Reminder: logic and reasoning is **not** the determination of the truth. It is about defining the relationships between the truthfulness of separate statements. That is all.
No as we covered its even better for the extremely poor. Extreme poverty world wide has decreased from 70% to less than 10% world wide... that is absolutely an indication it is better for the poor (since the vast majority of them arent poor anymore).
> Yes, something trickles down, but not much.
The literal facts disprove that.. Simply the fact that billionairs keep increasing steadly over those 100 years and during that time poverty and violence went down consistently clearly disproves that assertion, clearly having a greater wealth disparity did not make things worse at all, in fact they have objectively gotten much better.
Thats the problem with not looking at the numbers, everyone has bught the lie the news has drilled into us. Most beleive it, so you will hear it amplified.
But the facts, that no one is denying, is that there has been steady and significant long term improvement over the economy, by a **huge** margin... knowing a few random people who are struggling to pay their bills are an indication there are still problems left, but hardly a counter argument.
> I think there are quite a few people who can afford less than they are used to.
If you are talking about short-term then yea, year to year there is going to be some fluctuation, not every year is a global economic improvement. COVID hit us hard for example and there was certainly a downturn from this.
But on average over longer periods of time the economy overall is objectively better with far fewer people below a living wage than ever before.
> This raises questions of what are basic needs. Food, housing and heating obviously are.
It goes beyond just basic needs, by almost every measure the poorest among us are much better off than they were at the turn of the century.
> But is going on a holiday every year a basic need? Being able to smoke? Have a subscription to Netflix? Presents around Christmas? Dining in restaurants? Have a pet?
No matter how you measure it more people can do all of those things more often then they could a century ago, and by a huge margin.
> Especially the holiday causes a lot of discussion where I am. I think you can argue that you need time off work every year, but travel?
Even by this measure things have vastly improved. The average work week was over 60 hours a week at the turn of the century, today it is much less, a a bit below 40 hours a week.
@ABScientist No it doesnt suggest there is no problem.. It suggests (and explicitly states) that the problem has gotten much better.. 70% to 10% is a huge improvement, but it isnt the same as saying the problem was eliminated, only greatly improved.
As to why people wrongly think it got worse, thats simple, because fear and hype sells... while things have gotten monumentally better economically for everyone the news still makes money off convincing you the opposite, and it has worked, consistently, for over 100 years.
@ABScientist And yet The percentage of people below the poverty line has went from ~70% > 10% world wide in that time despite a greater wealth disparity... Funny that huh, its almost like having rich people or a wealth disparity doesnt cause poverty at all.
Yea thats true too, of both the extreme left and extreme right, on many issues.
Next time someone trys to blame #capitalism on the cost of cars or a home now compared to in the 50's or at the the turn of the century just remind them we dont have a capitalism problem, we have a population problem. For most people in their 40's the population of the planet has virtually doubled since were kids, there isnt as much to go around as there used to be (and since the turn of the century the population has increased 5x).
@LexiGirl Honestly I dont know.
Best answer I have is they have been in so many fights, ones they probably started in many cases (well except maybe the masks, that initiates the other way) that they associate them with the confrontation.
Not that thats an excuse, its just the only psychological explanation I can think of, a learned pattern with no logic.
Glad to hear you took a more reasonable approach and didnt buy into the nonsense that is communism... Not all liberals go to idiotic extremes like that and its a shame they made that assumption of you.
@realcaseyrollins its tbe worst!
@madbarrister Hahaha they will be fine :)
@madbarrister Ummm... turkeys absolutely can fly. In fact their nests are almost always in trees... how ya think they get up there?
@georgetakei Jesus christ why are so many people obsessed with peoples genitals.. just let people be they dont effect you... who cares if there were some trans people.....
Thanks for sharing.
@icedquinn There used to be a youtube video of a guy who made a fully automatic gun out of a bed frame and a welder.
If he can do that you should be able to reclaim the wood :)
@freepeoplesfreepress Thanks :)
Jeffrey Phillips Freeman
Innovator & Entrepreneur in Machine Learning, Evolutionary Computing & Big Data. Avid SCUBA diver, Open-source developer, HAM radio operator, astrophotographer, and anything nerdy.
Born and raised in Philadelphia, PA, USA, currently living in Utrecht, Netherlands, USA, and Thailand. Was also living in Israel, but left.
Pronouns: Sir / Mister
(Above pronouns are not intended to mock, i will respect any persons pronouns and only wish pronouns to show respect be used with me as well. These are called neopronouns, see an example of the word "frog" used as a neopronoun here: http://tinyurl.com/44hhej89 )
A proud member of the Penobscot Native American tribe, as well as a Mayflower passenger descendant. I sometimes post about my genealogical history.
My stance on various issues:
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UBI: No, use welfare
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