tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post2333890768258398090..comments2024-03-18T21:52:45.757-07:00Comments on CONTRARY BRIN: Our bold future in space!David Brinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comBlogger94125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-83999221273895102502020-04-22T12:53:49.789-07:002020-04-22T12:53:49.789-07:00Treebeard's 'logic' does not even foll...Treebeard's 'logic' does not even follow in its own context, from one statement to the next. (And most assertions are false.)<br /><br />Above all, he deliberately ignores the blatant meaning of "they think of the US president as partly 'theirs." Ure, he does that for polemical reasons. But it is still blatantly dishonest.<br /><br />jim - in contrast - was in one of his more cogent phases.<br /><br />onward<br />onward<br /><br />David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-434509900888085992020-04-22T12:43:35.461-07:002020-04-22T12:43:35.461-07:00Yglesias was not presenting the worst case scenari...Yglesias was not presenting the worst case scenario, (that would have involved pulsing the economy- virus triggers lock down, peak infection passes, restrictions lifted, new cases spike upwards and another lock down gets triggered over and over.) but rather the likely medium term outlook using a conventional economic analysis.<br /><br />As far as inheriting wealth - End of life care can really eat it up (a two week stay in the ICU before you die can wipe out that inheritance.) The average age that a person receives an inheritance is 40. and the median amount of inheritance is 68,000$ (2013 numbers) so maybe about a years worth of income. And the expected number of deaths does not seem to be large enough to generate a huge intergenerational wealth transfer in the sort term. jimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07865068658069680309noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-69797815062048817812020-04-22T12:34:10.481-07:002020-04-22T12:34:10.481-07:00The idea that most of the world considers the US p...The idea that most of the world considers the US president to be their president is hilariously delusional stuff. It’s also very dangerous, because once you start thinking that most people on the planet are actually closet Americans who need to be liberated from their local tyrannies and traditions, it becomes easy to start dropping bombs on their governments to liberate these foreign Americans. This American exceptionalism and universalism is a bizarre delusion, as anyone who has done much travelling knows. Most people around the world absolutely do not want to be Americans, and don’t look to America as their model or savior. Maybe the dumber, more propaganda-susceptible people who think Hollywood movies reflect American reality think that way, but they aren’t too bright and don’t generally run things in their countries. The fifth columns loyal to a foreign power in other countries are not the legitimate representatives of their countries or people, despite what the CIA, the media, our host and other imperial propagandists would have you believe.Treebeardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13769796990019460695noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-62483472698968498702020-04-22T11:52:30.427-07:002020-04-22T11:52:30.427-07:00All strong points GB. Yet look at the outpouring o...All strong points GB. Yet look at the outpouring of rejoicing when Obama entered office, ending the Bush years. Do you doubt the end of Trump would be so greeted almost everywhere that there's any hope of freedom? Would you care to bet on it?<br /><br />What did and will that mean? It means most of the world consider's the US president to be "their" president, as well. And they depend on US citizens to stand up on their behalf. Would they feel that way if the US has betrayed the trust systematically and thoroughly , as you describe? They are disappointed in us, yes. But you have to believe, to be disappointed.<br />David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-25849328091386786012020-04-22T11:41:36.460-07:002020-04-22T11:41:36.460-07:00It is also important to remember that 1946 was alm...It is also important to remember that 1946 was almost 75 years ago. And, though more recent, no one has "risk[ed] death to get themselves over the Berlin Wall" in more than 30 years.<br /><br />There is certainly at least a strong argument that the actions of the USA following WWII were (at least mostly) those of a "good" empire. (Though even as early as the 1950s the USA took actions in line with US interests and against US ideals.) But in the ensuing years the USA has become more of a bully and less of an ally - in this respect Trump is more extreme, but not different in kind in his attitude toward international relations and US allies/vassals.gregory byshenkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08565517478782844083noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-52057993929844677512020-04-22T11:38:07.435-07:002020-04-22T11:38:07.435-07:00Or else, with nursing homes emptying, GenXers flus...Or else, with nursing homes emptying, GenXers flush with inherited cash may go spending... not what I wish for! But if you go worst-case, consider more than one scenario.David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-90114179560909757862020-04-22T09:57:18.462-07:002020-04-22T09:57:18.462-07:00Matt Yglesias has a very conventional analysis abo...Matt Yglesias has a very conventional analysis about the prospects for recovery from the current pandemic recession/ depression. It is pretty bad, but when you combine that with the increasing energy cost of energy and the general limits to growth, the real predicament becomes apparent.<br /><br />https://www.vox.com/2020/4/22/21225333/how-long-will-recession-last-great-depression<br /><br />here is the summery:<br /><br />The basic case for pessimism about the economy in the medium term is this: Most Americans are going to exit this crisis poorer than they were at the beginning, thanks to some combination of job loss, reduced hours, pay cuts, investment losses, lost tips, or reduced sales. People who have less money than they had before the crisis can’t simply “go back to normal” when the crisis is over, they need to deal with the fact that they are poorer now by restraining their spending. But because my spending is your income and vice-versa, that collective restraint will keep holding the economy back. <br />If the coronavirus crisis were a uniquely American phenomenon, Americans could get out of the jam by selling things to foreigners — but the whole world is basically in the same boat. <br />If interest rates were high, the Fed could make them low making debt more affordable and generating a surge of debt-financed activity — but rates were low when the crisis began and they’ve already been cut to zero.<br />That essentially leaves us where we were in the Great Depression, with an economy that’s going to be depressed simply because it’s been depressed. People with no money can’t buy things, and in a global downturn there’s nowhere to turn for customers. A solution would need to involve either unorthodox Federal Reserve actions — a search for a modern-day equivalent to abandoning the gold standard — or else the government serving as a customer of last resort, as it did during the lead-up to World War II. <br />jimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07865068658069680309noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-59498466524975160772020-04-22T09:45:10.355-07:002020-04-22T09:45:10.355-07:00@Acacia H.: I assume that world-wide, anti-immigra...@Acacia H.: I assume that world-wide, anti-immigrant rhetorics will be used by right-wingers to gain votes of those national citicens endangered by unemployment. Rising Xenophobia and an increased number of hate crimes might be a possibility.<br /><br />@Empire: Peaceful, innocent empires do not exist. All of them, from ancient Persia to the modern-day US, have been build by guile and force, by trade, espionage, diplomacy and war. Their founders had the same virtues: ambition, vision, discipline, unity, planning. Empires also tend to decline over the same reasons: passivity, decadence, internal quarrels, incapable leaders.<br /><br />@Migration: Just found this one:<br />https://news.gallup.com/poll/245789/record-numbers-americans-leave.aspxA German Nursenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-50967702330341848192020-04-22T09:32:23.785-07:002020-04-22T09:32:23.785-07:00Milwaukee, WI has approved a city -wide program to...Milwaukee, WI has approved a city -wide program to give every registered voter an absentee ballot for the fall election, complete with paid postage. This program is called SafeVote and it is in response to the egregious, deadly machinations of the Wisconsin GOP in forcing voters to vote in person during the COVID-19 outbreak. <br /><br />https://www.wpr.org/milwaukee-will-mail-300k-absentee-ballot-applications-voters-fall-election<br /><br />Other cities in WI are working on similar measures. <br /><br />I expect that the WI GOP will now move to make a similar measure statewide. When Washington big cities went to vote-by-mail with prepaid postage, the rural areas had to follow suit for the WA GOP to keep up on statewide votes. <br /><br />I *do* expect this to turn up the heat on the battle to close the US Postal Service down. Democrats are utter fools to not use current funding leverage to ensure that the USPS continues to be solvent. The GOP will lose the next election cycle if vote by mail is in place this fall. Trump's reelection will depend on extreme voter suppression and vote by mail blows huge holes in his strategy. matthewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17757867868731829206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-84668955270421757002020-04-22T09:00:10.777-07:002020-04-22T09:00:10.777-07:00Actually, Greg B makes a good point. That particul...Actually, Greg B makes a good point. That particular refutation point - that millions still want to come to ol USA - does not NECESSARILY mean what I imply it means. There are several hyoptheses and the Hunger Games analogy is justg as good... IN ISOLATION. But combined with all the other evidence I cited, it just doesn't work and is, in fact, a bit of dishonest arm-waving. <br /><br />In 1946 George Marshall, Acheson and the others knew we were about to be an empire and that all other empires made terrible mistakes. Fir the 1st time, they asked "how can we do it better?" And the #1 answer was "don't rob the periphery in favor of the center." ALL other Pax empires did that, raising resentment that became lethal. Now, even in crisis, take a picture of cities around the world and compare those photos to 1946 images. It's not the US cities that are most-transformed. Nor the height of the children.David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-63541084925392735782020-04-22T08:33:16.625-07:002020-04-22T08:33:16.625-07:00gregory byshenk:
The fact that almost everyone fr...gregory byshenk:<br /><i><br />The fact that almost everyone from the districts would prefer to move to the captial doesn't mean that Panem is a great place, nor that the capital is wonderful and beloved.<br /></i><br /><br />Your analogy presumes that the reason people want to come to the US is because the US is the reason their own countries are lacking. While there might be some truth to that in some cases, I don't think that explains the dynamic that had, for example, people risking death to get themselves over the Berlin Wall.<br /><br />Nice that someone else remembers <i>The Hunger Games</i>, though. The movies would be more relevant than they were if they were coming out now.<br /><br />Katniss Everdeen:<br /><i><br />I'm in District 8 where the Capital just bombed a hospital full of unarmed men, women, and children. And there will be no survivors.<br /><br />If you think...for one second...that the Capital will ever treat us fairly, you are lying to yourselves. Because we know who they are and what they do. THIS is what they do! And we must fight back.<br /><br />I have a message for President Snow. You can torture us, and bomb us, and burn our districts to the ground. But do you see that? Fire is catching. And if we burn...you burn with us!<br /></i>Larry Harthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01058877428309776731noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-88913996847334436322020-04-22T08:12:52.670-07:002020-04-22T08:12:52.670-07:00Here's an interview on MSNBC about the economi...<a href="https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/oil-futures-go-negative-for-the-first-time-in-history-amid-pandemic-82314309949" rel="nofollow">Here's an interview on MSNBC about the economic impact of COVID-19 and how oil prices going negative may in fact be the "canary in the mine" suggesting things are going to get far far worse</a>. Given that there are already shortages starting to arise, there's some truly valid concerns here. In a couple of months it might not be <i>rats</i> fighting over scraps of food, but <i>people</i>. Trump's decision to close the borders for all immigration isn't going to help, seeing that migrant workers are needed to harvest many crops, and even higher wages isn't enough to get Americans to take those jobs.<br /><br />What are we going to do, put the military to work picking crops? Round people up at gunpoint and say "you're unemployed? Now you're a crop picker and you can't say no"? <br /><br />Acacia H. Acacia H.https://www.blogger.com/profile/07678539067303911329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-14948937576281571542020-04-22T04:28:10.388-07:002020-04-22T04:28:10.388-07:00David wrote:
The biggest refutation to the notion ...<b>David wrote:</b><br /><i>The biggest refutation to the notion of GENERALIZED American evil is the huge popularity we have, even after the travesties of both Bushes and Trump. One of "our" recent "crimes" has been lunatic spasm xenophobia about keeping people out. Never mentioned is the pure fact that half the world would come, if they could. Huh. Some hellscape.</i><br /><br />I don't think that this proves what you want it to.<br /><br />The fact that almost everyone from the districts would prefer to move to the captial doesn't mean that Panem is a great place, nor that the capital is wonderful and beloved.gregory byshenkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08565517478782844083noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-76341974902787831032020-04-21T18:31:56.147-07:002020-04-21T18:31:56.147-07:00Thank you Anonymous Toduro... though I hope you...Thank you Anonymous Toduro... though I hope you'll get an account because I do cull most anon attempts to get in here, now, because our former longlasting innocence was finally trashed by one insanity-nastiness-spewing troll. In your case, the linguistic differences were obvious. But sometimes I'll just be on automatic and you'll not get on. Anyway, welcome! Interesting insights.<br /><br />The biggest refutation to the notion of GENERALIZED American evil is the huge popularity we have, even after the travesties of both Bushes and Trump. One of "our" recent "crimes" has been lunatic spasm xenophobia about keeping people out. Never mentioned is the pure fact that half the world would come, if they could. Huh. Some hellscape.<br /><br />And ask the folks of the Baltic republics or Poland or Ukraine about their frensied insistence to join NATO, despite that engraging Putin and contributing to he spiteful campaign agbainst the West. We are paying a huge price, now, for helping them in the 90s. Hey jim, try actually asking folks. David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-61468136338228189862020-04-21T18:04:14.231-07:002020-04-21T18:04:14.231-07:00Subject: Pax Americana and the general benefit of...Subject: Pax Americana and the general benefit of open and usually safe seaborne transportation of goods for international trade.<br /><br />Jim Wright at Stonekettle Station has been mentioned/quoted here a few times before now. Most often as a strident critic of President Trump's tweets and policies.<br /><br />Here is part of a Wright post from mid 2019 about open sea lanes. Yes, Wright as usual wrote it as a rebuttal to one of President Trump's tweets at that time. But I believe that it articulately and correctly underscores one of several general international benefits of Pax Americana. Along lines similar to David Brin's recent comments about that.<br /> <br />Source: <br /><br />http://www.stonekettle.com/2019/06/<br /><br />Let us begin here then: US strategic power isn't a business.<br /><br />We do not profit from our military.<br /><br />Other nations do not pay us for protection, nor should they.<br /><br />We don't project sea power for the purpose of making a profit, but rather to secure the sea lanes for our own use and that of our allies.<br /><br />The Strait of Hormuz is a strategic chokepoint, one of the most critical waterways in the world. Not just because it is the primary passage for Gulf state oil, or because it allows the US military access to our allies (and our enemies) and US commercial interests access to their markets, suppliers, and customers, but because what happens there to both our enemies and our allies affects the entire world.<br /><br />This is the very purpose of sea power; something previous presidents have understood in detail.<br /><br />The fact that other nations benefit from our military power is incidental.<br /><br />Also, it should be noted since Trump himself specifically used the example: Japan does not have a navy.<br /><br />Japan has a Maritime Self-Defense Force to protect their sovereignty and their interests in their own waters.<br /><br />But the nation does not have a blue-water navy to protect their commerce on the high seas.<br /><br />This is by design.<br /><br />Our design.<br /><br />Japan does not have a navy because the United States and her allies defeated Imperial Japan at the end of WWII and the agreements which ended that conflict and Japan's formal acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration dissolved Japan's military forces. When a new Japanese government was formed following the war, it specifically declared: "The Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as a means of settling international disputes" and they put that in their new constitution verbatim as Article 9 in 1947. And what an example, and an admonishment, to the rest of us.<br /><br />For the last 70 years, the US has provided protection, at least in part, for Japanese shipping on the high seas – as America does for all of its allies. Not for profit or for prestige or for conquest, but because it is in our best interest to ensure freedom of the seas for all nations, friend and foe alike.<br /><br />Because when freedom of the sea lanes is not enforced for all, war follows. Always.<br /><br />This is what Roosevelt meant when he said, A good Navy is not a provocation to war. It is the surest guaranty of peace.<br /><br />As to China, do you believe it is in our best interests that the Chinese navy became the peacekeeping force in the Arabian Gulf? Or the Russian navy? Or the Indians? Really?<br /><br /><br />-- first name: Anonymous<br /> last name: Toduro<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-22635108746335731372020-04-21T17:25:54.403-07:002020-04-21T17:25:54.403-07:00Ask all of Africa about how things were under Pax ...Ask all of Africa about how things were under Pax Britain and Pax France and Pax Spain. Ask South America's indigenous Native American peoples what things were like under Pax Spain. Ask the indigenous Native Americans how Pax France and Pax Britain treated them and used them in proxy wars? Oh, here's one. Ask <i>China</i> how it was treated by Pax Britain and the other European Powers.<br /><br />How many died under these other empires? How many entire <b>civilizations</b> were <i>wiped out</i> because of the European empires? Or for that matter by the Mongols when the Mongol hordes invaded? Let's ask the Dalit how they are treated by Pax India even now? <br /><br />How about all the Eastern European regions that got annexed by the Soviet Union? Entire regions were broken apart and moved to various areas that has left parts of Eastern Europe a hotbed of dissent to this day, as the war between the Serbs and Croatians showed us.<br /><br />It is easy to claim America is evil and destructive and needs to be put down. But America is no worse than any of the other civilizations who made empires and in some ways is in fact not as horrific.<br /><br />Acacia H. Acacia H.https://www.blogger.com/profile/07678539067303911329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-42676144662582882912020-04-21T15:05:27.775-07:002020-04-21T15:05:27.775-07:00"David asked "compared to what?" Co..."David asked "compared to what?" Compared to the behavior of any other country on earth in the last 20 years.<br /><br />Good lord, is the stupid intentional, as it was partly for poor locumranch?<br /><br />1) LIAR! Tell this to the Tibetans, Ueghors and Ukrainians and Estonians and all the others desperately looking west.<br /><br />2) As for the relatively peaceful majorit, they did it under the protection of a Pax that enabled 90%+ of natons to for the very first time in all of history NOT spend most of their disposable budgets on war and arms and defense. They didn't have to, because we did. And the resulting benefits in applied development were staggering, second only to the benefits of selling trillions i crap to Americans.<br /><br />And notice the frantic avoidance od the matter at hand. I said compare us to any nation of the past or present who were tempted by vast POWER. And never, ever across the years, have I been able to get him to glance - even glance - at 6000 years of dismal human history.<br />David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-91336956520256603672020-04-21T14:19:07.343-07:002020-04-21T14:19:07.343-07:00O'Neill's economic rationale
Everything c...<i>O'Neill's economic rationale</i><br /><br />Everything changes. That particular rationale is about half a century old now, so it's no surprise the details don't match up with today's needs.<br /><br />Many of the branching paths in working out expected net present value for a space project come about due to the length of time involved in the project. Is the tech ready? How long does it take to get there? Get back? What if the tech doesn't work when we get there... how long before we can try again? Since invested capital is expected to return value, these questions create uncertainties in that value. Sometimes those uncertainties swamp the possible profits. The astronomical analogy for these financial states goes like this. "The Earth is in the solar system... most likely near the center." Not very useful.<br /><br />Space Solar Power was on a lot of minds back then. Still is, but not among those who have worked in the generation industry. It doesn't make sense yet. When you pay your electric utility bill, you aren't actually paying for the electrons to flow. You are paying for the electrons to flow reliably. The bulk of the price is due to reliability. When you realize that, the many variations on 'electricity' sold in the wholesale markets makes sense. When you see that, SSP shifts from being a technical project to an economic one. That's where it falls down... for now. Once the US militarizes space, though, that likely will change.<br /><br />The takeaway lesson when pondering the various economic rationales offered over the years is that the only ones to survive are the ones that solve business problems. You can try to sell to mass customers if you want, but investment durations are NOT short and you'll face a challenge of a lifetime. Trying to solve problems other businesses face, though, is entirely different. They spend huge sums to avoid huge sums. CATS is really about solving business problems. Same with FATS. Cheap and frequent are not common connotations for space projects and many well-funded customers don't like that. No matter whether they are pondering SSP or space burial ideas, cheap and frequent are problems they face and don't want to face. THAT's how to look at space economics. Turns out it is the same thing being done for terrestrial economics too, but with a much larger problem set to solve.<br /><br />Alfred Differhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01170159981105973192noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-25243781475055091162020-04-21T14:00:24.927-07:002020-04-21T14:00:24.927-07:00jim,
You are a few years behind and not up on you...jim,<br /><br />You are a few years behind and not up on your geopolitical scenarios. Space militarization has been discussed here. I chimed in with the Stratfor perspective and a mixture of my own, but I wasn't talking into a vacuum. It HAS been considered, but also deemed 'not a currently hot issue'.<br /><br />With all that is going on lately, that is even more true. Over worry about space militarization is a distraction. They are just one of the many factors that will be in motion as CATS really sinks in.<br /><br />...as if to punctuate the point, SpaceX is moving another Falcon 9 to the pad right now. They intend to put up more of their comm constellation tomorrow. Not a DoD mission. Not a NASA mission. It's an investor mission.Alfred Differhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01170159981105973192noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-56485125119243156932020-04-21T13:34:34.240-07:002020-04-21T13:34:34.240-07:00David asked
"compared to what?"
Compar...David asked <br />"compared to what?"<br /><br />Compared to the behavior of any other country on earth in the last 20 years.<br /><br />What other county has pursed a global war of terror? invading, killing, torturing, unilaterally breaking international treaties and on and on.<br /><br />Oh yeah there are a lot of bad countries in the world, but we have been uniquely bad for the last 20 years.<br /><br /> <br /><br />jimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07865068658069680309noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-1597553160241449512020-04-21T13:20:16.576-07:002020-04-21T13:20:16.576-07:00jim,
But . . ., I am superior!
Just kidding.
Mo...jim,<br /><br />But . . ., I <i>am</i> superior!<br /><br />Just kidding.<br /><br />More seriously, denigrating people because they aren't talking about the things you think are of key importance is boorish. It also indicates a confidence in your premises and assumptions that is not warranted.<br /><br />Caution and pessimism are traits we need to function best as a society, but you are often such a sourpuss you come off as a dick. Then people are dickish right back at you, then back & forth again, and next thing you know its a dick mosh pit.<br /><br />Here, have a cute cat picture.Darrell Ehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14054311762477388637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-17679316530900691102020-04-21T12:12:18.149-07:002020-04-21T12:12:18.149-07:00"One of these societies has been acting like ..."One of these societies has been acting like a crazed psychopath, telling transparent lies to justify war, torture, and assassination all over the world."<br /><br />Again, some glancing overlap with reality... till one asks you "compared to what?" Compared to our adversaries who spent like mad to help local enemy-traitor-oligarchs manipulate confederate masses into raising up that reality TV a-hole? Har, yeah, Putin and MBS would behave SO well, once unfettered from the constraints of accountability. <br /><br />Compared to any and every powerful nation that ever existed in the past? (A comparison I have defied you to make, for years now?) Bah.<br /><br />A nation that created a propaganda system that relentlessly POUNDS into youths the lesson that they should question authority and criticize errors in their own society? A reflex YOU imbibed from infancy and reflexively display in (alas) unsapient and un-analytical exaggeration?<br /><br />Or ... perhaps you mean compared to the kind of society we HOPE to make? (Shorthand: Star Trek.) Sure, we are bloodly awful compared to what we ought to have been, by now, and hope to become. Only who promulgated those standards? And the bizarre belief that jumped up cavemen MIGHT actually aspire to achieve them? Show me when else. Where else. Who else.<br /><br />But all of that is abstract. I'll point to the two BILLION children who would have died or been put into slave labor by now, but for the American Pax. TWO BILLION who are now in school, with full bellies and hope. Alas, every time I mention those palpable and real antibodies to your oversimplification fixation, you writhe like a confederate faced with facts.David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-51856035003672096722020-04-21T12:00:34.645-07:002020-04-21T12:00:34.645-07:00"You are at least 20 years too late to stop P..."You are at least 20 years too late to stop Pax Americana from going insane."<br /><br />well, there is overlap between that particular remark and reality... an occurance that locum deliberately avoided. You and I are wary allies against that insanity and we overlap in our diagnoses of the general direction. Alas, you are so aswarm with pat, convenient sanctimony delusions and ignorance that you're not much use in battle.<br /><br />David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-9701899324706221882020-04-21T11:02:52.661-07:002020-04-21T11:02:52.661-07:00David nice try to change the discussion of the san...David nice try to change the discussion of the sanity of societies to immigration flows, but I will not fall for it.<br /><br />One of these societies has been acting like a crazed psychopath, telling transparent lies to justify war, torture, and assassination all over the world. One of these societies thinks economic growth is the most important value. One of these societies elected a reality TV a-hole to lead their government. One of these societies will handle the coming degrowth of the global economy much better than the other.<br />jimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07865068658069680309noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-1138969904116195922020-04-21T09:28:52.753-07:002020-04-21T09:28:52.753-07:00(One problem with the new commenting method - I ju...(One problem with the new commenting method - I just came from a forum using Vanilla software, so I used the wrong tag on my italics. And now I can't just quickly delete and rewrite...)Jon S.https://www.blogger.com/profile/13585842845661267920noreply@blogger.com