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Conservatives Blame Unions, CAFE Standards For Auto Collapse
the undeserved excess of the proletariat onwership-class will lead to their own downfall.

As for their apologists, we'll have to figure out what to do with them.


written by NetRunner  | 2 days 20 hours 2 minutes ago | CH
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Conservatives Blame Unions, CAFE Standards For Auto Collapse
^ Europe also has much higher gas prices helping them think they need smaller vehicles. Not to mention far better mass-transit, and a smaller overall terrain...

But yeah, the non-US branches of GM and Ford are pretty good from what I've heard. I'm not sure Chrysler has a presence to speak of overseas, though.


written by NetRunner  | 3 days 5 hours 49 minutes ago | CH
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Wal-Mart employee trampled to death
^ I thought faith in the sum action of greedy individuals in a crowd was what your philosophy was based on.

Since I seem to be accumulating a healthy number of downvotes on my original comment, clearly people disagree with my premise that this shows that greed is not an absolute good. For most people, that's not a revelation, nor offensive, but I've spotted at least 3 at this time who reacted negatively to the assertion.

No one's risen to my challenge to explain either why this was good, or why greed wasn't the cause.

Let me try to make it less confrontational. I'm not saying capitalism is evil -- I'm saying parts of it lead to evil behavior, and I'd love to work together to try to figure out what's wrong and correct it.

I don't think Republican-style conservatives are the cause, but I think their rhetoric pushes things in the wrong direction.

I'd say this incident is mostly a dangerous mix of nihilism, competition, and people's natural tendency in a group to think someone else will handle things like a salesperson lying on the floor.

Still, consumerism built the pressure-cooker that helped make this possible, and I'd love to come up with a solution, because I don't want the free market to go away, I just wish it were less intense at the consumer level somehow, without losing the freedom that makes it so useful in the first place.


written by NetRunner  | 3 days 5 hours 51 minutes ago | CH
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Wal-Mart employee trampled to death
>> ^blankfist:
>> ^NetRunner:

Did you just turn this tragedy into an anti-capitalism political talking point? I am officially amazed.


Not anti-capitalism, but anti-rampant consumerism.

Isn't the fact that it was over a sale part of what makes this particularly tragic?





written by NetRunner  | 3 days 6 hours 55 minutes ago | CH
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Volumptuous Hits Gold! (Sift Talk Post)
Belated Congrats, Lumpy.


written by NetRunner  | 3 days 17 hours 6 minutes ago | CH
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Clap On, Clap Off Capitalism! (Terrible Talk Post)
Genius. And horrible.


written by NetRunner  | 3 days 17 hours 10 minutes ago | CH
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Wal-Mart employee trampled to death
I admit I see everything through a political lens anymore, but this type of thing is just one more reason why I'm deeply skeptical about people who want less and less regulation of business.

I'm not saying this is something where more regulation would've prevented the problem, I'm mostly just saying this whole concept of greed being a good thing has to explain to me why something like this happening was good, or somehow not a product of greed.

Personally, I don't know how we're supposed to expect people to behave when there are many, many voices chanting "be selfish" in ways both subtle and gross, at every level of society.

After all, anything else would be Socialism, or Marxist, or some other ooga-booga scary name for any concept that encourages the slightest bit of self-sacrifice.


written by NetRunner  | 3 days 17 hours 16 minutes ago | CH
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Conservatives Blame Unions, CAFE Standards For Auto Collapse
Can't be that they haven't met the market's demands by focusing mostly pickups, SUV's, and luxury cars when the median wage was declining and the price of gas was increasing.

Doesn't help that you'd pretty much have to pay me to live with driving anything the "big three" makes that costs $20k or less, or gets 30mpg (do they have anything that even hits 30mpg right now?).

Sorry guys, but Unions and CAFE ain't what's making them die.

I suppose I'm happy; Republicans still haven't learned that the era of truthiness is on its way out.


written by NetRunner  | 3 days 17 hours 34 minutes ago | CH
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dystopianfuturetoday (Member Profile)
Very much so. I feel bad about vanishing off the face of the sift, but it's just temporary.

I'm trying to break my addiction to the day-to-day political news cycle, and right now it's pretty easy to do, seeing how all they have to talk about is speculate on cabinet appointments, last-minute Bush crimes, and watch the conservative wing of the punditocracy claim that Obama is now going to smash "the left"'s dreams, and govern from the center.

I'm finding some amusement in that coming from people who, a month ago, were calling Obama a socialist or a Marxist.

Mostly, I'm trying to retool myself for a political world where I'm not spending so much time angry, horrified, or fearful.

That, and get my Druid to level 80 in World of Warcraft.

In reply to this comment by dystopianfuturetoday:
Taking a much deserved break?


written by NetRunner  | 6 days 5 hours 58 minutes ago | CH
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Giant Hailstones scare the heck out of a passenger
^ You were lucky.


written by NetRunner  | 1 week ago | CH
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CaptWillard (Member Profile)
It is, thanks.

In reply to this comment by CaptWillard:
I hope late is better than never.


written by NetRunner  | 1 week 1 day ago | CH
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Laura Ingraham Vs. Mort Kondrake on O'Reilly
I love when the Republicans vilify people who dare to say that being too extreme is what made them lose the election this year.

Stay the course, my friends, stay the course.


written by NetRunner  | 1 week 1 day ago | CH
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Should Our Resident "Hater" Be Banned? (Wtf Talk Post)
VS seems to have a habit of pardoning their haters, well past the point where it's just destructive.

For my $0.02, I say a temporary ban is called for as a warning that things are going too far.

We shouldn't be confusing hateful behavior for mere political dissent.


written by NetRunner  | 1 week 3 days ago | CH
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Conspiracy by liberals to ruin Dick Cheney
I can't believe people want to charge Saint Cheney with having committed a crime.

For god's sake, he's Obama's Islamic, Lying Cousin. I know that the media is shameless about digging into the President-Elect's family, but if the last 8 years have taught me anything, it's that the media shouldn't question anything the President does for the first 5-6 years of his administration.

Anything else would be treasonous.

Not to mention, they're charging Bush's mentally handicapped friend from Texas, Alberto Gonzales. That's just not fair! Fortunately, the man's probably already forgotten all about it, and will forget to show up at his trial, and forget to heed the subpoenas when they arrive.

It's not his fault, he was born without the ability to recall his own criminal wrongdoings!

Personally, I'm tired of all these liberal activist judges from the blue state of Texas picking on their native son President, George W. Bush.

Don't they know that when God wrote the Consitution, Article III says "Thou shalt not question Republican President's absolute authority, but thou shalt not respect Democratic President's authority at all?" I mean seriously, guys, didn't they teach you that when you were getting your law degree from Pat Robertson's Liberty University, or at your neighborhood GOPAC cell?

Seriously, it's like you all have forgotten the Golden Rule of Conservatism: take whatever you want, however you can!


written by NetRunner  | 1 week 4 days ago | CH
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Examining Obama's Tax Plan - Austan Goolsbee / Steven Forbes
Actually, it's not so much two perspectives on Obama's plan so much as the main video is an Obama campaign staffer explaining Obama's plan (with the usual stump speech language), and Steve Forbes distorting it.

Obama's tax middle class tax cuts are structured as fixed-dollar tax credits. That doesn't make them one-shot. One-shot means a Bush-style "rebate" where you cut people a bribe check for a fixed amount...once. New tax credits that people get every year doesn't sound one-shot to me.

Forbes (and other Republican supporters) insist that tax cuts for middle and lower classes won't have a stimulative effect on the economy. I don't understand, didn't even Fred Thompson make a joke about only taking water out of one half of the bucket, as if it didn't matter who got tax cuts, as long as they got cut?

So how's this, what if the Obama plan is an overall reduction of tax revenue, but it raises taxes on those making over $250,000, and cuts it for everyone else? Won't all that magic free-market mojo make our economy grow, no matter who gets the money?

I guess that's where the noise about redistribution of wealth comes in. Better when it's like Forbes' famed Flat Tax -- raise taxes on the poor and middle class, but cut it for the rich. More fair that way for sure. No redistribution in that idea, nosiree.


written by NetRunner  | 1 week 5 days ago | CH
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