Search results

I suspect you missed Jimna's /sarc tag. Then again, I could be wrong. ;)

PRS, If you can't swing the Stage and are looking at pre-owned, I use an "original" Cinema (not the "i") center channel with a set of Vantages with absolutely zero complaints. They may not be "paired to perfection", but it all works very well together to my ears. Just 2 cents.

The public union flap in WI can be best described as the media "threat du jour": just the latest attempt to give the (huddled) masses something and/or someone to hate. In these desperate economic times, where close to 15% of Americans are enrolled in the SNAP Program (what used to be called food...

Actually, we can never be debt-free, as our current financial system is debt-based. While the "major control" of money creation rests with our central bank, in a fractional reserve banking system "money" is largely created in the banks when a loan is taken out. For those inclined to understand...

Hold on, let me first adjust my tin foil hat... :ROFL: The world is far too chaotic to be "planned" in the way you've described. No one person, organization or even government can plan global outcomes in your "Bilderberger" scenario- that's silly talk... The real issue has not been...

Carroll Quiqley on the Two Party System: "The argument that the two parties should represent opposed ideals and policies, one perhaps of the Right, and the other of the Left, is a foolish idea acceptable only to doctrinaire and academic thinkers. Instead, the two parties should be almost...

Quite true Rich, but peek behind the curtain. The way we are trained to perceive our political system is what's keeping us from actually fixing the problems we face. Debt is not a (D) or (R) problem, it's a math problem. When we sling shots at either (D)'s or (R)'s, we assist those that want to...

Details, details.... :p

Ouch! My brain hurts and it's all my own fault... :stop: Gonna spin some tunz now, maybe have an adult beverage... My thanks to everyone for playing along at home. :music:

User211, I think it's interesting and very telling that your response used the terms "programming" and "deprogramming". Be truthful, has anyone ever stopped to really consider why they call it "television programming"? If the TV itself isn't being programmed, what, or more appropriately, WHO...

Repman, Well, yes we live in a world of grey. But it goes beyond that. The hegelian dialectic is often explained as "thesis, antithesis, and synthesis." The idea that we start with is the thesis. Any idea contrary to the thesis becomes the anti-thesis, with the outcome being the synthesis. It...

It's difficult to describe what I'm about to write, so please bear with me. As a society we have been conditioned that there is a "right and wrong" or if you prefer, a "good and evil", and that the side we believe in is "right" and any other side taken is (by default) "wrong". We are taught to...

Rich, thanks for an enjoyable exchange. We sure do live in "interesting times".

Rich, some thoughts: I have not suggested that our government is tasked with nothing other than an "efficient" use of resources (economic of otherwise). But, in order to begin to determine practical application to "our real problems", I maintain that we need to understand what option paths are...

How would you propose we define "optimal" or "efficient" in terms of swinging this discussion back to its original theme: recession? I don't believe optimal automatically equates to "best", exactly because that term implies subjectivity. Using your example, if an entity (whether private or...

It may be helpful to think about it in terms of "optimal" use of resources. In my mind the question then becomes: does the government generally use resources more optimally than the private economy? If the answer is that government utilizes resources less optimally, then more resources should...

First of all, thanks for your well reasoned response- much appreciated! I agree the "pain" aspect of this will be quite a difficult endeavor, but regrettably a necessity. Unfortunately, even with taking what appears to be an even-handed approach (10% cut for everyone), there will be disparate...

Agreed in my example, it's income/asset weighted. If you had $100 million in the bank earning $3M tax-free interest annually and someone offered you a job for $4M which required you to actually work, the marginal utility of the job is quite low for most. If, however, you had no current job, no...

Rich, I am curious, would you support an "across the board cut" in federal spending (say, 10%)? For the sake of a conversation, let's define an "across the board cut" as one with no exceptions, no sacred cows- and including all military and entitlement spending. I am genuinely interested in your...

Jeff, what you're describing is the concept of the (diminishing) marginal utility of money. This concept is readily understood in this forum as the following question: The ML Spire retails for $8495. The ML Summit X retails for $13,995. Assuming neither could be purchased for less than...