OT: Trump: "China thinks we are dumb SOBs"

It's old, I guess, and I don't know if it has been re-introduced, or will be.

What I did find, looking for its status (which I was unsure of) is that a moratorium on new coal-fired power plants is probably now in place. I had forgotten that after that 2007 US Supreme Court decision saying that the EPA is the right regulatory linchpin for CO2, the EPA only a few months back (December) finally issued a finding and confirmed that CO2 threatens human health. I think that probably now kills new plants for a time.

In the US.

Which is good enough for me, for now.

Jon

There are considerably more than two distinct groups of Americans, but as an outsider on the inside, my observation is that the "original" Americans (or should I say, the most recent successful invading forces) are strongly libertarian, anti-government, and the country's constitution is written from this viewpoint. A good democracy to this group of people is a government that doesn't exceed the bounds of the Bill of Rights, as interpreted in its most libertarian sense.

These persons are now demographically in the minority due to immigration and TV-popular-socialism, and many immigrants support fundamentally socialist ideologies such as those that are temporarily in the ascendancy in the US. These are anti-libertarian, pro- government-expansion viewpoints that are irreconcilable with the small- government, keep-out-of-my-life philosophy.

So the dichotomy that puzzles you can easily be summarized "democracy is great, as long as you're in the majority".

Of course democracy is a worse than meaningless concept when the only qualification required to cast a vote is to have a birth certificate and a heartbeat. But since the rest of the world is run through TV advertisements, coupons and offers of free gifts with purchase anyway, why not government as well?

Not only that. The US manage to waste an enormous part of their intellectual potential. The bottom line is that the base of this high tech society, Ph D's in technical and scientific fields are for the most part imported. The Chinese apart of having a keen sense of learning, and having more talent in numbers to begin with, don't waste any of their brains.

The US wastes brain power by - a system where poor children are not safe, struggling to survive and have poor education 1] - a public opinion that attaches no value to the real economic base: producing and inventing goods, spreading of knowledge, prevention instead of health care - a litigation tradition where it is economically very attractive to become a lawyer, a patently unproductive profession.

So basically there are two carrier choices in the US for smart people: if your dad is rich, you become a lawyer (counter productive) if your dad is poor, (or abandoned your mom), you become a criminal (counter productive).

The US system is, as a matter of fact, and literally, bankrupt.

The BMW you're driving, it doesn't grow on trees.

Groetjes Albert

--

Somewhat true. It's interesting that the PhDs would *want* to come here, no? What are they running from? To?

Utter racist nonsense.

Why are they not safe?

There is real value attached to "producing and inventing". It's paid for every day.

Medical "prevention" is more hype than not. Dietary "prevention" can be important but is more choice than anything else. Choice is important to Americans.

That may be true, until *you* need a lawyer.

False choices.

Blame the Demonicrats and their followers who believe in a free lunch.

I don't drive a BMW. Wouldn't have one.

More racist bullshit.

Op Fri, 16 Apr 2010 00:49:58 +0200 schreef snipped-for-privacy@att.bizzzzzzzzzzzz :

No, it's a cultural thing.

The implication was pretty obvious to me: poor families are believed to live predominantly in bad neighbourhoods, where weapons, alcohol and their (ab)users are close by.

The critique was that there seems to be no culture of a "producing nation" like e.g. Germany.

Perhaps some choices should be taxed more then.

Having less lawyers doesn't mean that they're harder to come by.

Not choices, but statistics.

Replace "a black" by "someone raised in a bad neighbourhood".

Low pay. Higher pay. But that will change as Asia catches up. Even now, quite a few Chinese PhDs opt to return to China - land of opportunity.

No, it was a racist comment. "Don't waste *any* (emphasis mine) of their brains" is pure racial claptrap.

The problem is that there aren't *enough* weapons. Poor families living in such neighborhoods aren't allowed to protect themselves. Who's fault is that? Why do they insist on leaders who want them to live in poverty, then die?

Zeig! No thanks.

Yes, comrade.

When you're accused of murder, that's useful.

No, the argument presents false choices. It is a lie.

Changing words to nicer sounding ones doesn't change a racist.

article,

I wonder why that is?

They won't.

A few. Many more enter than leave.

article,

Because the USA is living well beyond its means?

When China matches the GDP per head of Japan their economy will be 4x larger than that of the USA. Probably a LOT higher in PPP terms.

Of course, but the trend is down.

article,

no?

Nonsense.

You assume a lot. PHBs like to make the same straight-line assumptions.

It's not just salaries. Salaries are not the cause, rather a symptom.

Op Sat, 17 Apr 2010 00:45:06 +0200 schreef snipped-for-privacy@att.bizzzzzzzzzzzz :

Racism is in the eye of the beholder.

I've seen enough about guns to know that:

- accessibility to children is a problem

- effectively using them is a problem (not forgetting the safety pin, being believable when threatening with it, being prepared to take a life)

- bringing (more) weapons into a tense situation rarely helps

Besides all that, don't you think that it should be possible for a rich country to let the police protect their inhabitants?

I see that you haven't visited Germany lately.

Xenophobe.

For example.

After having read:

Indeed it doesn't.

So if you drag a black behind a truck it's only racism if I think it is? You are a sick pup.

You're wrong.

Nope.

Wrong.

It *ALWAYS* helps. Look at the history of areas where guns have been made

Absolutely *not*. The police have no responsibility to protect you. They're there to clean up the mess and arrest the culprits *after* the violence is over. If you will not protect yourself there is no one else that will.

If you're any example, Zeig! No thanks.

You really are that stupid, aren't you?

You really *ARE* that stupid, aren't you?

No, it was a rhetorical tool; present a multiple choice question with insufficient answers, pretend it's a real question, and demand an answer from the list. It's a similar to the strawman tactic. IOW, a lie.

Then why do you insist upon it? Does being a racist bothers you?

harder.

density.

d_world_map.PNG

sources indicated=20

maybe you think your=20

There is a single underlying theme; politics, economics, and general prosperity of productive people, by locale. That is why i want timeline comparisons.

I will continue to wait, I suppose. I cannot read minds nor crawl into yours. When you get a moment, walk me through your thoughts and I'll see how it reverberates here.

Jon

Gosh, here you are, an outsider, criticizing the US and its problems, incompetently. Sillier yet, a member of the culture the US eclipsed;=20 western europe. Your complaints are nothing that we did not teach your=20 betters first. Moreover there is nothing a declining culture hates worse than being parodied incompetently, most especially in the notable failings of our culture. Go off somewhere else for a while and grow up some more; try returning when you have something less hackneyed and overexagerated to say.