Monday, September 24, 2018
Sunday, September 23, 2018
Richard Wolff - What is Public Debt? How is money printed? And how do Governments pay for Wars?
This guy is a marxist, but in this video he says the same thing as libertarians.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DdYJIM9fgo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DdYJIM9fgo
Thursday, September 13, 2018
(22) US Schools Start WAY Too Early | Random Thursday - YouTube
I found the first part of this video pretty funny. I'm not sure that I agree with the conclusions, but making kids go to school at 7 AM doesn't make much sense.
Monday, September 10, 2018
Friday, September 7, 2018
Midterm Elections
The typical turnout for midterm elections is about 40%, so the side that wins will be the one that can get more of their people to the voting booth.
I'm predicting that both sides will have above average, if not record breaking turnout.
Thursday, September 6, 2018
Wednesday, September 5, 2018
Sunday, September 2, 2018
The Truth About Untruth | Postmodernism Exposed
I thought that this long video is a very good critique of Postmodernism, until the end when he brought up race and IQ, which is one of his favorite topics. I think that the following video is a very good counter to this prejudice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tE9jiPyLYZA
In response to Stefan Molyneux's video I wrote the following:
I would love to share this extremely good presentation, but the moment you bring up race and IQ you make it unpresentable, because others will dismiss you as a racist. In fact, claiming that one ethnic group on average is significantly smarter than another is still racism. David Duke said the same thing. Like you, David Duke said that he was for European culture. Where is the difference between the two of you?
You may think that this is based on sound science, but there are many reasons to think that this is questionable. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tE9jiPyLYZA Even if you could refute some of the things in this video, I think that we can't adequately test for culture and environment. It may never be clear, or maybe it will more clear in 50 years, because as people rise out of poverty some or even all of the discrepancies will disappear, which is shown by the Flynn Effect.
Because of this, we put too much faith in IQ scores. It is true that IQ scores are a great predictor of success, but we have a chicken and egg problem. Successful people produce environments for their children that lead to financial and academic success. They instill ambition and work ethic in their children, which by itself might account for the higher scores by Asians and Jews. Environment and values will affect IQ scores.
Friday, August 31, 2018
Wednesday, August 22, 2018
Monday, August 20, 2018
On the Vital Necessity of Free Speech
Wow. This is the best Jordan Peterson speech I have heard. Too often he tends to meander and get into technical jargon that confuses the audience and makes both his points and his motives fuzzy. But here he is focused like a laser.
Sunday, August 19, 2018
Thursday, August 16, 2018
Why the Left Loves Mass Immigration
In my opinion, there is a danger in too much immigration, for a variety of reasons. There is competition for resources and jobs. There is a burden on the welfare state. Some groups of immigrants don't assimilate and may be hostile to the culture. Some are criminal.
However, my biggest concern is that mass immigration is used as a tool of the political left to promote the leftist agenda. If we were to have open borders then the country would lose any resemblance to its founding principles of limited government. We would end up with a socialist government. I think that this is the reality, but people don't see this, and many others would welcome it.
This doesn't mean that I am against immigration, nor am I against immigrants. I just don't want to open the floodgates to everyone. I am appalled by those who say that we should have open borders, and I am hearing more calls for this all the time.
The problem with anyone taking a position against mass immigration is that you are immediately labelled a racist. There is also the danger that your goals look similar to racists groups. When browsing the internet for others who are anti mass immigration, it can be difficult to distinguish between those who just want to protect our country, and those who are hate groups. As an example of this, I present the following video:
Tuesday, August 14, 2018
The Bangladesh Student Protests
The Bangladesh Student Protests over buses have turned extremely violent.
My concern is that student protests everywhere have become more violent. I get a sense that people are descending into chaos. There is pent up rage, much of which is out of proportion to reality.
https://youtu.be/mpbNbGZriIA
My concern is that student protests everywhere have become more violent. I get a sense that people are descending into chaos. There is pent up rage, much of which is out of proportion to reality.
https://youtu.be/mpbNbGZriIA
Saturday, August 11, 2018
7 Reasons Donald Trump Won
I found first part the video amusing because of his extreme reaction to the Trump victory.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJOexGISPTI
He goes on to say nasty things about the political right, so response I wrote this ...
"Straw mans all over the place. If your perception of the right is a bunch of racist, tribalist conspiracy theory loving authoritarians wanting strong men then you don't really understand the political right.
Socialist and left policies are authoritarian to the core. It is the political right that loves freedom and free enterprise.
Has society collapsed yet?
It is not racist to want to protect our border. It is not racist to say that criminals are coming into our country and committing crimes; this is easily provable. Nor did Trump call all Mexicans this. The left plays the race card every chance they get. Anybody they don't like they call a racist as a way of shutting down the argument. This infuriates me to no end. When Trump and anyone else they don't like speaks, the left is guilty of confirmation bias. Any statement he makes is taken as a confirmation of his evilness.
It is the Republicans who begged Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell to run for President. The Tea Party's and my favorite candidate was Herman Cain.
What you see on Social Media doesn't necessarily represent the political right. It might for some people, but it is not represent the core beliefs.
I love science and I love your channel for talking about it.
If you were more rational you would understand that freedom is the engine of prosperity and that Socialism has always failed hurting the poor the most. Maybe you already understand this, but why then support the political left which has become more extremist? We are headed toward a debt bubble that could potentially crash our economic system, and the only way to get out of this huge mess (admittedly created by both parties) is to have strong economic growth. I take it as a given that we need less burdensome government and a better tax system, both of which we got.
I know that many people didn't like Trump. Even many of us who voted for him thought that he was a narcissistic billionaire playboy. Believe me, people understood this. I didn't so much vote for the man as I did his agenda, which I mostly agree with. Given the stated goals of both candidates, one of which wanted to increase government's reach and sounded more like a warmonger than Trump did, it was a no brainer."
--
Best wishes,
John Coffey
http://www.entertainmentjourney.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJOexGISPTI
He goes on to say nasty things about the political right, so response I wrote this ...
"Straw mans all over the place. If your perception of the right is a bunch of racist, tribalist conspiracy theory loving authoritarians wanting strong men then you don't really understand the political right.
Socialist and left policies are authoritarian to the core. It is the political right that loves freedom and free enterprise.
Has society collapsed yet?
It is not racist to want to protect our border. It is not racist to say that criminals are coming into our country and committing crimes; this is easily provable. Nor did Trump call all Mexicans this. The left plays the race card every chance they get. Anybody they don't like they call a racist as a way of shutting down the argument. This infuriates me to no end. When Trump and anyone else they don't like speaks, the left is guilty of confirmation bias. Any statement he makes is taken as a confirmation of his evilness.
It is the Republicans who begged Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell to run for President. The Tea Party's and my favorite candidate was Herman Cain.
What you see on Social Media doesn't necessarily represent the political right. It might for some people, but it is not represent the core beliefs.
I love science and I love your channel for talking about it.
If you were more rational you would understand that freedom is the engine of prosperity and that Socialism has always failed hurting the poor the most. Maybe you already understand this, but why then support the political left which has become more extremist? We are headed toward a debt bubble that could potentially crash our economic system, and the only way to get out of this huge mess (admittedly created by both parties) is to have strong economic growth. I take it as a given that we need less burdensome government and a better tax system, both of which we got.
I know that many people didn't like Trump. Even many of us who voted for him thought that he was a narcissistic billionaire playboy. Believe me, people understood this. I didn't so much vote for the man as I did his agenda, which I mostly agree with. Given the stated goals of both candidates, one of which wanted to increase government's reach and sounded more like a warmonger than Trump did, it was a no brainer."
--
Best wishes,
John Coffey
http://www.entertainmentjourney.com
Friday, August 10, 2018
Sunday, August 5, 2018
Saturday, August 4, 2018
The Venus Project And The Resource-Based Economy | Answers With Joe
In response to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYodgWapmgc , I wrote the following:
The definition of Capitalism is that the means of production is privately owned. Since when has it ever worked to have the means of production publicly owned? I'm not talking about services to protect our rights, nor public works like roads, but 100% of the means of production. How would you like to live in the Soviet Union?
Having a free market means that you are free to make choices, the opposite of which is tyranny. Suppose you want to start a business? You might not be allowed because your business doesn't fit the official paradigm. Besides, you have no money to invest and no medium of exchange by which to conduct business. You are completely dependent on the state to make decisions for you. Some think that it is more fair if it is 'democratic', but tyranny is still tyranny. There is no room for innovators like Steve Jobs in such a society.
Suppose you want to own a yacht or eat steak everyday for breakfast? There are never going to be infinite resources where everyone can own a yacht and eat steak. Either nobody has these luxuries, or there are those who are arbitrarily rewarded by the political system, making them the privileged class. It would nearly impossible to earn these things through your own efforts, unless those efforts were were in service to someone more powerful than you. These things are decided in a free market because people make choices about who they want to give their money to. Voluntary exchanges, as opposed to involuntary ones imposed by the state, reward those who provide the most value for other people.
A society where you have no ability to improve your lot in life beyond what the state allows is a slave state. By definition. Impose a one size fits all lifestyle on everybody and people will immediately start to rebel against it
Communism and its variants are not just as corrupt as capitalism, but always more so. People resent that under a free market some people end up much better off than other people, but the disparity of wealth is never solved in the various forms communism where the lot of the poor ends up being worse. Allowing some people to be more successful than others in a free market is an essential motivator for innovation, investment, and hard work.
People respond to incentives on just about everything, including whether they work and how much they work and for who. Incentives decide what people choose to spend their money on.
Money is essential for managing scarce resources. Price will change based upon the laws of supply and demand, and price sends an absolute critical signal to people on how to manage resources. Suppose there is a temporary shortage of orange juice and the price goes up? People will switch to something cheaper, like grape juice. When eggs are cheap more people will eat eggs. When eggs are expensive more people will eat something else. Eliminate money and resources will immediately become mismanaged. There is no way that centralized control, automated or not, can properly decide how many resources to allocate and use. State control is never as good as individuals deciding for themselves how to best serve their own needs. State control will result in shortages like we see in Venezuela. Black markets will form, because people prefer to make their own choices.
Friday, August 3, 2018
Wednesday, August 1, 2018
War and Democracy in Ancient and Contemporary Middle East
I don't remember if I posted this before.
This is a great discussion of war.
Tuesday, July 31, 2018
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)