Saffire

If only everyone agreed with me, life would be so much easier! I feel like Rush Limbaugh right now. Always right!

The Geithner plan is just the same old solution we've been hearing about for a while, with a bigger price tag. Home prices WILL drop, because their value has already dropped. It dropped when too many of them were manufactured and put onto the market (a dearth of supply and limited demand). The only way to make home values increase again is to start burning houses down (reducing supply). It's amazing how such a painfully simple subject like economics can be lost on these supposedly brilliant minds who are running things now. EDIT: From the article Nick linked to - Here's why this recession will turn into a depression. What's the incentive to save money when there is rampant inflation? There is none! Americans might start saving again, but it won't do them any good until interest rates skyrocket beyond inflation rates. It's not going to be pretty.

omg that woman is like... old enough to be his mom. :laugh3: As long as we're posting vids, here's a good one of Mr. Pyfrom: [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fR8vIh-5zx4]YouTube - Shawn Pyfrom[/ame]

I agree, Lyric! Plain pizza is good because you can taste the high-quality ingredients. I like being able to taste a good crust and the subtle flavor of the tomato sauce.

Shawn Pyfrom is pretty handsome.

Did you see the one about the guy who turned into a werewolf when the moon rock hit him in the head? I loved the part where he was in the hospital and his girlfriend was talking to him, and this huge roach crawled across the wall in the background. I almost died laughing.

Thanks ladies, you're very sweet! :D I think I'm scrawny. :P

Oh my gosh... You like lobster, but dislike the way they feel pain when they are boiled alive? Well the CrustaStun is just for you! http://www.crustastun.com/ :laugh3:

I love meat too much to ever try being a vegetarian. But as a % of what I eat, meat isn't actually that much. I try to eat fish more often, too, cause that's good for you. Most Americans probably eat too much meat.

I nearly cried at the end of that movie. BTW I love your avatar... rawr. Here are some recent films I saw - Lakeview Terrace: 7/10 Ghost Town: 8/10 My Best Friend's Girl: -100/10 Holy crap this movie sucked.

This picture has the feel of an American Apparel ad. I had to take the tissue out of my nose for it.

And expose you to my terrible scars and acne? Hell no! ;) Plus having the lights out makes me feel like Batman or The Coon. "The city is a dying whore... and I am her protector." :P

I found a bag of catnip on top of the TV in our media room, I think my sister bought it a while ago. So I let one of our cats sniff it. I guess that was kind. Oh and when I end up doing community service for the horrific crime I committed a few weeks ago, I'll probably work with animals somewhere. (People who read the news section of the forum will know what I'm referring to).

Here I am right now, I'm sick as a dog.

Yep, I just did in the "Things You Wish You Could Say" thread... about my grandfather. And sometimes when it's late at night and I'm introspective I'll get sad about someone like Princess Diana or Judy Garland, because I sort of see my mother in them. Even tho she's not dead. :P

Not unless it comes from S&S Cafeteria!

Seriously, you wouldn't believe how much I get that. From my mom's friends especially... they're going to figure it out eventually, though. Oh, here's something I wish I could tell my granddad (who died years ago when I was younger): Thanks for showing me how to enjoy the simple things in life without ever getting stressed out. Just sitting on the porch and watching the summer day go by is something I'll never forget. And thanks for teaching me how to play pool! You were an awesome dude and I wish you were still around. I hope you get the message, wherever you are.

No, I don't want to date your daughter. I'm gay.

lol, to me it is. But that's how most people are, so you're in good company. I don't think I've never been an atheist, but I go between being agnostic and deist. I think God just observes, and that generally he's good and he wants us to be happy. But I don't think he's like a human in a white robe on a throne or anything. EDIT: OMG your signature! The Wiggles ftw!

You're an atheist at 16?! Oh my Lord... ;) So you can be convinced that God doesn't exist, but you STILL have faith in government? Rgh, my work is cut out for me. :P

There was a time when buying alcohol was illegal. That didn't go so well. If you get lung cancer, then I'm sorry for you - regardless of whether you're a smoker or not. But remember, you don't have a right to other peoples' organs. You have no right to tell other people what to do. Someone sitting on the couch stoned all day... they are making a decision to be lazy. There's nothing wrong with it, they simply choose to be high all the time rather than work. They consider their free time to be more valuable than minimum wage. You're allowed to make moral judgments about these decisions, and call people names. But from an economic standpoint, freedom to choose is more valuable than anything, because the net result of the millions of decisions we make every day is a higher quality of life for everyone. Of course, they'll say that. But in practice I highly doubt it. If someone honestly believes in government, let them write a check to the Treasury. On Sweden - a cursory glance at immigration statistics shows that only 18% or so of Swedens are of foreign origin, and population growth rate is only a lousy 0.72% a year, barely over par. The only economic reason people move to another country is if they think they'll profit from the tax structure, which means they intend to pay fewer taxes to get more services. In the end, the Swedes lose because they pay for most of it. Basically there's no "magical tax rate" which suddenly makes life swell for everyone in a country. It would be great if there were! Taxation is theft. The services are distributed arbitrarily and there are expensive middlemen doling them out. Well what happens when a company goes bankrupt? Do the corporate headquarters get destroyed? No, new management takes over. People (investors) buy the company's assets at book value. It can happen pretty quickly. Actually, it happens a lot quicker than it takes Obama to pass a bill, and hire a bunch of former stockbrokers to fill potholes in "our crumbing infrastructure"... or to train some ex-autoworkers how to manufacture solar panels and windmills. The whole idea of economic "stimulus" is laughable. And you're right that no government wants a one-world government... unless it's in charge of it! Politicians have it good, they get paid to vote. So why would they want a boss? The majority of the deaths and genocide occur under governments. I think you would prefer to live in Somalia now than back when it had a government. ;) Here's a video with statistics on it: [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtGkTRnocZI]YouTube - True News 18: Somalia[/ame]

Wait, you're making a judgement call. For many people, alcohol and tobacco improve the quality of their lives dramatically. It might annoy you that they smoke and drink, but it is their choice to make! Alcohol reduces inhibitions and makes it easier for some people to socialize, and tobacco forces people to take occasional breaks from their work and step outside (possibly meeting and befriending other smokers). See, I can come up with upsides for these things even though I disagree with both! Taxation is spent where there is no demand. There is demand for cigarettes and alcohol, but no demand for a war in Iraq. Americans don't see the cost of war, however, so they view the decision as risk-less. "I'll be paying my taxes either way. I suppose invading Iraq makes sense if the Yale-educated president makes a convincing case for it. Besides, I voted for him, so I should support him." Without the pre-existing apparatus for collecting taxes (making it virtually automatic), 99% of the things the government does would never be seriously considered by most people in a society. If taxation were voluntary, nobody would pay their taxes. Yet most people would profess to love the government for the awesome services it provides! How ironic. Good question. There are two types of businesses: those that are profitable, and those that aren't. Profitable businesses are profitable because they are providing a valuable service to society. Notice which businesses the government gives money to! Unprofitable ones, like AIG, Fannie Mae, and GM. Without government intervention, these businesses would fail. But the people who worked there wouldn't die - they'd just get new jobs. Some disgruntled employees would get together and start a new insurance company, mortgage broker, or auto manufacturer. People aren't lazy! The money to start these businesses would be provided by those evil guys you hear about on Wall Street, like the hedge fund managers. Finally, if the UN had an army we'd have a one-world government. Which would absolutely suck because the only way you could get away from it is if you flew to Mars. If there are going to be governments, there should be thousands of them, and their borders should be open. But I'd still prefer anarchy. ;)

There would still be violent gangs, of course! Remember I'm not a utopian like Communists are. Anarchism is supremely aware of human nature and that's why it works. Notice I say "works" instead of "would work". I'll get to this in a moment. Ok here's the part where I try my best to explain economics. You seem to be aware of the effects of inflation (that more currency in circulation devalues the currency), but you still have this idea that stuff the government does is basically free. Nothing is free. The reason is something called "opportunity cost". If you read the Bastiat essay, or his masterpiece "The Law", you'll learn that the cost of taxation is hidden. Money that is spent on armies and palaces could instead be spent on machines to increase factory production and raise the wealth of the poor and middle classes. What is wealth? Wealth is value. What is value? Value is efficiency - providing goods and services as cheaply as possible. Capitalists who succeed in doing this become rich not because they are taking money but because they are providing value to society and making everyone a little richer. This has a tangible effect on the quality of life in a society. So when government steps in and pulls money out of an economy by taxation, it is reducing the quality of life for everyone, not decreasing the money supply. The money still exists, and it has always existed and always represented a certain % of GDP value. The only difference is that now it's in Uncle Sam's hands instead of the general economy. The difference zero taxation would make is astronomical. Everyone would have to work half as much in order to maintain their lifestyles. The extra money (value) sloshing around in the economy would be used to hire more people, build new factories, innovate, and create new businesses. The government can't do that stuff. Anarchy exists in most areas of your life. Every day you are bombarded with millions of choices, where the government has no say. Will you ditch your boyfriend? Will you do your homework? Will you eat dinner? Will you talk to your parents? If I were an absolute statist I could argue that you shouldn't have these choices. You should be forced at gunpoint to marry a particular man, to eat this particular broccoli, and to do your math homework rather than spending a night out with your friends. Otherwise there might be chaos! You might turn into a loser degenerate who can't get ahead in life! Anarchy really isn't as scary as you think. Actually I'd be shocked if you ever took a serious look at anarchy in a public school. But I've been through the public school system and I majored in political science in college. I know that the textbooks you read tend to emphasize certain things over other things. For instance, I'll wager you know who invented peanut butter. But can you tell me who invented penicillin or genetically modified wheat crops? The latter two saved millions of lives from infectious disease and starvation. Do you know where the idea of insurance came from? You are taught a lot of facts about presidents and wars and governments, but not much about individuals who invent the processes and organizations that make modern daily life work. Government-run schools are a bore. Basically the whole time you're learning about what makes a good president (in case you're ever elected president, I suppose). True, it's possible a government could spring up, but it would be difficult to keep it going without a system in place to collect taxes. Imagine trying to convince a bunch of people to give you half their money so you can finance a war or something... it's a pretty funny thought. (Unless you're already used to it.) This goes back to the first comment you made in that post, about wars between anarchist territories. A war is actually a very difficult thing to pull off without a government. There's really not a whole lot of incentive to even go to war, because you're fighting with people you could trade with. And why would you invade an area? What's there to get? I guess you could vandalize their property and kill them. But then what? There's no profit. Wars would exist but they would be sporadic at best. BTW check out the international scene. That's an anarchy! The UN has no army to enforce its rules.

Yeah, that was scary, but how many people did they kill? A little over 3,000 I believe. More than 50,000 people die every year in car accidents but we haven't banned cars or started a "War on Crashes". In the grand scheme of things, that was a small number of deaths. Governments kill WAY more people than terrorists could ever dream of killing. Abraham Lincoln killed something like 600,000 Americans in the Civil War. Osama could only dream of such a wonderfully high body count! Ok well let's think about this logically. There are many other drugs that are legal, and that make you feel wonderful. Like painkillers. Oxycontin, Tramadol, Darvoset... If you've ever taken one of these pills you can understand why they are so addictive! Overdosing on them would be a fantastic way to commit suicide (not that I'm advocating this). But my point is that crack (from a risk/reward perspective) is actually a pretty crappy drug. There are other, better drugs that are legal and more fun to use. The reason you avoid using these drugs is that you know they're addictive. You know they can cause liver damage. And you know that your employer will probably drug-test you at some point! If you are discovered to be taking drugs, you won't have a job. The same thing would happen if you were an obvious alcoholic, pothead, etc. There's someone else out there who can do your job just as well as you can, and they don't have the baggage of being an addict. If you become addicted, there are still going to be groups dedicated to helping you get off drugs. Churches, therapists, friends, and family will look out for you. TV or computer or something? Hah! The average American makes something like 43,000 bucks a year, and around 40 or 50% of that is gobbled up by taxes and inflation. So the average person would have an extra $17,000 dollars in his pocket, every year. I don't know what planet you live on, but that's a bit more than enough to pay for a new TV or computer. And remember that when you go to buy something with your money, there won't be sales tax. Well here you're equating government with society. They're not the same. Also, anarchy isn't chaos. That's propaganda taught in government schools. The most anti-social thing imaginable is a government. It is a violent, coercive, flippant institution that doesn't respect property rights. As for theft in an anarchy, assuming you are successful in stealing something, you'll probably be found out sooner or later. There would be private investigators. There would also be businesses that keep track of people who break contracts and steal, and when you go to apply for a job or buy a house the employer/banker would check your name against this list. In an anarchy there is still structure and order, but it's based upon profit and loss, not taxation. Imagine if Google, Microsoft, and Apple were suppliers of justice systems and security services. They would compete for your subscription to their services, and you'd be safer. This is the strongest case I've encountered against anarchy. Ironically it's basically, "The reason government is good is because if there were no government, a government might eventually pop up!" But it's very telling that you point out that psychopaths have a tendency to want to govern. That's absolutely true! Look at leaders throughout history, and you see a higher degree of mental instability than is present in the general population. Politicians all have a touch of madness...

I don't believe in all that garbage they do to a body. I hope they just put me in a pine (wood) coffin. They can skip the makeup and the chemical treatments, which just strikes me as gross. Also I want my funeral to be short, but there can be a party afterwords where the mood is upbeat. And there should be lots of really good food! Life is for the living, so I hope I don't annoy people after I'm dead. ;)