Testing The Financial Apologists

Good god man you're old. I remember the local gas wars where it would drop to 15₵ for a few days. You gotta be way old to remember that stuff.Edited by AZPaul3, : No reason given.

Good grief man when are you going to understand the system is not broken it is rigged ... and not in your favor.Gold/silver/etc as an investment hedge against inflation and other nasty things like complete social collapse, may be prudent in a portfolio of $$$billions but means nothing in the asset base of a Denver grocery clerk no matter how many videos he watches. At this level he is nothing more than a willing fee looking for a dealer.It has been said before, Phat, but you didn't listen.If our economy were as bad off as you and your Investments-R-Us sources allege then the big boys would be buying everything ... at a premium ... not selling ... at a premium. So would all the rest of the 1%. But, in this economy, the real one Phat, generating premium fees is still more valuable than the product.You are the sucker that generates the hucksters fees convinced your investment will shield a few dollars from inflation. And, you're right. It will. If a war starts tomorrow and we get a rapid hyper-inflation, the boogyman you've been sold. If not, well then ... Congratulations. P.T. Barnum's progeny thank you for your business.Edited by AZPaul3, : No reason given.

Edited by AZPaul3, : No reason given.

You are right, Phat. We may indeed be headed in that direction. You think you can do anything about it? You think your insignificant (though fee generating thus income generating for someone else, thank you very much) investment can alter anything except to boost the seller's income?Even in concert, Phat, do you think the American middle class can protect itself from such a thing by buying up a few pounds of gold while all the rest of their meger wealth evaporates?You're along for the ride, Phat. Haven't you anything other to do with your money? I'm sure jar and ringo can suggest some.Edited by AZPaul3, : No reason given.

Phat, I feel you resent not being more financially secure than you think you deserve. Me too. I should be Warren Buffett except for, reasons.The politics you talk are not the best, IMHO, and your very understanding of that politics seems misinformed. On top of that all these inquiring minds want to know from you your feelings on doing as that jesus guy said (supposedly). His requirement you chuck it all, sell everything and go join a convent.Phat, I can see you’re under some stress thinking and pondering these hard questions. I’m concerned for your psyche, my friend. I want to offer you some relief, if and/or when you think you may need it. I’ll help you into atheism.You won’t have to give up anything and you get to give, or not, as your spirit moves. No stern obligations, no selling the condo, no silent convent. And you will not be jeopardizing any afterlife because you’ll know there isn’t one. With considerable enlightenment from your family here you would make a fine humanist, Phat. If you could lean a bit more to the left, by a bunch, that would be great. Ok, we can work on that.Anyway, Phat, when you’re ready I have your certificate, membership card, decoder ring (iPhone or Android) and two (2) tickets to our annual atheist baby-eating gala here in Phoenix in November. I’m here for you, bro. Just let me know.

These days it's mandarin.

Of course there is ... us. Our goal, our model, the capabilities and the processes we seek to emulate in our AI efforts has always been the human brain.Because we do not comprehend the structure we are attempting to model our efforts have fallen well short of desired but the logic and information processing and creative functions of the human brain have always been the stated goal.

You mean the G8 minus Russia? That's understandable, don't you think?Other than that, all of rest are active participants. What's left, then, is all of them.

Russia was a member, dubbed the G8, until their 2014 invasion of Crimea.

That was an olive branch to the newly engaged democratic Russia after the collapse of the USSR. A lot of good it did.Russia has been free and democratic 3 or 4 times in its last 600 year history. I think maybe 10 days in total. More or less. The russians just can't seem to avoid tyranny. They seem to seek it out and revel in it.Regardless, they are not a G-anything anymore. And it has nothing to do with waning american power.

What about the chinese middle class? They are the rising stars in this world. Do they not deserve any largess from their labors?

No approval or disapproval.China is a fact on the ground and will be a big part of this planet's future political and economic structure for a long time to come. You fear the rising wealth of chinese society. You see them not as the vicious capitalist competitors they have become (trained by our example) but as enemies to make war against. Economic jealousy.Yeah, that's good for world stability.

Of course. Are you daft?If humans are going to survive in this world, which looks iffy, we have to have rules and structures of governance at a global level. Not some strict dictatorial régime but a closer confederation where world societies can decide, with some accepted forms of enforcement, how to handle humanitarian crises and armed conflicts. One where a global military force is used to enforce a ban on aggressive armed actions (Syria, Rwandan, Kosovo); to enforce agreed upon global norms, whatever the greater global community determines those to be.I assume you want anarchy where Russia is free to invade Ukraine, China can invade Taiwan and others can openly practice genocide and ethnic cleansing (Uyghurs, Palestinians, Rohingya) at their will without consequence.If you truly fear the growing power of China today then you will agree with the UN, or other pact, morphing into a global confederation with enforcement powers. In the long run, war is the only other option.

Repugnican opposition to the ceiling increase is a show. They want to bitch about liberal spending and sending a wave a panic and fear through American and world societies has been an effective attention getter in decades past.If the house does not raise the debt there will be repercussions for sure but the GOP cannot let this go too far. Their big business, big finance donors will not allow too much disruption of their operations before they threaten to pull the financial plug on the whole party as they threatened in 2011(?).Phat's going to have to wait for a real scare. Yes it can hurt but this one is manufactured and should be temporary.

In reality, the operations of this real world, you can't separate the two. Anyone can cite any fictitious data from any supposed source.I would have a more favorable view of a population genetics statistic coming from the website of Univ of AZ school of biology than I would if it came from Robyn's Better With BBQ cooking site. I have more confidence in the school's reliability on the subject. I would probably give more credence to the BBQ recipe from the cooking site than to one from Univ of AZ Resident Kitchen's page. I have more confidence in the cooking site's better view of taste. Source is important.The problem you are having with these discussions is your sources suck. They are usually off the wall YouTube personalities with minimal training in the subject and a vested interest in the vision they seek to portray.Your information, your supposed content, is not believed because they are outlandish in scope and defy experienced logic on the subject. We don't believe it is true. That's why we ask for more comfortable reliable sources.If you are going to come in here claiming the sky is falling you will need something more than a children's book as your source. You have to bring a barometer.