Comments on: 1929

By: stuffnstuff

stuffnstuff — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 19:01:23 +0000

Ignorance exists on both extreems of politics.

I voted democrat, and i make more than 100,000 a year.

Am i a moron?

By: Karl

Karl — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 04:19:28 +0000

Communism does allow competition, just not the state-run, socialist version of it. Communism at its most basic is the ownership of the means of production in the hands of the workers. That means the workers own the factory–the factory can still compete with other factories. If one factory makes better widgets than that of another, they can charge more for theirs. Everyone at the factory makes more money. No one is exploited in their labor. Marx’s vision comes (partly) true. And there is still competition and the incentive to work hard, to have your factory (or whatever) perform better so everyone can make more money.

In fact, having CEOs is worse: since they have contracts that guarantee them payment (golden parachutes) and therefore no incentive to have the company perform: they get paid either way. There is actually a statistical inverse correlation between the payment of a companies CEO and their performance–the more money, the worse the business does. That’s because the CEO, having contracted his huge paycheck, has no incentive.

This is one of the West’s great myths about communism: that it doesn’t allow for competition. We must overcome these illusions if we are to ever live in an equitable and just world where men are truly free.

By: Ashley

Ashley — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 14:56:33 +0000

Communism fails because the majority of people are naturally competitive.
it doesn’t work out because there are many who want to work harder and earn more for their labor. under communism, that would never happen. everyone is treated the same and in doing so the incentive to achieve more is lessened since in the end, you are still the same as everyone else.
now doesn’t that sound like a distopia in the making?

By: froofrou

froofrou — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 10:03:33 +0000

Because Wikipedia is such a great source

By: PiMan

PiMan — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 09:26:32 +0000

I’m looking at Lists_of_countries in Wikipedia, and seeing in most lists that the US has worst scores than most OECD countries in every list related to social progress. Including health, peace, crime, and the environment; even many lists related to economics and politics. And we couldn’t forget the encompassing “List_of_countries_by_Human_Development_Index”.

By: Crack Addict

Crack Addict — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 07:25:50 +0000

Spoken like an ignorant foreigner who is so sure they know all about Americans base on what they have seen on TV.

By: Evil Pundit

Evil Pundit — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 01:57:03 +0000

It does if you’re Joe Biden.

By: Kurt

Kurt — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 01:54:38 +0000

But it shouldn’t end there.

By: Kerfuffle Monger

Kerfuffle Monger — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 17:45:15 +0000

So what’s your point? Charity starts at home.

By: jlucs

jlucs — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 16:33:56 +0000

That is because most Americans, as you just proved, are so staunchly opposed to anything that has to do with a progressive approach towards social change. Why? Because the majority are comprised of selfish, asinine, gluttonous, intolerant fools such as yourself who are so firmly nestled in your soiled little hole that you cannot see that the world has left America in the dust in terms of social progress.

By: DeathWyrmNexus

DeathWyrmNexus — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 16:16:09 +0000

Are you watching me shower again?

By: DeathWyrmNexus

DeathWyrmNexus — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 16:15:16 +0000

Yaaaaa, still not convinced…

By: PiMan

PiMan — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 11:12:31 +0000

I’ve never been there, but I’ve heard good things about Perth, on the west coast.

By: PiMan

PiMan — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 11:10:51 +0000

Stereotypes are bad for you.

By: PiMan

PiMan — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 11:09:58 +0000

I usually do a bit of a double take when I see a huntsman, but I just ignore it after that.
Whitetails on the other hand are actually dangerous, and if I realise the spider I’m looking at is one of them, I will kill it.

By: MegaBob

MegaBob — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 11:04:11 +0000

In Japan, a businessman who runs his company in the ground is ashamed, asks for forgiveness and then commits Hari-Kari. We need to adopt more Japanese business ideas !

By: eddiepscetti

eddiepscetti — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 10:52:33 +0000

Just be prepared to drop some serious money. Otherwise, I think I would avoid Sydney and head down towards Melbourne. It’s much more civilized.

By: eddiepscetti

eddiepscetti — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 10:50:51 +0000

I’m killing at least 1 of those a week. They don’t bother me much, but my wife freaks whenever she sees one. I look at it and think, hell, smaller then a black widow and just smash it. Now the one’s that really bother me are the huntsman spiders. Not necessarily dangerous, but they’re just like huge and freaky looking!

By: eddiepscetti

eddiepscetti — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 10:43:51 +0000

Everyone that hear’s my accent always, and I mean ALWAYS ask if I’m Canadian frist? Why? Because the Canadians spit the dummy if you ask them if they’re American.

By: Kurt

Kurt — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 03:18:34 +0000

Nobody said you don’t have a right to your own beleifs. However, I also have a right to my beleif that you are a prick who doesn’t care a damned bit about his fellow man.

By: herb

herb — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 02:55:02 +0000

I am all for severances *when*they’re*earned*. “Gee, Ted, you’ve run this business into the ground. Here’s $30 million,” is the sort of bullshit that makes me want to implement mandatory floggings.

Of all the jobs I’ve worked and all the between times, I never once signed up for unemployment. I always just looked for another job. *shrug*

But the piggies on the Hill are squealing that the CEOs that ran these businesses aground ought not to suffer the slings and arrows of liability, culpability, and responsibility…

By: herb

herb — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 02:46:26 +0000

With all these points, you’re bound to have a prick or two.

By: herb

herb — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 02:41:50 +0000

Except the neither communism nor socialism is meant to have a central government.

By: eddiepscetti

eddiepscetti — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 02:22:09 +0000

I believe it’s a Boeing 767.

By: eddiepscetti

eddiepscetti — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 02:19:57 +0000

I think the problem is with the amount of debt owed. While other companies may want to buy into purchasing bits and pieces of AIG, I don’t think the sales would generate enough capital to head off a meltdown. I fully expect to see AIG parceled off, just not right away and certainly not until all debts owed have been satisfied.

By: Charlie Foxtrot

Charlie Foxtrot — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 01:09:21 +0000

I almost got in a bar fight in Brisbane because someone would not believe that I wasn’t a Canuck.

By: PiMan

PiMan — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 01:03:11 +0000

But statistically, death is likely to be slightly further away.

By: PiMan

PiMan — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 01:01:32 +0000

Don’t bother working on your accent. Most Australians can’t tell the difference between someone from the East coast or someone from Canada.
We can usually pick out Southerners, but we wouldn’t treat them any different than someone with a Canadian accent.

By: PiMan

PiMan — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 00:57:46 +0000

The only dangerous creature that you would need to worry about in Melbourne is the Whitetail Spider, they are not uncommon in houses. We also have around the country, 8 of the 10 world’s deadliest snakes. But they are not a problem if you either stay out of parks during summer, or know reasonable first aid.
I’ve been living here all my life and I don’t personally know anyone who has been injured from a snake or spider bite.

By: Charlie Foxtrot

Charlie Foxtrot — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 00:42:20 +0000

gotta be better than bailing out the rich guys. Hell, maybe we should make them buy it for everyone as a paayback for the bailout..

By: J

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 00:38:26 +0000

My economic plan.
Legalize weed. Tax it like cigarettes. Use the taxes to pay into debt and ONLY into debt. In a few years time, no more debt and everyone will just chill the fu*k out.
Could it work? Eh I doubt it….

By: Kel

Kel — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 23:57:46 +0000

What happened to Lehmen Brothers? Oh yea…other companies bought it out. That’s what would happen with AIG. Or it would be broken up into smaller parts and then bought individually. That is why it’s ridiculous for the government to be bailing them out…they’re a PRIVATE company, not a public one!

By: Charlie Foxtrot

Charlie Foxtrot — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 23:54:53 +0000

Proof that the GOP wants BIG governemtn. They want it to preserve their golden parachutes. They want it to keep the general public poor whaile they reap the benefits. Anyone who votes GOP and who makes less than $100,000 a year is a moron.

By: Kel

Kel — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 23:49:30 +0000

See the comment above. The failure of the institution is the market correcting itself. Not the bailout.

By: Kel

Kel — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 23:47:36 +0000

So I’m a little late in responding, but I never said that I agreed with the bail out. In fact, I outright disagree with it. I think it’s awful. That being said, the failure of these financial institutions IS the market correcting itself. AIG got into business it had no business getting into in the first place. So why are we shocked it failed?

Oh…and by the way, it was able to get into trouble because of an act that was repealed in the CLINTON administration. Chew on that.

By: Kerfuffle Monger

Kerfuffle Monger — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 23:32:20 +0000

How about a nice kerfuffle?

By: Kerfuffle Monger

Kerfuffle Monger — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 23:30:56 +0000

Eddie, that’s EXACTLY how I feel. Make them accountable and then oust ‘em.

By: Kerfuffle Monger

Kerfuffle Monger — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 23:27:56 +0000

Okay, but am I not entitled to my beliefs? Personally, I think I have great reason to think the way I do.

By: rehbeinator

rehbeinator — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 23:20:22 +0000

We have too many people like that in the world. That’s why communism fails. Yes, in a perfect world, communism is the perfect government, but the world is far from perfect. We just have to work with what we’ve got, and that’s why capitalism is the better system in practice.

By: Nobzar

Nobzar — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 22:58:27 +0000

Ahh, cool thanks. I knew the Great Depression started in the 1920′s but didn’t know the exact year.

By: imo

imo — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 22:50:14 +0000

1929 is the year the Great Depression started.

By: imo

imo — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 22:44:15 +0000

I’ve done that, eh. I can also pull off German if not required to speak.

By: Lolnathan

Lolnathan — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 22:41:34 +0000

If frustrating government is a reason to move, they wouldn’t really want to head to any of those places. Well, Canada would sort of be okay I guess. But the other countries will nanny-state you to DEATH.

By: Lolnathan

Lolnathan — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 22:39:18 +0000

“FYI – The bailout is costing each and every American $2000. This is your money ”

While I agree with you in principle, this statement is a bit misleading. No one is being charged $2000, and the average person would in fact probably end up paying even more if these corrupt companies didn’t get bailed out.

Sadly, this $2000 a person is being absorbed into a debt that’ll never get paid, because no one wants higher taxes to pay some huge ethereal debt that they cannot really understand without an economics degree.

Anyway, I don’t know what the solution is here, but a socialist style bailout of companies who screwed the pooch is not the answer. It’s just a band-aid. We need long term reform on this sort of stuff.

The mantra of “public risk, private profits” is utter BS.

By: DeathWyrmNexus

DeathWyrmNexus — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 22:31:31 +0000

I know people in Australia, they are telling me of new little hybrids moving about. So no, couldn’t pay me enough. And I would have to wait longer for game releases. Homie don’t play that.

I lol’d at the accent comment.

By: n8

n8 — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 22:28:51 +0000

I imagine Sydney or thereabouts in Australia is fairly well civilized and free of dangerous critters, at least relatively. I wouldn’t mind seeing what was available down that way. I just have to perfect my phony Canadian accent before I dare travel abroad…

By: DeathWyrmNexus

DeathWyrmNexus — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 21:58:52 +0000

Now I need to sell myself to England. I suppose I need to keep my thoughts on figurehead government leaders to myself because I don’t want to go to Australia. Too many dangerous little critters wandering around.

I could go to Canada I suppose… Not in the mood to be frozen over though.

By: DeathWyrmNexus

DeathWyrmNexus — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 21:53:57 +0000

Good question, did he ever make claims that he only buys American? If not, does it matter really? Almost everybody who shops nowadays is dealing with a global economy. We are mocking the claim, not the product.

By: DeathWyrmNexus

DeathWyrmNexus — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 21:51:40 +0000

I should probably stop reading this thread about bail outs, it is making me want to be violent and commit mayhem.

By: Kerfuffle Monger

Kerfuffle Monger — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 21:51:32 +0000

Again, I never said we don’t need a government. We absolutely do. Just not the one we have. Or we need to make modifications to the one we have. We’re screwed though, considering we all know that even though one person is elected, another can take office. I have just lost all faith in our government and am saddened we are stuck with it, such as it is.