates are essentially legally bribed, must get those bribes to get any advertisement and media attention, current office holders select their own districts which is absurd; gerrymandering, and candidates are not undergoing basic tests: drug abuse, general education/knowledge tests.
Apathy is what often kills a republic democracy... Hitler gained seats because people were apathetic, French put in Napoleon due to apathy and simply being tired after the terror (the terror was caused by too easily and hasty on suspension of the constitution something that should never happen, and even Lincoln who suspended part of the US constitution should be watched closely).
Democracies work better for more people than oligarchies, theocracies, simple/military dictatorships, absolute monarchies, etc.
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The everything is in burst mode and will continue to hasten into a liquidation problem all around by the end of 2019 into 2020, Trump is just an idiot waiting for is orange jump suit when he is convicted at the state level for money laundering, campaign finance fraud, structuring, and federally on the same as well as violations on the emoluments clause.
He's only president because economically the worker class over the past 40 years has been put through the ringer: suicide rates are at all time highs, opium use and deaths kill more people a year than the the Vietnam war, individual debts are back up to unsustainable levels from credit card to housing to this time vehicle loans that only got to $400 billion, now is at $1.22 trillion... similar to student loan debts that were once only $400 billion is now at $1.5 trillion. Then the new threatening liquidity debt bubble is collateralized debt obligations concerning businesses... business total debt was $4 trillion, it's now $9.5 trillion with these CLO's accounting for about a trillion. Fluff in the market over the past 3 years was brought higher largely due to low interest rates, stock buy backs run-a-muck with large companies literally borrowing money to buy back stock... the most moronic short term sugar high, and midterm disaster.
CLO's I personally think will be the big catalyst that packs the last punch. Vehicle default rates are already on the rise, those were chopped in CLO's, and business CLO's which literally don't hesitate do file Ch 7 liquidation and dissolve will be gigantic. We're seeing a global slow down because other countries also binged on "cheap" debt, and everyone stops borrowing, no more demand, and poof it all falls down. Since borrowing and investment money was what was driving any demand. There was no underlying virtuous demand cycle... real wages have the purchasing power of 1974. And layoffs for good paying companies have already started from GE, GM, Tesla, and a host of others.
He likely won't be president for another 4 years... we'll be in a serious depression... not necessarily caused by him, it was inevitable before him on the idiot policies used to "revive" the economy... nothing was changed, just inflate out of it on the supply side... if the fundamental demand side is completely ruined, you'll get nothing but boom and bust. And this one is going to be a big bust.
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I'm not sure about making me feel like an idiot so much, because this one is doing that for allowing us to have such a process that puts a fucking idiot in the highest office of our nation.
I want a bar like test, similar we have for air traffic controllers, Bar exams for lawyers, pilot exam and practicals to just get a private pilot license, etc.
For governors and president of the US you should be required to pass a governing exam of sorts... covering wide variety of topics for basic elementary understanding from geography, social studies covering the past 200 years at the least, a history portion covering all recorded history in just a very general sense, basic algebra and geometry, basic chemistry, basic biology, basic physics, etc.
They're allowed to study on the test, provide sample questions and pamphlets on what topics and types of questions that would be on the test, and it should be over 100 questions.
Just a basic knowledge test, and I like most tests 70% would be the minimum passing score. Each time you take the test a different set of questions would be randomized with same amount of concentration on topics. Each failure would require a 4 year waiting period.
After the written test which could be multiple choice, another exam would be given called the practical... this one is just to see if the president is capable of coming up with answers on his own, covering all questions missed.
At the very least, it would ensure anyone for the job, that they would have the understanding they're not "like a smart person." We're all ignorant on some topics, that they will need to read books, at the very least research online like google, and know how to pick credible sources like .edu and determine credible non-bias organizations, even know how to access a scholarly journal and look up various topics.
We can't have an idiot serving in the highest office in the land... 2/3's so far have been dimwits. But Trump takes it to a completely different level, where we're getting essentially what is tantamount to idiot royal heirs utterly bereft of basic knowledge. A completely dangerous combination for someone who is ratifying or rescinding first attempt at all laws, committing to various foreign policies, commander and chief of our armed forces, and has the determination on using nuclear weapons.
I know the White House isn't just one person, but an entire administration, but the president himself has extremely dire responsibilities. We can't give it to a buffoon. And succession would be based on those who could pass the knowledge battery too; VP to Speaker and down... your first assignment when you get nominated or elected to any of these offices of succession would be to study and take the exam as soon as practicable.
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I don't think Universal Basic Income would be a stable decent concept. Look at social security at constantly being cut (age changes for retirement, goofy tricks on calculating increases due to inflation, etc), and since we get that small amount pensions have been cut to the point they don't exist for a majority, instead a 401K which is not a pension program, especially from the meager match and total amount for people to pay into it.
What's required is a complete employer and employee relationship change. Eliminate the relationship by making it one in the same.
1) Employees cannot get ahead if constantly considered a cost as they are now.
2) Profit sharing generally doesn't exist with employees despite various gimmick stock options that are often required to be purchased... that's not sharing, that's selling shares for potential profit or loss.
What we need is to change corporations into co-op based businesses where each worker has a stake in the company and a vote in what to do with revenue: capital expenditures, benefits expenditures, wages/salaries, bonuses, operating expenses, to basics on regular amount of hours per week to work, where to work, how to work, etc.
Capital formation has always been the plug on most co-ops. Most individuals don't have money to risk starting a co-op business that require heavy amounts of capital like in mining, refining, and even just moderate manufacturing, etc.
So you create a Federal Reserve Co-Op Bank, similar to the Federal Reserve Bank that exists in most nations; but instead of having private banks run the show, The Fed Reserve Co-Op bank doesn't necessarily need any deposit bank, and in fact has its own branches and only lends money, you may actually allow savings and checking which would help poor unbanked people, but for the function of capital formation deposits aren't required.
Because the Fed Co-Op Reserve Bank would lend directly at very low rates to co-op businesses only; and like the Fed Reserve we have now, the borrowed money is simply printed into existence when it lends or buys assets to other member banks.
Whenever economic advancements were made were based on worker and employer relationship. Originally we had slavery. Then serfdom. Then mercantilism which included voluntary servitude. Then current casual employee relationship where you're just labor costs; and among the easiest cost to keep down; hence why share of revenue in most businesses labor is only 3% to 10%; share of overall costs is 5% to 15% for most business with some exceptions like easy entry businesses retail sales including fast food and restaurants. Which labor costs can range from 10% to 45% of costs; varies wildly because one shop or location generally never reaches any economy of scale.
Look up Richard Wolff.
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We've been doing this for almost 40 years, first Reagan who had to raise taxes and mostly on the lower brackets fucker, then Bush Sr who said read my lips no new taxes, and then raised them mostly on the lower brackets again. Then Bush Jr., and each time it doesn't do well for workers who have seen pay flat, benefits stupid dumb farce insurance, and no more pension, and the sick gimmick of 401K their matching is generally pathetic at 4% when it would really need minimum of 14% match to really be a retirement plan.
This never works. It's idiotic as saying, oh lets "trade" with dictatorship nations who have lots of essentially destitute slaves and play hot potato with them on producing, they won't buy shit, but maybe someday they will. Maybe. They won't because we play hot potato with those ass holes and switch to the next most destitute nation, and when that nation gets to big for its poverty britches we'll move back to the other place because it will be back to being as poor and desperate the first time we arrived... weeeeeeeeeeee!
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There should be a battery of knowledge tests from mathematics, basic chemistry, basic physics, basic law, civics of our federal/state government, basic economics, basic finance, basic world geography, basic geology, basic biology, and reading comprehension.
There is for any job in the military, air traffic controllers, pilots, commercial naval captains and seaman, water works operators, electricians, grid electrical operators and repair, sewer operators, aircraft mechanics, teachers, even vehicle mechanics.
But no empirical knowledge testing standards at all for political offices... that's fucking insane.
It's not too hard to exclude obvious constitutionally and law prohibited items: religion, race, sexual orientation, gender, etc. discrimination. But just empirical exams that EVERY other profession requires.
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I'm a new type, From Richard Wolffe I would call it more concise terms a Co-Opist.
Someone demanding we institute a Federal Reserve Co-Op Bank ran similar to the function of the Fed Reserve Bank that lends discount overnight rates to private banks.
Differences would be Co-Op Reserve would be able to lend long term at discount rates to groups of people wanting to buy out their current small or medium or even large business or begin their own business that is capital heavy directly.
Co-op charter would require all employees to hold a single vote, not volume shares, to motion for wages/salaries, capital expenditures, leadership, management, and other functions of the business; the employees would be the board of directors in ability to petition and vote for all proposals including leadership who would also provide clear defined plans, and together make business plans.
Currently banks tend not to lend much capital to co-ops for a variety of reasons, current corporate charter doesn't play well with co-ops that provide non-share everyone has a single vote for employees type constructs. So they have to become a regular LLC or other corporate charter Co-Op like WinCo Foods a big grocery store chain. Or they're relegated to even smaller retail like coffee shops, pizza, antiques, etc. But to get big manufacturing even moderate to somewhat small manufacturing or any mining or refining requires tens of millions if not a hundred million in capital to start up or take over existing firms. A method of capital formation for co-ops is needed, and would work.
Nullifying an excuse to have an aristocracy. Capital formation comes from lending from the Co-Op Reserve Bank. Employees don't want to see their business go under, so they would likely manage better when they're put in charge of ensuring it is successful, an they benefit from any profits well beyond what profits are distributed today.
So economically I'm a Co-opist.
And what's nice it only requires additions:
1) Create Co-Op Reserve Bank to lend to groups of people directly to buy out or start up a firm with a decent business plan for success.
2) Write up specific Co-Op Charters that cater to such an organization that its shares are not for sell and single voting decision and petition making belongs to every employee regardless of title of that employee.
Other business can still exist. They would compete. I'm fairly certain over time corporations will lose out to such co-ops since 1) people won't want to work for corporations where they pay so low compared to co-ops that literally share much of their profits and vote on key points on how they operate and do with the revenue. 2) Customers will like the prices and quality of products and services from such co-ops much more than from corporate businesses. Even Corporate businesses buying inputs in a B2B transaction would likely favor the co-op for the cheaper better quality input than from other alternative corporation.
So create the environment and let them compete.
Competition is after all the only reason for the profit motive being effective and providing supply to meet demand.
And of course economically, sectors that violate some or all of the competitive market principles should either be highly regulated by the people with requirements for them to respond to petitions of the people, or be owned by the government body they service; local as possible. All utilities from water, sewer, trash, roads, ports, electricity, natural gas pipelines, heating oil, fall into these categories. Oligopolies may fall into this as well like cell phone and ISP's. Healthcare and education due to several competitive market principles in violation.
Political government a democratic-republic with a strong democracy where various votes need ratification by the people... with the internet it's much easier to conduct such a ratification; similar to submitting your taxes or do online banking. You just submit your vote on a secure website.
I've taken to call it Co-opism or Co-opist.
It would be big. Won't be sunshine and rainbows everyday.
But an advancement in all peoples' well being just as the prohibition of slavery, feudal serfdom, and patronage mercantilism has done so. Just has rehabilitating the democratic and democratic republican form of governments has made life better for more people.
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Being close to Utah having several extended family members and friends living there, Utah isn't as right wing as people would think. They're like Idaho, they don't vote much to begin with, most don't even know their local state rep or even mayors.
And of the large Mormon influence, several including many of my older relatives like my great aunt, and my late grandma are deep liberals; they lived through the great depression in cabins (dirt floor shacks/sheds) as children and remember the actions of FDR that quickly provided decent pay and modern housing with plumbing, electricity, an complete foundation floors.
So you have a faction of liberal Mormons and right winger Mormons. The younger generation of Mormons were brainwashed by the 80's Reagan era. The older generation still hang on with liberal concepts and still shun GOP due to Nixon.
So you mostly have people who don't bother to vote. A huge amount that don't. So all that has been winning GOP right winger legislation has been a small plurality that actually bother to vote.
If people feel compelled to vote and become politically active to at least sign petitions and follow up in elections and primaries, you can see things change quickly even in Utah.
And of the right wingers, they hate Trump. They don't even try to defend him. Instead they'll change the subject to anything but politics while decrying how shitty Hillary is. But they won't defend Trump a Dump like they did with Bush.
And that's a state that's essentially a theocracy, or as close to one can be without completely trampling on the federal constitution.
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We need to go for a two house co-op structure, move away from corporations or LLC's.
A Co-Op Federal Reserve Bank must be created. It worked wonder berries for the private banks and corporations with the Federal Reserve Bank.
The Co-Op Federal Reserve Bank would be allowed to lend directly, having its own branches without requirement of deposit banking, have access to the treasury printing press and lend at low interest for capital formation instead of using racketeering oligarchs taking all the profits as happened since at least last 40 years.
Under a Co-Op structure, the workers literally own a voting share in their business they work. And vote on subjects such as what and how much to reinvest in growing the company (capital expenditures), wages and salaries, benefits including sick time allotments and vacation allotments, retirement plans like 401K contributions and pension building, and what to do with profits after taxes, compensation, and capital expenditures, etc. such as maybe more capital expenditures, maybe more salary and wage increases, maybe a bonus, maybe little bit of all of it. But he workers would get the vote.
Under a Co-Op living structure which exists even today in many places, the renter owns a stake in the revenue and voting voice on what to do with surplus after paying mortgage, upkeep, included utilities, etc. Since profits, which are typically 25% to 50% depending on the balance sheet, and if free and clear of mortgages, aren't going to an investor or group of investors, rather to the renters who also are member owners, they have been able to upgrade roads, parks, build swimming pools, and lower rents significantly. They could also use the proceeds to grow more unit spaces where applicable.
Co-ops change the owner worker and owner tenant relationship. It's literally the only way for the average person to really share in the profits of advancing technological society.
It still works competition via profit motive to an extent, but that profit motive is in line with the average person's needs, not some oligarch or wanna be oligarch parasite on all the profits: nobody will vote to outsource their work, nobody would vote to not upgrade streets, not build lower rents if profits exceeded needed upgrades like a nice swimming pool, park, nice road, garage, etc. Nobody would vote to have all the profits go into a few peoples' hands.
The only problem currently with co-ops is that banks tend not to want to lend to them that easily. And other forms of investment are at conflict with the relationship required... the investor has stake by virtue of the invested money thus has more votes to than the workers or tenants. So a Reserve Bank steps into be the lender/investor of last resort at low interest, directly from the government's own printing press, just as private banks do with the current Federal Reserve Bank.
It's a type of reserve bank system that should have had a hearing when the current Reserve Bank was secretly and originally formed by oligarchs in early 1900's and quickly passed by congress and signed by the president.
I see in the long run, a way to move away from corporations that create an extremely unequal oligarchy, toward co-ops that create a very equal society that is truly prospering.
And it doesn't exclude the use of much needed specific subsidies in building more houses and apartments. This should have been a concern when the real estate busted, people still needed homes, it wasn't that people just didn't need an extra house or two.
It was simply, the prices of those homes became so inflated via over borrowing, people couldn't afford the payments on those inflated prices.
And they should have realized it would put many developers out of business, making an extremely lack of supply when people could finally afford homes again at some point.
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There were serious moments he sounded more liberal or at least understanding to us workers than Hillary. And it was under the GOP controlled house and senate with Clinton that voted to remove Glass-Steagal banking act, passed NAFTA, established bilateral trade with China putting us on path for using every despotic and failed state as a plantation for cheap serf/slave/desperate labor, increased sentencing that blew up the prison population that we're number one in the world in number of our citizens in prison, de-funded HUD and low income affordable houses and apartments which then required people to take out mental case loans well above their annual income, de-funded low income welfare to ensure poverty was avoided, etc.
Most people I spoke to either wanted to vote for Bernie, but if they only had the choice between Hillary vs Trump, they went Trump.
People are fucking angry in all developed countries. Even many of the countries that were gaining for a short sugar rush, but crashed too around 2008-10 like Brazil, even in China, S Korea, etc. Most nations of Europe, particularly UK which since Thatcher and even with Blair, their working class completely bombed making in real income 10% less than they did 30 years ago as the median. And their faced with a similar housing and apartment shortage and of their supply that was privatized, apparently it was done to maximize profits regardless of safety as the Grenfell tower fire demonstrates.
This economic system is completely untenable.
We're repeating the turn of the last two centuries 1880's to 1930's.
Society didn't learn its lesson last time.
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I think a basic wealth co-ownership for its dividend income.
What makes a co-op ownership with share dividend better is that it reduces time worked so we're not still stuck on basic income as well as having to work long hours at low income; basically businesses start to use the universal basic income as a subsidy in lieu of higher pay.
Also over time, a basic income would start shrink as all government programs tend to do over time both in terms of nominal shrinkage, but real shrinkage as people tend to think inflation maybe caused by the universal income increases; when actual inflation tends to happen during large leveraging from banks in the fractional reserve system, and a labor market that's extremely tight; with global exploitation, labor markets are extremely loose.
Share ownership co-op structure would require businesses to provide shares to employees. A reserve bank of Co-ops like the Federal Reserve bank does for big businesses and banks today; would have the power to lend to co-ops to provide high capital amounts for sectors like mining, refining, heavy manufacturing, expensive electronics, R&D for medicines and other goods, as well construction development.
Such a bank could provide a universal shares income in a basket of co-op share systems; maybe an index of co-op shares. Whereby the dividends from these co-ops would provide a basic income.
Compensation wouldn't just include wages/salary, but also shares. And if unemployed for schooling or whatever reason, or perhaps in a new small not yet established co-op with any surplus/profits thus no dividends, you would be given via the Co-op Reserve bank the larger shares as well as public corporate stock indexes to gain a portfolio of shares that pay dividends.
A wealth model is better as it actually would reduce the 40 hour work week into half 20 hours; allowing more people to participate in a shrinking automated work environment. As well as ensuring even higher income than what you would get from a universal payment every month; it would increase as you got older and accumulated more shares; retirement age you would be set. These accumulated retirement shares would mostly not be passed to survivors of the family; perhaps only 50% or less would unless married.
The remaining shares after death would go back to the reserve bank to distribute; so quantity of shares always exist.
Avoids the squabble over raising universal income, and its potentially its worthlessness as time goes by. Like a 7.25 Federal min wage is currently a joke.
A universal wealth co-op structure would be the best method of ensuring everyone has prosperity.
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I think its not a complete waste of time.
The comments you got were from the mentally ill who are rampant among anyone irrational and gullible enough to support right wingers, particularly the odd ball buffoon Trump with his tariffs already hurting businesses nation wide. Economic reports already showing many direct and indirect business dealing with steel and aluminum as an input are having to cutback and even stop production for long periods of time.
My place of work uses lots of aluminum, and decided to only give everyone a 1% raise this spring for the year citing cost of inputs increasing... yeah the fucking aluminum tariffs.
Anyway, it's somewhat worth it. If they completely edited our comments than it wouldn't be.
The four minutes is shady; cutting off because they don't know how to respond is very shady. They're a propaganda outlet. Just as MSNBC and CNN with occasional fact based news. Most of the time they want to submit a narrative, throwing things out there to see if it sticks to move what they want to achieve forward.
CNN's recent article about current front runner for DNC presidential candidate placing Biden number 1, and Sanders number 5.
Most people at work, friends and family either don't care for Biden, and shouldn't be too surprising they don't even know how Biden is, yet they do know who Bernie is. And they like Bernie... even Trump voters lament they rather have voted for Bernie because they trust him more, it was that Trump was speaking more like a democrat than Hillary on economic issues.
Whether its completely worth it is up to you... you're the one having to catch flack and even insane nut who might decide stalking you is a good idea... a 4 minute segment on a bland propaganda network you actually got comments, and that some of these commentators described researching you?
LOL! WTF? Do these people have a life?
Good news, they looked you up. It means what you said got to them. So they're at least trying to think. Albeit like most paranoid nuts, its for confirmation bias that what you have to say must be wrong, because they have already determined it.
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Only reason shit head got elected, and same with shit head lady in the DNC, so many don't vote. 7% are all that participate in primaries, insanely grotesque sometimes due to state laws that are idiotic like NY. But even Idaho, where you can show up and register at the caucus or primary people don't bother. Disenfranchisement has been a success via the oligarchy, make the mass of people feel like peasants, and they will act as peasants.
All representative and democratic forms of government end when turn out stinks.
45% didn't bother to vote in last presidential election, and 63% in the last midterms.
The idiot stupid then have a greater push toward stupidity.
Seriously, those comments are a minority ignorant and nuts you can find anywhere, but for the wisdom of the crowds to work, for democracy to work, all people available must vote.
Otherwise you get the idiocy of the crowds and the following misery that comes therewith.
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I know that's not what they would do with the savings. All for profit business don't pay employers that way, they either have to collectively bargain in unions, 6% of labor currently. Or 94% of wages/salaries, they look at other businesses and similar positions and say that's the market wage/salary a form of collusion, and that's all they will pay. They don't share profits. And when they do they tie that sharing back as a percentage of your wage/salary, like 1% to 5% for wage/salary workers at the middle and low range.
Businesses pocket 90% of profits. They do not share them as wages/salaries.
Case in point a water company with a cash cow monopoly in our area revenue 2016 was 46 million. Total compensation to current employees 2.1 million. Pensions were 1.6 million. 3.7 million paid out in total compensation to retirees and current workers; this includes uniforms and insurance premium, 401K contributions, etc.
Their profits were 16 million after all other expenses were paid including total employee and retiree compensation, business operations, and increased capital expenses (building more wells and upgrades). 34% more than a 1/3 in profit margin. Total compensation is only 8% of expense of total revenue.
Companies don't pay wages/salaries based on their profits. They pay only based on what they can get away with as they observe others paying for similar positions. So there likely won't be any increase in wages/salaries via a corporate tax cut to wages/salaries. Simply that isn't how businesses determine employee pay and compensation.
All savings will be added to profits which are paid to shareholders (owners) of the business. This is basic finance and business management.
If it were the case corporate tax rates lowering saving trillions over the past 40 years, should have increased wages/salaries by double their current median income. But we have actually seen such wages flat, and the lower quintiles fall. It's not even a theory/hypothesis on paper, nor is it an observational phenomena; in fact, you could make the claim based on observation that salaries and wages actually drop, but that's not directly related to the flat and falling wages. That has to do with trade with despotic and/or chronically corrupt nations using their serf labor to offshore production, and falling union participation made easier by so called right to work legislation that makes forming or maintaining unions next to impossible.
In the case of the water company in our area, if they were to actually share profits, just another 8% of total revenue, so increasing employee and retire compensation from 8% to 16%, making 3.7 million into 7.4 million, their profits of 16 million they're sharing 3.7 million leaving still 12.3 million in profits, they could double everyone's wages and pension pay out for that year.
They don't do that. They keep all profits for shareholders. And its not small, as you can see from this example if they actually just doubled their compensation as a share of profit, they still retain 76% of the profits which is 3.3 times total retiree and active employee compensation. What they don't pay out is 4.3 times total retiree and active employee compensation. Meaning they have over 4 times all compensation they pay out; they could pay employees 4 times everyone's wage/salary, this includes CEO pay, utility workers, supervisors, to the janitor and customer service rep and billing rep. But they don't. They retain those as profits.
Workers are a cost to a businesses. Just as other inputs from paper, pipes, tractors, truck leases, etc. You're a cost. Not an asset. That's the system we have. It's ECON, MGMNT, FINAN 100 or 90 not even 101.
A corporate tax deduction doesn't increase wages/salaries of workers. Only using the Laffer curve, if the effective tax is over 77%, businesses may not grow as fast, thus not have need to hire more people and produce more goods/services thus generate more tax revenue, effective tax just under 77% business will retain the ability to grow whenever the quantity demanded is apparent for them, but at or below this rate will have a diminishing tax revenue effect, not an increase in tax revenue.
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Sometimes I just give up, not just on political dumb people, but on all subjects. I just listen in amusement, and only talk when they ask for my input. Sometimes claims being made by the person is so uninformed full of ignorance it's hard not to hold back point by point... I don't think of them dumb, just confused... we're not all knowing and we forget or get things jumbled.
What I do dislike though is claims positioned as if they know much about the topic, when evident they know nothing, but what comes out of comic books, cartoons, and well known dogma talking points, or just out of their own butts.
A coworker I like quite a bit, good guy, started conversation about how dinosaurs might have existed along with humans, that carbon dating fossils isn't that reliable. I had no idea where he was going, just kept working and listening, particularly he was closer to another coworker than I so wasn't sure if he was even talking to me. Until he asked my opinion about the subject. I was busy and about to end my shift, so I quickly went through several bullet points of the many methods that are used in dating anything... but I started of with agreeing with him on the carbon dating fossils... I said something to the effect, Well carbon dating fossils is not reliable because you can't do it, fossils are mineralized remains and/or impressions, there isn't any carbon left from when the biological specimen was alive. Instead you use other forms of radio-metric dating, and any dating it is desired to use as many as possible depending on the minerals of the fossil. I explained how carbon dating and other radio metric dating works thus it's limitations, can't use on marine animals since they don't accumulate (eat and breath) as much atmospheric CO2 to have the same level of carbon 14 so you get skewed and often very wrong dates if you do. That you must consider the mineral of the fossil to determine the best radio metic dating methods, and do more than just one type of radio dating if possible.
Most importantly that archaeologist use other methods like tree ring dating, rock layer dating (KT boundary above no dinosaurs but large mammals including humanoids, below KT boundary no large mammals and dinosaurs), chemical layer dating, for younger things not fossilized one can use genetic dating methods, etc. These dates converge and agree on a narrow date range. The key is using as many methods of dating any specimen as possible as each method converges on a date eliminate margin of error. If any one of them is wrong, the others will point this out.
Most important, is be nice, and explain why it is you know something they may not know, and biggest importance how to look up sources. The ability to discern fact from fiction is the biggest problem we have today, people don't know how to be proper skeptics or scientists.
He did seem a little flustered though, his last comment was I don't think scientists know as much as they think they do. I said, nope. That's why various studies are constantly researching and experimenting and measuring. And as data comes in, one can be more as certain as possible particularly with completely different methods that converge on the same results. Science is the only method that provides any level of certainty in discernment on reality. No other method exists, no other method likely exists that does as good a job as the scientific method.
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This guy goes from asking questions and responding like some bumpkin from dip shit-ville to flat out crazy nut job cult fuckery. WTF would you even bother wasting your time with this nut job???
And a side note, this fuck head hasn't a clue how our legal system works... accusations require probable cause not innocent until proven guilty... investigations begin initially when police or other investigator finds probable cause to launch an investigation, warrants maybe issued by a judge when such investigations begin, then a Grand Jury decides based on probable cause, not on presumed innocent until proven guilty, if found probable cause the person is indited to a trial jury, and so that only evidence maybe used to determine guilt, the indited should be considered not guilty until the evidence is provided in making their final judgement on guilt, that the burden of evidence is on the prosecutor foremost.... null hypothesis.
Anyway, this guy was a wacko, similar freaks you find in any major city wandering the streets talking to dumpsters, fire hydrants, and passing out pamphlets that describe how the voices in their head are trying to help you somehow.
He makes uncle Ruckus on Boondocks look sane... and that character was nuts.
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Not sure why he wants to talk about Greece, they have an even lower min wage of $5.13 an hour equivalent, and Greece works even harder than we do at 2,035 hours per person; this takes in account by subtracting vacation and holiday pay. US 1,783 hours a year.
If you only worked 8 hours a day 5 days a week all year we get 2,080.
In fact, 2012 Greece lowered their min wage to $6.58 an hour equivalent. And their economy over the past 5 years, 2 year after lost another 8% of GDP. Greece median income has fallen from almost 1,350 Euros a month to under 1,110 Eu or $1623.51 USD to $1,334 USD a month.
The US has a higher min wage, but better overall median wage and while sluggish better improvement economically than Greece which never had a very decent economy for workers in the first place. They have already been making less for more work. Hence why so many Syrian refugees pass through Greece, as well as some other places, its kind of an economic crap hole before they faced the real estate collapse. Now its even worse.
To put in perspective median individual income of $31K a year in the use or $2,392 a month compared to Greece's $1,334 a month; our individual median income is about twice Greece's. Their economy in general has always been lousy. I wouldn't use their practices which have been more libertarian right winger than ours.
Greece's only "advance" economic structure is free healthcare for those making less than 2,400 euros a month, a little over half the working population. But I don't see us bragging that we have fire departments.
The statistics show lower min wages, lower underlying demand is the biggest factor from being a 2nd or 3rd world failing economy, or being a strong economy.
If there is no underlying demand in the country, it's an economic shit hole that works for low wages barely scrapes by as it exports its way into poverty with a rising entrenched tyrannical oligarchy.
https://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=ANHRS
https://tradingeconomics.com/greece/minimum-wages
https://tradingeconomics.com/greece/wages
https://tradingeconomics.com/greece/wages
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