tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post2884738448597253862..comments2024-03-29T06:22:47.638-07:00Comments on CONTRARY BRIN: As Economic Inequality Grows: the "NBA Star" rationalization.David Brinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comBlogger80125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-71008307789870819602016-04-10T21:02:03.373-07:002016-04-10T21:02:03.373-07:00onward
onwardonward<br /><br /><br />onwardDavid Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-1539732595907662162016-04-10T11:23:14.946-07:002016-04-10T11:23:14.946-07:00DC and WB please see where I talk about the Altern...DC and WB please see where I talk about the Alternative National Debt Clock at:<br /><br />http://davidbrin.blogspot.com/2013/02/things-only-zillionaire-could-do-to.htmlDavid Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-91412889455607800592016-04-09T23:56:06.635-07:002016-04-09T23:56:06.635-07:00Hi Wayne
Tesla get what $7500/car - about 7% of t...Hi Wayne<br /><br />Tesla get what $7500/car - about 7% of the price<br /><br />Apple gets what 90% of it's technology developed free<br /><br />And you say Tesla is getting a subsidy but Apple isn't?????????<br /><br />I think you are doing a "True Scotsman" on this duncan cairncrosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14153725128216947145noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-30837352520476054652016-04-09T23:20:33.236-07:002016-04-09T23:20:33.236-07:00
All of it? Some of it, yes. But not all of it.
M...<br />All of it? Some of it, yes. But not all of it.<br /><br />Much of our technology is Space of Military derived. But that is not a direct subsidy, and is open to any company to use. Microsoft, Dell, IBM, Google, Ford, GM, John Deere, Boeing, etc. all use technologies that was originally developed for Space or the Military. That is not the same as a direct subsidy, which is what I meant.<br /><br />Apple has had a lot of success in the American school market historically, though they appear to be loosing that market to Google now according to a variety of sources. Again, that is not the same as a direct subsidy, the bidding is open, and competitive, unlike the F35 fighter contract...<br /><br />Wayne<br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18354974465136846413noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-73676965055470505842016-04-09T22:16:56.793-07:002016-04-09T22:16:56.793-07:00Hi Wayne
"Capitalism works well, as epitomize...Hi Wayne<br />"Capitalism works well, as epitomized by Apple, a company that isn't into government subsidies."<br /><br />Apple is probably the best possible example of the opposite of that!<br /><br />All of the technology used in Apple products was developed by the government - Apple put it together and added a big slosh of marketing expertise but the technology was all developed by the government<br /><br />Is that not a massive government subsidy??duncan cairncrosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14153725128216947145noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-64407946252290424492016-04-09T20:04:03.147-07:002016-04-09T20:04:03.147-07:00David,
Agreed!
Back to technology, am watching T...<br />David,<br /><br />Agreed!<br /><br />Back to technology, am watching Top Gear on Netflix, their 'Worst Cars' episode. Some fantastic technology used in ways that are absolutely insane...<br /><br />Oh, right. We are talking CEO compensation, and how it is out of line with a free market. My personal suggestion would be a requirement that all CEO compensation packages be designed and approved by the shareholders. The CEOs would hate this, and some of these super intelligent mutant NBA All Stars would go do something productive.<br /><br />Maybe.<br /><br />Wayne<br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18354974465136846413noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-6902617660721925002016-04-09T19:46:43.787-07:002016-04-09T19:46:43.787-07:00"By Canadian standards the Democrats are to t..."By Canadian standards the Democrats are to the right of our most right-wing party." <br /><br />Sorry, that's nonsense. Sure, the dems haven't been able to institute anything like Canadian National Health. But most of them would like to. <br /><br />WB You think dems LIKE "Obamacare"? It was designed, top to bottom by the Republican Party! Obama only put it forward in hope that the GOP might lessen its screeching opposition just enough to let SOMETHING pass for millions of uninsured Americans. And that happened. They pulled back and screeched at their OWN DAMN PLAN just less enough so that it passed, but they could continue screaming "socialism!"<br /><br />More right wing than Canada's right? Bull puckey! Meanwhile, the Canadian right wing government, like Australia's, has been utterly Republican-loony about environmental matters and climate change.<br /><br />Face it. The "left-right" political "axis" is utter lobotomizing drivel.<br /><br />You guys can continue but I am moving<br /><br />onward<br /><br />David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-63392381734333259572016-04-09T19:14:24.774-07:002016-04-09T19:14:24.774-07:00David,
I'm not sure that the Democrats would ...<br />David,<br /><br />I'm not sure that the Democrats would do all that much, and if they did, it would favour the corporations (see the Affordable Care Act).<br /><br />Capitalism works well, as epitomized by Apple, a company that isn't into government subsidies. Apple gets customers buy producing and selling superior products (disclosure - my writing computer is a MacBook Air, my desktop a retired MacBook, and my servers run Linux).<br /><br />Tesla on the other hand lives on government subsidies. Check how much you get in incentives to purchase electric, it helps Tesla keep prices up. I'm not knocking Tesla's design and engineering skills, they've designed and built fantastic cars, and I'd buy one myself. Or for that matter consider SpaceX which is heavily government subsidized.<br /><br />Government subsidies can be productive, again see Tesla and California's air, which is far cleaner now (disclosure - you can still find my name on documents stored on the Californa Air Resources Board website ten years after I had to quite working). But they can also artificially distort markets if used in the wrong ways (see WalMart and how it under pays workers because it can use government programs to make up the difference such as SNAP).<br /><br />Yes, I'm a cynic. I always look at everything and ask 'Who does this benefit?' It often isn't the obvious person (someone receiving SNAP), but the corporation which gets away with paying them starvation level wages.<br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18354974465136846413noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-22011273265171845922016-04-09T19:12:29.695-07:002016-04-09T19:12:29.695-07:00American doesn't have a major political party ...<i>American doesn't have a major political party representing the left wing. It has a center-right party and a far-whacko right party</i><br /><br />By Canadian standards the Democrats are to the right of our most right-wing party. Not as far to the right as they used to be (our right has been borrowing from your right's playbook for most of a generation now), but still to the right.<br /><br />So from this perspective, you have a very-right party and a crazy-right party.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-79461528512090585152016-04-09T19:03:23.264-07:002016-04-09T19:03:23.264-07:00Larry Hart:
Yes, we take American refugees. Had o...Larry Hart:<br /><br />Yes, we take American refugees. Had one as a high school English teacher back in the early seventies, great guy, really knew his stuff. He's one of the reasons I'm now writing.<br /><br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18354974465136846413noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-7555448091566549942016-04-09T17:49:05.117-07:002016-04-09T17:49:05.117-07:00Geez Wayne B, while I disagree with some things yo...Geez Wayne B, while I disagree with some things you say – e.g. the notion that a Democratic Congress & President would not do many, many things -- nevertheless I cringe at the difficulties that you describe and I am sure we all hope your health will improve! <br /><br />D Burns. I do not claim to have all the answers. But I know that the American republic has a system called politics that used to function -- imperfectly and in fits and starts – to address the most blatant problems. Sometimes, as when Al Gore’s bill unleashed the Internet, it does much more. Politics as a problem-solving tool was deliberately destroyed by the rising US oligarchy as they transformed the American right into a monstrously re-ignited version of the Confederacy.<br /><br />Do I favor the left? Only insofar as Rooseveltan methods must be used to defeat this deadly enemy to the republic and restore politics, even enhance it with distributed-modern citizen-based innovations. I actually quite admire capitalism, as manifested in brave startups, small businesses and Elon Musk. Capitalism is the top VICTIM of this oligarchic putsch.<br /><br />onward<br /><br />onwardDavid Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-7391470584977209782016-04-09T17:27:39.187-07:002016-04-09T17:27:39.187-07:00Hi Deuxglas
"It is not a question or working ...Hi Deuxglas<br />"It is not a question or working hard or being smart but it is a question of making the right decisions and that is what makes the difference between a company prospering or going under"<br /><br />Why are the decisions made by the CEO more important than the decisions made by the engineers?? - or many of the thousands of other workers<br />Either can make the company go bankrupt<br /><br />I remember a top CEO saying that when he is asked to make a decision if he can't decide he just tosses a coin<br />His logic was that his subordinates knew what they were doing and if they could not decide between A and B then they were probably about equally likely to be correct and a coin toss was a reasonable way of deciding<br /> duncan cairncrosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14153725128216947145noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-54186326407377347672016-04-09T17:02:10.951-07:002016-04-09T17:02:10.951-07:00PaulSB:
It is one of the most egregious lines of...PaulSB:<br /><i><br /> It is one of the most egregious lines of bovine excrement coming from the right wing that people who have issues with wealth disparity are motivated by nothing more than petty jealousy, and are therefore easily dismissed (and their real concerns ignored).<br /></i><br /><br />If I look at my neighbor's luxury car and <b>want</b> that for myself without being willing to earn it, that's the sort of petty jealousy they say is at work.<br /><br />If I notice that the law lets my neighbor get away with infractions that I would be jailed for, or that he can call up a city councilman or a congressman and get his interests looked after, whereas I'm lucky to get form letter responses, and I feel anger at not having my rights as citizen recognized, that's not at all the same thing.<br /> LarryHartnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-56081267373662865292016-04-09T16:55:48.111-07:002016-04-09T16:55:48.111-07:00Hi Paul SB
"I wonder if there is a correlatio...Hi Paul SB<br />"I wonder if there is a correlation with the weather. If we knew where he lived"<br /><br />One of my friends had a theory that it is all about the sea <br />"people living more than 100 miles from the sea tend to go mad" <br />He thinks that this explains the modern political situation and most of historyduncan cairncrosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14153725128216947145noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-69771907224167975172016-04-09T16:54:38.068-07:002016-04-09T16:54:38.068-07:00Wayne Borean:
The 'Right Wing' in every n...Wayne Borean:<br /><i><br />The 'Right Wing' in every nation except the United States, and now the U.K. is most often against state interference in citizens lives, believing that freedom is super important. It doesn't favour the rich, and corporations like in the USA.<br /></i><br /><br />Ok, I see where I'm confused by your terms. We have libertarians here too who consider themselves "right wing". I always associate the term with its French origins, so I think of right wing as favoring aristocratic privileges, or its modern American equivalent, privileges for the wealthy and powerful. The way the two concepts overlap is in the sense that the law forbids rich and poor alike from sleeping under bridges.<br /><br /><i><br />The Left Wing in every nation except the United States, and the U.K. since the days of Tony Blair, has been for enhanced social supports, whereas the American Left Wing also favours the rich, and corporations.<br /><br />This means that effectively you have a one party state, with governance passed between the two wings. This is what the Tea Party and Occupy have started to realize.<br /></i><br /><br />This is even more confusing to me, because what I think you mean is that the American party called the Democrats are in bed with the corporations. The way I would put the same thought is that American doesn't <b>have</b> a major political party representing the left wing. It has a center-right party and a far-whacko right party. With the advent of Bernie Sanders and his evident popularity, the Democrats might finally be becoming a center-left party rather than a center-right one.<br /><br />I think of Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter <b>as</b> the left wing.<br /><br /><i><br />My body is revolting, and minor things like taking my dogs out to the yard leave me wrecked afterwards.<br /></i><br /><br />I don't know why, but this list has an inordinate number of people suffering with medical issues. In my own case, it is my wife who suffered for seven months with untreated Lyme Disease (or something close enough) until she finally found a doctor willing to treat the apparent symptoms without verification from a clinical test. She's much improved now, but will never be the same. So much for "the greatest medical system in the world" or whatever my fellow countrymen like to call it.<br /><br /><i><br />And it is in Toronto. I haven't been that far south in ages.<br /></i><br />My wife and I actually honeymooned in Toronto. It's a great city, as is Vancouver, where we also stayed for a week on a different trip. I could easily live in either city if you country is good enough to take refugees from President Trump or President Cruz.<br /><br /><br /><br />LarryHartnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-67674707676395048662016-04-09T14:58:11.817-07:002016-04-09T14:58:11.817-07:00What's your definition of "restrictive bu...What's your definition of "restrictive bureaucracy?"Jumperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11794110173836133321noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-82204308325022128882016-04-09T14:26:01.271-07:002016-04-09T14:26:01.271-07:00I'm curious what Dr. Brin thinks the solution ...I'm curious what Dr. Brin thinks the solution looks like, beyond electing more Democrats. He cites Adam Smith as his authority in favor of government intervention, but does that intention take the form of a restrictive bureaucracy, a decentralized, distributed property rights mechanism where those defrauded can take legal action, something in between, or something entirely outside my box?Davehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17330240621500931648noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-8430293532274893582016-04-09T12:52:20.970-07:002016-04-09T12:52:20.970-07:00David,
Agreed. I've read a series of articles...<br />David,<br /><br />Agreed. I've read a series of articles on the Divide and Conquer strategy. It is wonderful in its simplicity, and may partially explain why American news organizations produce news that is so heavily dumbed down. It may also explain Reality TV.<br /><br />Looked at the website for Ideacity. Sounds like it would be a lot of fun, but I'm no longer physically capable of doing things like that. My body is revolting, and minor things like taking my dogs out to the yard leave me wrecked afterwards.<br /><br />And it is in Toronto. I haven't been that far south in ages. It's a six hour drive, which would leave me wrecked for a day. My last trip it took 60 grains of morphine, and 6 percosets per day to keep me marginally functional. When people found out I drove they were dumbfounded, since a single Percoset usually puts a person to sleep. I'm used to it, so I was fine, as in safe to drive, but when I got home I spent a week recovering.<br /><br />Been playing Futurist myself. It is a lt of fun!<br /><br />Wayne<br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18354974465136846413noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-17920997586995275052016-04-09T12:41:44.107-07:002016-04-09T12:41:44.107-07:00Paul SB,
I know a lot of folks all over the world...<br />Paul SB,<br /><br />I know a lot of folks all over the world (many from working sales, where I was responsible for cold calling Fortune 500 companies). I've not run into anything like the 'patriotic' attitude that the average American has anywhere else.<br /><br />I am however a proponent of Canadian Exceptionalism, and have advocated Canada annexing the United States for years. For some reason whenever I bring it up people act like I'm crazy, but I'm slowly conditioning them to the idea...<br /><br />Larry Hart,<br /><br />The 'Right Wing' in every nation except the United States, and now the U.K. is most often against state interference in citizens lives, believing that freedom is super important. It doesn't favour the rich, and corporations like in the USA.<br /><br />The Left Wing in every nation except the United States, and the U.K. since the days of Tony Blair, has been for enhanced social supports, whereas the American Left Wing also favours the rich, and corporations.<br /><br />This means that effectively you have a one party state, with governance passed between the two wings. This is what the Tea Party and Occupy have started to realize.<br /><br />Yes, I got lucky, and read The Practice Effect just before the con, loved it, and had a wonderful time listening to David talk science, engineering, and politics! A heady, and fantastic mix.<br /><br />Locumranch,<br /><br />Social Darwinism is what the United States has now. Effectively the weak are dying of treatable diseases, and the strong stay healthy. That's why the United States has seen a drop in life expectancy for white males, while other age groups have seen a rise, however small. It is also why the U.S. has the worst infant mortality rate of the Industrialized nations. Places like Cuba have better health care, and spend a tenth or less per person on it. In Canada we spend about a third going by memory and have far better outcomes across the board.<br /><br />Then ther's things like the need for lots of experienced trauma surgeons and nurses for the armed forces. Loosening gun control has achieved that. Note that I can't prove a positive correlation, but it is suggestive.<br /><br />And of course the poor find it impossible to claw their way it of poverty because the game is rigged. Poor and coloured have an even worse time.<br /><br />Some friends of a friend were up visiting, and asked to be shown the Toronto slums. Shirley took them to Regents Park. They looked really confused. To them Regents Park looked like middle class housing!<br /><br />Wayne<br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18354974465136846413noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-26490621886746019022016-04-09T12:38:55.671-07:002016-04-09T12:38:55.671-07:00Larry,
"And on yet another tangent, I don&#...Larry, <br /><br />"And on yet another tangent, I don't have a problem with a healthy, profitable organization paying rock-star compensation."<br /><br />Agreed. It is one of the most egregious lines of bovine excrement coming from the right wing that people who have issues with wealth disparity are motivated by nothing more than petty jealousy, and are therefore easily dismissed (and their real concerns ignored). Dr. Brin pointed to one of the real issues in the post - that once in power, corporate execs who get paid "rock star" wages (or NBA wages) then use their power to fix the business to increase their own power and wealth. And like those short-sighted parasites who don't know well enough to not kill their hosts, they bankrupt their businesses, and those bankruptcies have ripple effects through the economy that pretty much screw us all. This isn't much different from the House of Lords passing the Corn Laws back in Adam Smith's day, except it isn't the government that is causing the problem (though it often participates, or fails to circumvent), it is the snowball effect of big business. We need to attend not only to the historical context of old ideas we throw around, but also how our century is different from the centuries these ideas originated in. Paul SBnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-12803104961278152932016-04-09T12:25:10.178-07:002016-04-09T12:25:10.178-07:00I wonder if there is a correlation with the weathe...I wonder if there is a correlation with the weather. If we knew where he lived (somewhere on the Great Plains, I'm guessing, but that's a pretty big swath of territory) we might be able to guess at a diagnosis. Seasonal Affect Disorder? Serotonin Syndrome? Then again, it could be age related - but more likely it's meme-related.Paul SBnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-37362220018825629262016-04-09T11:38:20.670-07:002016-04-09T11:38:20.670-07:00Wayne Borean thanks and you are welcome here. Bu...Wayne Borean thanks and you are welcome here. But seriously, the Tea Party raging against oligarchs is fine by the oligarchs, so long as when push comes to shove they can be talked into crying: “but lib’ruls are worse!” It is a clever technique. And yes, Trunp shows that the narrative may have escaped the oligarchs’ control! But still it is “but lib’ruls are worse!” <br /><br />It is still poor white males fighting for the slaveowners.<br /><br />Oh BTW I will be in Toronto in June for Ideacity.<br /><br />BTW… US schools do not teach facts they teach skill at argument.<br /><br />Anonymous… we all know that “anonymous” anti-Clinton rhetoric comes from Koch-owned PAC social media boiler rooms. “I prefer Bernie and will fight for his programs” is a sincere thing. But when you see a hate-on-hillary demand the poster’s True Name. He’ll vanish.<br /><br />Locum is just raving now. It is apparently cyclical. David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-40704689503122389682016-04-09T10:01:27.116-07:002016-04-09T10:01:27.116-07:00Not to hold Social Darwinism blameless, but it is ...<br />Not to hold Social Darwinism blameless, but it is my belief that 'Deserving' (aka 'Entitlement') is the most insidious idea in the western lexicon because it used to both justify & challenge current circumstance.<br /><br />If Cream can be said to 'float to the top', then many conclude that what is 'on top' must be Cream, so the Fortunate Individual who is handsome, rich, envied, powerful or overcompensated concludes that his good fortune (as well as the individual Ill-Fortune of the poor, sick & ugly) is deserved, appropriate & therefore representative of Natural & Divine Order.<br /><br />Unfortunately, this is a false conclusion (a logical fallacy, really) which conflates the random Good Fortunate of 'being 'on top' (or the random Ill Fortune of low rank) with the ACT of rising to the top (or the ACT of settling to the bottom) due to Intrinsic Worth & Divine Justice.<br /><br />I would therefore argue that we cannot blame 'Social Darwinism' for current unequal social circumstance & income inequality, but rather it is civilisation itself that is to blame for CHEATING Social Darwinism in an all-to-human attempt to pass on unearned & undeserved advantage to our offspring & social circles.<br /><br />Yes, indeed. The Western 'We' live in the 'bestest' & most fortunate circumstance that humanity has ever known, one that we inherited from our father's fathers rather than earned, and 'deserving's got nothing to do with it'.<br /><br />Too bad, too sad, that Cheaters Never Prosper.<br /><br /><br />Best<br />locumranchnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-54047046827429322452016-04-09T09:26:09.609-07:002016-04-09T09:26:09.609-07:00The issue of The Economist about one issue ago had...The issue of The Economist about one issue ago had two article about monopoly rents in the US. <br /><br />http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21695385-profits-are-too-high-america-needs-giant-dose-competition-too-much-good-thing<br /><br />http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21695392-big-firms-united-states-have-never-had-it-so-good-time-more-competition-problem<br /><br />This is a conservative British magazine. So it is telling they using statistics find the same thing as you wrote about Mr. Brin.bigstevehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06302947486142672773noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-35925870818932461072016-04-09T09:22:34.323-07:002016-04-09T09:22:34.323-07:00Wayne Borean:
1) There is no American 'Right ...Wayne Borean:<br /><i><br />1) There is no American 'Right Wing', what claims to be 'Right Wing' is actually the Oligarchy.<br /></i><br /><br />I don't get what the difference is. We're probably using "right wing" in different ways, but when I hear the term, I think of Louis XVI, Pinochet, Marcos, Mussolini. I also think of Hitler, but you'd probably make a case that he was something different.<br /><br />Nevertheless, the point stands, I don't see why "the oligarchy" and "right wing" don't refer to the same thing.<br /><br /><i><br />2) There is no American 'Left Wing', what claims to be 'Left Wing' is closer to Corporate Fascism. Thus you have Occupy.<br /></i><br /><br />Now, you're really confusing me. I think of corporate fascism as right-wing, not left-wing. And are you saying Occupy Wall Street was corporate fascism, or that they were a reaction <b>to</b> corporate fascism? Either way, I don't see how you get from your initial assertion to the conclusion that follows.<br /><br /><i><br />David, you probably won't remember me, but I was one of the people who gathered around you when you weren't on panels at the Ad Astra you attended in Toronto about 30-35 years ago.<br /></i><br /><br />Wow! I don't think I even knew who David Brin was 35 years ago. I first read "The Postman" almost exactly 30 years ago, and my wife didn't get me hooked on the Uplift books until almost 10 years after that.<br />LarryHartnoreply@blogger.com