Posts by BenWilson
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Or perhaps that they reject that it is "true", rather than just "a very good theory". One of those silly niggly points that a great many Christians can cover their arses with. They don't seem to get the corollary that the creationism of the Bible is also not "true", it's "a very bad theory".
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Use a paintbrush instead of a pen?
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Actually Ben, my theory is that people tend to think well of the period of their lives when they were young, fit, and relatively good looking, whenever it happened.
Definitely occurred to me, so I usually follow up with "what was better about it than the time just before?", to which the response is usually of the type "the parties".
I'm not saying that we should definitely crank up the recession a notch, just so that in feeling the pain we will appreciate life more. It's more of a "it's not quite as disastrous as it might seem from the hype". It would be better if it didn't happen. But maybe it has to happen.
Either way, I'm mostly interested in the extent to which public opinion on the performance of the President on 'solving the recession' is being tracked. It sort of sets up a dynamic in which the performance of the President hangs on being able to sort out something that may actually not be soluble. It also seems to in some strange way absolve the public themselves of their part in the bubble.
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Wasn't insufficient thought what landed us all in this illimitable ocean of wee in the first place?
I really don't know. My actual feeling is that it's "thinking you're better than everyone else, when you actually aren't". This applies in particular to goods produced in the first world vs goods from the third world. Whether this is a case of 'insufficient thought', or just 'wrong thought', is perhaps just a matter of semantics.
Further to that, I'm not sure that we're actually in an ocean of wee. A long and drawn out depression is something that is held up as an object of horror, but I'm not so sure. I have always found it curious that all the oldies I've spoken to who actually lived through the Great Depression rate it as one of the best times of their lives. I figure that it's times like these that you really learn what matters in life, and how enjoying life is really not something that requires a great deal of money.
But to everyone who stakes their entire worth on their dollar value, this is a time of wee. This includes a heck of a lot of people from whom we receive our information. That can make it hard to keep a cool head about just how awesome the world still is, and how, despite the economic climate, quite a lot of excellent things are still happening, being made, invented, etc. Despite the Dow slipping something like 40% in the last 2 years, billions of goods have still been made, tons of good art, millions of inventions, theories etc.
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That's a debate only one side can really win rationally but will never the less be a painful drawn out affair from those who literally feel invested in the status quo.
I'm not sure if either side can win rationally. Both will surely claim to have won, no matter which way it goes.
I've noticed over the years that people who got paid heaps for something once, will forever think they are worth that money, even after they get laid off. This can harm them for far longer than the few months it might take to find another job if they did not refuse to ever go backwards. It seems to me like the entire industrialized world is currently suffering from this.
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I feel for Obama. A president is meant to do what the people want, but fixing a recession/depression is a highly technical job. Probably to most people the actual solution (holding with the hypothetical line that there actually is a solution) will be incomprehensible. As in, it will be incomprehensible how and why it will work. The actual implementation will be comprehensible and will just seem plain wrong in so many cases. Some people will get more money, others will get less. And it may take a very long time.
To me it's not at all clear whether or not this economic meltdown is going to play out at its own pace pretty much regardless of what governments do. Everyone's looking at Obama like he's meant to fix everything. But what is actually broken is widespread beliefs about the value of things, and how much people are entitled to them. People in the USA find it hard to accept that what they make has been massively overvalued for a long time, and they have themselves been massively overpaid. Because they have a massive internal economy this massive discrepancy can perpetuate itself for a very long time, but ultimately (if you believe in fundamental values) a correction has to come some time. That time is now.
Of course it's not just Americans that have been wrong for so long. They're just the tip of the iceberg. They have driven things up so much that most of the world have also been swept up in it.
I could be totally wrong. Maybe this recession will turn out all right in a few years, and all will hail Obama as savior. I definitely hope so, whether it is true that Obama is a savior or not.
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B-you-t-full!
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Respect cuts both ways mate.
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Cheers Steve, I'm glad I'm not just imagining it. You get that way when a bunch of people all try to argue with you at the same time as telling you to shut up and piss off, call you a colonialist, tell you you're not educated, say you said things you didn't, etc. Most normal people are simply driven out quickly by such behavior.
Anyways dude, I'm glad you got something out of it. Have a good weekend.
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taking it to what I honestly consider to be its logical consequences.
There's nothing honest in what you've been doing.
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