william the wie
Gold Member
- Nov 18, 2009
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Not trying to bust your chops but given the innumerate and ignorant, mostly due to shrinking budgets, MSM tear and print nonsense is most of the information available. I come to this and two other message boards to get news I don't have time to screen for otherwise. The very best news service, I'm aware of, is Bloomberg Business and it is an infomercial for a $25K/year stock terminal.I don't see how anyone could say that artificially made - minimum wage jobs, stocking Chinese junk is better than us making our own.
I don't see how someone going to college has to settle on flipping burgers for 15 bucks an hour is a good thing.
I think that anyone that sees the decline fo the middle class and our jobs as a good thing, is either ignorant or selfish and refuses to see the big picture.
I don't believe anyone has argued the points you identified above. I'm certainly not. For example, in post #34, I don't argue that the decrease in the size of the middle class is a good thing. I argue that the reduction in the size of the middle class that we've observed over the past 40 years, in and of itself, is neutral thing, and I show that what is a good thing is that the observed decline is attributable to more of the formerly middle class becoming upper income than their becoming lower income. Moreover, I readily and clearly state in post #34 that were the decline in the size of the middle class accounted for by more of them becoming lower income than becoming upper income, it would indeed be a bad thing.
To give an idea of how bad the gunk and goo problem is you can get the surgeon general's reports downloaded for free online. The 1964 report alerts you in the upper right hand corner that you should look at cigar smoking. If you pay attention to that and scroll down you will discover that morbidity and mortality for cigar smokers is 0.88 when non-smoker rates are pegged at 1. If you read the text you will find that means cigar smokers live 1/.88 time as long as non-smokers or 14% longer. The 1997 report that "celebrated" a 50% reduction is a horror story of increased mortality v. expected results. Who puts out reports on that?
We are a very poorly informed society.