turar

The idea of basic income seems like the most sensible solution.

Slightly off-topic, but where are you getting your data for your startup, and how much do you pay, if anything? Sorry if this might be too intrusive of a question, feel free to ignore.

Hey, here's another habit:

Ukraine is not making progress. The real cause of the protest was economical, as with most protests, including Egypt's, etc. Ukraine's economy has been hit very hard in 2008 crisis, and also has been contracting continuously since 2012, and people have seen their income and wealth diminish. Obviously not to the level of some African countries, but worse than they had earlier, and that's the worst kind of comparison in one's mind, when people are not advancing. You may argue that US is making progress in inequities, but facts remain facts, statistics are not supporting your statements. See also this for example: http://web.stanford.edu/group/scspi/_media/working_papers/pfeffer-danziger-schoeni_wealth-levels.pdf

Comments to the article have criticisms of its validity. $10K debt for 58% of population that they cite is for a sample of "households led by 20-40 year olds". So, half of their sample are 30-40 year olds -- one would hope they have lower debt by now. Second, boomerang kids living with their parents are probably either not counted or their parents (those leading the household) distort the statistics by not having any debt. Third, many 20-30 year olds can't afford to live on their own, and have multiple roommates. Those are not considered as households. And then the source is of course, Brookings, the right-wing think tank.

Well, there was that Ukrainian revolution that happened literally just this year in the middle of Europe. Kievans are not Africans or Burmese, their quality of life was much higher. Same with Arab Spring -- these countries were not desperately poor by any means. Libyans were relatively well off actually, and had quite a lot of government subsidies for day-today life. I don't think it's the matter of absolute poverty, it's the matter of relative inequity that people observe around them, and media plays a big role in this. Right now US media is full of dumb entertainment and silly news, I think that also plays a role in placating population. And it's not like the US doesn't have any history of such unrest. Kent State or L.A. come to mind. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_State_shootings And the guy did address this in his article briefly: Many of us think we’re special because “this is America.” We think we’re immune to the same forces that started the Arab Spring—or the French and Russian revolutions, for that matter. I know you fellow .01%ers tend to dismiss this kind of argument; I’ve had many of you tell me to my face I’m completely bonkers. And yes, I know there are many of you who are convinced that because you saw a poor kid with an iPhone that one time, inequality is a fiction. Here’s what I say to you: You’re living in a dream world. What everyone wants to believe is that when things reach a tipping point and go from being merely crappy for the masses to dangerous and socially destabilizing, that we’re somehow going to know about that shift ahead of time. Any student of history knows that’s not the way it happens. Revolutions, like bankruptcies, come gradually, and then suddenly. One day, somebody sets himself on fire, then thousands of people are in the streets, and before you know it, the country is burning.

Here's a good essay on the topic: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/06/the-pitchforks-are-coming-for-us-plutocrats-108014_full.html?print#.U63OsrG7Mwc

I was merely trying to picture specific situations in the society you propose, but you keep talking in generalities. Yes, governments are simply groups of people. Just like the groups of people in anarcho-capitalist world. What's the difference then? Sooner or later groups of people will use force and coercion against another group of people, for better or worse. I don't see how labeling something as "anarcho-capitalist" changes anything.

Sorry, still not clear at all. E.g. section on "Law and order and the use of violence" basically says that anarcho-capitalists can't even agree on what they want really. If you do want a "centralized court", per Rothbard, then it seems somebody has to pay for it. What if some groups decide to pay for it through "voluntary" tax, but others reject it, do you force the others? What if other groups then proceed with acts of aggression, in your interpretation, but fair acts in their interpretation? What court are they subject to? Same questions apply if there is no "centralized" court. And this quote was lovely: "The defense of those unable to pay for such protection might be financed by charitable organizations." :D

I'm not sure I can exactly picture the logistics and practicality of the society you're advocating. How is it going to work in practice? You can be as individualistic and all about self-defense as you want, until others decide to gang up on you and take all your stuff. Then you'd have to team up with somebody else for more protection. Until an even larger group of others organize and gang up on you again. So this is basic primitive stone-age society type stuff. Beyond that, you're back to square one, with elected "elders" or what not, and yes, a basic form of taxation for common protection. I just don't get how you get to your utopian society practically.

I thought this thread pretty much summed up a lot of Gladwell:

But someone wearing a ski-mask didn't build the road you were driving on, or provided a handy phone number to dial in case someone like him was trying to rob you, and so forth.

These seem to be contracts/agreements, not laws though? First result for me is for Colorado Springs, and agreement they have is with 3 different companies.

Just curious, what laws are protecting Comcast from competition? Also, apart from regulation of abuses, another side to why free market isn't the best is, paradoxically, innovation. For example, current wave of tech innovation by free market is looking kinda lame in comparison to innovation of the 50s-70s fueled by the government, like space program. Or the Internet itself, which was invented by the government program. Good article along this tangent: http://www.technologyreview.com/featuredstory/429690/why-we-cant-solve-big-problems/

This always bothered me. If a regular person swims in coins like that, they would look like one of these people on those 'wear a seatbelt' posters. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1v_EcjeIkg

What is a good minimalist shoe for pavement running?

My opinion is that K12 is more important than college. One way to do it would be spend the money on high-quality K12, then send the kid to a European college, which would be much cheaper, but still good quality. :)

Out of curiosity, why not short IWM instead?

Some weekend reading on the subject: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/11/29/101129fa_fact_cassidy?currentPage=all

Fantastic, this works, thank you very much gokou!

It's asking for a password though.

Can someone please lookup borrow rates on IB for FDN and PNQI for me? I am unable to check that function at this time. Thanks in advance!

Where did you see that large cap P/E? According to this link, small cap P/E is better: http://etfdb.com/compare/lowest-pe-ratio/

Wow, so here's the comparison for 2007: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wealth_in_the_United_States#Statistics Median: 109.5K Average: 506.5K

I wonder how median NW compares to average NW. There was a youtube video going around a few months ago, which was interesting too: