Politics 2020 - the gift that keeps giving

[uuuhhii]

3 hours ago, Orogun01 said:

I don't get why people are afraid of the deficit, it's to measure of how much US dollars are in circulation.

people are afraid of debt

debt is how market get all these poor employee to work awful job that never pay enough to cover their bills until it drain all the life out of them

[Hurlshort]

There is a lot more to this than just the deficit that is alarming: https://www.usdebtclock.org/

Edited September 12, 2020 by Hurlshot

[HoonDing]

Just put more tariffs on Chyna, Cuckrope and other ****hole countries.

[Orogun01]

48 minutes ago, HoonDing said:

Just put more tariffs on Chyna, Cuckrope and other ****hole countries.

Or how about encouraging other countries to become trading partners by encouraging production? That way competition stabilizes the market and we don't run anyone's economy off a cliff.

BTW, Moderators. We need an emoji to express a patronizing tone.

[Hurlshort]

9 minutes ago, Orogun01 said:

Or how about encouraging other countries to become trading partners by encouraging production? That way competition stabilizes the market and we don't run anyone's economy off a cliff.

BTW, Moderators. We need an emoji to express a patronizing tone.

[ComradeYellow]

4 hours ago, uuuhhii said:

people are afraid of debt

debt is how market get all these poor employee to work awful job that never pay enough to cover their bills until it drain all the life out of them

The answer to that is UBI.  Any extra job is bonus income so you can buy a house (or a rent a nice apartment) and your preferred consumer goods.

[Orogun01]

Just now, ComradeMaster said:

The answer to that is UBI.  Any extra job is bonus income so you can buy a house (or a rent a nice apartment) and your preferred consumer goods.

I fear that UBI will just mean that price elasticity will go up due to sellers realizing that customers have more money, or because increased demand. Without competition UBI will not solve wealth inequality, it might have the opposite effect and create economic instability that consolidates competing companies into monopolies.

The ideal solution would be more competition because it keeps prices down. But that is very difficult to achieve at a global scale and  if you subsidize small businesses then you end up financing failures and there's no profit incentive for the business to grow. If you over-regulate, you also hurt small businesses that can't absorb the costs of regulation and have their actions more limited. I guess that deregulation and some stricter antitrust laws(or they could just enforce the ones in the book already) could have an effect, but really I just favor deregulation. UBI would only help if it creates more products not increase demand, it really should be a program to help rising businesses until they get to a certain profit margin or are acquired by a larger corporation. Help generate wealth by creating labor demand.

[ComradeYellow]

At this point in time I don't really see much hope for small businesses.  We are literally at the mercy of competing billionaires.  Someone gets lucky and finds a way to get stinkin' rich, then they take on a dominating market share and compete with it.

Take this guy for instance

https://twitter.com/TimSweeneyEpic?ref_src=twsrc^google|twcamp^serp|twgr^author

Was founder and CEO of Epic Games, found a massive market with Fortnite and suddenly he's a billionaire and decides to take on Steam and open up the Epic Games Store, compels GabeN to to get to work and improve Steam and Valve.  Competition!  Also, at the same time, he's doing a great job calling out monopolies and is a staunch critic of Apple (To the point where they blocked all EGS apps from their ecosystem).

That is literally the future I see for markets.  Billionaires and millionaires taking a staunch anti-monopoly stance and welcoming competition. 

Edit:  To clarify, there will always be small businesses of a variety of sorts and they certainly have their place in society, and people will continue to make a decent living running them.  I just feel that trying to artificially give them a boost in the form of state aid or national prestige is a misnomer.

Edited September 12, 2020 by ComradeMaster

[Orogun01]

1 hour ago, ComradeMaster said:

At this point in time I don't really see much hope for small businesses.  We are literally at the mercy of competing billionaires.  Someone gets lucky and finds a way to get stinkin' rich, then they take on a dominating market share and compete with it.

Take this guy for instance

https://twitter.com/TimSweeneyEpic?ref_src=twsrc^google|twcamp^serp|twgr^author

Was founder and CEO of Epic Games, found a massive market with Fortnite and suddenly he's a billionaire and decides to take on Steam and open up the Epic Games Store, compels GabeN to to get to work and improve Steam and Valve.  Competition!  Also, at the same time, he's doing a great job calling out monopolies and is a staunch critic of Apple (To the point where they blocked all EGS apps from their ecosystem).

That is literally the future I see for markets.  Billionaires and millionaires taking a staunch anti-monopoly stance and welcoming competition. 

Edit:  To clarify, there will always be small businesses of a variety of sorts and they certainly have their place in society, and people will continue to make a decent living running them.  I just feel that trying to artificially give them a boost in the form of state aid or national prestige is a misnomer.

Ok, I don't know what your workplace experience is. But I've worked for a multinational corporation that's top 10 within their industry for the past 4 years, yet they run things like a mom and pop shop, and being that close to other departments has granted me perspective.
The owners were lawyers, so yes they had enough seed money to fund their business and enough job safety to take risks. Their parents had businesses, so they also had hereditary experience and their support in their endeavor. The business didn't grow overnight, it was tenths of people and a lot of ups and downs before they were stable, eventually it grew until it became absorbed by a larger corporation.
I tell this in the hope of giving perspective into how small businesses can grow and become global, it won't be the same for each but I know that before working at this company I didn't know the process and how many smaller companies that service the larger ones exist. It is very easy to see success from the bottom and think you know how it happened, some of it is true; connections are worth their weight in gold, but you develop those connections by being active within their industry. It is easy to see the top but not the climb when it comes to businesses.

The reality is that big businesses encourage regulation that raises the cost of entry to gain monopolies, absorb smaller businesses and will outright sabotage businesses in order to gain their expertise. As gamers we should be keenly aware of this since it was a common practice back in the early 2010's when publishers deliberately sabotaged their projects in order to acquire developers. It has now led to a very small AAA industry that rehashes the same types of games, the AA market took a big hit from this and if it wasn't for Kickstarter and other funding alternatives. There likely be even fewer mid range developers.

Sorry for the long post.
TL;DR: Big companies were small at first and once big they stop others from competing.

 

[ComradeYellow]

13 minutes ago, Orogun01 said:

Ok, I don't know what your workplace experience is. 

Always been a blue collar guy.

And in my personal experience, "mid-sized" developers asking for money on Kickstarter are mostly con jobs and artificially inflated egos.  I've dropped too much money and have received lukewarm content at best and nothing at all at worst.

And yes, huge corporations in the past have developed nasty habits of monopoly based economics, so them recently developing a pro-competition atmosphere in some circles (Like EGS) is welcoming.  Competing with foreign markets like Russia and China also helps stir competition.

[Orogun01]

2 minutes ago, ComradeMaster said:

Always been a blue collar guy.

And in my personal experience, "mid-sized" developers asking for money on Kickstarter are mostly con jobs and artificially inflated egos.  I've dropped too much money and have received lukewarm content at best and nothing at all at worst.

And yes, huge corporations in the past have developed nasty habits of monopoly based economics, so them recently developing a pro-competition atmosphere in some circles (Like EGS) is welcoming.  Competing with foreign markets like Russia and China also helps stir competition.

I worked blue collar jobs for the longest time, I actually miss a lot aspects from them. Corporations would work better if they operated like blue collar job, but that's almost impossible.
Blue collar jobs work because they're small and specialized, so everyone knows what everyone else is doing or has a strong idea because they see the process. Corporate jobs tend to be a mishmash of different jobs, you have product development, marketing, legal, sales, etc etc...
Because of that you have competing interests that go unchecked, the worse of it is that this is a natural occurrence since in order to grow a boss has to delegate and as they delegate further they become further removed from the job. A good example would be Twitter, they have been selectively banning people because of ideology. Jack Dorsey came out and faced the whole situation in 2 Joe Rogan podcasts. Now, I wonder how aware he was of the situation as it was happening. I think not very much, he just had an ideology and then hired someone that had the same ideas because he related to them and though they shared his vision. Repeat that process a couple of lower steps down the hierarchy and you end up with a rainbow colored leftist that thinks right = bad and bans everyone.
The point of that example is to show how distant the people making the decisions are from the process and even more so from the consequences. The thing that allows these multinationals to operate freely is that governments can't enforce the laws so they're free of punishment. The reason why SJWs get their way is that top corporate are afraid of consumer revolt, they have seen companies fall because of failing to adapt to consumer habits.
The more options makes boycotts more viable, the more competition the more diversity of choice and the more we organize and are informed the better that we the public can hold companies accountable. Because the reality is that due to the open nature of our governance, the poor have a say but the rich also have a say...and we don't want to change that even if the rich get a bigger say, it matters that the poor at least get to say and threaten with consequences.

TL;DR: I'm buzzed and had a fight/tender/growing closer moment with my biological mother....the other one still thinks I'm a psychopath, and the one that's crying just found out about it....wait that has nothing to do with what I said.

[213374U]

Fuehrerprinzip much?

Gotta love how this logic only seems to apply when it's the esjaydubyoos doing it though, but otherwise it's healthy free market ingenuity that drives up competition and is good for society at large by virtue of based trickle-down economics, and so on and so forth...

[Hurlshort]

14 hours ago, Orogun01 said:

TL;DR: I'm buzzed and had a fight/tender/growing closer moment with my biological mother....the other one still thinks I'm a psychopath, and the one that's crying just found out about it....wait that has nothing to do with what I said.

Family stuff is rough, sorry to hear you are dealing with it.

[Orogun01]

BTW, can we take bets on whether Trump wins the Nobel prize?

[Malcador]

No chance. Heh, with Trump people should look closely at the details

[Orogun01]

42 minutes ago, Malcador said:

No chance. Heh, with Trump people should look closely at the details

He's been nominated twice because of 2 peace deals between Arabic nations and Israel.

[Malcador]

1 hour ago, Orogun01 said:

He's been nominated twice because of 2 peace deals between Arabic nations and Israel.

And? Being nominated more often doesn't increase the likelihood he gets it, given that it is Trump.  Does make a good show though.

Volo's slacking, so will sub in for him today

Antifa & BLM strike - https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-54137838

Edited September 13, 2020 by Malcador

[ComradeYellow]

4 hours ago, 213374U said:

Fuehrerprinzip much?

Gotta love how this logic only seems to apply when it's the esjaydubyoos doing it though, but otherwise it's healthy free market ingenuity that drives up competition and is good for society at large by virtue of based trickle-down economics, and so on and so forth...

Yeah it's a strange contradiction with the far right.  They'd take the con artist "middleman" rather than strategically altering the playing field so that multi-faceted ecosystems can compete for better content.  Bethesda and Apple both have this "God Complex" where they think their content is the greatest gift to mankind.

Maybe that's why they hate the Epic Games Store so much, they represent a logical non-dogmatic approach to competitive business that threatens both Apple and Kickstarter junkies.

Ha!  Would be strange bedfellows if Bethesda and Kickstarter teamed up.

[Gorth]

21 hours ago, ComradeMaster said:

Always been a blue collar guy.

And in my personal experience, "mid-sized" developers asking for money on Kickstarter are mostly con jobs and artificially inflated egos.  I've dropped too much money and have received lukewarm content at best and nothing at all at worst.

And yes, huge corporations in the past have developed nasty habits of monopoly based economics, so them recently developing a pro-competition atmosphere in some circles (Like EGS) is welcoming.  Competing with foreign markets like Russia and China also helps stir competition.

I guess I got lucky and felt like I got my moneys worth on the kickstarter projects I supported. Pillars of Eternity was $1000 well spent, but Wasteland 2, Expeditions: Conquistador and the last one, Stasis, in particular were what I consider good games and happy to have supported.

 

Huge corporations, then monopolies are the natural evolution of the an unregulated market, where prices are dictated to the consumers because of lack of competition.

[BruceVC]

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/sheriff-claims-protesters-blocked-la-hospital-where-two-officers-are-being-treated-after-ambush-shooting/ar-BB18ZhQo

Absolutely unacceptable behavior by BLM or other activists celebrating the shooting of 2 LA sheriffs 

I am disappointed there isnt some law where people who demonstrate this behavior can be arrested ?

 

Edited September 14, 2020 by BruceVC

[Orogun01]

2 hours ago, BruceVC said:

I am disappointed there isnt some law where people who demonstrate this behavior can be arrested ?

No and there shouldn't be one, usually what you get is counter protestors.

[Malcador]

Same department had its cops roll in hard on a reporter, heh.  Cops state she didn't identify herself as press and admitted she didn't have credentials which she is disagreeing with.

Sort of funny the cop yelling at the first guy to back up when he's 20 feet away from nothing. 

 

 

[Orogun01]

funny thing, unless you have your gun drawn over 10 feet is the safe distance from an assailant. Within 10 feet you're better off drawing a knife.

[Bartimaeus]

Whistleblower Complaint Alleges Mass Hysterectomies at ICE Detention Center
 

Quote

 

“Everybody he sees has a hysterectomy—just about everybody,” Wooten said, adding that, “everybody’s uterus cannot be that bad.”

“We’ve questioned among ourselves like goodness he’s taking everybody’s stuff out…That’s his specialty, he’s the uterus collector. I know that’s ugly…is he collecting these things or something…Everybody he sees, he’s taking all their uteruses out or he’s taken their tubes out. What in the world.”

Wooten also confirmed that many of the detained women have told her that they didn’t understand why they were being forced to have the procedure, explaining that some of the nurses obtained their consent “by simply googling Spanish.”

The complaint details several accounts from detainees, including one woman who was not properly anesthetized during the procedure and heard the aforementioned doctor tell the nurse he had mistakenly removed the wrong ovary, resulting in her losing all reproductive ability. Another said she was scheduled for the procedure but when she questioned why it was necessary, she was given at least three completely different answers.

 

 

[Elerond]

Genocide is new form of freedom