[quote who="psychoak" reply="269" id="3390433"] Oil isn't expensive. The Fed has tripled the base money supply, we're in a depression though so no one has noticed the inflation yet. Our trade partners have done the same insanity, they'll all inflate with us at a similar rate when the economy gets out from under the spending binge. The oil market noticed. $110 oil isn't a high price, it's $35 a barrel five years ago if yo
[quote who="HG_Eliminator" reply="60" id="3390421"] But really is it the unions fault or Americas desire for cheaper stuff? [/quote] The thing you are complaining about, the desire to make goods available as widely as possible as cheaply as possibly while still being profitable, is the exact thing that has allowed the human race to reach an unprecedented (and still growing) level of quality of life. The fact that exotic or expensive goods continue to get c
What difficulty level are you playing? Are you playing 1.2 or the 1.3 beta? I've found in the 1.3 beta that the enemy is actually pretty smart about compiling armies to attack with. I normally play on Challenging or Hard. If you're playing 1.2 I'd suggest giving the 1.3 beta a try or, if betas are not your thing, just give it some time until the 1.3 patch is rolled out.
[quote who="GeomanNL" reply="263" id="3390399"] Step one was: drill a hole and catch the oil. No cost at all. Step two: drill a hole and add a pump. Still dirt cheap! Step three: build oil platforms and get oil from the seas. A lot more expensive already. Step four: drill a hole and inject seawater to keep the pressure up. Yes, we still get oil but for how long. Step five (fracking): drill a hole and inject chemicals to fracture the rock
[quote who="myfist0" reply="264" id="3390407"] I am not one for subsidies of any kind, but if we are forced to give our money to invest in clean energy, why not give it to the builders and owners, and let the companies design the best product that many people can choose from? The best products would flourish and the shit will be buried.[/quote] Because then you can't make sure that the people who supported your election with giant piles of
[quote who="GeomanNL" reply="261" id="3390391"] I was refering to Canadian shale oil which was mined from the surface, not the more modern fracking. Fracking has different issues. Tiny oil fields, hard to exploit ... and it's sold like it's a game changer for the world. To me it's more a sign of desperation. The big, easy to exploit oil fields are almost a day of the past. So what are we happy with nowadays? Tiny, hard to exploit oil fields. I think it's just pathetic. A
[quote who="HG_Eliminator" reply="56" id="3390345"] I wish more board members and upper management had this sort of mentality, typically it's whats the cheapest while keeping the quality loss to a minimum.. in some cases quality of the work and end product suffer greatly as they milk the company dry before filing bankruptcy. [/quote] I think they do have this mentality, at least at most companies. My day job is for one of the companies sure to be listed anytime you
Workers are costs. That's not some nefarious greed showing through. It's basic accounting. Good workers cost money, but bring benefits to the corporation. Companies understand that. I always laugh at the idea that companies trying to make money is somehow a bad thing. That's what corporations are. For profit, money making enterprises. That's their reason for being. And the reason that so many of them are holding
[quote who="voo" reply="256" id="3389933"] It saddens me. My Hobbit land looks like this now. Everywhere you drive fields and fields of farms with giant white/black blades. Big and small. Even one from the back yard. Though, that one isn't so bad [/quote] That first picture is going to haunt my dreams. Curse you.
[quote who="Alstein" reply="40" id="3389925"] The hamburger won't cost $19, prices are determined not so much by costs of labor (which is a tiny percentage as is) but by what the market is willing to pay. From what I've read, the price would only go up only about 17%, if at all. http://consumerist.com/2013/07/30/how-much-would-a-big-mac-go-up-in-price-if-mcdonalds-workers-were-paid-15-per-hour/#more-10134128 [/quote] Even assuming those number
[quote who="Alstein" reply="36" id="3389844"] Why work? The amount of money given is not a comfortable life for most folks, a few folks who are super-frugal Clark Howard types would be able to live off the money, but most would want something more, and they would seek jobs. That said, those burger jobs (minimum wage) is gone will have to pay a wage that people are willing to spend their time working, whatever that is- the market would decide from a position of equ
[quote who="Alstein" reply="36" id="3389844"] This is not some massive plan that would bankrupt the government. [/quote] FYI: Nothing is ever some massive plan to bankrupt the government. And yet our government is bankrupt. Funny how that works, isn't it? It's almost as if all these magic programs grow beyond their purpose and in an uncontrolled fashion..
[quote who="Alstein" reply="36" id="3389844"] The amount of revenue required for this would be around $5-6 billion. That's not a huge amount of the budget, and some welfare spending could be taken out of the budget to help pay for it. It could be done with a tax hike of about 1 or 2% on the top 1% of Americans, or a small drop in military spending. In addition, that revenue would generate revenue for two reasons a) A baseline would encourage c
[quote who="GeomanNL" reply="239" id="3389602"] Quoting Frogboy, reply 238How much, as a percent, of the carbon put into the atmosphere each year is generated by humans? That, my friend, is the wrong question to ask! What you should ask is: how much carbon can we put into the atmosphere? Because if we can ... we will ... in our quest for fuel and energy. We burn about 8 billion tons of carbon-based fuels each year. Who know, when we go o
[quote who="Roloccolor" reply="19" id="3389598"] The whole concept of replacing human work with a machine is nothing else than misanthropic. Even though some call it efficient i call it unsocial thinking or greedy bullshit. [/quote] Fuck the wheel and the plow and the cotton gin and harvesting equipment. I do my shit by hand. Goodbye polio vaccine and smallpox vaccine and life expectancy into the 80s. We a
[quote who="Alstein" reply="14" id="3389529"] The downside is if corporations do enough of this, the poor will revolt because it will be in their best interests, and everyone loses. People use the hand they're dealt. Then you get an overreaction in the other direction. And yes, corporations can lose big- all it takes is a citizenry that is willing to throw out the rule of law because they see it as worthless. When folks see the law as worthless, they ar
[quote who="Alstein" reply="12" id="3389500"] Also, if corporations get screwed over by laws, it will ultimately be their own fault. If the poor use the power of laws for their own economic advantage or flat-out wealth redistribution, how is that different than corporations using lobbyists? At the very least, it's not any worse morally.[/quote] Feel good laws like the minimum wage distort the system in such a way that it hurts the poor and it hurts small businesse
[quote who="smeagolheart" reply="248" id="3389460"] You are able to differentiate between wingdings?[/quote] Not in the slightest, but I can tell there difference between 1.30 a and 1.30 b . So I'll know if I have th
I think part of the larger "problem" with minimum wage vs. automation is that in the long run the minimum wage is irrelevant. So many of those jobs (like in this case) are going away. The ever increasing rate of technological change means that if it's profitable to replace that $15/hour employee with a machine today it'll be profitable to replace an $8/hour employee relatively soon with the same machine. It'll probably only take a few years for it to come down in
This gets back to your Atlas Shrugged quotes from another post. The government, run by these (admittedly well intentioned) thoughtless advocates, will eventually just pass a real life version of Directive 10-289. Cause remember kids, you don't need to think through the ramifications of your beliefs/policies/choices, you can just use the power of government to fix the problems caused by your last good idea at a later date! Brilliant!
[quote who="FuzzyGold" reply="246" id="3389439"] Instead how about using letters? First beta version would be 1.40A, 1.40B, etc. Then when it's final make it 1.40[/quote] I don't give a shit if they use wingdings. I just want to be able to differentiate which version of the beta I actually have without playing guess games by looking at tech trees or fixed spells or what have you.
[quote who="StevenAus" reply="14" id="3389304"] It is a different time from the 1930s, and there are a lot of positive things happening, if you avoid the doom and gloom merchants (the mainstream media). And worrying about all the worst possible scenarios isn't really beneficial or productive. If it happens, it happens. Why reduce one's own happiness today for something that might never happen, and even if it did, there would be nothing one could do about i
I'll take 3 of Candidate #2 if you're buying. One to be on mission, one to be constantly ready to go, and a third to rotate through to keep wear and tear down and to allow for greater overall "Get the f*** out of dodge" capacity. If you're feeling generous I'd also take a few of #6 for convoy and/or area scouting duty.
[quote who="WOM" reply="8" id="3389113"] Think about the drug gangs in east LA. They would shift from drugs to food and water, and they are already armed to the teeth.[/quote] Depending upon the time horizon I don't know that it would matter. Cities would become graveyards in weeks. Those gangs would not be able to corral a significant amount of food before the population of the city tore through it, even if the gangs were able to kill and collect every day
[quote who="StevenAus" reply="9" id="3389243"] Well, I am one for thinking that it's not going to happen, for reasons I won't explain here, not because they are not valid, but because a lot of people wouldn't believe the efficacy in them. Remember, what you focus on is what you tend to get, so focus on love and acceptance and not fear. Note it is a Fact that you make your own luck by focusing on positive stuff, look what Brad has achieved over the last 20 ye
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