jswinghammer

Boston, MA - FlipKey

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30-40k of debt seems a lot less than many people I have known are in with degrees that will never be meaningful to employers. Parents need to adjust for the world as it is and teach their kids that degrees can be profitable to them in the right fields and without debt. I've known several people who had 100k+ worth of college debt and very little to actually show for it.

The debt is the real problem here. If you have a degree that isn't going to do anything for you then that's bad but with debt everything is so much worse. Debt makes any problem you have so much worse.

I love using Google Reader but I don't see what the big deal is. It seems like an RSS reader is something anyone can build in a month maybe. There are alternatives that seem to be less than optimal but I assume they'll get their act in gear. I would be in their place.

I don't get the lawsuit route at all. If your car is good then eventually people will come around to agreeing with that assessment even if the media likes gasoline cars today. If your car isn't good then you should fix it and move on with your life.

I realize a lot of money went into development but it seems crazy to sue your way to success or even think that could work in the first place. I don't think any of these major media outlets are really afraid of getting sued by Tesla anyway so if intimidation is the point then it won't work.

If normal people were in fact getting bailouts they would be getting their mortgages paid off whereas the Fed is just making the paper value of the assets based of those mortgages higher than their probable market value.

The US was far richer than India is now when the space program began.

North Korea is the nation most like Oceania in 1984 than any other on Earth. People are hungry and brainwashed from birth to love their leader and the state. That's basically why no one is trying to overthrow their government. US military intervention is sort of out of the question as well due to the immense lose of life involved (mostly in South Korea).

Correct. The problem being the use of the word inherent to describe value. There is no such thing as inherent value unless you are describing a use and not the price someone would be willing to pay for something. For example, wood can be used to fuel a fire but that doesn't tell us anything about its' inherent value in exchange. That it has inherent value on these terms is obvious enough. For me it has almost none because I don't have a stove to safely burn it. Others feel differently.

Well for those people holding bitcoins might be worthwhile to them. The bitcoins never go anywhere in the same way that physical money never goes anywhere unless you bury it.

Well Bitcoin is not a fiat currency since it being defined as money is not dictated by fiat. It isn't attached to a physical good which is interesting. I'm guessing that its' value is being helped by the increasing amount of inflation in fiat currencies around the world and that the newly created money doesn't have a better home. Many people are scared of stocks and real estate so other assets become more attractive. I'm not sure I have any use for Bitcoin in my life and in this financial environment I wouldn't be involved in Bitcoin at this or any price.

I doubt that. I don't think they made Win32 for Mac OS. It probably isn't much different than their Mac OS port.

Rents are high due to high demand in an area where there isn't much of an increase in supply that would normally help reduce prices if that were possible.

I think he's suggesting we give it to oxfam which would at least end this guy's problems.

The larger issue is that programs to end poverty haven't done what they have advertised to do. Poverty in Africa is getting worse in many areas as the level of aid has increased. I hesitate to start taking people's money who I don't know and just assume aren't doing anything better with it to fund programs that have poor track records. It'd be more exciting if they tried to fund these things voluntarily and then people can decide freely if they think someone can end poverty. They won't but it'd just be more interesting.

The other more obvious point is that this nonprofit is claiming the world is under serious problems and that taking money from others to give to them will fix it. That is sort of a naked appeal to tax others and put it in their pockets.

You are looking at what you see and don't consider what you don't see. You are seeing how government intervention did these things but you are not considering that without this intervention society would have made other uses of the resources. I realize it's impossible but any analysis has to take into account unseen possibilities when considering government intervention. Ignoring the unseen effects of your actions leaves your analysis incomplete.

I'm not under 30.

Sigh. Regulations are being added at a very rapid rate. Regulations are very much taxes just in a different form.

I didn't vote for Romney.

I think if you just discount all modern innovations then it's easy to say nothing has changed of note. My TV looks better than ever. Should I just discount that as progress because it's still a picture displayed in my living room? If you suggest the iPhone 5 which allows me to get anywhere without planning with turn by turn directions, communicate with family on the road, make dinner reservations, and answer a work related question via email is not advancing anything just because the science behind it was settled in the 1970s? The amount of wealth and coordination in society to make that happen at such a low price is difficult to get your head around. It wasn't innovation policy that lead to these things though it was the result of the market providing services to people who want thme and individuals working very hard to make it happen.

Regulation (another word for taxes) and taxes are much higher than in prior periods. It should surprise no one that these have negative effects on growth. Combine that with taking on a lot of debt that cannot be repaid and you have a recipe for low growth. I'm afraid that any innovation policy that isn't just will just end up as gifts to those who are well connected.

Part of the problem is that some of the things we have now are totally amazing and we just don't care to notice.

That doesn't really start for a long, long time. If you just keep good toys around they'll take to them. If they really just don't like building then you find something else but in my experience just exposure to toys is a great starting place.

I wouldn't be so down on Lego Friends. My oldest daughter is a huge fan of Lego and has different sets that are Friends and some that are Star Wars. She combines them and plays with them together. Han Solo has a dog and a cat. One of the girls flies the X-wing. It's pretty cute.

Girls love role-playing and Friends provides another outlet for them. My oldest daughter loves building and then she plays with what she created quite extensively.

From experience if you want your kid to develop an interest in something you'll want to expose them to it and not just keep it to yourself. My daughters love Legos and Duplos. They play with them constantly.

My 5 year old is getting the Jabba's Palace set for Christmas this year. It's all she really wants.

It seems like he was responding to various points in the post by restating them. The post he was replying to was just listing a bunch of things he doesn't like, not defending his reasons for not liking them. I'm impressed anyone took the time to detangle any of that mess.

Couldn't you just lower the setting?

Ok well it seems like you are confusing the concept of society and government. They aren't the same thing.

By serious threat I really mean someone is attacking you actively. No sure how you would ever seriously think Iraq could injure the United States. They had to tell quite a few lies to convince people of that.

Right but we haven't really learned anything by saying that. It's like saying that Germany didn't invade Poland in 1939 but rather a collection of humans carrying guns and some driving tanks wandered into what was called in some parts "Poland". We have not really advanced the argument or our understanding by breaking it down like that.

Putting aside the libertarian party I think FA Hayek is as libertarian as anyone in history and he supported right to work laws. Such laws make some contracts invalid and that's the extent to how they really operate.

That's seriously splitting hairs. By extension you are saying "I don't know anyone in government who started a war they simply signed a piece of paper giving authority to other humans to start killing another group of humans and the money to do so."

Wars only destroy so when no one is threatening you in any serious way engaging in them is crazy.

So people like Bastiat, Menger, Mises, and Rothbard all have the same sociopathic bias that made them write encouraging peace, trade, and cooperation for mutual benefit?

Well this is written from the perspective of economists who lack imagination. If consumers don't spend money on cars then they will just spend it on other things. It means car companies will get smaller, less influential, and probably go out of business in many cases. I assume the public doesn't have the stomach for another round of bailouts for car makers but it's not like we were consulted about that anyway so who knows if it matters.

Are you talking about the icon sets? They seem nice to me. There isn't anything cartoony about them and they are very clear and easy to understand. Honestly it's better than many icon sets I've seen in web applications. The site looks fine to me.

I'm not sure anyone thinks "I'm losing money and dammit this web app isn't reflecting my mood at this moment."

In most churches the advice given to men and women in terms of prioritizing your life is: God, spouse, family, work. I realize that you think that his God isn't real but that really stops you from ever caring about someone? If your father had cancer and believed in God would you speak to him in this way? Why go through life being so harsh?