Politics

[Tom Servo]

NBC News appears to have tracked down the source of QAnon posts and, surprise, surprise, it's all a scam by a few grifters to steal idiots' money.

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-ne...-qanon-n900531

[21Kid]

Manafort's defense filed a motion to dismiss, that got denied, then they rested. No witnesses called.

In the meantime, emails came up in the trial from Manafort to Kushner asking that they consider certain people for certain cabinet spots, including Stephen Calk as Secretary of the Army. Calk is the CEO of Federal Saving Bank, who coincidentally loaned Manafort $16 million at the time (and presumably has no other qualifications for Army Secretary). Kushner replied "On it!"

OMG!

I can't believe it!

Scandal!!!

...


Seriously... How is this entire administration & family not in jail yet?

[Crazed_Insanity]

You know with all the media hype about crooked Hillary and now crooked Trump..., I suppose as long as they are not in jail, it is safe to "presume" that they're not really that crooked? Only being reported by their opposition as crooked?

Or is our justice system is the one that's crooked?

[FaultyMario]

Slightly off-topic. Free market economist Tyler Cowen worries that the shift to the service economy erodes the principle of property rights upon which the US was founded (the pursuit of happiness, bit). That's a link to Bloomberg, which has a pay-wall and limits the amount of articles you can read for fre. If for some reason you don't want to go there, here's an excerpt.

I worry that Americans are, slowly but surely, losing their connection to the idea of private ownership. The nation was based on the notion that property ownership gives individuals a stake in the system. It set Americans apart from feudal peasants, taught us how property rights and incentives operate, and was a kind of training for future entrepreneurship.

[mk]

^^orange pardon.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Slightly off-topic. Free market economist Tyler Cowen worries that the shift to the service economy erodes the principle of property rights upon which the US was founded (the pursuit of happiness, bit). That's a link to Bloomberg, which has a pay-wall and limits the amount of articles you can read for fre. If for some reason you don't want to go there, here's an excerpt.

One would take much better car of his car if he owns it. (vs leases or rentals) So yeah, I definitely agree with that author that the property, particularly land, ownership was definitely something that set America apart from the rest of the world and made it great in the first place. Everyone is just more involved... has more at stake... rather than just surviving to get thru another day...

But physical property ownership has its limitations. We have limited amount of land available. Our limited space also limit how many cars, books, DVDs we can fit in our limited living spaces... so I think the current shift is a natural progression. Not sure if it's good or bad though. Also not sure if buying a car will definitely help you become better entrepreneur than leasing or ubering your rides. People just need to learn how to invest rather than how to spend. Ownership itself may not be the key.

With regard to our nation, we've over-borrorwed and over-spent and made very little 'investments' for our future. It'll take a miracle to make America great again IMHO.

[FaultyMario]

With regard to our nation, we've over-borrorwed and over-spent and made very little 'investments' for our future. It'll take a miracle to make America great again IMHO.

mmm... so that's why you support Trump.

[Dicknose]

Land ownership was more important when only land owners got a vote.
It’s still important from an economic security point of view, but I don’t see that it’s that important. Is it bad if first world economies move towards “software” ie producing non physical items

[FaultyMario]

^^orange pardon.

That'd be poison for someone running in 2020.

And Trump isn't one to take one for the team.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Land ownership was more important when only land owners got a vote.
It’s still important from an economic security point of view, but I don’t see that it’s that important. Is it bad if first world economies move towards “software” ie producing non physical items

I honestly don’t think it’s good for us to invest all of our eggs into producing just software at Silicon Valley. We definitely need to produce more hardware like what Elon Musk is doing. We do live in a physical world after all.

Our overall productivity could bias more toward software, just can’t completely forget about hardware. Just as living organisms, you can only advance so much with bigger muscles, but bigger brain is definitely more important. Just that we shouldn’t focus so much on our brain and allow our limbs to atrophy away...