Sunday School

[TheEncogitationerParticipant]

Strega,

It turns all boats into racers and could power generators tapping it.

[_Robert_Participant]

TheEncogitationer wrote:

Robert, Are you trying to out-Strawman Unseen? Reducing taxes and untaxing everyone and reducing government spending across the board isn’t “Trickle-Down” or “Trickle- Up,” but a Big Splash. And wouldn’t people of all classes be more resilient against disasters with more of their own earnings in their pocket?

We have heard that story for 5o years.  Nobody ever mentions that government spending become people’s wages, jobs and contracts for American companies. Until they find out they are the ones getting cut. Nobody mentions that we actually need roads and good safe bridges and food inspectors and people who decide on how we allocate radio frequency bands for various purposes and what equipment all airlines need to have to land at a fogged-in airport. No one ever mentions how weather agencies gather critical forecasting measurements that feed storm models. No one mentions how the electrical wiring inside our homes must be done to government forced standard so that people are not routinely electrocuted or having their homes burst into flames from bad wiring materials and practices. No one mentions how many of us are actually happy owners of secure government debt that pays us bondholders every six months.

Far be it for Americans to understand the true nature of government debt and spending and how it is not a simple loss like when they themselves go out and buy Chinese shit at Walmart.

Oh, so yeah, lets close it down and we will relearn.

[TheEncogitationerParticipant]

Robert,

We have heard that story for 5o years. Nobody ever mentions that government spending become people’s wages, jobs and contracts for American companies. Until they find out they are the ones getting cut.

As if business would not even open without government contracts?

Nobody mentions that we actually need roads and good safe bridges

The ones built by private road constuction companies, with road directions based in part upon paths walked and ridden by private individuals in the unsettled wilderness, the road companies who could as easily be contracted by pools of other private businesses and housing developments who need customers to access their wares?

and food inspectors

You’ve never heard of Yelp? Works 24/7/365 even when the health inspectors aren’t visiting! See also below for the grand master of standards.

and people who decide on how we allocate radio frequency bands

It was done by contracts enforced by the courts before it was done by the FCC.

and what equipment all airlines need to have to land at a fogged-in airport.

No law makes all pilots know English. It is done by convention adapted by pilots worldwide. Such could apply to other airline practices. Canada’s air traffic control is done by private companies who use solid state and semiconductor electronics. US air traffic control is government-run and still uses ancient vacuum tube technology. Here, the U.S. could learn from Canada and health care from both nations could learn from Canadian air traffic control.

No one ever mentions how weather agencies gather critical forecasting measurements that feed storm models.

So farmers and construction companies and outdoor sports teams and online news services who all depend upon weather would never voluntarily pay for private satellite weather services? Surely you jest.

No one mentions how the electrical wiring inside our homes must be done to government forced standard so that people are not routinely electrocuted or having their homes burst into flames from bad wiring materials and practices.

Actually, it was the private Underwriters Laboratories that set the standards for electrical and fire safety that predated the existence of OSHA and other government agencies. And UL expanded and moved on to set standards for hazardous substances, water quality, food safety, performance testing, safety and compliance education, and environmental sustainability. And UL does so in 125 nations.

UL (Safety Organization)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/UL_(safety_organization)

No one mentions how many of us are actually happy owners of secure government debt that pays us bondholders every six months.

Not something investors turn to for profitable performance. And payment of bondholders requires either taxation or inflation.

• This reply was modified 1 month ago by  TheEncogitationer. Reason: Spelling, unprompted by any government agency

[_Robert_Participant]

One thing is true time and time again. Modern corporations and their CEOs have short term financial goals. They measure themselves by the quarter. Exhibit A, The “self-regulating” Boeing Company. Look at the tabaco industry or opioid manufacturers if want to know their true nature. Environment be dammed. When governments are weak this is always what you get….

Effectively you are an advocate for short-term thinking and efficiency to further enrich the wealthiest sapiens. Long term thinking appears to be inefficient to short-term thinkers. Greed is short term. The Chinese will win because they get this. They have 100 year plans to dominate.

When I received my MBA, I looked back at my experience and felt like I was being indoctrinated into some sort of profit religion. I recalled discussions about using claims that our company was “green” as a marketing tool to fool consumers who care. Not much mention that actually being green is crucial to long-term human survival. In my own career, the pressure of profit while satisfying minimal safety requirements as dictated by the FAA. The push to privatize regulations by forming private “oversight” organizations to keep long-term thinking out of the picture.

The founders did their best to protect a democracy from powerful individuals and private organizations.  Oligarchs have been working to dismantle it since the beginning, but past elected leaders understood this and slapped them down. Hit them with taxes and regulations to help workers. That is all failing now. No pensions, unions, and a health care system as defined by corporate profit centers that cater to wealth. Watch now how Medicare and Social Security become dismantled in the next decade. Tent and megayacht sales on the rise.

 

[TheEncogitationerParticipant]

Robert,

What would be really anti-human would be to run ships beyond their sea-worthiness and sink hundreds or even thousands of humans and the life-suztaining cargo the ships carry.

Or if the shipping companies just cut the ships off in the oceans to be ‘ghost ships’ harboring disease-carrying carrion feeders, and letting the hazardous chemicals corrode the ship and sink into the ocean ecosphere.

And the ‘ghost ships’ wouldn’t just pass in the night, they would serve as temporary manmade pirate islands, human trafficking kennels, terror cells, or they would collide into other ships and again sink hundreds or even thousands of humans and life-suztaining cargo they carry.

As always, no final solutions, only trade-offs.

As for the working conditions in ship-breaking ports of call, that’s where robotics, automation and superior work technology come into play and take out the human element. And private companies that use these technologies would both salvage and strip the most ships and salvage and strip the equipment of competitors who sell out.

Or would you bitch about all that too?

And sure, tobacco and opioids are deadly when used recreationally, but with genetic engineering, tobacco is now usable as life-saving pharmaceuticals, such as flu and Ebola vaccines, and immotherapies for HIV and cancer.

And the techniques used to get hydrocodone from yeast could be used to get remedies for cancer, infectious diseases, hypertension, and arthritis. Maybe also kill pain without killing people.

All things that wouldn’t be possible if Anti-Capitalist and Drug Warrior Prohibitionist Governments had their way:

Tobacco’s hidden friendly side: how the controversial plant could be used for good
Published: March 13, 2025 12:53pm EDT
https://theconversation.com/tobaccos-hidden-friendly-side-how-the-controversial-plant-could-be-used-for-good-250683

Researchers genetically engineer yeast to produce opioids
By Tom Abate
https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2015/08/researchers-genetically-engineer-yeast-to-produce-opioids.html

Is this the short-term greed you are so against?

[TheEncogitationerParticipant]

Robert,

By the way, Underwriter’s Laboratories was founded in 1894, 131 years ago. Hardly a short-term quarterly-obsessed business. Nor is anyone using their testing. People who like profit want things that work.

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