42% Unemployment

[Contra-Nietzsche]

http://www.moneynews.com/StreetTalk/Buf ... ODE=F030-1

America’s economy is in a meltdown. Unemployment remains historically high with just 58% of working-age Americans in the labor force — the lowest reading since 1983.

Homeowners have been hit with falling prices (down 33% in the last five years).

And, while the stock markets have swung violently in both directions, the S&P 500 is actually lower today than it was 12 years ago.

Read more: Meltdown on Main Street: Three Dangerous Numbers Reveal Why Obama Will Lose the Election

Okay.... so we got a bunch of baby boomers frantic trying to figure out their own inherent paradox of having 'liquid' wealth, and not knowing how to keep it safely invested, because every major trend in economics the last few decades has been baby boomers trying to outsmart one another in finding safe investments.... and they all say 'mooooooo' and do the same thing pretty much.

So.... I am laughing at this phenomena a little- it's tragic, but it's funny none the less in how their assuming money they made in 1972 somehow still exists today, 40 years after their initial labor working at that burger joint ended. Somehow economist statistically found a way to beat entropy, and silly stuff like that, if saved, still has value.

It's not a unique global phenomena- many countries have a lop sided wealth distribution with the elders holding most of the cash- and it prods many into socialist safety nets... and the nets are thrown on drowning people.... and in cases like Greece, it just aids in drowning everyone all the quicker by weighting them down without a way out.

None the less.... despite all this very predictable chaos that we should of seen coming since the beginning half a century ago, I am surprised by the statistic above- 42 percent of the adult workforce that can work is NOT working. I know, we can count Paris Hilton and pregnant women in that list, and the stay at home moms... I was expecting high twenties or low thirties at most. 42 is nearly half the country..... this is getting scary. At this pace, we'll socialize even more and then society will collapse, and man will eat man under what's left of a red banner.

[Flannel Jesus]

speakin of baby-boomers and their effect on the economy:

the only thing that'll keep the government above water (if it can even be said to be above water) financially speaking is to pretty much cancel most social security for old people once the baby boomers start retiring, and completely nationally legalize euthenasia. the current debt of the government will triple if they keep paying out social security to old people at the rate they have been.

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_an ... e_age.html

[SIATD v2]

Yeah, it's all because of the socialist safety nets. It's got nothing to do with vulture capitalists sucking people's wealth into bubbles, siphening it away and then letting/making the bubble burst as their excuse for never giving the money back.

In truth, the US government could pay for universal healthcare (etc.) simply from the revenues from its existing assets, without having to charge anyone a cent in income tax. But instead, people are herded into this 'socialism is bankrupting us' corral, or into this 'we need to pay/charge as much tax as possible to pay for the safety net' corral, and hence into the same old Left-Right, RepubliCON-DemocRAT, Liberal-Conservative twaddle, and you Americans lap it up because you think it gives you another opportunity to manifest your clan mentality.

Not that this phenomenon is any way limited to the US, but it is most obvious there because of the rigidity of the two party system. Most other places at least have some minor parties of some significance.

[Contra-Nietzsche]

I suppose we can impose a Canadian and European import tax on any medication stolen there by the state's monopoly that undervalues that which Americans have to pay if it's being researched or developed in the US. It's perfectly fair- why should Americans have to shoulder the research costs? The state funded research projects in Europe largely have failed horribly, thier hopes the universities research departments proved not so much inept but utterly incapable of maintaining it's forward momentum economically and anywhere in pace with what's being produced free market.... and in Europe the free market research has been systematically been undercut.

It's a vicious cycle- develop the drugs.... and no one wants to pay for them, no one pays for them, crazies begin to protest and demand some sort of free socialism via the state of all things, and as a result, new drugs are researched less and less. It's like a third world country nationalizing foreign industries and then complaining why no one wants to invest in them..... yeah. US got it right in rushing it's medical development, and we have a seriously good chance, especially with the baby boomers to try this stuff out on, of effectively eliminating or suppressing alot of elderly diseases in the next few years. This is much more difficult when you have parasitic nations sucking them us, the average person in America, dry, forcing us to pay the costs. There is no good way out of this- if we make the same deal, we can effectively kiss the industry goodbye.... and we younger 20 somethings will die much as the elderly are now.... decrepit and weak, instead of functional much later into life. Only alternative is to force the Canadians and Europeans to pay their fair share. Right now, they clearly are not. They steal our medications and then do their victory parades about how civilized they are in robbing and fucking the american payer over via their system of socialism.

I don't hate what India or China is doing- some poor country bumpkin could never afford the medications.... however, people in north america and europe can.

I will also say though for all the crazy stuff Iran does, I can excuse to to a degree for how much medical testing they do of experimental medicines not approved yet in scientific testing. It's clear the love affair between the US and Iran is non existent, but they do their fair share proportionally.

[Flannel Jesus]

Contra, all agreements and disagreements we have or have ever had aside, on thinker to another, I gotta tell you: that's the most poorly written post I've seen in days, from anybody anywhere. Not in terms of ideas, just syntax/grammar and the way you phrase things -- in fact, I can't even tell what your ideas are, the writing is so bad.

[SIATD v2]

Contra, all agreements and disagreements we have or have ever had aside, on thinker to another, I gotta tell you: that's the most poorly written post I've seen in days, from anybody anywhere. Not in terms of ideas, just syntax/grammar and the way you phrase things -- in fact, I can't even tell what your ideas are, the writing is so bad.

Like I say, most Europeans speak English better as a second language than most Americans do as a first language...

[Stoic Guardian]

So is this your new thing SIATD...

[SIATD v2]

No, my dislike of the idiocy of the populations of the major nations of empire is long-standing. You should hear what I have to say about the British. Of course, most of the Americans here played right into the stereotype of thinking 'he's criticising Americans, let's attack wherever he is from'. Americans have this remarkable characteristic of being incredibly selfish and insular but with almost no discernible capacity for self-reflection and self-criticism. I see the same thing in large swathes of the populations in other countries, but rather than discuss this the Americans here would rather bang on about how 'we saved your ass in WW2, just like John Wayne told me we did' and then they wonder why I hold them in utter contempt...

[Flannel Jesus]

Of course, most of the Americans here played right into the stereotype of thinking 'he's criticising Americans, let's attack wherever he is from'.

did that happen? i didn't notice that.

[Stoic Guardian]

Are you serious? Goddamn hypocrisy is in style.

Self reflection? How are Americans not self reflective or Self critical? Look at half of the Forums in Social Sciences.

Your argument could be recycled and applied to any nation, it has.

And your using irrelevant criticisms just the same as you're accusing me of using.

Empire...You haven't seen anything.

[uglypeoplefucking]

speakin of baby-boomers and their effect on the economy:

the only thing that'll keep the government above water (if it can even be said to be above water) financially speaking is to pretty much cancel most social security for old people once the baby boomers start retiring, and completely nationally legalize euthenasia. the current debt of the government will triple if they keep paying out social security to old people at the rate they have been.

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_an ... e_age.html

yeah, social security needs a lot of work, but so does military spending - those are obviously the two major problems with the US's finance. but try to get the Right to do anything but talk about cutting welfare, food stamps, family planning services and NPR, as if any of that would decrease the debt. and yeah, legalizing euthanasia would be a good idea, so would better access to birth contral and abortion, but again, try to get the Right to allow either.

and no one, republican or democrat, will touch social security because Americans love it so much, it's political suicide to mess with it.

political gridlock and the wonders of the 2 party system. sometimes i think the US should be a dictatorship.


(with me in charge, of course)

[SIATD v2]

Are you serious?

Goddamn hypocrisy is in style.

If all your friends told you jumping off the bridge was cool, would you do it?

Self reflection? How are Americans not self reflective or Self critical? Look at half of the Forums in Social Sciences.

You mean the threads where Americans blame Europeans for a possible collapse of the Euro, when it was a 'credit crunch' in the US economy that started all this off? Or the threads where Americans blamed all America's woes on the Jews?

Show me a single thread where an American says 'you know, we got lazy, stopped producing things the rest of the world wanted but we wanted to continue consuming more than everywhere else and so just borrowed money from the Chinese to facilitate our idle consumption because we are bred to take the path of least resistance by our buy now pay later 1 minute microwave popcorn culture.' Show me the thread where an American shows the slightest remorse for all the people killed by the military that you paid for, and you voted for.

I can show you the threads where I've brought this up and just got a load of 'we saved your ass in WW2, Europe is just pathetic' by way of a response. I completely and utterly stand by my claim that Americans are insular and selfish but lack self-critical and self-reflective skills. It isn't entirely their fault, they have been bred that way precisely so that's what they would become, but it is their fault when they claim that killing people all over the planet is a good thing. If you genuinely believe that then you deserve to be killed, either by your own government or terrorists or whatever.

Your argument could be recycled and applied to any nation, it has.

It really couldn't. Name another country whose production-consumption ratio is as high as America's.

And your using irrelevant criticisms just the same as you're accusing me of using.

Empire...You haven't seen anything.

See, this boastful crap (which has been fed to you in a thousand TV action series and films and which you are repeating without criticism or reflection) is precisely why I can have no sympathy when your people end up dying as a result...

[Stoic Guardian]

No it hasn't, what a presumptous load of crap.

Think whatever the hell you want. It's not like philosophy has anything to do with examining ones own preconceptions...

[Flannel Jesus]

Or the threads where Americans blamed all America's woes on the Jews?

LOL! This is a fucking HILARIOUS example of how Americans are supposed to be dumber than Europeans. Do you not count Germany as European?

Anyway, all this "My country's better than your country" shit is really no better than "My soccer team's better than yours." It's a stupid game, it's not philosophy, it's not relevant, it's not going to help you change anybody's mind about anything. BREAKING NEWS: INSULTING PEOPLE DOESN'T MAKE THEM MORE LIKELY TO LISTEN TO YOU. So, if it's not philosophy, it's not relevant, and it's not even helpful for convincing anybody of anything...what else could it be?

Hint:


Every country has it's fair share of idiots. We can all agree that the most powerful idiots in the world are American. We can all agree to that, but beyond that, you're really not going to get anywhere with this kind of conversation.

[James S Saint]

HEY!!!
I don't recall giving anyone permission to post my pic online.

[SIATD v2]

No it hasn't, what a presumptous load of crap.

Think whatever the hell you want. It's not like philosophy has anything to do with examining ones own preconceptions...

Translation:

I have no answer to any of your arguments. Your conclusions follow logically from your premises, and your premises are based on sound, repeatable data.

[Polly]

For once I'm on stoic's side.

[SIATD v2]

Or the threads where Americans blamed all America's woes on the Jews?

LOL! This is a fucking HILARIOUS example of how Americans are supposed to be dumber than Europeans. Do you not count Germany as European?

Yes, Germany is in Europe. What's your point?

Anyway, all this "My country's better than your country" shit is really no better than "My soccer team's better than yours." It's a stupid game, it's not philosophy, it's not relevant, it's not going to help you change anybody's mind about anything.

It isn't anything about my country relative to your country. It's about the US's position of power, the fundamentally immoral consequences of that, and how the dimwitted, hypocritical US population not just lets the US state get away with it, but actually supports and trumpets it.

If anyone actually wants to defend that position then be my guest. So far, the attempts have been hilariously bad, almost as though their actual aim was to prove correct everything that I was saying.

BREAKING NEWS: INSULTING PEOPLE DOESN'T MAKE THEM MORE LIKELY TO LISTEN TO YOU.

Actually, it does. I get far more responses on here by insulting Americans than I do by broaching the topic in a polite way.

So, if it's not philosophy, it's not relevant, and it's not even helpful for convincing anybody of anything...what else could it be?

Hint:

Just another Yank who rather than deal with the accusations against Yankstry prefers to dismiss with labels. Like I say, you are bred for the path of least resistance. When faced with criticism, the easiest thing to do is avoid the criticism by attacking the criticiser.

The thing is, by always taking the easy, lazy, dimwitted option that you've been bred to take you are signing your own death warrant. I don't give a fuck about that, you're just organs to me, but given the US military's propensity for betraying murdering its friends, it means you might be signing my death warrant too.

Every country has it's fair share of idiots. We can all agree that the most powerful idiots in the world are American. We can all agree to that, but beyond that, you're really not going to get anywhere with this kind of conversation.

We can also agree that America has a higher proportion of idiots precisely because of being the most powerful nation. Or possibly vice versa, it has become the most powerful nation because its people were idiotic and just handed everything over to them...

[SIATD v2]

For once I'm on stoic's side.

Show me a single thread where an American says 'you know, we got lazy, stopped producing things the rest of the world wanted but we wanted to continue consuming more than everywhere else and so just borrowed money from the Chinese to facilitate our idle consumption because we are bred to take the path of least resistance by our buy now pay later 1 minute microwave popcorn culture.' Show me the thread where an American shows the slightest remorse for all the people killed by the military that you paid for, and you voted for.

[James S Saint]

Your conclusions follow logically from your premises, and your premises are based on sound, repeatable data.

That'll be the day.

[SIATD v2]

Your conclusions follow logically from your premises, and your premises are based on sound, repeatable data.

That'll be the day.

Show me a single thread where an American says 'you know, we got lazy, stopped producing things the rest of the world wanted but we wanted to continue consuming more than everywhere else and so just borrowed money from the Chinese to facilitate our idle consumption because we are bred to take the path of least resistance by our buy now pay later 1 minute microwave popcorn culture.' Show me the thread where an American shows the slightest remorse for all the people killed by the military that you paid for, and you voted for.

[Polly]

Yet more evidence of SIATD's weird superiority complex.

[SIATD v2]

One doesn't need to have a 'weird superiority complex' when one is actually superior to the aforementioned dimwitted hypocrites. But thanks for once again proving my point for me...

[Flannel Jesus]

well, guess that's it for his credibility

[Polly]

Actually, from a lot of what you've said in this thread SIATD, you don't seem like a particularly nice person at all. It's always the ones who mumble on about "morality".

By the way, I'm from the same place you're from, geographically-speaking, anyway.