American Politics

[Hamy]

Theres nothing more to innovate, how will a cell phone company innovate when cell service already covers just about everywhere? How can car companies innovate when the car is already engineered to be the best it could be? How do you make a better car? Or even financial institutions, how do you innovate a bank? Or if we really want to get to it, how do you innovate toothpaste? I think companies are doing fine as they are and there have been breakout successes from companies entering these fields, see Tesla Motors managing to hold its own against heavyweights Ford and etc.

Yet, we have a company like Samsung recently unveiling their new phone that already paves part of the way towards virtual communication, which seems to be the new thing being looked into as a possibility. As for cars... there are many innovations going on trying to incorporate more green technology, and fuel efficiency or not even using fossil fuel at all etc. Toothpaste on the other hand, well there certainly is a wide variety and many things still unknown to science but certainly its not bereft of innovative capabilities. I believe the latest innovations we see are those incorporating charcoal to combat ecoli contamination, which results often in stomach problems.

Moreover, innovation needn't always be considered pioneering technology it can be as simple as a value added, like a new camera, which can set off a chain of events. It is right there on your history books with economics and the biggest brand names. Remember the biggest profits didn't always come from the cutting edge design, it may simply be adding on to that cutting edge design. This matters especially in short cycle technologies, as we saw with Apple.

As for innovating banks, you'd be surprised (since I help in a development bank) but they are creating more innovative ways to measure risk analysis beyond Credit and Enterprise or Treasury which is called operational risk -- everything else under the sun that is proving more relevant. This is especially relevant given the bank scares as a result of crashes to the world market, this is what we currently call the BASEL II -- as many banks are trying to get up to par.

Trust me, it may not seem like much but innovation is always there. It is when you start thinking that there is no other way to innovate that you see certain industries in the US fall behind, case and point the auto-industry that has difficulty competing with Asian and EU technology especially with fuel efficiency -- they were not leading this.

That said one of the strongest points of the US is the entrepreneurial spirit and innovation... why would you want something that weakens your competitive edge?

I think big and bigger companies are great,they employ lots of people, offer excellent support and job security, and you know that t they are going to be around for a long time. Meanwhile starts up go the way of the dinosaur fast unless they are absorbed into big companies which usually results in the lower tier workers in the start ups being considered redundancies and eliminated.

Or they could opt to outsource or use off shoring to accomplish said jobs at a cheaper wage rate, the challenge right now is reshoring which is what Obama is trying to push for. But the recent case with Apple does have a negative effect in that regard.

Climate change wont be relevant for any of our lifetimes.

Depends on your industry, if we look at the agricultural sector its definitely there. You also have stronger hurricanes and storms that I am sure many Americans are familiar with, that are likely a result of climate change. Adding to that you have spill over effects as we see with the emphasis on green technology. You also have many laws passed which are used in trading standards to adhere to the environmental protection. Saying it doesn't affect you now is rather short sighted.

I don't see how driving a taxi isnt a lazy job. People get their driver's license as early as 16 years old. Theres no additional skills required for a driving a taxi. You don't even have to speak to the passengers after just saying hello. In fact most taxi drivers just play their music, boot up the gps and drive. Maybe they will help put your bags in your car but otherwise nothing. The most challenge they may deal with is the occasional drunk person and thats it. I drive a car and I can say that it is not hard or require brain power to drive, its pretty mindless at times, especially when you drive across the state constantly for work.

It depends on what you consider lazy... If you consider someone trying to make ends meet going so far as to work beyond 24 hours, or regular working hours. Along with the occupational hazards they have to undergo just to make money as being lazy. I think we have very different opinions.

Now if you only consider work by intellectual faculties then I feel you may be too prejudiced towards blue collar labor in general, because we can apply this to a lot of menial or part time jobs.

In either scenario I don't exactly view the occupation with such disdain...

What do you mean? Any one looking at areas of the united states that have a heavy Military presence will see these areas have great economic benefits and greater improvement in Quality of Life for people in the areas around them.

I dunno... If you consider the rise of red light districts (prostitution especially), as we've seen in many countries, along with the criminal charges often undertaken and done with impunity as being a rise in the quality of life... Again we see things differently.

You can look at countries like Philippines for some pretty recent cases of what happens when you have US military presence. There are some pretty high profile and recent cases that aren't very hard to find. But trust me, anybody in the Political field will tell you there is a lot of controversy and cases regarding that matter, its not all roses.

 

[Gats]

@SharkBait , you just reminds me of reported words from people who said the same thing in the time of horses when it comes to transportation innovation. Those people ended up wrong. I'm not sure how you can state that you know for certain we did everything about cars. I have the feeling you would have said the same thing when the first cars came out. I mean back in the time it had 4 wheels (if not 3 ?), it could move, protect you from rain, where else was there to improve right ? It fulfilled its job already.


And Taxi drivers ? I'm not sure why having such a condescendant tone towards people who are delivering needed service (since there are costumers). So you're despising people doing menial jobs ? Yet I'm sure you're happy that someone is bringing you somewhere, or serving you food ? Because I don't think you need to be bright to deliver food either.

 

[SharkBait]

You also have stronger hurricanes and storms that I am sure many Americans are familiar with, that are likely a result of climate change.

What stronger hurricanes? There hasnt been a major hurricane to hit Atlantic coast states in 10 years now, so stronger hurricanes occurring in my hometown is just not accurate or true. In terms of climate change there has only been benefits in my home town state with mid atlantic states being able to avoid drought or in fact gain slightly more water than normal helping to keep us out of drought stage and enable us to have great agricultural economy, beneficial freshwater economy, and a healthy fishing industry. For me, doing the same thing that we already do has gained my area numerous benefits.

It depends on what you consider lazy... If you consider someone trying to make ends meet going so far as to work beyond 24 hours, or regular working hours. Along with the occupational hazards they have to undergo just to make money as being lazy. I think we have very different opinions.

Now if you only consider work by intellectual faculties then I feel you may be too prejudiced towards blue collar labor in general, because we can apply this to a lot of menial or part time jobs.

In either scenario I don't exactly view the occupation with such disdain...

If someone is trying to that then that would put them in the category of having made a bad life decision and receiving the punishment for having made that decision. Would someone who made good life decisions, made it to college and majored in something actually relevant in a science, technology, or financial field be working beyond regular hours to make ends meet. No they wouldnt, because using the mind is a much harder and difficult job than simply driving or serving food which people do absentmindedly. Working around the clock to make ends meet is not really being unlazy or working hard when all youre doing is standing there folding clothes or ringing in orders on a register.

 

[Hamy]

If someone is trying to that then that would put them in the category of having made a bad life decision and receiving the punishment for having made that decision. Would someone who made good life decisions, made it to college and majored in something actually relevant in a science, technology, or financial field be working beyond regular hours to make ends meet. No they wouldnt, because using the mind is a much harder and difficult job than simply driving or serving food which people do absentmindedly. Working around the clock to make ends meet is not really being unlazy or working hard when all youre doing is standing there folding clothes or ringing in orders on a register.

Is everybody born with equal opportunity in life? Isn't this one of the things being addressed and brought up by the presidential candidates as they try to offer more opportunities that reach a wider audience? Or is this just a fiction being made up that there is equal opportunity for everyone regardless of race, gender, and social standing?

I am sure there are lots of people who would prefer a better job, why wouldn't they. But the question here is that always going to be a possibility open to them? Will it be easy to make that transition? Is it costly?

Why is it we have people who can work 2 part time jobs and still not afford the standard of living in their state?

What stronger hurricanes? There hasnt been a major hurricane to hit Atlantic coast states in 10 years now, so stronger hurricanes occurring in my hometown is just not accurate or true. In terms of climate change there has only been benefits in my home town state with mid atlantic states being able to avoid drought or in fact gain slightly more water than normal helping to keep us out of drought stage and enable us to have great agricultural economy, beneficial freshwater economy, and a healthy fishing industry. For me, doing the same thing that we already do has gained my area numerous benefits.

Do hurricanes only hit your hometown? I am pretty sure other states in the US have been hit right? They've certainly made headlines. More importantly, are you only really interested in your hometown? Is democracy really that short sighted?

As for the rest, are you saying they haven't had to resort to using GMOs like many states? Which BTW is another form of innovation right there.

 

[Gats]

What stronger hurricanes? There hasnt been a major hurricane to hit Atlantic coast states in 10 years now, so stronger hurricanes occurring in my hometown is just not accurate or true. In terms of climate change there has only been benefits in my home town state with mid atlantic states being able to avoid drought or in fact gain slightly more water than normal helping to keep us out of drought stage and enable us to have great agricultural economy, beneficial freshwater economy, and a healthy fishing industry. For me, doing the same thing that we already do has gained my area numerous benefits.

I'm pretty sure this country isn't limited to the Atlantic coast. So there is no climate change as long as the effects don't hit your hometown yet ? Are you really sure about that ?

I've never seen black swan in my country, so I guess it means they're non existant.

 

[SharkBait]

Do hurricanes only hit your hometown? I am pretty sure other states in the US have been hit right? They've certainly made headlines.

"In the 10 years since Wilma’s landfall (october 2005), no hurricanes have struck Florida, and no major hurricanes have struck the United States as a whole. This 10-year lull in major hurricane landfalls is unprecedented since hurricane record-keeping began in 1851. The longest lull on record before this was a 9-year lull between August, 1860 and September, 1869. For Florida, the 10-year drought smashed the previous record of 6 years, set between 1979 and 1985."

U.S. hurricane drought breaks records

@SharkBait , you just reminds me of reported words from people who said the same thing in the time of horses when it comes to transportation innovation. Those people ended up wrong. I'm not sure how you can state that you know for certain we did everything about cars. I have the feeling you would have said the same thing when the first cars came out. I mean back in the time it had 4 wheels (if not 3 ?), it could move, protect you from rain, where else was there to improve right ? It fulfilled its job already.

If its not broke why fix it? I don't think Im a fan of change so I probably would have said the same about that transportation.

And Taxi drivers ? I'm not sure why having such a condescendant tone towards people who are delivering needed service (since there are costumers). So you're despising people doing menial jobs ? Yet I'm sure you're happy that someone is bringing you somewhere, or serving you food ? Because I don't think you need to be bright to deliver food either.

I don't despise these people, however questions have to be raised in the increased wages discussion and hardworking idea when people doing low brain power jobs are considered. Additionally it isnt like servers do a good job, just this week the server at a restaurant I went to failed to bringing me my card and never called me to tell me she did, my card is now lost out there forcing me to be inconvenienced without my card and having to go days without one and get a new one. Am I happy she served my food since it inconvenienced me? Of course not. How one can fail at doing such a basic job is kind of mindblowing. And lets not go to people who are cashiers and bag your food and place heavy cans and boxes ontop of soft loaves of bread. If this was a high brain powered job, then people wouldnt be making these elementary level mistakes. These people are lazy, not hard working.

Is everybody born with equal opportunity in life? Isn't this one of the things being addressed and brought up by the presidential candidates as they try to offer more opportunities that reach a wider audience? Or is this just a fiction being made up that there is equal opportunity for everyone regardless of race, gender, and social standing?

America provides everyone with equal opportunity. Everybody is born into this world nekkid with nothing. Its up to them for how they make their life choices.

 

[Hamy]

America provides everyone with equal opportunity. Everybody is born into this world nekkid with nothing. Its up to them for how they make their life choices.

And yet, there is still inequality which is the sentiment against the major companies that frustrate many, especially with the crisis that was reached with the wall street crash -- that the smaller guys take the heavier hit.

If you truly believe there is equality at every corner and absolutely no form of discrimination or inequality that would impede opportunity then I see no point continuing because clearly we look at two different America's.

"In the 10 years since Wilma’s landfall (october 2005), no hurricanes have struck Florida, and no major hurricanes have struck the United States as a whole. This 10-year lull in major hurricane landfalls is unprecedented since hurricane record-keeping began in 1851. The longest lull on record before this was a 9-year lull between August, 1860 and September, 1869. For Florida, the 10-year drought smashed the previous record of 6 years, set between 1979 and 1985."

U.S. hurricane drought breaks records

"So what's causing this streak? Hall says he and his team didn't find much had changed. Instead, he's chalking it up to luck.
Colorado State Universtiy meteorologist Phil Klotzbach, who was not a part of the study, agrees. "I think that there has been a significant 'luck' component involved."

"But Bell warned that storms that are not classified as major hurricanes can still do a tremendous amount of damage.
"We tell coastal residents to prepare every hurricane season, because it only takes one storm to make it a bad year," he said. Hurricane strength is "only one factor," he added. The size of the storm surge, whether it spins off tornadoes, and the amount of rainfall created by a slow-moving storm can create as much damage as a major hurricane, he said."

Also did Hurricane Sandy not happen? We didn't have members here who didn't suffer from the damages like power cuts first hand?

https://en.wikinews.org/wiki/U.S._prepares_for_arrival_of_Hurricane_Sandy

Also did hurricane Katrina not happen as a significant one? Are you saying climate change actually protected you from such magnitudes? Just because there haven't been any new ones does that mean you shouldn't care about preparing?

Again to quote your article:

But a hurricane drought can end at any time, the researchers said, reminding people that, just because there hasn't been a strong hurricane in a while, that doesn't mean the risk is any lower.

Did you only want to read what you wanted?

Isn't this kinda the point about climate change? Even if we don't turn out to be the biggest losers of our generation does that mean we shouldn't try to face the problem now or at least prepare against it?

Even then, there are trade partners of the US, as well as countries used by major corporations as outsourcing, that would be affected. So it's not exactly outside of US interest as a whole. But again if the US interest is primarily based on your hometown then I guess such things won't matter.

 

[SharkBait]

Also did Hurricane Sandy not happen? We didn't have members here who didn't suffer from the damages like power cuts first hand?

https://en.wikinews.org/wiki/U.S._prepares_for_arrival_of_Hurricane_Sandy

Also did hurricane Katrina not happen as a significant one? Are you saying climate change actually protected you from such magnitudes? Just because there haven't been any new ones does that mean you shouldn't care about preparing?

By definition, Sandy (2012) wasnt a major hurricane when it hit the US (its winds were only 80mph) when it made landfall on the US mainland [the hurricane was no longer tropical by 2100 UTC on October 29.[29] About 2 1/2 hours later, Sandy made landfall near Brigantine, New Jersey,[30] with winds of 80 mph (130 km/h).] A major hurricane is cat3 or higher, notice that all these articles are written years after Sandy and the drought still not ended. Katrina was 2005. To suggest climate change is causing stronger storms to hit the US, then this drought of no major storms needs to end, 10 years without a major hit to our homeland implies climate change is not causing a detrimental effect to America when Hurricanes is the subject of focus.

If you truly believe there is equality at every corner and absolutely no form of discrimination or inequality that would impede opportunity then I see no point continuing because clearly we look at two different America's.

What inequality in America in todays times are preventing people from being the best they can be? People get free education, free food at school, free chance to go to college or university with the government giving them tons of aid to get there (merit based awards are given, financial aid to the poorest enables them to go as well), and additionally after getting a degree a wide assortment of jobs are available to people with the promise of no discrimination based on religion, race, creed, weight, age, sex given.

 

[Hamy]

What inequality in America in todays times are preventing people from being the best they can be? People get free education, free food at school, free chance to go to college or university with the government giving them tons of aid to get there (merit based awards are given, financial aid to the poorest enables them to go as well), and additionally after getting a degree a wide assortment of jobs are available to people with the promise of no discrimination based on religion, race, creed, weight, age, sex given.

https://web.stanford.edu/group/scspi/sotu/SOTU_2015.pdf
https://web.stanford.edu/group/scspi/sotu/SOTU_2014_CPI.pdf

Oh gee... if only there wasn't scientific studies about this... With actual correlation figures that show positive relations...

Does this matter? Previous studies of metropolitan segregation indicate that segregated minority populations often lack access to good jobs, quality schooling, adequate and affordable housing, and a safe environment. Living in close proximity with whites often creates new opportunities and personal connections otherwise unavailable to many minorities. Segregation cuts off opportunities from the mainstream.

There are also many forms at which poverty takes root... Despite the presence of what you claim, it doesn't stop poverty from necessarily occurring. Certainly not from laziness as you accuse people of not having chosen better lives.

By definition, Sandy (2012) wasnt a major hurricane when it hit the US (its winds were only 80mph) when it made landfall on the US mainland [the hurricane was no longer tropical by 2100 UTC on October 29.[29] About 2 1/2 hours later, Sandy made landfall near Brigantine, New Jersey,[30] with winds of 80 mph (130 km/h).] A major hurricane is cat3 or higher, notice that all these articles are written years after Sandy and the drought still not ended. Katrina was 2005. To suggest climate change is causing stronger storms to hit the US, then this drought of no major storms needs to end, 10 years without a major hit to our homeland implies climate change is not causing a detrimental effect to America when Hurricanes is the subject of focus.

The point is that trying to claim the environment has absolutely no impact to you even indirectly is the entire point. Be it direct or indirect, claiming climate change doesn't have negative effects is another matter. Or that you have to adhere to it because of international standards. You need to stop selectively reading or diverging because you're firing at so many different directions here and not hitting a mark.

Moreover, you need to actually read your articles through, they kinda warn about the opposite.

I don't despise these people, however questions have to be raised in the increased wages discussion and hardworking idea when people doing low brain power jobs are considered. Additionally it isnt like servers do a good job, just this week the server at a restaurant I went to failed to bringing me my card and never called me to tell me she did, my card is now lost out there forcing me to be inconvenienced without my card and having to go days without one and get a new one. Am I happy she served my food since it inconvenienced me? Of course not. How one can fail at doing such a basic job is kind of mindblowing. And lets not go to people who are cashiers and bag your food and place heavy cans and boxes ontop of soft loaves of bread. If this was a high brain powered job, then people wouldnt be making these elementary level mistakes. These people are lazy, not hard working.

FYI I work as a risk analyst in a developmental oriented bank that said to share an incident report to you. We had a bank teller who accidentally credited a substantial amount meant for one client to another, she had placed the check on the wrong account.

Upon investigation, she made that "basic" mistake with huge repercussions because we didn't necessarily hire enough bank tellers to predict the flow of business during the month of December, it was bigger than we initially estimated.

That said, do we necessarily attribute this mistake to her being lazy and not hard working or just overworked?

Moreover, just because a task is menial doesn't mean you'll be able to do it perfectly, certainly they aren't robots. If anything I feel your view is rather degrading to them as people as you're just seeing them purely by their occupation rather than actual living breathing human beings prone to make mistakes. All you describe are people who should serve you the way you want.

 

[Gats]

I'm sorry but...free+college/university/school+USA don't add up. Like, at all. And the USA are like very famous for that. On top of that, there are more and more foreign students in the top colleges/uni (at least) and a big decrease in proportion of local students ?

I was about to quote only a portion but actually the whole thing is relevant :

The Economist reported in June 2014 that U.S. student loan debt exceeded $1.2 trillion, with over 7 million debtors in default. Public universities increased their fees by a total of 27% over the five years ending in 2012, or 20% adjusted for inflation. Public university students paid an average of almost $8,400 annually for in-state tuition, with out-of-state students paying more than $19,000. For two decades ending in 2012, college costs rose 1.6% more than inflation each year. Government funding per student fell 27% between 2007 and 2012. Student enrollments rose from 15.2 million in 1999 to 20.4 million in 2011, but fell 2% in 2012.[9][10] Bloomberg reported in July 2014 that: "The biggest growth in the program came in the past decade, as student debt rose an average of 14 percent a year, to $966 billion in 2012 from $364 billion in 2004, according to New York Fed data."[11]
There were around 37 million student loan borrowers with outstanding student loans in 2013. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, outstanding student loan debt in the United States lies between $902 Billion and $1 Trillion with around $864 Billion in Federal student loan debt.[12] As of Quarter 1 in 2012, the average student loan balance for all age groups is $24,301.[12] About one-quarter of borrowers owe more than $28,000; 10% of borrowers owe more than $54,000; 3% owe more than $100,000; and less than 1%, or 167,000 people, owe more than $200,000.[12] Of the 37 million borrowers who have outstanding student loan balances, 14%, or about 5.4 million borrowers, have at least one past due student loan account.[12] For every student loan borrower who defaults, at least two more borrowers become delinquent without default.[12] In 2010 for the first time ever, student loan debt exceeded credit card debt and in 2011 student debt surpassed auto loans (both of which were decreasing).[13] According to Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of FinAid.org, student loan debt is growing by $3,000 per second.[13] According to a report by The Institute for College Access and Success the average debt from those who graduated in 2013 topped $30,000 in six states and was only below $20,000 in one state.[14] Data released by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York showed that in the fourth quarter of 2014 delinquency rates for students dipped to the point where approximately one in nine student loans is past due.[15] As of 2015 over half of outstanding student loans are in deferral, delinquency or default.[16] Rising student loan debt is exacerbating wealth inequality.[17]
Student loan borrowers that attended a for profit, and two year community colleges, in comparison, earn low annual salaries; an average of $22,000 for people withdrawing from schools as of 2010. this means that these people have troubles paying back their loans. The new evidence is reliable with the previous data. For example, the statistics presenting that default rates are essentially lower within the demographic of borrowers with large loans than within borrowers with small loans. However, the new evidence which goes back twenty years, shows how much the scenery of borrowing has changed. currently, most borrowers are older and attended a for profit or two year community college. about ten years ago, the standard borrower was a established student at a four year university. [18]
In recent years, tuition has been rising due to the cuts of government funding in education. As an example, more specifically, the University of Pittsburgh has had an increase in tuition of 3.9 percent for the academic school year of 2014-15. In recent weeks, the U.S. Department of Education ranked Pitt as the most expensive public university for tuition and fees, just ahead of Penn State University, which this past year totaled $16,240 in the arts and science school.[19]
In 2005, the difference in median annual income between those with a bachelor's degree vs. those with a high school diploma was $16,638, though this varies considerably by field of study.[20]

 

[z.5]

Awaits the old

... but correlation doesn't equal causation

 

[Hamy]

Awaits the old

I would like to see any correlation or causation studies that link laziness to the poverty that exists. Or any scientific ones regarding people choosing menial jobs because they're lazy.

 

[z.5]

I would like to see any correlation or causation studies that link laziness to the poverty that exists. Or any scientific ones regarding people choosing menial jobs because they're lazy.

Well... As a scientist, I would love to provide you with some nice hard evidence to the contrary - but I am just too lazy and poor to do so...

If only I wasn't so lazy, I may have chosen a high paying job, like a CEO or something...

 

[Gats]

I don't despise these people, however questions have to be raised in the increased wages discussion and hardworking idea when people doing low brain power jobs are considered. Additionally it isnt like servers do a good job, just this week the server at a restaurant I went to failed to bringing me my card and never called me to tell me she did, my card is now lost out there forcing me to be inconvenienced without my card and having to go days without one and get a new one. Am I happy she served my food since it inconvenienced me? Of course not. How one can fail at doing such a basic job is kind of mindblowing. And lets not go to people who are cashiers and bag your food and place heavy cans and boxes ontop of soft loaves of bread. If this was a high brain powered job, then people wouldnt be making these elementary level mistakes. These people are lazy, not hard working.

I'm sure you were able to understand what I am saying. So in your lifetime, how many times that kind of ordeal happened ? Over the countless times when you got served without issues ? Besides your food is delivered in the end too right ?

I'm not sure why you keep talking about the few people doing bad and then stating that all of them are lazy.

 

[Momoni]

What inequality in America in todays times are preventing people from being the best they can be? People get free education, free food at school, free chance to go to college or university with the government giving them tons of aid to get there (merit based awards are given, financial aid to the poorest enables them to go as well), and additionally after getting a degree a wide assortment of jobs are available to people with the promise of no discrimination based on religion, race, creed, weight, age, sex given.

The job market isn't spread across the entire nation. Lots of people get degrees and by the time they can use them, the jobs have moved across the country. Then you have people collecting on student loans that are impossible to pay in Texas, you have the possibility of not qualifying for scholarships, and being denied Financial Aid if your parents make too much money, even if they refuse to help you pay for anything. Top this off with all of the battles cross the nation to add and remove people from anti-discrimination acts concerning LGBT individuals and it's not as great a reality as you might read on paper.

By definition, Sandy (2012) wasnt a major hurricane when it hit the US (its winds were only 80mph) when it made landfall on the US mainland [the hurricane was no longer tropical by 2100 UTC on October 29.[29] About 2 1/2 hours later, Sandy made landfall near Brigantine, New Jersey,[30] with winds of 80 mph (130 km/h).] A major hurricane is cat3 or higher, notice that all these articles are written years after Sandy and the drought still not ended. Katrina was 2005. To suggest climate change is causing stronger storms to hit the US, then this drought of no major storms needs to end, 10 years without a major hit to our homeland implies climate change is not causing a detrimental effect to America when Hurricanes is the subject of focus.

Hurricane Particia hit Mexico, and the resulting power of the thing flooded Texas. It also picked up El Nino, while not technically a storm, to be particularly strong due to the warmer ocean waters. Your definition is semantics, in the wake of these things happening. There's also work being put in to finding more connections, such as all of those devastating tornados in the last few years, which doesn't speak well considering the El Reno Tornado was massive, and Vilonia's 2014 tornado showed up to destroy a bunch of stuff and kill a lot of people.

Washington, recently, also had its two biggest wildfires in history simultaneously - the North Star Fire and the Bear Creek Fire.

These are just the things that affect you directly, or could. Including in the list are ocean toxicity levels, air quality making people sick, and this list can go on and on about not just climate change, or global warming, but the pollution - where all three issues have similar roots because they're caused by some of the same problems and are directly connected.

The point is, you are affected by these things, even if you don't know it yet. The point is, a lot of scientists are worried that if we don't address it now, a lot of people are going to be dead in the near future, that if we don't address it right now immediately, there won't be any stopping it down the road when it's undeniable to the whole wide world's population. Any candidate that isn't addressing this, shouldn't be running.

 

[SharkBait]

There are also many forms at which poverty takes root... Despite the presence of what you claim, it doesn't stop poverty from necessarily occurring. Certainly not from laziness as you accuse people of not having chosen better lives.

I don't understand the point of the segregation causes inequality, in terms of housing that you quote. Its not like people who are nonwhite are being forced to live in neighborhoods that are full of nonwhites. Theres no governing body that is placing hardworking Americans into where they live. I always took issue with these studies because of that point. How much you make, commute to work, proximity to other family members, and maybe even environmental factors determines where you would live and even then people who are nonwhite may want to live with other nonwhites. People have a sense of community in being near others who look like them so it could be that "segregation" in housing arises from people just wanting to be by others who look like them. How would you even address "segregation" in housing, force people to get up and leave? Put peoples names in a hat and randomly assign them to homes as they are drawn?

FYI I work as a risk analyst in a developmental oriented bank that said to share an incident report to you. We had a bank teller who accidentally credited a substantial amount meant for one client to another, she had placed the check on the wrong account.

Upon investigation, she made that "basic" mistake with huge repercussions because we didn't necessarily hire enough bank tellers to predict the flow of business during the month of December, it was bigger than we initially estimated.

That said, do we necessarily attribute this mistake to her being lazy and not hard working or just overworked?

Moreover, just because a task is menial doesn't mean you'll be able to do it perfectly, certainly they aren't robots. If anything I feel your view is rather degrading to them as people as you're just seeing them purely by their occupation rather than actual living breathing human beings prone to make mistakes. All you describe are people who should serve you the way you want.

I had deposited cash into my bank account and the bank teller had failed to put it in my account and missplaced the ticket. I had to call the bank to find out what was wrong and was very inconvenienced for several days waiting for the money to finally be placed into my account. It is no surprise that bank tellers in America make around $22,000 and are being phased out for automated machines. Since these jobs only require a high school diploma, and since these people are only serving customers this would actually qualify as a no brain powered job and actually kind of lazy. Consider what they do, they just sit at a desk and look at you to come to the desk, then they just count money and type it on a display. There is little to no thinking involved and the second anything comes up they immediately refer you to the relationship banker or someone higher up.

Mistakes only happen when people are being lazy. If you're working hard then a mistake wouldnt be happening as one would be immensely focused on their task. Actually relevant fields have checks and balances in place to keep mistakes from happening.

I'm sorry but...free+college/university/school+USA don't add up. Like, at all. And the USA are like very famous for that. On top of that, there are more and more foreign students in the top colleges/uni (at least) and a big decrease in proportion of local students ?

The point I was making is that, the benevolent state of higher education in American pretty much ensures that money wont be stopping anyone from going to college. In Fall 2015 there were over 20.5 mln people enrolled in College and University in America (http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=372). Anyone who graduates high school and makes a good life decision can go to college without paying anything out of pocket. Anyone qualifies to get a loan from a private company or even the government (government offers very generous loans) to be able to go to college without paying anything out of pocket until after they graduate. Do you really think college students who are taking classes and working as waiters are making enough to pay off the cost of their tuition every semester, which in some cases is at least $8000 a semester for lots of schools? Additionally, if the person chooses an actually relevant field then they can quickly pay their loans off right after graduating and being employed. Look this link even suggests and highly implies that as long as they choose a relevant degree and get a job they will make more money then the loan they needed enabling them to quickly pay it off.

In 2013, median earnings for full-time year-round working young adults ages 25–34 with a bachelor's degree were $48,500, while the median was $23,900 for those without a high school diploma or its equivalent, $30,000 for those with a high school diploma or its equivalent, and $37,500 for those with an associate's degree. In other words, young adults with a bachelor's degree earned more than twice as much as those without a high school diploma or its equivalent (103 percent more) and 62 percent more than young adult high school completers. Additionally, in 2013 median earnings for young adults with a master's or higher degree were $59,600, some 23 percent more than the median for young adults with a bachelor's degree

Foreign students wouldnt qualify for the very low tuition costs it is for an instate student and lastly since they arent a citizen they wouldnt get aid from the government either. I guess a school could go after international foreign students since they get the money but well since just about everyone already would have a loan + scholarships it isnt really a benefit.

Hurricane Particia hit Mexico, and the resulting power of the thing flooded Texas. It also picked up El Nino, while not technically a storm, to be particularly strong due to the warmer ocean waters. Your definition is semantics, in the wake of these things happening. There's also work being put in to finding more connections, such as all of those devastating tornados in the last few years, which doesn't speak well considering the El Reno Tornado was massive, and Vilonia's 2014 tornado showed up to destroy a bunch of stuff and kill a lot of people.

Washington, recently, also had its two biggest wildfires in history simultaneously - the North Star Fire and the Bear Creek Fire.

These are just the things that affect you directly, or could. Including in the list are ocean toxicity levels, air quality making people sick, and this list can go on and on about not just climate change, or global warming, but the pollution - where all three issues have similar roots because they're caused by some of the same problems and are directly connected.

The point is, you are affected by these things, even if you don't know it yet. The point is, a lot of scientists are worried that if we don't address it now, a lot of people are going to be dead in the near future, that if we don't address it right now immediately, there won't be any stopping it down the road when it's undeniable to the whole wide world's population. Any candidate that isn't addressing this, shouldn't be running.

What happened in South America or Mexico would affect me so I dont have any real reason to care for climate change. I also dont think I get anything beyond one or two fruits from Mexico and I could easily just not buy those fruit (since we only get them from Mexico when its not in season in America).

The tornado link doesnt make sense as they say there is "year to year variability" and scientists think the hypothesis is flawed. Not enough evidence is available to suggest tornadoes are being affected by climate change. For example in my hometown this week we had several tornado's strike across the state, which people though was unusual but we have had tornadoes in February as early as the 1st.

Your El Nino link is an odd one to choose as it goes toward my statement as the current way of things has caused benefits, it mentions California having the best snow pack in years, drought relief for several other areas around the state, and near normal or even above normal levels of precipitation in areas that have needed them. To say that one ought to do something against climate change when its clearly benefiting people in California and American food security is simply laughable.

From a long-term drought relief perspective, the season to date looks pretty good—precipitation is near or above average in most of California’s largest watersheds, and the water stored in the critical Sierra Nevada snowpack is uniformly above average

Your widest tornado one is also odd, 2013 wasnt the hottest year on record in the world (2005 was) so to link tornados to changing climate is an odd claim to make. If the temperature of the world was less warm than it was in 2005, why didnt 2005 have the widest tornado ever?

Linking wildfires to climate change doesnt make sense either. Wildfires are common in America and a result of either a random lightning strike in a forest or some fool acting dumb in a forest. The swamp in my home town occasionally catches fire some years should that be considered a result of climate change when its been happening since recorded history?

I dont live near an ocean and I also don't live in an area that would have high pollution (theres lots of forests and farmland here in the state and stuff is spread out and also I live pretty high up). Climate change as a platform will only be a real issue when stuff is happening. As it is now, Im more concerned over issues that are relevant for the hear and now, jobs for hardworking Americans, American energy and food independence, American military strength.

 

[Hamy]

I don't understand the point of the segregation causes inequality, in terms of housing that you quote. Its not like people who are nonwhite are being forced to live in neighborhoods that are full of nonwhites. Theres no governing body that is placing hardworking Americans into where they live. I always took issue with these studies because of that point. How much you make, commute to work, proximity to other family members, and maybe even environmental factors determines where you would live and even then people who are nonwhite may want to live with other nonwhites. People have a sense of community in being near others who look like them so it could be that "segregation" in housing arises from people just wanting to be by others who look like them. How would you even address "segregation" in housing, force people to get up and leave? Put peoples names in a hat and randomly assign them to homes as they are drawn?

What you don't understand is there are many ways at which poverty can arise, and segregation is just one of the more obvious ways in which this happened. And while you may not have formal policies that create discrimination that doesn't mean you don't have informal institutions (cultures, attitudes,etc). That do not visibly and statistically as shown occur in real life. Perhaps it would help if you took time to actually study politics and understand there are two types of institutions at work in society, formal and informal, that affects the way in which things work.

As for why people opted to be segregated I think you've grossly simplified the manner. I gave you a link and they also refer you to studies to understand the phenomena. You have google. Don't be lazy.

Again segregation is just one point. Don't get lost in your own words because the contention here is whether or not people remain poor or in menial jobs BECAUSE you claimed them to be lazy. I brought up that study to show you SEVERAL factors that contribute to poverty, and that can limit opportunities given to X or Y.

Or if you took time to read the article they especially highlight the US recession and the friction that caused, which still need to be accounted for with proper policies.

Did you read laziness?

Mistakes only happen when people are being lazy. If you're working hard then a mistake wouldnt be happening as one would be immensely focused on their task. Actually relevant fields have checks and balances in place to keep mistakes from happening.

Work in a real corporate environment and you tell me there aren't issues of fines and penalties that companies have to abide by. That if you ever worked as a quality check at any point, or anybody that is one, I am sure they can assure you mistakes still happen. As for checks and balances, aside from very strict protocol you'd also have much harsher penalties and sanctions imposed. But that won't guarantee mistakes happen, because they are human. Again work as a risk analyst, quality checker, or for internal audit before you can make such gross claims that mistakes don't happen.

In relevant fields we have something called TARA which stands for Transfer, Avoid, Reduce, and Accept to mitigate damage.

I had deposited cash into my bank account and the bank teller had failed to put it in my account and missplaced the ticket. I had to call the bank to find out what was wrong and was very inconvenienced for several days waiting for the money to finally be placed into my account. It is no surprise that bank tellers in America make around $22,000 and are being phased out for automated machines. Since these jobs only require a high school diploma, and since these people are only serving customers this would actually qualify as a no brain powered job and actually kind of lazy. Consider what they do, they just sit at a desk and look at you to come to the desk, then they just count money and type it on a display. There is little to no thinking involved and the second anything comes up they immediately refer you to the relationship banker or someone higher up.

Mistakes only happen when people are being lazy. If you're working hard then a mistake wouldnt be happening as one would be immensely focused on their task. Actually relevant fields have checks and balances in place to keep mistakes from happening.

Again I think you get lost in your own words here....

Did you really read? Or perhaps you're being too lazy to do so? Or perhaps... lacking?

If you read the point is why do mistakes happen? Are they a result again of laziness or stupidity? Or are there other possible sources at which mistakes happen, which are all too human?

Yes you can reduce mistakes through automation, provided you can afford to do so as clearly not everyone has that sort of capital (surprise!). However, you've just conveniently skirted around the point that people make mistakes because THEY ARE PEOPLE. The very notion of you claiming automation as an answer only reinforces what we've said, people aren't perfect and people aren't machines. No amount of education is going to change the fact that we all make mistakes, even with menial tasks.

I think it is evident here you're jumping to some very toxic prejudices regarding your views with those who work with menial jobs, especially when it comes to mistakes.

Other than that stay on topic, don't get lost with examples. The point you made and what riled myself and others up was you claiming that lack of social mobility and economic opportunities are a result of laziness. Whereas, you're presented a slew of other variables, which BTW your presidential candidates to acknowledge, exist.

That aside, what is even more controversial about your view is... that you honestly don't feel inclined to claim that the current system cannot be improved upon? Because from your arguments, I don't see the same picture of any changes being necessary. I daresay with all your simplifications... what in particular is there to improve upon?

Or can we take your statements to be no different than what you claimed about innovation? That it simply cannot be improved upon further? Because this is really the vibe you're coming across, such as saying that climate change isn't an issue. Frankly, if you don't even have a hint of the US recession affecting your hometown whatsoever, or the frictions it causes. I'm not sure if you agree that there are even any room for improvement to be made.

 

[SharkBait]

Other than that stay on topic, don't get lost with examples. The point you made and what riled myself and others up was you claiming that everybody was that people are lazy, hence they wholeheartedly choose options that limit their choices.

But they do choose these options to limit their choices. If you dont graduate high school or even go to college then it only make sense that one would be lazy and choose some easy job they can do mindlessly. These people are happily going about their days just waking up, going to work with no take home work or anything, answering the pleas of the people they serve, get their eight hours, clock out and go home. Lather, rinse, and repeat. This becomes a cycle that they stay in and then 5, 10, 15, 25, 35 years later they are still serving as a taxi driver or waiter or some other type of basic level job struggling to make ends meet because they failed to make a smart life decision, get a higher degree in a relevant field, and then work for an outstanding company with a legacy. It just makes me so agitated seeing people defending these people in these jobs and wanting to push legistlation to get them doubled salaries for doing the same basic level of work. I will take great offense if a taxi driver will be making more and get a raise but I don't.

If you read the point is why do mistakes happen? Are they a result again of laziness or stupidity? Or are there other possible sources at which mistakes happen, which are all too human?

No one is stupid, so mistakes arise because they are lazy. Lazy people know what they are doing. If youre in a lazy job then you don't really care if you arent accurate. Its not like these people end up being fired. When was the last time you saw someone who flips burgers, fired since the sandwich had pickles on it when the person said they were allergic to pickles? I get so agitated when they make my sandwich wrong or they fail to include bacon on a sandwich that CLEARLY had bacon on it in the image. In science we follow kits to do some routine tasks and we dont skip a step and generate great results, so if these people can't even handle following a recipe for making a sandwich, then they are too lazy to ever move up and work in science.

Again segregation is just one point. Don't get lost in your own words because the contention here is whether or not people remain poor or in menial jobs BECAUSE you claimed them to be lazy. I brought up that study to show you SEVERAL factors that contribute to poverty, and that can limit opportunities given to X or Y.

Environmental factors ought not effect people being in poverty. Its all up to the person. America is a free country so people are free to leave and live when and whereever they want. You only end up in poverty due to bad decision making. Blaming poverty status on the environment or the city one is in is just lazy. Do something and find a job somewhere else and get some education is the best advice that can be given. Thoughts and prayers is the only thing I see that makes sense to address poverty in America.

 

[M3J]

Well, in strictly economic terms there isn't such a thing as "irreparably destroyed". Just look at the great depression. It took a while but the US eventually recovered. Then look at the great recession. The economy naturally goes up and down even regardless of who is president. I am not sure if having a bigger military budget will hurt the US, my impression is that this is simply pointless. Just throwing more money at it won't make the US safer (if anything most of the wars the US has fought over the past few decades have specifically made it less safe) or terrorist go away.

US got worse and worse and acquired more and more debt. Economy goes up and down, yeah, but the country also feels some long lasting damage.

Accordin to what I read, bigger military budget under Reagan hurt the country a lot. And it does hurt the country because you're using money that could be spent on better things. We're wasting so much money on military when we can use that to help the citizens and improve the country. I mean, if you cut the fundin for military in half and used that to improve the infrastructure and welfare, more people would benefit because they would have a job and get money for food and shelter. High military spending benefits no one, regardless of what conservatives want you to believe.

There are other supercenter stores like Walmart out there though. I also do see extensive companies competing in the same realm of walmart. People do choose quality or price to some extent. If they didnt, then we would see lots of mom and pop stores and specialty retailers going the way of the dinosaur. We should be praising walmart for having an extensive work force helping people have financial stability and economic freedom.

If I remember correctly, Walmart has caused tons of smaller stores to close, putting more people out of work. And according to many employees, they don't get paid or compensated well, especially for the hours they work.

Climate change isnt affecting me so why should I care about it?

I don't see how driving a taxi isnt a lazy job. People get their driver's license as early as 16 years old. Theres no additional skills required for a driving a taxi. You don't even have to speak to the passengers after just saying hello. In fact most taxi drivers just play their music, boot up the gps and drive. Maybe they will help put your bags in your car but otherwise nothing. The most challenge they may deal with is the occasional drunk person and thats it. I drive a car and I can say that it is not hard or require brain power to drive, its pretty mindless at times, especially when you drive across the state constantly for work.

Technology created jobs, even though switchboard operators went the way of the dinosaur, cellphone companies and bigger telecommunications companies brought about the rise of massive call centers. So as technology has risen more jobs were created. We can even extend this to the electronics market, before the rise of electronics (before the tvs and computers) people were living in the dark ages farming, now, with the advent of tvs, hundreds of thousands of people found employment making and assembling computers as well as becoming very learned professionals as computer engineers and other sorts of engineers advancing technology to build the better display technologies. Isnt this a much more rewarding job than switchboard operating or driving people from the airport to the hotel? I think so.

You do realize just because you're not affected doesn't make it any less real, right? And you are affected by it, and you will be affected by it. The weather has been abnormal for the past few years, and for crops that require certain weather at certain times, that means they die out. Less food. Plus, more heat means more ice melting, which increases sea level.

You commute, you don't drive a taxi or Uber. Two different things, and it's pretty dumb for you to compare both given the only similarity is driving. Again, you have never driven a taxi, so you have no right to look down on the profession or comment on it. Just because you think something is lazy doesn't really make it so, and people like you (mainly conservatives) are why this country has problems. You still haven't shared what you work in, so maybe you're the lazy one doing a lazy job.

Technology took away jobs. We could have massive call centers and switchboard operators instead of just call centers. And how many people really assemble computers as opposed to machines? Pretty sure it took away more jobs than that, especially since companies look at profits over what's good long-term.

Funding the military more helps everyone, better health for military often leads to vaccines enjoyed by all, additionally, infrastructure is improved in states having large military bases, more people more benefits to the greater economy as a whole. Mom and pop shops, retailers, trade shops, education and more benefits. I dont see any loss in this scheme for anyone.

No it doesn't, it hurts people because the money that could be used to help them is being wasted towards military, who doesn't need so much money.

To be fair, you don't understand how illogical most of the things you say are, so.

No. They're liberals...lol


What does that even mean?

So? They're all about the black life, and Sharpton is all about the moolah.

The recaps for last night make Trump look pretty weak while Rubio clearly indicated that he has what it takes to get things done and has feasible plans.

The bias is so funny. You cried about Hillary and Bernie fighting and cannibalizing, but you seem to have no issue with republicans doin the same, especially Trump and Rubio.

https://t.co/e2Cqk5FZ1t

Apparently the last GOP Debate was such a shitfest. Pretty funny when GOP keeps bragging about havin the most ratings when main reason why they're so popular is because the GOP candidates are jokes.

I'm pretty sure this country isn't limited to the Atlantic coast. So there is no climate change as long as the effects don't hit your hometown yet ? Are you really sure about that ?

I've never seen black swan in my country, so I guess it means they're non existant.

Dude, that's the conservative/republican view. Most of them are selfish and don't care what happens to others as long as it doesn't hurt them.

If its not broke why fix it? I don't think Im a fan of change so I probably would have said the same about that transportation.

Conservatives are against changes no matter how good, according to few sources I found from googling.

I don't despise these people, however questions have to be raised in the increased wages discussion and hardworking idea when people doing low brain power jobs are considered. Additionally it isnt like servers do a good job, just this week the server at a restaurant I went to failed to bringing me my card and never called me to tell me she did, my card is now lost out there forcing me to be inconvenienced without my card and having to go days without one and get a new one. Am I happy she served my food since it inconvenienced me? Of course not. How one can fail at doing such a basic job is kind of mindblowing. And lets not go to people who are cashiers and bag your food and place heavy cans and boxes ontop of soft loaves of bread. If this was a high brain powered job, then people wouldnt be making these elementary level mistakes. These people are lazy, not hard working.

You should stop being so blind and selective. That's a bad way to live a life, and a bad lifestyle decision. From what you say, people who are powerful or work in a good job like Wall Street executives can commit crime and get away with it, but people who aren't as well off can't make mistakes without bein scrutinized. You seem to have no issue with wealthy people cheating others and committing fraud.

It's also utterly stupid to put value on jobs that require brain power. Lot of jobs may not require as much brain power, but they're just as important, if not more important, and they are in no way lazy. Only bad people would think this way.

America provides everyone with equal opportunity. Everybody is born into this world nekkid with nothing. Its up to them for how they make their life choices.

No it fucking doesn't. It's beyond embarrassing just how ignorant you are about this. America will not provide anyone with an equal opportunity - people who are not wealthy will not have similar or as good an opportunity as wealthy people. Wealthy people can afford great schools and have better connections that allow them to get whatever they want while non-wealthy people are restricted to working twice as hard. Trump is a perfect example of someone who had good opportunities thanks to wealth - he needed $1 million to start, and he got it from his father. I highly doubt nonwealthy people would have $1million to give to their kid to help them get started.

 

[Hamy]

Environmental factors ought not effect people being in poverty. Its all up to the person. America is a free country so people are free to leave and live when and whereever they want. You only end up in poverty due to bad decision making. Blaming poverty status on the environment or the city one is in is just lazy. Do something and find a job somewhere else and get some education is the best advice that can be given. Thoughts and prayers is the only thing I see that makes sense to address poverty in America.

Environmental issues affect the trading and export industry... They don't become "poor" but it does raise transaction costs to comply with environmental standards. In turn increasing prices on certain goods, that affects everyone.

Moreover, they also affect the way in which certain key goods are traded, like fossil fuel or charcoal. As for environment and poverty.... I am fairly certain I gave you a document. Don't be lazy because I am fairly certain there was no strong correlation there regarding environmental degradation. Adding to that the entire point was that there are several factors that contribute to poverty far better than just saying "lazy" (though I did not see environment as one of those factors looked into).

That said, nobody is claiming that we need to combat climate change because it induces poverty, at least no in the US, as the effects vary etc.

No one is stupid, so mistakes arise because they are lazy. Lazy people know what they are doing. If youre in a lazy job then you don't really care if you arent accurate. Its not like these people end up being fired. When was the last time you saw someone who flips burgers, fired since the sandwich had pickles on it when the person said they were allergic to pickles? I get so agitated when they make my sandwich wrong or they fail to include bacon on a sandwich that CLEARLY had bacon on it in the image. In science we follow kits to do some routine tasks and we dont skip a step and generate great results, so if these people can't even handle following a recipe for making a sandwich, then they are too lazy to ever move up and work in science.

I didn't realize people were homogenized? Perish the thought that people all work and think alike and can be treated as interchangeable without any possible distinctions that variations to the path of success are purely a result of choice.

And goodness! I didn't realize you were a psychologist to know the very inner psyche of these people...

Are you a mind reader? Or a psychologist? You seem to be making awfully bold claims here.

Also as a scientist... Are you claiming we don't have something called... a margin of error? Ironic you speak of science yet you sound more subjective than objective.

That said, have you ever measured how many times X or Y person makes a mistake in relation to his overall output over a period of several months to make the certainty that the person outside of acceptable margins of error statistically speaking?

But they do choose these options to limit their choices. If you dont graduate high school or even go to college then it only make sense that one would be lazy and choose some easy job they can do mindlessly. These people are happily going about their days just waking up, going to work with no take home work or anything, answering the pleas of the people they serve, get their eight hours, clock out and go home. Lather, rinse, and repeat. This becomes a cycle that they stay in and then 5, 10, 15, 25, 35 years later they are still serving as a taxi driver or waiter or some other type of basic level job struggling to make ends meet because they failed to make a smart life decision, get a higher degree in a relevant field, and then work for an outstanding company with a legacy. It just makes me so agitated seeing people defending these people in these jobs and wanting to push legistlation to get them doubled salaries for doing the same basic level of work. I will take great offense if a taxi driver will be making more and get a raise but I don't.

I won't dignify this with a response other than you clearly you hate the less fortunate. If you continue to want to insist that their choice in life is that way because of laziness.

Let me just say, I am glad you aren't a politician. Because your bias and stereotyping are very myopic.