Chilloutman

Hi guys, going for business trip to Leicester UK, someone from that area?

you got me, do you read CIA often that you spotted that? here is Bolivia: Bolivia is a resource rich country with strong growth attributed to captive markets for natural gas exports – to Brazil and Argentina. Gas accounts for roughly 50% of Bolivia's total exports and will fund more than half of its 2015 budget. However, the country remains one of the least developed countries in Latin America because of state-oriented policies that deter investment and growth. Following a disastrous economic crisis during the early 1980s, reforms spurred private investment, stimulated economic growth, and cut poverty rates in the 1990s. The period 2003-05 was characterized by political instability, racial tensions, and violent protests against plans - subsequently abandoned - to export Bolivia's newly discovered natural gas reserves to large Northern Hemisphere markets. In 2005, the government passed a controversial hydrocarbons law that imposed significantly higher royalties and required foreign firms then operating under risk-sharing contracts to surrender all production to the state energy company in exchange for a predetermined service fee. The global recession slowed growth, but Bolivia recorded the highest growth rate in South America during 2009 and has averaged 5.3% growth each year since 2009. High commodity prices between 2010 and 2013 sustained rapid growth and large trade surpluses. The global decline in oil prices in late 2014 exerted downward pressure on the price Bolivia receives for exported gas and resulted in lower GDP growth rates and losses in government revenue in 2015. A lack of foreign investment in the key sectors of mining and hydrocarbons, along with conflict among social groups, pose challenges for the Bolivian economy. In 2015, President Evo MORALES expanded efforts to court international investment and boost Bolivia’s energy production capacity. MORALES passed an investment law and promised not to nationalize additional industries in an effort to improve the investment climate.

patriarchy at work

Are you sure? This... this ,,, is ,,,, Epic

sorry I am little drunk but i just read this in local news as comment and i have to share it (even tho its not that funny :/) : On one beautiful sunny day at the end of January 2017, the old man approached from Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House and to the member of the US Marine who stands guard nearby and said: "I want to meet with President Obama." The marine looked up and replied, "Sir, Mr. Obama is no longer President and does not live here, sir." The old man thanked for the information and left. The following day the same man came back to the White House and again told the same Marine: "I want to meet with President Obama." The marine looked up and replied, "Sir, I told you yesterday that Mr Obama is no longer President and does not live here, sir." The old man thanked and left again. On the third day the old man again came to the White House and said: "I want to meet with President Obama." The marine was understandably upset and said, "Sir, this is the third day in a row as you ask me about the conversation with Mr. Obama. I told you that Mr. Obama is no longer President and does not live here. Do not you understand, sir?" The old man looked up and said: "Oh yes, I understand, but I just love it when I hear it over and over again." The marine stood to attention and said, "See you tomorrow, sir!"

As part of the former Soviet Union, Belarus had a relatively well-developed, though aging industrial base; it retained this industrial base - which is now outdated, energy inefficient, and dependent on subsidized Russian energy and preferential access to Russian markets - following the breakup of the USSR. The country also has a broad agricultural base which is largely inefficient and dependent on government subsidies. After an initial burst of capitalist reform from 1991-94, including privatization of smaller state enterprises and some service sector businesses, creation of institutions of private property, and development of entrepreneurship, Belarus' economic development greatly slowed. About 80% of all industry remains in state hands, and foreign investment has been hindered by a climate hostile to business. A few banks, which had been privatized after independence, were renationalized. State banks account for 75% of the banking sector. Economic output, which had declined for several years following the collapse of the Soviet Union, revived in the mid-2000s due to the boom in oil prices. Belarus has only small reserves of crude oil, though it imports most of its crude oil and natural gas from Russia at prices substantially below the world market. Belarus exported refined oil products at market prices produced from Russian crude oil purchased at a steep discount. In late 2006, Russia began a process of rolling back its subsidies on oil and gas to Belarus. Tensions over Russian energy reached a peak in 2010, when Russia stopped the export of all subsidized oil to Belarus save for domestic needs. In December 2010, Russia and Belarus reached a deal to restart the export of discounted oil to Belarus. In 2015, Belarus continued to import Russian crude oil at a discounted price. However, the plunge in global oil prices heavily reduced revenues. Little new foreign investment has occurred in recent years. In 2011, a financial crisis began, triggered by government directed salary hikes unsupported by commensurate productivity increases. The crisis was compounded by an increased cost in Russian energy inputs and an overvalued Belarusian ruble, and eventually led to a near three-fold devaluation of the Belarusian ruble in 2011. In November 2011, Belarus agreed to sell to Russia its remaining shares in Beltransgaz, the Belarusian natural gas pipeline operator, in exchange for reduced prices for Russian natural gas. Receiving part of a $3 billion loan from the Russian-dominated Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEC) Bail-out Fund, a $1 billion loan from the Russian state-owned bank Sberbank, and the $2.5 billion sale of Beltransgaz to Russian state-owned Gazprom helped stabilize the situation in 2012; nevertheless, the Belarusian currency lost more than 60% of its value, as the rate of inflation reached new highs in 2011 and 2012, before calming in 2013. In December 2013, Russia announced a new loan for Belarus of up to $2 billion for 2014. Notwithstanding foreign assistance, the Belarusian economy continued to struggle under the weight of high external debt servicing payments and trade deficit. In mid-December 2014, structural economic shortcomings were aggravated by the devaluation of the Russian ruble and triggered a near 40% devaluation of the Belarusian ruble. Belarus entered 2015 with stagnant economic growth and reduced hard currency reserves, with under one month of import cover.

Venezuela remains highly dependent on oil revenues, which account for almost all export earnings and nearly half of the government’s revenue. The country ended 2015 with an estimated 10% contraction in its GDP, 275% inflation, widespread shortages of consumer goods, and declining central bank international reserves. The IMF forecasts that the GDP will shrink another 8% in 2016 and inflation may reach 720%. Falling oil prices since 2014 have aggravated Venezuela’s economic crisis. Insufficient access to dollars, price controls, and rigid labor regulations have led some US and multinational firms to reduce or shut down their Venezuelan operations. Market uncertainty and state oil company PDVSA’s poor cash flow have slowed investment in the petroleum sector, resulting in a decline in oil production. Under President Nicolas MADURO, the Venezuelan Government’s response to the economic crisis has been to increase state control over the economy and blame the private sector for the shortages. The Venezuelan government has maintained strict currency controls since 2003. On 17 February 2016, the Venezuelan government announced a change from three official currency exchange mechanisms to only two official rates for the sale of dollars to private sector firms and individuals, with rates based on the government's import priorities. The official exchange rate used for food and medicine imports was devalued to 10 bolivars per dollar from 6.3 bolivars per dollar. The second rate moved to a managed float. These currency controls present significant obstacles to trade with Venezuela because importers cannot obtain sufficient dollars to purchase goods needed to maintain their operations. MADURO has used decree powers to enact legislation to deepen the state’s role as the primary buyer and distributor of imports, further tighten currency controls, cap business profits, and extend price controls.

Well with demos there is a little problem - pirates have more time to crack exe file (if you are not stupid as us were when we released exe for Mafia 2 demo which was not encrypted, now that was a disaster xD)

well, not to be witty but Africa could use some planned parenthood if you ask me, better spend money on this than on food aid

who is discouraging you to give away your stuff? Why are you still talking about 'them'? (well I suppose your family may say you are idiot but still) again, lets say I have business with 10 employees, how you going to 'convince' me to give it up? What kind of business do you have? This is important. And I'm not asking you to give it up, by no means. I encourage you to work harder in fact. But I ask you to change your motivations: work for te people, not for the profit. I am not a people? My family are not people? And why it matters what business it is? so lets say farmer? it will be interesting then the land on which you build your farm is the people's. So, you do your work, every year. You keep what you need. The rest, you give away. In return, you get back all the goods you need but can't provide yourself with. I AM EFFING PEOPLE YOU %%%%%% got enough, i would get banned if this continue, well another one on ignore list

Finally? NSA stuff was there way before Trump, that is what I call Orwellian

who is discouraging you to give away your stuff? Why are you still talking about 'them'? (well I suppose your family may say you are idiot but still) again, lets say I have business with 10 employees, how you going to 'convince' me to give it up? What kind of business do you have? This is important. And I'm not asking you to give it up, by no means. I encourage you to work harder in fact. But I ask you to change your motivations: work for te people, not for the profit. I am not a people? My family are not people? And why it matters what business it is? so lets say farmer? it will be interesting

Nothing has been announced, although the way they are marketing Long War 2, it almost seems like that IS the expansion. As for buying the complete game, the game is massive, buy it and enjoy. I'm having a blast on my second playthrough and experiencing quite a few new things. I don't want to end up like last time when I was in last mission when Enemy Within (or however that expansion was named) come out and I literally can't force myself to complete it :/

Is it known if there going to be expansion to XCOM 2? I think I have waited long enough for it to come so I can finally buy complete game....

who is discouraging you to give away your stuff? Why are you still talking about 'them'? (well I suppose your family may say you are idiot but still) again, lets say I have business with 10 employees, how you going to 'convince' me to give it up?

Well i am not economist but I disagree with you on this and it seems each of us thinks he is correct so I will end this with saying 'we can agree that we disagree'

Well, I believe that if the people are to receive all output, then the people (not the government!) should also own the machines and direct the way of their output. So democracy instead of dictatorship. In an ideal world, we work for personal fulfilment. The financial worries are covered by the economy, which is essentially but a motor to supply all people. The point of a job should not be self sustainment, but rather personal enjoyment and the experience off doing something that is truly meaningful. Ehmm, if you have company, you own the machines, you receive all output ( - taxes) and you direct the way of their outputs. So what are you talking about? If you believe in your utopia noone is stopping you to buy a machine, work it, and then give output to whoever you want. So your only problem are people who will not do it. So you need to dictate what they will do with output of their machines. Sad point of job was self sustain for thousand of years. I don't understand where you find out that it should be free time activity.... Nothing you just wrote makes any sense If the machines (and the land) are owned by the people, in other words, if they are public goods rather than private, then their output logicallly also belongs to everyone, and in equal parts. So if the machines work to sustain everyone equally rather than to generate profit, then the individual does not need to take care of sustaining himself... society does that already. He is therefore free to follow his passion, free of any form of financial worries. I have strong urge to vomit now xD again, what will you do with people who will not hand out their private property and who is stopping you to give freebees of your work to people today?

Well, I believe that if the people are to receive all output, then the people (not the government!) should also own the machines and direct the way of their output. So democracy instead of dictatorship. In an ideal world, we work for personal fulfilment. The financial worries are covered by the economy, which is essentially but a motor to supply all people. The point of a job should not be self sustainment, but rather personal enjoyment and the experience off doing something that is truly meaningful. Ehmm, if you have company, you own the machines, you receive all output ( - taxes) and you direct the way of their outputs. So what are you talking about? If you believe in your utopia noone is stopping you to buy a machine, work it, and then give output to whoever you want. So your only problem are people who will not do it. So you need to dictate what they will do with output of their machines. Sad point of job was self sustain for thousand of years. I don't understand where you find out that it should be free time activity.... Nothing you just wrote makes any sense

ah commie talk again, go to North Korea, tell them that way they live is because they could loose job if they move out from 19th century

so, back to the caves or what? You can't stop progress

I though people voted him because they had lost their jobs and he will bring them back. I think unemployed vote were marginal, point was that bringing jobs back ofcourse affects middle class and business associated with big companies. eg if you start manufacturing cars, someone have to repair them as well, someone have to insure them, someone have to transport them around etc etc. thats what is creating jobs and benefiting middle class But if everybody already has job, why they would need drastic measures to create more of them? Do they plan to bring Mexicans to do the jobs or what? Also car manufacturing don't itself bring repair jobs you need people buying said cars and use them to make repair jobs, and bringing manufacturing job to back to US may rise prices of cars, as manufacturing in US is said to be more expensive than it is in Mexico, and higher priced cars usually mean less sold cars, which means less need for repair shops etc. which means less jobs in that sector. If there are more jobs than people, it drives companies to compete for employees -> salary raise -> happy middle class so yes, it can drive price of item in question higher, however you gain more cash as well, and not all items will go up in price or not that much as your salary (in theory at least)

I though people voted him because they had lost their jobs and he will bring them back. I think unemployed vote were marginal, point was that bringing jobs back ofcourse affects middle class and business associated with big companies. eg if you start manufacturing cars, someone have to repair them as well, someone have to insure them, someone have to transport them around etc etc. thats what is creating jobs and benefiting middle class

I suppose that reason why most people who voted Trump are not being seen in the streets that much is that they were A) from rural areas, B) have a jo,b so its hard for them to riot for days in city centers xD

just a side note, Commies actually forced people to work, there was nothing like unemployment. If you didn't worked assigned job you could have been jailed or get into forced labor - e.g. work camps

this is not going to last long xD