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No, I was always right and I am right now.
Somewhat.
Definitely. I flipped 180.
Other.
Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.
Robert Heinlein
Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler
Groucho Marx
I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.
Linus, from the Peanuts comic
You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith
Alexis de Torqueville
Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it
A Zero Hedge comment
But Americans aren't impoverished. All Americans at all income levels are better off economically than ever before. There are fewer in poverty now than there ever have been. For that matter, is there even such a thing as an American in poverty anymore? Nowadays, our definition of "poor" in America has changed so much that our so-called poor have an obesity problem.
Last edited by Superfluous Man; 03-12-2018 at 02:42 PM.
Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.
Robert Heinlein
Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler
Groucho Marx
I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.
Linus, from the Peanuts comic
You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith
Alexis de Torqueville
Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it
A Zero Hedge comment
What is "poverty"?
Poor in this country today have living standards which would have qualified them as wealthy 100 years ago. Not all homes even had indoor plumbing back then.
https://www.theatlantic.com/business...n-1915/462360/
Here is a closer look at America, one century ago.
America suffered worse working conditions, in just about every way.
For men: Work for men was more widespread, more dangerous, worse paid, and, well, just more annoying. According to the 1920 census, 85 percent of men over 14 were in the labor force, compared with just 69 percent for men over 16 today. It was the dawn of scientific management, with factory workers introduced to a brand new office colleague, the time clock. Manufacturing workers averaged 55 hours at work per week, 10 percent more than self-reported averages today. And the jobs were more dangerous: With a fatality rate of 61 deaths per 100,000 workers, the workplace was about 30 times more dangerous than it is today.
For women: Women were much less likely to work, and in 1915, many were finding employment at elementary and high schools. The reason for women’s early entry into education in the U.S., however, is a little depressing. School boards preferred female teachers not only because they were seen as more loving, but also because they would do what male principals told them while accepting less than a man’s wage.
For the elderly: For those who did make it to old age (something of a feat back then), Social Security didn’t exist, and in bad times, poverty among the old was so bad that contemporaries wrote of growing old as if it were a dystopia—the “haunting fear in the winter of life.” In 1938 a writer with the American Association for Old-Age Security said "our modern system of industrial production has rendered our lives insecure to the point of despair.” The industrializing economy was no country for old men or women. As families moved off farms into cities and suburbs, it became harder for some old people to find work in factories, which ran on limber sinews and sweat. In the 40 years before 1920, the share of men over 65 working on farms dropped 39 percent.
America ate lard and cold cereal and paid a lot of money for it.
It’s hard to imagine many Americans begging to switch places with a 1915 gourmand. Food was not only less varied in 1915, but also considerably more expensive. The typical American spent one-third of his income on food 100 years ago, which is twice today’s share.
The early 20th century was a golden age of cold-cereal products—Corn Flakes, Quaker Puffed Rice and Puffed Wheat, and Shredded Wheat all came on the market between 1906 and 1912—but on the farm, people enjoyed a heartier meal of eggs and pancakes. Lunch at the office provided a logistical challenge, as in 1915, there existed no such thing as a plastic bag to keep a sandwich fresh. Instead, contemporary cookbooks called for keeping sandwiches moist by "wrapping [them] in a dry towel, covered with a towel wrung out of hot water.”
The average American ate roughly equivalent amounts of lard and chicken—11.5 pounds and 14 pounds, respectively, per year. One century later, the ratio has, blessedly, widened. Americans eat 57 pounds of chicken, compared to just 1.5 pounds of lard. But Americans, gluttons to their core, have replaced fat’s flavor with something even worse: Their sugar intake has jumped from 88 to 130 pounds in the last 100 years.
Lots more at link.
There were all sorts of tech amenities that might seem quotidian today that were rarities in 1915. Thirty percent of the country had a telephone. Less than 20 percent had a stove. Very few people owned a refrigerator, and almost nobody owned a radio. Within 60 years, clothes washers, dryers, air-conditioning, and television sets would all be household staples, but in 1915 they were nowhere to be seen. Instead, the most popular media product of the time might have been the player pianos or the phonograph.
Last edited by Zippyjuan; 03-12-2018 at 02:05 PM.
Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.
Robert Heinlein
Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler
Groucho Marx
I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.
Linus, from the Peanuts comic
You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith
Alexis de Torqueville
Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it
A Zero Hedge comment
I really can't get past this. I don't know off-hand where you stand, but if I heard this type of thinking from any of the pro-Trump types there is no way I could take it seriously.
What happened to America First? What happened to MAGA? All of a sudden we're concerned about what other countries are doing? Should we double down and spend another trillion dollars rebuilding the Middle East? After all, their people are enslaved and impoverished. It would be immoral to not tax US citizens to help them.
Maybe I'm just not smart enough to play 49234D chess, but I'm pretty sure it's considered a GOOD deal when someone offers to give you something for less than it's worth. Typically I wouldn't think of us being the ones who are getting screwed in this scenario, but hey I'm no reality TV star, super businessman extraordinaire... so what do I know.
So what we have now are Trump supporters arguing that its good to tax US citizens to help the Chinese out. Because we have a moral obligation to support their people at the expense of ours. Go figure.
Last edited by fcreature; 03-12-2018 at 02:08 PM.
Last edited by Swordsmyth; 03-12-2018 at 02:16 PM.
Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.
Robert Heinlein
Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler
Groucho Marx
I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.
Linus, from the Peanuts comic
You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith
Alexis de Torqueville
Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it
A Zero Hedge comment
Bunk, fatal radical left ideology tries to level the playing field through big government force.
Here’s the deal broski. The universe ain’t fair in its distribution of poker hands so in order to make the game as fair as possible we say the government helps NOBODY as that give the most individual opportunity for pursuit of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.
Promoting the understanding and adoption of this idea is how you win.
Groveling at the masters feet for help and hating those you perceive as privaliged is how you lose. (It’s also disgusting to witness)
Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.
Robert Heinlein
Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler
Groucho Marx
I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.
Linus, from the Peanuts comic
You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith
Alexis de Torqueville
Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it
A Zero Hedge comment
One third of their income went just to buying food. That is down to about ten percent.
Trade (plus technology) has greatly increased our supplies and varieties of foods available while also lowering the costs of them. We don't really have much seasonal variation either- some foods were simply unavailable part of the year you can now get year round.
Last edited by Zippyjuan; 03-12-2018 at 02:53 PM.
Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.
Robert Heinlein
Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler
Groucho Marx
I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.
Linus, from the Peanuts comic
You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith
Alexis de Torqueville
Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it
A Zero Hedge comment
Food, clothes, phones that connect to the internet and have more power and better graphics than an PCs in existence 20 years ago, cars, speed boats, vacations, medicine, and on and on with luxuries galore. These are things that blue collar workers afford today. Even home ownership, though it's still below what it was in the 90's is higher than any time before that.
Sigh ok. So you want help from the government that’s controlled by the “elite” to use its power/force enforce policy that will diminish the power of the aforementioned “elite”?
Mmm ok. I feel like that’s not going to work, again.
How about reducing the size of government as a solution instead of endorsing it through slave think.
Since the government is in charge of determining it's own size (barring an actual revolution) then you must think we can gain control of it in order to make it do what it should, therefore we can make it defend us from foreign governments which is part of it's legitimate function.
Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.
Robert Heinlein
Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler
Groucho Marx
I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.
Linus, from the Peanuts comic
You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith
Alexis de Torqueville
Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it
A Zero Hedge comment
Your choice of doing the bidding for the Chinese Communist party to the point of putting American companies out of business while thousands of Americans lose their jobs is not only immoral it is repugnant and treasonous.
Your choice of doing the bidding for the Chinese Communist party so they can continue their horrible human rights record, work people like slaves and destroy the environment so they can succeed at harming American businesses and jobs is immoral and repugnant.
Protecting American interests over Chinese interests is America first and MAGA.
Would you financially support your violent neighbour over your own children's businesses so he can beat his wife and kids, then later you and your children?
I see we are at the typical RPF grasping at straws part of the thread. When no other point can be made just accuse the person of supporting spending another trillion in the Middle East which no one here ever advocates.
You do not fund immorality at home or abroad.
It is not a good deal if it is a national security issue due to reliance on ones enemy that comes with the loss of your manufacturing, massive job losses and growing the welfare state as a result.
@TheTexan couldn't have said it any better.
"And now that the legislators and do-gooders have so futilely inflicted so many systems upon society, may they finally end where they should have begun: May they reject all systems, and try liberty; for liberty is an acknowledgment of faith in God and His works." - Bastiat
"It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere." - Voltaire
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