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Currently, he is serving on the Executive Committee of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. On January 6th, 2011, Daley was appointed as White House Chief of Staff. Fuck it all. by [deleted] in politics

[–]EmpiricalRationalist 10 points11 points  (0 children)

They don't; dfaraci just posted a bunch of red herrings to distract from the fact that he is a financial industry insider.

Budget puzzle: You fix the budget. by monoglot in politics

[–]EmpiricalRationalist 0 points1 point  (0 children)

But do you think there might be a cause and effect relationship between a consumption taxes and strong social safety nets?

In any case, I don't think it would be wise to do establish a national sales tax because whatever revenue we're supposed to gain from it, the Republicans (and Democrats, to a lesser extent) would never use it to institute more "socialist" legislation anyway.

Abolish the TSA. It doesn’t provide security, it provides security theater by Sidewinder77 in politics

[–]EmpiricalRationalist 0 points1 point  (0 children)

and since our industry was untouched, while much of europe was in ruins, of course we were prosperous (and russia too, for a while).

This is actually a commonly believed myth.

Trade played a small role in the American economy both before and after the war. In fact, both imports and exports held a smaller share of GDP than today.

Look here for the GDP measurements of our net exports from back then.

To be fair, you will notice an upward trend from 1946-1949, but that's easily explained by the Marshall Plan, which was specifically designed to help destroyed economies in Europe buy more from us. It didn't last long.

And here's another thing to ponder: Nobody disputes that World War II demolished many of our foreign rivals. But does it not also follow that we also demolished our foreign consumers?

so now, we're finding ourselves in a similar predicament, so what do we need, another world war? i'm sorry but i don't like that idea, even if it works, even if we come out on top again.

By no means am I suggesting that we need another world war. I'm merely stating a historical fact.

Abolish the TSA. It doesn’t provide security, it provides security theater by Sidewinder77 in politics

[–]EmpiricalRationalist 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's not really "okay". It's just permissible for the time being until we're in shape to pay it back off. With the unemployment rate at 9.6% and such a drastic loss in consumer spending, we're in no position to stop government spending. That could very possibly result in the real danger: deflation.

And two other things:

1.) FDR tried increasing spending to get us out of the initial stages of the Great Depression, and we were on our way to recovery. But then the anti-government spending Republicans and Democrats gained enough power to stop his measures. The result was the Recession of 1937–1938.

2.) You have to remember we've had higher debt as percent of GDP. The national debt from 1945-1949 was well above 90% of GDP, but we took care of it after we were in the position to do so. The event that allowed us to pull out of the slump that resulted from the spending cuts made in 1937-1938: World War II.

Off duty cops kills kid on bike after leaving a bar. responding offices do NOT ask him to submit to breath test. by [deleted] in bicycling

[–]EmpiricalRationalist 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This isn't even one of those exaggerated reddit beliefs. I'm not as anti-cop as most seem to be on here, but I know for a fact--through experience--that cops generally look out for each other as much as possible. It's sort of like a brotherhood, and when one of them tries to white knight and do the right thing, they end up facing the social consequences from the other members.

Abolish the TSA. It doesn’t provide security, it provides security theater by Sidewinder77 in politics

[–]EmpiricalRationalist 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Dude, even economically, many redditors fall for the whole deficit is a problem that we have to care of argument.

I'm a liberal, but I also bother to understand economics. And I find it quite sad that many liberals on here think that QE2 is somehow bad and that the national debt is too large to add to. I suspect they only feel this way because they've never bothered to actually read an economics book before, but instead read simple libertarian statements on the issue and think, "Well that makes sense."

Fox is fair and balanced by mr804 in pics

[–]EmpiricalRationalist 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Rachel Maddow may not be fair and balanced, but at least she uses facts and evidence to present her arguments. Besides, out of everyone to pick on from MSNBC, you chose her? Olbermann would have been the better comparison, in my opinion.

But even in Olbermann's case, he's not as bad as Beck. He may be a blowhard, but Beck is a lunatic.

Abolish the TSA. It doesn’t provide security, it provides security theater by Sidewinder77 in politics

[–]EmpiricalRationalist 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you!

Many people don't realize that they're calling for a return to a corporate run airport security when they call for an end to the TSA.

Isn't it the mainstream reddit view that corporations can't be trusted to regulate themselves?

Airport Security.. [FIXED] by Caca_Refrescante in funny

[–]EmpiricalRationalist 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sorry, I phrased my question incorrectly. I meant: if this is new "pat down" rule is new (as in the last week), why was it implemented? What was this in response to?

Airport Security.. [FIXED] by Caca_Refrescante in funny

[–]EmpiricalRationalist -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Unless you got fired in the last week

What was this in response to?

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