nytimes.com— News of America’s death is greatly exaggerated. In reality, the U.S. is on the verge of a demographic, economic and social revival.
Apr 6, 2010View in Crawl 4
Oh, she was probably waiting for someone else to take her checkbook out for her. She is expecting everything to be done by someone else, while she is dreaming of how to eat all the groceries she just purchased.
unless people realize 9/11 was an inside job, and we arrest these international banksters, and nationalize the federal reserve, then NO, things aren't "fine".
GDP includes government spending, no matter whether it's productive or flushed down a toilet. These days, when government expenditures reach historic levels year after year, GDP is less useful for measuring the productivity of the country (if it was ever really useful for such purposes at all).
That's one way of looking at it. In the article, he fails to mention how the U.S. lags in education and is only getting worse in relative terms. Education = patents and intellectual property = research and development = investment = large corporations = wealth. Couple that with the anti-corporation mentality of the American liberals, and what you've got is a nation of morons who hate business and entrepreneurship. Good luck America.
You make the mistake of assuming that nominal earnings = real wealth. If you make only $1 an hour, but food costs a penny, you're pretty rich in relative terms. So really it's not the amount you get, it's what your money can buy, that is purchasing power. Just ask Zimbabwe with their trillion dollar notes how much their money is worth. So to answer your question, low skilled labor influxes (aka immigration) helps the economy because there are people willing to do work for really small amounts of money. So if you only make $20 an hour, but someone is willing to provide child care at $5 an hour, that's a pretty good deal. Economics classes are your friend.
@lukeatron said3 hr 10 min ago@CrazedLeper:"I *knew* you go for that one. "I thought I addressed most of your statements, if not all.---------------------------------------------"The things that really matter to me are scarce and not the kind of things about which my feelings can be manipulated by outside forces. These things motivate the only substantially consequential decisions in my life and as closed off to external influences as they are, there's really no way for some shadow group to alter these decisions in any way. I suspect most people are like this."Well, Luke (I presume that's your name) you kind of hit the nail on the head. You say that your feelings cannot be manipulated by outside forces but I contend that your feelings were manipulated before you were even born which is why you started that paragraph with "The things that really matter to me." You see, humanity once had a very different outlook. People looked out for the greater good; for their neighbors, their town; humanity as a whole. Gradually, over generations, the view of the average person has been converted to one in which self is at the center. The implications of this are extreme as a nation of individuals empowers the corrupt, greedy elite in ways you are in no position to appreciate right now.------------------------------------------"Now there's certainly tons of other little things that can be influence by all manner of outside factors but these more plastic "values" bear little influence on the big picture of my life."Again, the problem is that there is no "big picture" of "your life". The big picture is that we are all one person. If we, as a society don't behave as a single individual, chaos will result. Indeed, chaos is what we live every day. ------------------------------------------"And there are most certainly people working to bend those thoughts in a direction that benefits them. However, where you and I differ is in the notion of a grand organized agenda. "Careful, it almost sounds as if you're referring to some kind of conspiracy. If you can admit that there are *any* such persons, what prevents there from being many? What's preventing them from having success? How would you really know? What would the world look like if it were being run into the ground by a cabal of evil men?------------------------------------------"Getting a large number of people to agree on something as substantial as the future of everything human while and then putting this plan into practice without any one noticing is just an absurdly impossible proposition."You're correct. That's why it's a small number of people and they haven't gone unnoticed. It's not that no one has noticed, no one wants to believe it. That, too, is their work. You seriously underestimate these people.------------------------------------------"It's funny, you make a fair amount of comments that I dig up despite the fact you reach conclusions that are very ideologically opposed to mine simply because you've reached them in a logically consistent manner."That didn't even seem like a sideways compliment. I am not given to emotion; indeed I am a rational person. Rational, however, ought not be mistaken for "compliant". I'm not making waves for the sake of having waves made. I've done the heavy lifting. I've been on a mission for more than half of my life; asking the tough questions and not accepting "unknown" for an answer. I haven't had the luxury of a "normal" life and I count my blessings on account of that fact. I would hate to be blinded to the truth because I've grown so accustomed to the comfort, ease and pleasure afforded me through living a life of ignorance. I'm glad I never had to choose because I haven't liked suffering and I might not have chosen knowledge if I could have had a good time, instead.------------------------------------------"But yet you so fervently buy into all this conspiracy nonsense. You seem a smart enough person to be able to get out from under this yet you seem shackled by something that keeps you from seeing all of this from a pragmatic viewpoint."I have learned that the conspiracy is true. I have not *wanted* that to be true, I learned it. I asked questions, I searched for answers. I left no stone unturned. I accepted no lies, deception, soft-peddling or mysteries. I accept nothing but truth as stark and raw as it demands. That's how I live and it's not a fun life but fun is not relevant, truth is. You deny the conspiracy but not on any ground other than "it's crazy to believe in conspiracies". I urge you to reconsider your position. The world is a very complicated place and you should have a more solid foundation for your opinion.Humor me; watch the video. If you're not convinced, you lost a couple of hours of your life but you've seen bad movies before, haven't you?<a class="user" href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1128498518098620147&amp;hl=en#" rel="nofollow">http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-112849851 ...</a>------------------------------------------"I honestly don't mean this in a derogatory way but I kind of feel bad for you because these are the kind of thoughts that can eat the entire life out of a person before that person even realizes it's going on."Please don't feel sorry for me. I have amassed a great deal of very valuable knowledge and the promise of more commensurate with my growth in ability to comprehend it. Sure, there's a price to be paid; ignorance is bliss and I'm not a happy person but we exchange valuable things for more valuable things all the time. I'm sure your money is valuable to you but when you need food, does the food not become more valuable than whatever amount of money you part with to gain it? ------------------------------------------"Good luck with life. Live it as you like just as long as it doesn't start interfering with me doing the same thing."I'd never interfere with the choices of another person but I can try to help you see other choices that you just *might* value more.
From wikipedia"The phrase Novus ordo seclorum (Latin for "New Order of the Ages") appears on the reverse of the Great Seal of the United States, first designed in 1782 and printed on the back of the American dollar bill since 1935. The phrase also appears on the coat of arms of the Yale School of Management, Yale University's business school. The phrase is often mistranslated as "New World Order," for which the Latin would be Novus Ordo Mundi.[1]
bigtime2Apr 7, 2010
Oh, she was probably waiting for someone else to take her checkbook out for her. She is expecting everything to be done by someone else, while she is dreaming of how to eat all the groceries she just purchased.
Closed AccountApr 7, 2010
you'll still have beady eyes, floppy heads and small dicks WHAHAHAHAHA
Closed AccountApr 7, 2010
unless people realize 9/11 was an inside job, and we arrest these international banksters, and nationalize the federal reserve, then NO, things aren't "fine".
shigApr 7, 2010
GDP includes government spending, no matter whether it's productive or flushed down a toilet. These days, when government expenditures reach historic levels year after year, GDP is less useful for measuring the productivity of the country (if it was ever really useful for such purposes at all).
mmysamaApr 7, 2010
It's those damn old people......
brohApr 7, 2010
Do you call record debt & unemployment a success?
sugarkangApr 7, 2010
That's one way of looking at it. In the article, he fails to mention how the U.S. lags in education and is only getting worse in relative terms. Education = patents and intellectual property = research and development = investment = large corporations = wealth. Couple that with the anti-corporation mentality of the American liberals, and what you've got is a nation of morons who hate business and entrepreneurship. Good luck America.
sugarkangApr 7, 2010
You make the mistake of assuming that nominal earnings = real wealth. If you make only $1 an hour, but food costs a penny, you're pretty rich in relative terms. So really it's not the amount you get, it's what your money can buy, that is purchasing power. Just ask Zimbabwe with their trillion dollar notes how much their money is worth. So to answer your question, low skilled labor influxes (aka immigration) helps the economy because there are people willing to do work for really small amounts of money. So if you only make $20 an hour, but someone is willing to provide child care at $5 an hour, that's a pretty good deal. Economics classes are your friend.
crazedleperApr 8, 2010
@lukeatron said3 hr 10 min ago@CrazedLeper:"I *knew* you go for that one. "I thought I addressed most of your statements, if not all.---------------------------------------------"The things that really matter to me are scarce and not the kind of things about which my feelings can be manipulated by outside forces. These things motivate the only substantially consequential decisions in my life and as closed off to external influences as they are, there's really no way for some shadow group to alter these decisions in any way. I suspect most people are like this."Well, Luke (I presume that's your name) you kind of hit the nail on the head. You say that your feelings cannot be manipulated by outside forces but I contend that your feelings were manipulated before you were even born which is why you started that paragraph with "The things that really matter to me." You see, humanity once had a very different outlook. People looked out for the greater good; for their neighbors, their town; humanity as a whole. Gradually, over generations, the view of the average person has been converted to one in which self is at the center. The implications of this are extreme as a nation of individuals empowers the corrupt, greedy elite in ways you are in no position to appreciate right now.------------------------------------------"Now there's certainly tons of other little things that can be influence by all manner of outside factors but these more plastic "values" bear little influence on the big picture of my life."Again, the problem is that there is no "big picture" of "your life". The big picture is that we are all one person. If we, as a society don't behave as a single individual, chaos will result. Indeed, chaos is what we live every day. ------------------------------------------"And there are most certainly people working to bend those thoughts in a direction that benefits them. However, where you and I differ is in the notion of a grand organized agenda. "Careful, it almost sounds as if you're referring to some kind of conspiracy. If you can admit that there are *any* such persons, what prevents there from being many? What's preventing them from having success? How would you really know? What would the world look like if it were being run into the ground by a cabal of evil men?------------------------------------------"Getting a large number of people to agree on something as substantial as the future of everything human while and then putting this plan into practice without any one noticing is just an absurdly impossible proposition."You're correct. That's why it's a small number of people and they haven't gone unnoticed. It's not that no one has noticed, no one wants to believe it. That, too, is their work. You seriously underestimate these people.------------------------------------------"It's funny, you make a fair amount of comments that I dig up despite the fact you reach conclusions that are very ideologically opposed to mine simply because you've reached them in a logically consistent manner."That didn't even seem like a sideways compliment. I am not given to emotion; indeed I am a rational person. Rational, however, ought not be mistaken for "compliant". I'm not making waves for the sake of having waves made. I've done the heavy lifting. I've been on a mission for more than half of my life; asking the tough questions and not accepting "unknown" for an answer. I haven't had the luxury of a "normal" life and I count my blessings on account of that fact. I would hate to be blinded to the truth because I've grown so accustomed to the comfort, ease and pleasure afforded me through living a life of ignorance. I'm glad I never had to choose because I haven't liked suffering and I might not have chosen knowledge if I could have had a good time, instead.------------------------------------------"But yet you so fervently buy into all this conspiracy nonsense. You seem a smart enough person to be able to get out from under this yet you seem shackled by something that keeps you from seeing all of this from a pragmatic viewpoint."I have learned that the conspiracy is true. I have not *wanted* that to be true, I learned it. I asked questions, I searched for answers. I left no stone unturned. I accepted no lies, deception, soft-peddling or mysteries. I accept nothing but truth as stark and raw as it demands. That's how I live and it's not a fun life but fun is not relevant, truth is. You deny the conspiracy but not on any ground other than "it's crazy to believe in conspiracies". I urge you to reconsider your position. The world is a very complicated place and you should have a more solid foundation for your opinion.Humor me; watch the video. If you're not convinced, you lost a couple of hours of your life but you've seen bad movies before, haven't you?<a class="user" href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1128498518098620147&amp;hl=en#" rel="nofollow">http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-112849851 ...</a>------------------------------------------"I honestly don't mean this in a derogatory way but I kind of feel bad for you because these are the kind of thoughts that can eat the entire life out of a person before that person even realizes it's going on."Please don't feel sorry for me. I have amassed a great deal of very valuable knowledge and the promise of more commensurate with my growth in ability to comprehend it. Sure, there's a price to be paid; ignorance is bliss and I'm not a happy person but we exchange valuable things for more valuable things all the time. I'm sure your money is valuable to you but when you need food, does the food not become more valuable than whatever amount of money you part with to gain it? ------------------------------------------"Good luck with life. Live it as you like just as long as it doesn't start interfering with me doing the same thing."I'd never interfere with the choices of another person but I can try to help you see other choices that you just *might* value more.
gguillornApr 8, 2010
From wikipedia"The phrase Novus ordo seclorum (Latin for "New Order of the Ages") appears on the reverse of the Great Seal of the United States, first designed in 1782 and printed on the back of the American dollar bill since 1935. The phrase also appears on the coat of arms of the Yale School of Management, Yale University's business school. The phrase is often mistranslated as "New World Order," for which the Latin would be Novus Ordo Mundi.[1]
duchampfitzApr 13, 2010
And you, genius! Don't forget, we've still got you!