daveon

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• Commented on The prospects of the Space and Freedom Party reconsidered in light of the crisis of 21st century capitalism
  Piketty's central thesis (at second hand) appears to be that in an era of slow economic growth (like the 21st century to date) characterised by high rates of return on investment (ditto) the rate of capital formation outstrips the rate...
• Commented on A nation of slaves
  So I started more or less working full time at 16, apart from my degree which involved a 30 hour week in lectures plus labs and other work and I worked every summer... I can't remember the last time I...
• Commented on A nation of slaves
  There's a bit of a fallacy that 'full employment' is always a good thing and what it actually means. I've seen the number as being anything from the 2%ish that Charlie refers to through to as much as 4.5% -...
• Commented on The latest Hugo awards storm
  Yeah, I just spent a chunk of time looking for these fat jokes too and the only reference I found was this one: "He prefers his women to have a fuller figure. "I love fat birds. I, for want of...
• Commented on Why I want Bitcoin to die in a fire
  Charlie pointed out the main thing about saving, but specifically I've a real problem with people complaining about government debt in a seriously depressed economy that is suffering from high levels of unemployment. One of the problems we have is...
• Commented on Why I want Bitcoin to die in a fire
  Saving by shoving your money in a bank, knowing they'll loan it out at interest, also keeps the money-go-round turning, which is good. Saving it in a sock under the bed, however, is bad I wanted to point out that...
• Commented on Why I want Bitcoin to die in a fire
  BTW - you do understand that there are countries around today that have been running relatively high levels of government to GDP debt for THREE HUNDRED years with apparently no effect? That's not to say that there aren't unsustainable levels...
• Commented on Why I want Bitcoin to die in a fire
  Bitcoin on the other hand is deflationary, which encourages saving instead of spending. Ah, so you want to crash the economy? Excellent. So tell me, if you don't want people to spend money, what do you propose the economy does...
• Commented on Why I want Bitcoin to die in a fire
  Why not letting your hated libertarians to use it and get poor, depressed, miserable? Well there are two issues here. Firstly there's the old Libertarian adage that your freedom to swing your fists ends at my nose. To whit: my...
• Commented on Why I want Bitcoin to die in a fire
  I'm also not sure how a lack of universal healthcare or for that matter education fits into the utilitarian argument. We're all for maximizing happiness but only if it doesn't cost us anything does make you sound like a jerk....
• Commented on Why I want Bitcoin to die in a fire
  The problem is the mining! Especially the mining of a fixed quantity of the resource which, as I understand it, cannot be changed. Even worse when looking at Bitcoin, the mining gets harder and was easier to start with... So...
• Commented on Why I want Bitcoin to die in a fire
  So what you're saying is some deflation is painful but for the greater good? And what's your plan for people who don't have stores of the deflating currency who can't get any because people are holding off spending because they'll...
• Commented on Why I want Bitcoin to die in a fire
  Libertarians don't need anybody else to buy into their vision, they just want to be left alone. Really? What happens when you need something else from somebody else? Buy it? How about they don't want to sell it to you...
• Commented on Why I want Bitcoin to die in a fire
  - Universal healthcare: A crime against humanity in my opinion. Poor service at a high societal price. And worse, the main reason for lack of innovation in the health care sector, thus ultimately killing people. I had thought it almost...
• Commented on Why I want Bitcoin to die in a fire
  I agree completely here. I think we're arguing the same points but your quotes are better to link through :)...
• Commented on Why I want Bitcoin to die in a fire
  'drains wealth' - that rather assumes that government activity is something of a zero sum game, and that a surplus isn't available to do things with that. The logic of the Bush II tax cuts was the surplus was money...
• Commented on Why I want Bitcoin to die in a fire
  Well, I'm actually ok with both. Imposing high taxes on things you want to stop people doing does work. Tobacco, alcohol, etc... But then my libertarian (with a very tiny tiny l) side comes out and I think it would...
• Commented on Why I want Bitcoin to die in a fire
  Also, by your argument, there is nothing wrong with a government running a budget/taxation surplus simply in order to build up reserves of capital. If you're stupid enough to have a system whereby the government can't borrow or print money...
• Commented on Why I want Bitcoin to die in a fire
  Oh there are so many many many many many problems with just property taxes... not least of which you stop owning property, crash the property market and do everything with long term leases... Plus not everybody owns property, and it...
• Commented on Obituaries
  Amusingly for Ford, most of the Marques that have saved them at home are designed in Essex where Ford have one of their major design centres. UK manufacturing us still surprisingly large. The crime is it is not larger and...
• Commented on Why I don't self-publish
  They are much more bottom up then top down, self organizing and lack central command and control structures. In the environment these companies operate in its far far more nimble and innovative way of structuring. It's also very hard to...
• Commented on The permanent revolution
  I think that one of the problems with this debate is that the being in the middle of changes makes it rather hard to notice them happening, at least until you wake up one morning and wonder where the VCR...
• Commented on Happy Christmas! Here is a flame war in a can
  Combi-boilers. Once you accept that the change over valve in the average Combi-boiler will break down and will need to be repaired and/or replaced every few years, especially in a hard water area, then you're Golden. I'd much rather have...
• Commented on Happy Christmas! Here is a flame war in a can
  Random stuff, because there's a lot in here: Chrimboness... my other half works for a large US department store of Nordic origins in their back office stuff. One of the things they insist on, much to my surprise and pleasure,...
• Commented on Things that keep me awake at night #1: The end of telephony
  The US has a situation where customers have come to expect free or heavily discounted brand new phones every 2 years, putting the companies in the position of giving away $400-$600 interest free up front to customers. Actually, the US...
• Commented on Things that keep me awake at night #1: The end of telephony
  My rule of thumb. If I don't recognise the number or it's Unknown... unless I'm expecting a certain call from a number that doesn't come up (our Vet for example), I'll push it to VM. If they don't leave me...