"As in: killing two men clinging to the wreckage of a boat. That's also not justice."

I'm glad you brought that up, because this is what I do for a living.

Killing a distressed Seaman, or Seamen in this case, is unequivocally a war crime. Initial reporting was that Pete had ordered that all the people be killed.

That was walked back. The target was the ship. And if the commander's guidance was to "destroy" the ship, that meant rendering that object in such a way that it could not be reconstituted to perform its intended purpose. The people on the boat would have been collateral damage.

It's not much different than what we did in Syria. ISIS was collecting oil and driving it to Turkey to sell it. The coalition would target these trucks and destroy them. The drivers weren't the targets. It was the trucks.

Apparently, the leaders of "Azerbaijan" and Albania got a good laugh out of the matter when they met each other not long ago...

"He's a miracle worker, doncha know./s"

Bruh, he ended the war between Aberbaijan and Albania.

Show some respect for once...

#14

Does it matter?

I guess someone needs to mansplain to me the significance of trade deficits. Because in my mind, they don't. In fact, in my mind, trade deficits are likely indicative that the enconomy has moved from a production economy to a knowledge economy. And that's a good thing.

I know few of you ever stepped foot in an econ classroom, but google comparative advantage versus absolute advantage.

Guys, there are a litany of western European models for healthcare that the US could follow. But let's be honest, USans are really only interested in plans that they can make someone else pay for.

"Just like ICE is deporting people for writing bad checks."

You go to jail for writing bad checks. You get deported for not being in the country legally.

"Now apply that theory to "old" money in the US, after 20 decades. It's one of the reasons the wealthiest keep getting a larger slice of the pie."

Except that "old money" is as much a myth as the welfare queen is. 70% of family fortunes for the ultra-wealthy are gone by the second generation. It's 90% for the third generation.

In fact, there is no permanent upper class. If you look at the richest people in the US, none of them came from wealth. What characterizes them all is a high level of intelligence, combined with the fortitude to take risks on innovative ventures.

"That's not true at all. For example, there's an entire subset of Americans who've been systematically victimized by everything from slavery to family destruction to suppressed wages to redlining."

You know someone who has been victimized by slavery? And "family destruction?" Like what the Germans did in WWII?

"As for explaining the monetary side of that equation, I always use The Twin Test: If one twin starts maxing out their savings at 20, and stops at 40, while the other twin starts at 40...how old will they be when one twin's savings catches up to the other?"

So, that goes back to the decision space. Assuming both twins earn the same amount of income, one twin chose to save, while the other chose to spend. Neither one necessarily made a bad decision, just a decision that was right at the time based on their own calculus. I save some, but I am far more of a spender. In my mind, that makes the most sense. Why be rich at 70, when I'm too old to do stuff?

"Why wouldn't it? He needs his name and picture on everything. Is the thing he's holding in his little hands not the real thing?"

He is literally the epitome of an Instagram influencer. And he's the president.

It's embarrassing.

"There's only a few places on earth that haven't been conquered by the West when the West wanted to conquer them, since the dawn of Capitalism."

The west?

Invasions and colonization pre-date capitalism by a thousand years. In fact, I would argue it was capitalism that led to decolonization.

"A piece of pizza being worth zero to me, right now, since I just had lunch, doesn't make the pizza worth any less to somebody who is hungry."

But using your logic, that slice of Pizza would still be worth $6.

Even wonder why stores offer deals where you buy one object at full price and get the second at a discount?

"How does that actually alter the intrinsic value?"

You're approach the question in the way Marx did. There is no such thing as "intrinsic value." That's why marginal value is a thing. You may pay $6 for the first slice of Pizza, and maybe the second, but at some point, that next slice of Pizza is going to be worth less and less. The baker may continue to charge $6 per slice, but he is not going to sell any more Pizza. But, if he lowers the price, the marginal value of the pizza might be greater than the money spent to purchase it.

"Which ones?"

Dani-Papua New Guinea
Sentinalese-India
Shompen-India
Ayoreo-Bolivia
Asmat-Papua New Guinea

These are just a few...

"But if you try living without Capitalism, The West conquers you."

There are lots of primitive tribes out there who would disagree with you.

"The same exact labor has different value, based on those externalities?"

Yes.

A teenager may be willing to work for $3 an hour, even if the employer is willing to pay more.

It's no different than selling anything else.

"I think it's #1. Madbomber knows less about Christianity than he does socialism."

That is 100% true.

"Labor is sold to provide cash income. For People with no other way to get it."

You don't need cash.

More than a few people live off the grid in places like Alaska, using their labor not to earn cash, but to satisfy their own needs. Food, shelter, things like that.

Cash is a relatively recent advancement in the history of mankind, but it's only a necessity if you choose to live in a world that requires it.

Why does a 16-year-old kid need a living wage?

"There are other ways, including minimum wages, which need to be increased."

Why?

If a 16-year-old kid wants to work for $7.50 an hour, why shouldn't they be legally allowed to do so?

"Set by the Invisible Hand of the Almighty Free Market?"

No. Set through an agreement between the seller of labor and the purchaser on the price at which that labor will be purchased.

"The loss of Common goods. Like open land and access to it."

Much of the land west of 110W longitude is BLM land. It is yours to spend as much time on as you wish. As are national forests, wilderness, etc.

"I'm talking about Social Outcomes not whether or not a rich guy has more."

You'll have to define "social outcome" for me. I don't know that term.

"I'm poorer as a result of the concentration of buying power that warps the economy in favor of a few very rich individuals."

Walk me through that while you're at it. It sounds to me like what you are saying is that they are able to spend more money on an object than you are, and that makes you poorer. Is that about right?

"Perhaps were you to encourage politicians to make Laws that Corporations have to pay a Living Wage to workers rather than $7.fiddy an hour, St. Peter might be influenced when you get to that Gate."

You think that St. Peter would be happy that I supported a system where workers were unable to sell their labor unless that labor met a certain value threshold?

I don't. I think St. Peter would have wanted people to be able to sell their labor, something granted to them by god, for as little or as much as they wanted.

"I'm sorry, really sorry to be the one to tell you this, MB... but you are never going to be Bezos or Musk or anyone anywhere nearly as wealthy."

Bezos pulls his schooner into Durres sometimes. Maybe I'll go have a beer with him when he's in port. Musk is just too ------- weird.

"So it's really not to your benefit to shill for them because you won't EVER be able to not pay any taxes at all some years the way they do.".

Way ahead of you, bro. I have the overseas income exemption, which means that the first $130k of my income in not taxable. The rest is, but I'm able to offset it with different deductions. Like everyone else, I do have to pay FICA. There is no getting out of that.

If these people are so valuable to US interests, why are we not paying them to come here?

Does this thing really have his picture on it???