You misunderstand the motivation for the language of stereotype used to describe the general dynamics of alcohol in Great Britain, i.e., a pub at every intersection-Hey man, alcohols' the last legal drug here in the states as well for the same reason: Governments and international criminals (same same, but different, as they say in Thailand) control the drug trade around the world. They limit which drugs may be manufactured or sold. They make incredible amounts of money doing so.

Governments and international criminals also corner the market on guns and artillery and ammunition and do their best to control the distribution and manufacture to insure one thing: Control and centralization of power.

We're not suggesting Brits are more prone to drunkenness and brawling than the same sort of tits in the U.S. I am simply suggesting sane remedies that do not involve baby-out-with-bathwater solutions to some seriously flawed fundamentals: societal and cultural evolution should be determined by sober consensus without emotion instead of this bullshit, "But what about the children?!" line of reasoning promulgated by criminals in power...A line that is trumpeted by so-called representatives and used as a tool (kind of like a gun is a tool) along with the complicit and effective tool of propaganda called market television, or major media, or whatever label for abject disinformation and agenda-pumping that benefits a few that some people who see owning guns as horrifying, have bought into.

The way to keep your children safe form psychopaths is to reinvent society and gradually change culture in a direction that heals the planet instead of raping it. Less fucking insane parents mean less fucking insane kids. Fuck licensing firearms, how about licensing parents before they plop out another?

How do you cure a country like North Korea, whose people for a few generations have been systematically trained in totalitarian shit-think?? It's a job no one wants to think about. As long as planetary ass-rape is the direction we are headed, guns guns guns my easily-insulted brother, and less shit-think. I'm not a fucking idiot, but my government is being run into the ground by cunts and assholes and douchebags who have most of the control over most of the guns and drugs! See how simple it is??

Guns violence by a FEW + International media coverage with a view to convincing people that guns (OF ANY KIND OR CAPACITY) are the problem = what should be an insult to your intelligence at the very least, and a goddamn warning shot across the bow that World Police State is what the cunts really want for humanity.

Gun control happens shortly after a gun is manufactured, unless you want to accidentally hurt yourself or another utilizing another kind of control. Self-Control maybe??

When you have more money than you, your kids, your kid's kids, etc etc etc. will EVER need. that's how it works.

you talk about how you don't like the huge income gap either. Well that's what happens when you have a huge gap. Even a small percentage of a wealthy person's income is a lot of fucking money and a larger amount of percentage of a small income is still a TINY amount of money.

Basic math dude

If you honestly think the rich should pay 50 percent and the poor should pay 50 percent, then you're even more stupid than I already thought you are. That's not how economics works.

When did brand names costing excessive amounts of money become shocking?

You're not paying for who makes it or how it's made or any other basically irrelevant detail. You're paying for the privilege of wearing their logo.

Luxottica still doesn't own the brands, tomorrow (or after contract) all these brand could decide to let Walmart make their glasses. Don't kid yourself to think these glasses would be any cheaper with "competition" though, Chanel isn't new to the game of charging more than cost, they would not operate any differently regardless if they made the glasses themselves, in fact since nobody can match Luxottica in operations, prices would probably go up.

Who says Luxottica even sets the prices, this was not sufficiently investigated. If Luxottica sells its services to the brands at set prices and the brands themselves set the RRP, this loses a lot of meaning.

Does this mean Luxottica is operating in good faith and are gentle souls? Hell no, it is a pretty dire situation. I just don't believe it would change in any meaningful way if there were more manufactures. What would change is how much Chanel has to pay to get their glasses made, it wouldn't do shit to change what we pay.

*Chanel = Any brand.

People, people, people. Walmart is not the REASON the entire civilised world is finding itself in this situation - walmart is a symptom of the problem.

Walmart is an organisation motivated by profit just like any other.

I heard energy companies posting record profits year in and year out before the recession. There's people at the upper ends of those kinds of companies taking wages, bonuses, pensions and god-knows-what that some people couldn't make in 10 years. They don't deserve it, they don't work 10 times harder then the next person down, but there is a culture of taking what you can.

People don't need that kind of wealth, they just want it. Now, in times of hardship, energy companies are demanding more money for their services because they are no longer making the profit they used to. Instead of relying on the wealth that they have amassed during times of good, they rely on us to give them more.

So they cut a load of jobs to maximise their profits, but now the people they fired can't afford their energy bills. And this is going on all over the place - it isn't just the energy companies, it's also walmart with whatever schemes they've got. It's the oil companies and the politicians with whatever schemes they've got.

And all these schemes intermix, people losing jobs, people unable to afford this here and there because we've stagnated our money, there was no trickle down wealth, it's stagnated so much that there's not enough available anymore to share between the people that need it.

So now the government starts giving out handouts to the elderly or unemployed - £300 for your winter heating bill. But that's a huge amount of money so we need to raise taxes - which is a solution to nothing but puts the problem further ahead and maybe you can work harder later to make up for it.

Meanwhile, half the jobs that are getting taxed are now moved abroad because production is cheaper there. So entire markets of jobs no longer exist, we lost all of our car manufacturers, coal mines (it's cheaper from china), etc. which amounts to millions of jobs, and there's not a lot left to tax. What's the solution now? Which country do we bail out with borrowed money that is earning interest? If the untold billions in profit was returned to the customers back when times were good, we wouldn't be in this situation. But instead it went towards making let's say 30 individual people a lot richer.

Do you see where i'm going with this? It's a culture of greed, and each point down the line there is just enough intentional maneuverability for people to take more than you deserve and/or need; you either are in the clique, in the power scheme, taking cash - or you're not and you're holding up the facade. This isn't what a society is meant to be - it's meant to be a group of people working for their own common benefit because when we don't we all suffer and no one is happy.

This model has a short life-cycle; the eventual result is a few people having a lot of little bits of green paper that don't mean anything because they've forced everyone into abject poverty.

"A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they will never sit in."
It doesn't get any simpler than that. Until these old men start planting some trees and giving a LOT back, we will stagnate and you don't want to learn this implied lesson the hard way.

>> ^enon:

I'm sorry, but these people seem slightly brain dead. Maybe I'm wrong but I thought it was common knowledge that water always recedes before a tsunami. The second I saw the water receding there wouldn't be any amount of money that could keep me there any longer let alone some bs mystifying effect of filming a dry beach.


Exactly my thought. I've never lived near a beach or an ocean, not even within 200 miles of one. But I know this. If the ocean recedes, run and don't look back. Or ya know, maybe start yelling and screaming at others as you go.

I'm sorry, but these people seem slightly brain dead. Maybe I'm wrong but I thought it was common knowledge that water always recedes before a tsunami. The second I saw the water receding there wouldn't be any amount of money that could keep me there any longer let alone some bs mystifying effect of filming a dry beach.

@rottenseed
you make some good points buckaroo but your post is ignoring the giant pink elephant in the room.
@Sagemind 's most excellent post gave that elephant a nod but i think it prudent to point directly at that giant hulking pustulent piece of pink elephant flesh.

shall we?
1.corporate america is NOT based on true capitalism (actual free market) but rather state-run capitalism.this translates to lower or non-existent tax revenue,government subsidies and outright bailouts.
in other words=socialism.

2.you state that a corporation has a "duty" to maximize profits.i would agree if you changed "duty" to "legal obligation".

3.this legal obligation to maximize profits has led to all kinds of inventive and clever ways to defraud the public and local municipalities,from having them pay for infrastructure to waste clean-up.the amount of money spent by public,tax-payer funds is staggering which of course=socialism.

4.corporate america has a literal army of 35,000 lobbyists in washington whose sole purpose is to manipulate legislatures to pass favorable laws (de-regulation).85% of ALL laws passed are actually written by corporate lobbyists.

5.since the abomination ruling of citizens united (fuck you alito) corporate america now has the unlimited access to our lawmakers.walmart spent tens of millions on the last election cycle,how much did you give? and who do you think those legislators are going to be listening to?
money=speech in this country.

6.a corporation is considered a person but this person has no empathy,remorse nor feelings of solidarity with fellow humans due to its very nature written into law.
otherwise known as a sociopath.

seewhatimsaying?
the corporate charter needs to be re-examined and/or re-written because what we have now is corporate welfare/socialism with all the benefits going to the top while the working class foots the bill.

vote with your wallet? sure.that would work to a point but many people are limited concerning options and walmart is the only place these folks can afford.
sometimes this economic situation is due to bad choices but more often it is just life kicking these people in the balls.

buck up and go grab some higher education?
sure...and that works how often?
im not kidding.go check the statistics.they are pathetic.
i bartend part time and there are 4 masters degrees and 8 bachelors where i work,all in different fields.ask them how their "higher education" paid off for them.
$100,000 in student debt loans all to be able to ask "would you like some cracked pepper sir"?

now lets punch that pink elephant straight in the balls shall we?
the suggestion that somehow if labor becomes organized and demands..and receives..a more viable living wage with some humane and decent benefits will somehow automatically translate into higher priced goods and eventual job loss is just corporate propaganda which originates from the reagan years.

this is absolute and utter bullshit all fed to us by the very corporations seeking to dominate and oppress its work force.

remember,it is the legal obligation of the corporate board of directors to "maximize profit" not "shoot itself in the foot".
the suggestion that somehow paying its employees a living wage translates to the destruction of the company is apocalyptic propaganda.

what has been done to the american worker is perverse.over the past thirty years we have seen the creation of either wage-slaves or debt slaves..or both.
any way you wish to look at it.we are slaves in one form or another.

i mean..just go check the numbers.
worker pay has stagnated for the past thirty years,while corporate profits have continually broken records.
do you seriously think that a unionized labor force will kill walmart?
not a chance and to suggest otherwise just indicates that the corporate propaganda has been quite effective.

walmart could pay a living wage AND offer affordable benefits and STILL would have cheap goods.
and every step of the way they would be "maximizing profits".

welcome to the united states of corporate america!
will that be cash or credit?

>> ^PostalBlowfish:

So... the rightest people in the country don't want stuff?


No, they do want stuff, they just don't want blacks, hispanics and asians to have any of that stuff

I don't know if Americans realise quite how strange and offensive other parts of the world find this type of opinion. If someone in his position were to say something like this in the UK it would be shocking. They'd lose their job for sure. Racism is just not acceptable here. I find it extremely strange when I see things like this. I just can't believe that in 2012 people can still be as racist as this, and it's not only acceptable - he's paid large amounts of money to say it.

Yes, I heard about this when Marketplace released it.

But let's be honest. No one goes to Dentists they've never been to before out of the blue for random surgery. What they suggest is purely a suggestion. Like any other business, the up-sell for cosmetic reasoning will always be available and just because they offer it, doesn't mean you have to do it.

The prices they quote are also the price before or without dental coverage. (I do understand not all coverage is the same)

There is also going to be overzealous Dentists, usually new dentists who just want to do all those big procedures because they enjoy the bigger jobs.
No one should be rushing into these procedures. You should stay with one dentist over time and build a relationship with them. I've never had a issue with any of my dentists. I've heard of people being offered specific services but they are all elective - and few move forward with them unless necessary.

I avoid any dental work for my family or myself if it's purely for cosmetic reasons (especially whitening- teeth aren't supposed to be white). You don't want to do it? Don't do it. But they are going to let you know your options. I think this is different than being told, "You must do it, if you don't, all your teeth are going to fall out and you will be in pain for the rest of your life."

-just doesn't happen.


>> ^jan:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2012/10
/18/f-marketplace-dentists-treatment-plan-variation.html
a bit about Canadian dentistry

The amount of money they must spend inspecting the bridge and repairing it as necessary after each smash would have gone a long way to making it taller or excavating the road to improve clearance. Short sighted civil engineering!

Besides being a "job creator" and pitching this inflammatory Ad that is fully in support of the Republican platform by way of fear inducement... It is scary to see the final repercussions from Citizen's United and see that a private billionaire like Mr. Peterffy can just put up a random add, FULL of distortion and outright lies

So what exactly is he lying about? Hungary's poverty? That socialism destroys incentive?

I decided that it was worth our time to have this ad here, due to its historical ramifications and to really underline the lengths people in power or with wealth will go to, to get their way. It also deserves to get the backlash it needs to have thrown at it due to its utter ridiculous nature. This ad plays off of your emotional appeal, to your natural instinct to care.

Yeah, that's what political ads do, appeal to emotions. What do you think Dopey Change was running on? Facts? Logic?

But, the real truth is that some of it is probably created in a Hollywood studio, BUT if he IS showing true strife in Hungary he most likely has the markings of a person with almost NO empathy. Last, as must ALWAYS be pointed out, to basically call out these idiots, we are not ANYWHERE close to a SOCIALIST government! GET OVER IT! Your talking point sucks and it's nearly 20 years old now.

We're very close to a socialist government. The bastards have their tentacles in every process, business and action, unwelcome or not. New taxes continue to appear, money we don't have continues to burn. The Supreme Court has incorrectly ruled that individuals can be forced to buy a product, something that would have been scoffed at even 20 years ago. Responsibility has been supplanted by government warnings and programs. You can't even cut down a tree on your own land without approval from some dick in an office thousands of miles away. But we're not screwed like Europe...yet.

It's funny in the end that he is so remarkably scared of paying MORE taxes, yet he spends HUGE amounts of money to try and stop it with ads... It's all so ironic somehow. I just knew this guy was an 1% personality, when he endorses the ad at the end with his own name. Do everyone a favor if you have a Google account setup and go to the video, login, and vote it down.

I'm confident Mr. Peterrfy isn't afraid of paying more taxes, but he sees SOMETHING the American left does not.

What could it be?

No matter how honest you are if you have a huge amount of money and / or income you have to realize that you have that at the expense of others. If you are an honest person then find ways to spend that money wisely because holding on to it slows down the economy and further hurts those that suffer in order for you to get that money in the first place.

As bad as this is for republicans, what is worse is that their voting block continues to shrink. If they lose this one, four years from now the number of people willing to vote for them will be even less, unless they do a complete 180 and start supporting younger people, women, African Americans, gays and especially Latinos. Trying to prevent these people from voting isn't going to work (as shown by all the state courts who have shut such efforts down, or are in the process of doing so). And the amount of money they can throw around won't matter if they cant get more than 1/3 of the country to vote for them. As the years roll on even their solid red states will begin to switch. We've already started seeing this with states like Virginia, Illinois and others who were very red until the last election.

>> ^ulysses1904:

No, I was also wondering what he meant when he referred to the old Price is Right, that was before my time. They showed Match Game '73 right after TPIR so it was a pretty entertaining hour of TV back then. I actually remember the seatbelt commercial, they showed that one a lot.>> ^ant:
>> ^ulysses1904:
Thanks for posting this, I think I started watching it around 1973. I had to smile when he said the Vega comes with an AM radio. We used to be amazed when the cars they showed started costing $5000 to $6000 a year or two later, that was a huge amount of money back then.

Did you watch TPIR before Bob Barker?



Yeah, it was in black and white.

No, I was also wondering what he meant when he referred to the old Price is Right, that was before my time. They showed Match Game '73 right after TPIR so it was a pretty entertaining hour of TV back then. I actually remember the seatbelt commercial, they showed that one a lot.>> ^ant:

>> ^ulysses1904:
Thanks for posting this, I think I started watching it around 1973. I had to smile when he said the Vega comes with an AM radio. We used to be amazed when the cars they showed started costing $5000 to $6000 a year or two later, that was a huge amount of money back then.

Did you watch TPIR before Bob Barker?