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Comment Threads

• hugo.fisher commented on System D
  Implications of the Greek economy being 25% "System D" and leaving the Eurozone? Not being an economist, I can only guess. (And a cynical view is that economists also just guess.) Short term, it means that Greek debt isn't really 150% of GDP or whatever, but much lower. So if much of it is just, say, a restaurant owner not paying taxes, they can keep going just fine. Long term, though, 25% black market isn't sustainable. As pointed out above, this means that workers are being exploited, environmental impacts ignored, etc. Even if the restaurant owner is otherwise honest and...
• Greg. Tingey commented on System D
  Nile @ 128 So, you're saying that Greece is already a 100% systeme-D state? btw ... If no-one pays taxes, how does the military get paid for?...
• Charlie Stross commented on System D
  The Tea Party is clearly better at preparation and organization. Having billionaire backers (the Koch brothers) planning everything doesn't hurt ......
• bjacques commented on System D
  @Greg Tingey 126: Point taken. Actually half a point. The protesters probably don't care about saving the global economy, but the concrete demands that have arisen from the protests would go a long way to saving it. The protests are actually quite focused compared to the usual leftist protests. Like the poor, Shitty White People, aka the SWP (h/t the Clash movie "Rude Boy") will always be with us. In the US, I've seen the same weedy types, the same boring black (or purple!) and white signs. They're tolerated but have no influence and everyone looks down on them. The...
• Charlie Stross commented on I'd hate to have his email inbox right now ...
  I'm afraid I agree with you about the PG&E project probably being doomed to failure -- more to the point, it's the sort of failure that will damn the entire concept of commercial exploitation of off-earth solar power for a generation, if we aren't very lucky indeed. The best thing might well be if PG&E cancelled their pilot project or put it back 5-10 years. We need something on the scale of Falcon Heavy flying reliably and relatively cheaply, and we also need cheaper high efficiency solar cells, before we can expect a viable pilot program. And the whole manufacturing...