tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post3819098111954759064..comments2024-03-18T21:52:45.757-07:00Comments on CONTRARY BRIN: #8: Micro-Suggestions about the economic crisisDavid Brinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-87111767281399638062008-12-23T13:48:00.000-08:002008-12-23T13:48:00.000-08:00Reminder: that I have an article comparing Net opt...Reminder: that I have an article comparing Net optimists to Net pessimists in today's online issue of Salon Magazine:<BR/><BR/>http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2008/12/23/david_brin_google/index.html<BR/><BR/><BR/>Also, catch me on "The Universe" Tuesday night on the History Channel.David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-80443437223017353102008-12-23T13:44:00.000-08:002008-12-23T13:44:00.000-08:00Tony Yipes. Hope things work out.Here's that Univ...Tony Yipes. Hope things work out.<BR/><BR/>Here's that Universe Magazine deal: Type in coupon code EE329517B2 - which is good for $5 off any subscription!<BR/><BR/>Remember, I accept feedback and nitpicks!<BR/><BR/>BD, you are strawmanning me. I despise the executives and their caste and ask from the UAW only that they take part of their current compensation as OWNERS. WTF is your problem. There is no better way to ensure the corrupt managers stop stealing than by eliminating their caste from GM altogether.David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-62498578103506459212008-12-23T08:05:00.000-08:002008-12-23T08:05:00.000-08:00It is time for labor and pensioners to accept the ...<I>It is time for labor and pensioners to accept the blatantly obvious, that their enforceable obligations make them the top creditors of Ford, GM and Chrysler.</I><BR/><BR/>Sadly, this is not the case.<BR/><BR/>In a bankruptcy proceeding, pensioners are considered unsecured creditors, and are pretty much near the end of the list when it comes to getting a piece of whatever assets the company has left.<BR/><BR/>If one of the Big 3 goes into bankruptcy, UAW loses, and loses big.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-58228697324315880032008-12-22T14:42:00.000-08:002008-12-22T14:42:00.000-08:00You're operating under the assumption that courts ...You're operating under the assumption that courts jail powerful, guilty men?<BR/><BR/>Get real.<BR/><BR/>How many people from Citibank are in the new administration again?<BR/><BR/>You're happy with an attorney general who didn't bat an eye over defending Chiquita for paying to have thousands of peasants shot to keep the price of bananas down, using his DoJ contacts to do so?<BR/><BR/>As for what UAW workers get paid... $3/hour more than a worker in Alabama working for Toyota.<BR/><BR/>The -executives- of GM etc, of course, make 10 times what their Japanese counterparts make.<BR/><BR/>Do some goddamn research.B. Dewhirsthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07949715179057866177noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-89415786557907585922008-12-22T14:22:00.000-08:002008-12-22T14:22:00.000-08:00That's American dollars?Yes please! (Of course, I ...That's American dollars?<BR/><BR/>Yes please! (Of course, I don't know what the cost of living is in US)<BR/><BR/><BR/>(from someone who is about to get a lot of time on their hands... where's that Baen subscription password!?)<BR/><BR/>lurust: a syndrome arising from too much reading material in the toiletTony Fiskhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14578160528746657971noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-81980544371533922632008-12-22T12:14:00.000-08:002008-12-22T12:14:00.000-08:00That lower figure is a bit below what I made as no...That lower figure is a bit below what I made as non-union truck driver working 65 hour weeks, untill I was laid off earlier this year.<BR/><BR/>It's not an astronomical figure for someone doing skilled and moderately dangerous work.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-23506966154658388312008-12-22T11:30:00.000-08:002008-12-22T11:30:00.000-08:00Double-posting, but I have to say...110,000 a year...Double-posting, but I have to say...<BR/><BR/>110,000 a year with a 60-hour work week? Unless you've got something like 12 kids or some outrageous medical bills or something, if you're making 110k a year with only 60 hours a week, you're pretty damn well off. Not necessarily rich and rolling in it, but pretty damn well off. My dad brought home some 60-70k a year, working 80+ hours a week, while raising 4 kids (and he's the Shop Manager at his work place, fairly high up on the totem pole). We all WISHED he brought home another 40k and could spend another 20 hours at home.Ilithi Dragonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10300247936272572280noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-20995924112181114722008-12-22T11:27:00.000-08:002008-12-22T11:27:00.000-08:00Jester said... You wish you made 60-110K a year......<B>Jester said...</B> <I>You wish you made 60-110K a year...</I><BR/><BR/>Yeah, while the lower number wouldn't quite double my income, it would come close. And this is after working in my field for 12 years. Sad thing is, I'm only making a $1.00/hour more than I did when I started tech support work, right out of the military. Talk about stagnant wages. Still, now that I'm married and wife is making almost as much as me (and two desks over), we're doing ok. Helps that we have paid for used cars, paid off credit cards and only debt is mortgage and school loans. Should have everything paid off just in time for daughter to hit college. And then there's taking care of Mom. Should be totally debt free sometime around 2068. Granted, I'll be 101 but hopefully, prolong treatments or head-in-a-jar therapy will let me retire around then.JuhnDonnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06795417373366495092noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-56699559558560589552008-12-22T11:11:00.000-08:002008-12-22T11:11:00.000-08:00I don't know about Dr. Brin, but I'd love to make ...I don't know about Dr. Brin, but I'd love to make even the lower-end figure - that's almost tripple my current pay.Ilithi Dragonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10300247936272572280noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-9428401788933870232008-12-22T10:28:00.000-08:002008-12-22T10:28:00.000-08:00Dr. Brin?You wish you made 60-110K a year, the upp...Dr. Brin?<BR/><BR/>You wish you made 60-110K a year, the upper number reflecting 60+ hour weeks for senior employees?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-55023002043237289502008-12-22T09:39:00.000-08:002008-12-22T09:39:00.000-08:00Robert said... And whoever came up with the concep...<B>Robert said...</B> <I>And whoever came up with the concept of corporation as a form of person should have been institutionalized. Corporations are institutions run by people and should be treated as such, rather than as entities in and of themselves.</I><BR/><BR/>I like how Royal Dutch Shell claimed that, as a corporation, they had no moral obligation to interfere with Nigeria's <A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Saro-Wiwa" REL="nofollow">execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa</A>, for protesting the environmental mess Shell was making in Nigeria. As the primary money flowing in to Nigeria, Shell would have had some pull with the government but argued that, as a corporation, they're only responsible for generating profits.JuhnDonnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06795417373366495092noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-35714483212412155952008-12-22T07:46:00.000-08:002008-12-22T07:46:00.000-08:00The purpose of government is to protect the people...The purpose of government is to protect the people, and market regulations are simply the government's means of protecting the people from crooks and cheaters who want to scam the people, or just follow piss-poor, short-sighted policies to get rich quick without any concern for the short- and long-term consequences, and the occasional honest but terribly bad decision.<BR/><BR/>The idea that a free market system doesn't need regulation, and that it balances itself out is a nice ideal, and in theory, it would work. However, that theory requires that EVERYONE involved in that system behave ethically, and make intelligent decisions based on the long-term best interests of the company, the people and the nation. If more than a scant handful of people try to cheat, or just make honest mistakes and bad decisions, the unregulated free market system falls apart. And if a LOT of people are being dishonest, unethical and generally trying to cheat the system, it falls apart spectacularly, as we are now witnessing.<BR/><BR/>Simply put, the regulations are there not for the government to tell us what to do, but to protect the people from cheaters and honest mistakes, and that's how they should be structured.Ilithi Dragonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10300247936272572280noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-8436212253502638012008-12-21T20:34:00.000-08:002008-12-21T20:34:00.000-08:00I have sincere doubts that Obama will be even half...I have sincere doubts that Obama will be even half as bad as the Shrub was. That, in and of itself, will help the country out. Add in the fact that we've seen, time and time again, that business unregulated has a tendency to self-destruct, and I suspect we'll see a lot of the damage done by Republicans will be fixed in the next four years.<BR/><BR/>I say this as a civil libertarian, mind you. I don't want government telling me what to do... but I've seen that we need government telling the so-called entity known as corporations what they can and cannot do. (And whoever came up with the concept of corporation as a form of person should have been institutionalized. Corporations are institutions run by people and should be treated as such, rather than as entities in and of themselves.)<BR/><BR/>Rob H.Acacia H.https://www.blogger.com/profile/07678539067303911329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-4740246870833561772008-12-21T19:25:00.000-08:002008-12-21T19:25:00.000-08:00Gadzook what cock, BD.I wish I were paid what thos...Gadzook what cock, BD.<BR/><BR/>I wish I were paid what those "slaves" make. And show me the Clintonites in prison... which Bush et al certainly would have LOVED to do and tried desperately to do, with a billion dollar witch hunt.<BR/><BR/>You are armwaving stories. Just stories.David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-91643551139943863602008-12-21T15:15:00.000-08:002008-12-21T15:15:00.000-08:00On the UAW:Asking a slave to compromise with his m...On the UAW:<BR/><BR/>Asking a slave to compromise with his master is barbaric.B. Dewhirsthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07949715179057866177noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-38733737695006932802008-12-21T15:11:00.000-08:002008-12-21T15:11:00.000-08:00Pity the new team is just as much comprised of "10...Pity the new team is just as much comprised of "10,000 world-dominating golf-buddies" as the old team.B. Dewhirsthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07949715179057866177noreply@blogger.com