New/Improved Longest Thread

[Kor]

http://econjwatch.org/articles/economic-...-americans

Absolutely idiotic. At my reckoning, at least 5 of 8 points they used to extrapolate "economic enlightenment" is ludicrous.

Restrictions won housing developments make housing less affordable.
Unenlightened: Disagree
Mandatory licensing of professional service increases the prices of those services.
Unenlightened: Disagree
Third-world workers working for American companies overseas are being exploited.
Unenlightened: Disagree
Free trade leads to unemployment.
Unenlightened: Disagree
Minimum wage laws raise unemployment.
Unenlightened: Disagree

Have these people not heard of greed? The merciless pursuit of profit?

The truly insulting part is about the exploitation: You have to be truly ignorant to not recognize that is how many companies, not just American, maintain profitability.

[Surf314]

[quote author=Surf314 link=topic=2632.msg158556#msg158556 date=1276700152]
http://econjwatch.org/articles/economic-...-americans

Absolutely idiotic. At my reckoning, at least 5 of 8 points they used to extrapolate "economic enlightenment" is ludicrous.

Restrictions won housing developments make housing less affordable.
Unenlightened: Disagree
Mandatory licensing of professional service increases the prices of those services.
Unenlightened: Disagree
Third-world workers working for American companies overseas are being exploited.
Unenlightened: Disagree
Free trade leads to unemployment.
Unenlightened: Disagree
Minimum wage laws raise unemployment.
Unenlightened: Disagree

Have these people not heard of greed? The merciless pursuit of profit?

The truly insulting part is about the exploitation: You have to be truly ignorant to not recognize that is how many companies, not just American, maintain profitability.
[/quote]

See you just fell into the trap they designed. They asked shitty leading questions. You were answering your own question not the one they were asking.

It's almost as if a homeless guy throws himself in front of your car to commit suicide. Then you go on trial and they only ask you one question: "Did you hit and kill this man with your car."

[A. Crow]

Well, did you?

[Tricks]

[quote author=Kor link=topic=2632.msg158560#msg158560 date=1276701876]
[quote author=Surf314 link=topic=2632.msg158556#msg158556 date=1276700152]
http://econjwatch.org/articles/economic-...-americans

Absolutely idiotic. At my reckoning, at least 5 of 8 points they used to extrapolate "economic enlightenment" is ludicrous.

Restrictions won housing developments make housing less affordable.
Unenlightened: Disagree
Mandatory licensing of professional service increases the prices of those services.
Unenlightened: Disagree
Third-world workers working for American companies overseas are being exploited.
Unenlightened: Disagree
Free trade leads to unemployment.
Unenlightened: Disagree
Minimum wage laws raise unemployment.
Unenlightened: Disagree

Have these people not heard of greed? The merciless pursuit of profit?

The truly insulting part is about the exploitation: You have to be truly ignorant to not recognize that is how many companies, not just American, maintain profitability.
[/quote]

See you just fell into the trap they designed. They asked shitty leading questions. You were answering your own question not the one they were asking.

It's almost as if a homeless guy throws himself in front of your car to commit suicide. Then you go on trial and they only ask you one question: "Did you hit and kill this man with your car."
[/quote]

You should copy the questions over and let BRB try the questions...I can repost my answers too.

[Surf314]

For Trick:

For each statement, answer from 1-5 , where:
1. Strongly Agree
2. Somewhat Agree
3. Somewhat Disagree
4. Strongly Disagree
5. Not sure

GO!

Restrictions on housing development make housing less affordable.

Mandatory licensing of professional services increases the prices of those services.

Overall, the standard of living is higher today than it was 30 years ago.

Rent control leads to housing shortages.

A company with the largest market share is a monopoly.

Third-world workers working for American companies overseas are being exploited.

Free trade leads to unemployment.

Minimum wage laws raise unemployment.

I don't endorse this test but you can give it a try. In any case for a complete wall-o-text here are my criticisms of the questions and my answers:

[Surf314]

Restrictions on housing development make housing less affordable.
This takes a very narrow slice of the issue. Of course restrictions on housing development make housing more expensive, you are restricting the supply. From a developer family I overall oppose zoning but if a landfill gets built right next to your house your property value will drop substantially and AFAIK that landfill owner doesn't owe you for destroying your equity. So there is a purpose to it, it just needs to be done better. Inspections are also needed to make sure the house isn't going to fall down, but these usually aren't done so well either. Just because something is done poorly doesn't mean it shouldn't be done though, we should pressure them to do better.

Mandatory licensing of professional services increases the prices of those services.
Again the answer is obvious for similar reasons as above. You are restricting the supply of professionals and adding costs for them to operate. But this begs the question do you want to have services performed for you by an incompetent individual? Every service industry I can think of will have you worse off by hiring someone incompetent.

Overall, the standard of living is higher today than it was 30 years ago.
Useless question. Due to the continual advancement of technology people's standard of living stuff-wise will always increase. However, numerous studies show that as you increase technology you decrease leisure time. Of course you can argue that there are more things you can do with that time these days. But this is useless because we aren't are not defining the measure you want us to use and you are asking people that were mostly not alive back then.

Rent control leads to housing shortages.
Again obvious answer is definitely. You are still restricting the supply. I don't agree with this practice but I agree with its intentions. The working class is needed everywhere. But if they stopped rent control I'm sure it would get worked out somehow, in the meantime people in Manhattan will be pissed there is no one around to clean or serve or shine shoes.

A company with the largest market share is a monopoly.
Another useless question, largest market share is not enough to make an assessment of a monopoly. 10% could be the largest market share in which case a monopoly is doubtful. 90% could be a strong indication but you are still missing what may be the only useful factor in making this assessment: barrier's to entry. That really is the only thing that should be looked at.

Third-world workers working for American companies overseas are being exploited.
Again you are doing a poor job defining the parameters by which we should be making a decision. We may think they are being exploited but they could be wealthy by their standards. However, if their government does a shitty job then they could be exploited. Poor safety and labor regulations could make their life hell and give their labor market an unfair advantage on us. I could go a lot more into this but it depends on their regulations not whether they are in the third world or working for American companies, that information is useless.

Free trade leads to unemployment.
Obvious answer is yes, it most definitely does. More correct answer is yes in certain sectors but it increases employment in others. It just depends on what the local capital and resources best accommodates. You aren't going to make a fortune growing tropical produce in Wisconsin and you aren't going to have the leading tech firms thousands of miles from any decent University. But an important question is how fair the trade is. Match our workers with China and China probably wins because they have barely any labor or safety regulations. So that begs the question "what is the baseline of regulatory standards for us to accept free trade with another country?"

Minimum wage laws raise unemployment.
Another obvious answer - of course. Minimum wage laws raise unemployment and inflation. It's a poor solution to the problem of the living wage. This problem is compacted as companies can shift costs of keeping their workers alive to government services (housing, food stamps, etc.). Unfortunately I haven't seen a better answer proposed. Get rid of minimum wage and these services and you may get a solution in the market eventually. Of course you may also end up with a lot of overworked, malnourished, diseased people working several jobs. Maybe you will need to do away with the 40 hour work week too?

[Surf314]

Answered as intended

Restrictions on housing development make housing less affordable.
1 - restricts supply

Mandatory licensing of professional services increases the prices of those services.
1 - restricts supply

Overall, the standard of living is higher today than it was 30 years ago.
1 - better technology

Rent control leads to housing shortages.
1 - restricts supply

A company with the largest market share is a monopoly.
4 - barriers to entry create monopolies not market share

Third-world workers working for American companies overseas are being exploited.
4 - poor or nonexistent regulations cause exploitation not American companies

Free trade leads to unemployment.
1 - some sectors lose jobs some gain

Minimum wage laws raise unemployment.
1 - of course, it raises inflation too


your political affiliation? (Progressive, Liberal, Moderate, Conservative, Very Conservative, Libertarian)
Moderate

[liquid108]

http://whatthefuckshouldimakefordinner.com/

[A. Crow]

yeah, I love that site. 

I'm watching a jewish reggae singer sing "Circle of Life" on Leno. 

W.
T.
F. 

[Vlambo]

yeah, I love that site. 

I'm watching a jewish reggae singer sing "Circle of Life" on Leno. 

W.
T.
F.   

you're watching Leno.

W.
T.
F.

[Chief]

[quote author=LT Crow link=topic=2632.msg158690#msg158690 date=1276749366]
yeah, I love that site. 

I'm watching a jewish reggae singer sing "Circle of Life" on Leno. 

W.
T.
F.   

you're watching Leno.

W.
T.
F.
[/quote]Vlambo is right.

Flawless victory.

[Chooly]

Honey I'm hoooooooooooooooooooooooome.

[Vandamguy]

Honey I'm hoooooooooooooooooooooooome.

woot wb chewly

[Vlambo]

I got my new laptop! Good day is good!

[Vandamguy]

I got my new laptop! Good day is good!

Wrong thread mang

[Geoff]

Honey I'm hoooooooooooooooooooooooome.

its been awhile, old friend

[Trace]

Honey I'm hoooooooooooooooooooooooome.

I missed you, welcome back buddy  :-*

[KarthXLR]

[quote author=TheReturnOfChooly link=topic=2632.msg158718#msg158718 date=1276780914]
Honey I'm hoooooooooooooooooooooooome.

I missed you, welcome back buddy  :-*
[/quote]

[Ianki]

for caff's birthday:

http://www.redbubble.com/people/comfycus...t-rollcall

[Black Aspen]

for caff's birthday:

http://www.redbubble.com/people/comfycus...t-rollcall

Fuck Caff's birthday!  I'm getting one for MYSELF!