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People aren't valued by their usefulness and there's no objectivity going on presently. Farmers, teachers, cops, military personnel and doctors do not get paid for their real value contributing to our higher standard of living. Those who can maximize exploitation of systems are rewarded most in crony capitalism. The real brains behind the computer you're on right now did not reap the lions share of rewards. Fat dumb and lazy is a reputation we've earned as a nation and hard work is punished far too often.
Whoa there! Let's back up and get some facts in the discussion.
The US produces 19% of the world's industrial output.
Self-sufficiency is over-rated: we all could be paying $600 for $300 TV sets, and $90 for a $30 pair of shoes, but the US as a country and the world as a whole would be poorer, with lower living standards, if we did. Trade lets us get more for everything we produce, and pay less for everything we use. There is some balance in having Walmart in Peoria bringing goods from all over the world here, while Caterpillar ships machines all over the world from Peoria.
Bill Gates is the richest guy in the world, and he more than anyone else is responsible for the productivty revolution that has done more for the rest of us than any other person.
Personally, I spend nothing on porn, but I believe a drink a day is enjoyable and healthful. The war on drugs should be called off: society cannot win what must be an individual battle. We learned this with Prohibition.
100% agree with you on our punishment of hard work. We punish virtue and reward vice.
Whoa there! Let's back up and get some facts in the discussion.
The US produces 19% of the world's industrial output.
Self-sufficiency is over-rated: we all could be paying $600 for $300 TV sets, and $90 for a $30 pair of shoes, but the US as a country and the world as a whole would be poorer, with lower living standards, if we did. Trade lets us get more for everything we produce, and pay less for everything we use. There is some balance in having Walmart in Peoria bringing goods from all over the world here, while Caterpillar ships machines all over the world from Peoria.
Bill Gates is the richest guy in the world, and he more than anyone else is responsible for the productivty revolution that has done more for the rest of us than any other person.
Personally, I spend nothing on porn, but I believe a drink a day is enjoyable and healthful. The war on drugs should be called off: society cannot win what must be an individual battle. We learned this with Prohibition.
100% agree with you on our punishment of hard work. We punish virtue and reward vice.
Good post, except Bill Gates would hardly be my paragon of productivity. Every time Andy Grove doubled the processor power, Gates tripled the software bloat. 64-bit processor? Great, here's your 16-bit OS - we'll get around to 32-bit someday, but don't expect it to work the first year or three.
Whoa there! Let's back up and get some facts in the discussion.
The US produces 19% of the world's industrial output.
I was speaking in facts. There are many facts and won't all fit in a single post. You should be grateful for my brevity because usually I'm awful!
The worlds wealthiest 20% (yes that means us) consume 76+% of the world's industrial output. That's unsustainable.
Quote:
Originally Posted by marcopolo
Self-sufficiency is over-rated: we all could be paying $600 for $300 TV sets, and $90 for a $30 pair of shoes, but the US as a country and the world as a whole would be poorer, with lower living standards, if we did. Trade lets us get more for everything we produce, and pay less for everything we use.
That's only as good as a balanced trade agreement. The strong dollar hurts our sales for goods for overseas and the weak dollar ruins any benefit of walmart. The walmart strategy is only good so long as a price disparity exists between nations- that's their profit sure as Sorros made his billions hedging one currency against another. When American standard of living is reduced to a rice paddy it's too late to correct course. Self sufficiency... is vital to national security and foreign relations. I'm not talking about chachki's like televisions I'm talking about energy dependence that's the limiting factor in our economy (should we recover any time soon).
Quote:
Originally Posted by marcopolo
Bill Gates is the richest guy in the world, and he more than anyone else is responsible for the productivty revolution that has done more for the rest of us than any other person.
Bill Gates is the richest guy because he found a way to translate applications to the market. He didn't invent anything. He legally arranged things for himself. He also created a monopoly which was lucrative enough to pay the court fines and still come out smelling like a rose.
Quote:
Originally Posted by marcopolo
100% agree with you on our punishment of hard work. We punish virtue and reward vice.
The virtue of engineers inventing the computer. The vice of paying a baseball player multi millions while meaningful strides in science/ technology get short shrift. My display of vice was narrow but essentially what I've been getting at is the American standard of quality & excellence has dropped significantly because the rewards for it have dropped significantly.
American ingenuity is squashed or ignored by current brand of capitalism fixated on cornering market share of entertainment because it's been far more profitable to service vice than provide substantive contributions. IMO we're living a let em eat cake existence being so heavily vested in entertainment and it's also not sustainable. How many of the best and brightest America's got are going to be painting cars, and for how long before there are no best and brightest left?
One of the beauty parts of capitalism is that it's available to the everyday man to pick up a rake. This current version of capitalism all too often excludes the everyday man. Kids coming of age are alienated from what was a limitless potential to earn an honest buck.
The old saying might come to fruition... "It's over for the little guy"...
I've followed this thread, commented, read the replies, and here is what it boils down to, for me:
I have a deep and abiding faith in the country and its system. The system has flaws, but tends to be self-correcting over time. The history of our land since 1776 is one that gives me great hope for the future.
We've had horrible political leadership at times in the past, along with severely disjointed economic times. We've been through depressions, recessions, civil war, world war, undeclared war, booms, manias and bubbles. Yet here we are.
Others believe that this time is different, that the problems are too intractable or the system is too corrupt or the people have turned into something irreedeemable.
We can't know who is right; I just think this country cannot be led to where it just won't go--and will get back on track, sooner than almost anyone could believe is possible.
This isn't to deny the feelings or opinions or arguments that others have posted. I heard you, I read you, I thought about what you said. We just differ on the interpretation and meaning of what we see. Thank you to all who have participated.
I was speaking in facts. There are many facts and won't all fit in a single post. You should be grateful for my brevity because usually I'm awful!
The worlds wealthiest 20% (yes that means us) consume 76+% of the world's industrial output. That's unsustainable.
That's only as good as a balanced trade agreement. The strong dollar hurts our sales for goods for overseas and the weak dollar ruins any benefit of walmart. The walmart strategy is only good so long as a price disparity exists between nations- that's their profit sure as Sorros made his billions hedging one currency against another. When American standard of living is reduced to a rice paddy it's too late to correct course. Self sufficiency... is vital to national security and foreign relations. I'm not talking about chachki's like televisions I'm talking about energy dependence that's the limiting factor in our economy (should we recover any time soon).
Bill Gates is the richest guy because he found a way to translate applications to the market. He didn't invent anything. He legally arranged things for himself. He also created a monopoly which was lucrative enough to pay the court fines and still come out smelling like a rose.
The virtue of engineers inventing the computer. The vice of paying a baseball player multi millions while meaningful strides in science/ technology get short shrift. My display of vice was narrow but essentially what I've been getting at is the American standard of quality & excellence has dropped significantly because the rewards for it have dropped significantly.
American ingenuity is squashed or ignored by current brand of capitalism fixated on cornering market share of entertainment because it's been far more profitable to service vice than provide substantive contributions. IMO we're living a let em eat cake existence being so heavily vested in entertainment and it's also not sustainable. How many of the best and brightest America's got are going to be painting cars, and for how long before there are no best and brightest left?
One of the beauty parts of capitalism is that it's available to the everyday man to pick up a rake. This current version of capitalism all too often excludes the everyday man. Kids coming of age are alienated from what was a limitless potential to earn an honest buck.
It's called the Destruction of the Middle Class...
They're stockpiling it for political donations to their favorite party.
"On the day it was reported that Google uses income shifting techniques known by such arcane names as the "Double Irish" and the "Dutch Sandwich" to avoid paying taxes on its foreign profits, President Obama attended an intimate, high-dollar fundraiser at the Palo Alto, California home of a top Google executive. He didn't mention Google's tax tricks, according to a White House transcript of his remarks. In the past, Obama has been sharply critical of companies that move their income around the globe to avoid paying taxes. But with Google, whose employees give an estimated 75 percent of their political contributions to Democrats -- well, the president didn't have much to say about taxes."
After news of Google tax dodges, Obama raises money with Google execs | Washington Examiner (http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/After-news-of-Google-tax-dodges-Obama-raises-money-with-Google-execs-105513473.html - broken link)
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