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David Rockefeller has died

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131–140 of 242 posts

Re: David Rockefeller has died

#131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i don't think inequality can be solved by globalization. if you look at the poor countries, you'll find a multitude of structural problems. until these structural problems are dealt with, globalization is likely to feed corruption. i agree that globalization would reduce the risk of global conflict - there would only be one side. thus, if the wrong people were in power there would be no way to fight them. that's scar…

>i agree that globalization would reduce the risk of global conflict - there would only be one side. thus, if the wrong people were in power there would be no way to fight them. that's scary. That's not scary, that's the US. The Federal government functions more successfully than state governments in every way. In the Fed we have Trump vs. in states we have literal coups and gerrymandering. The US is better as a fede…

This is single-cell bugs vs multicellular organisms all over again.

Re: David Rockefeller has died

#132

>In 2008 Rockefeller gave $100 million to his alma mater, Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. I have to agree with Malcom Gladwell on this... Of all the ways to donate $100M, OF ALL THE WAYS

I have to agree. That amount of money could have greatly helped a majority of the black historic colleges that so badly need the money. Of course if you think that is bad someone recently just gave $400 million (more covered here: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/06/05/400-million-g...).

Even Gates gave $15 million circa 1996. This is was of course before he went into full philanthropy mode [1]. I'm sure he wouldn't do that now.

[1]: http://www.nytimes.com/1996/10/30/us/gates-of-microsoft-give...

Re: David Rockefeller has died

#133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i don't think inequality can be solved by globalization. if you look at the poor countries, you'll find a multitude of structural problems. until these structural problems are dealt with, globalization is likely to feed corruption. i agree that globalization would reduce the risk of global conflict - there would only be one side. thus, if the wrong people were in power there would be no way to fight them. that's scar…

> i don't think inequality can be solved by globalization. No, it's the other way'round. On the way to globalization, we need to make sure inequality stays within reasonable levels, otherwise the whole thing will fail.

Globalization is the exploitation of the lower standard of living in other areas. The reason corporations ship jobs overseas is because it's cheap. This in no way controls inequality, and in fact makes it worse.

Re: David Rockefeller has died

#134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After spending some time around people from various anti-science/government/vaccination circles I realized that if the New World Order is what they describe it is, then I'd love to join it. At least those NWO conspirators seem to have a clue.

It's about how they go about it, putting the Middle East into so much turmoil for example, hurting people over there in an ends justifies the means manner. It's the wrong way to go about it and therefore at its core its rotten and therefore the sought outcome will never be positive in terms of the biggest picture for all. It's a dangerous track they now have us on and the people aren't happy. I'm not sure we could su…

> Just read the Wikipedia article on the Gulf War. It's clear GH Bush pursued it to keep the oil price stable.

... Have you made any effort to try to learn foreign policy? Or are you relying only on piecemeal reading of events and your predisposed biases to determine your worldview?

Most politicians read a lot (Trump is an exception, and he's terrifying for it), and much of what they read is public policy theory books, things like Why Nations Fail or On the Origins of War and the Preservation of Peace. From these books, they tend to formulate their views on policy (including foreign policy) based on certain schools of thought, and you can often tell who influences these thoughts based on how they frame arguments and defenses.

The Gulf War was principally caused by Saddam Hussein reckoning he could invade Kuwait quickly enough that no one would care to try to stop him (this is what Russia more or less successfully did in Crimea). The other principal Arab states who did not like Iraq--notably Saudi Arabia and Egypt--were never particularly likely to accede to these demands. (Iraq did try to link Kuwait to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, but that was more of a stalling tactic than an actual honest effort to further that peace process, although it did incidentally do so). When Iraq began making noises about invading Saudi Arabia, that's when the US launched Desert Shield and subsequently Desert Storm.

And yet, when you listen to the testimonies of the officials who planned the war, it's clear that they hewed to a definitive Clausewitzian view of war: the planning of war needs to be shaped around the political objectives it is meant to achieve. And the political objectives they gave as their design for war was to a) remove Iraq from Kuwait and b) prevent Iraq from being able to exert regional power for 20 years. Note that oil isn't a primary objective. Of course, the Middle East being what it was, any planning of major operations in there is going to take into account near- and long-term impact on oil supplies, and it's not exactly a secret that the State Department's general grand strategy for the Middle East is "keep the oil flowing." But that doesn't mean that the only goal is keeping oil--if it were, the US would not have invaded but instead pressured Saudi Arabia to just deal with the Iraqi annexation of Kuwait (note that oil didn't stop flowing until Iraq's withdrawal from Kuwait).

You also have to keep in mind that you can't stick your head in the sand, ignore the world, and expect to suffer no consequences. The current migrant crisis in Europe is entirely caused by European unwillingness to deal with the issue in Syria.

Re: David Rockefeller has died

#135
post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The high tax nations should figure out how to fund themselves more competitively. Many low tax countries have democratically elected representatives that looked at their budget and realized "no we dont need to fund roads and schools by taking a piece of other peoples productivity". Despite any pressure from high tax nations they simply realized they dont need it.

For my own curiosity could you point out a single low tax country that has well maintained infrastructure?

Estonia may be a decent example here. Not every tax is low, but corporate income tax is 0% and personal income tax is a flat 20%. However lots of infrastructure upgrades have been done with EU money. So the tax is still there, just not being paid by the locals.

Re: David Rockefeller has died

#136
post #98
post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I mean, that's why we trust doctors, because the bar is that high. Two thoughts: 1. The old joke, "What do you call the person who graduated from medical school at the bottom of their class?" "Doctor." 2. The ordeal of residency isn't about setting the bar "high", nearly so much as it's about, "well, I went through this shit, so you have to, too". (Source: I have several doctor friends. All of them think it's bulls…

1. What do you call the the person who graduated from SEAL training at the bottom of their class? A SEAL. I get the joke, but part of the point is that top and bottom of the class are only relevant for those who actually graduate, and who is capable of graduating can be entirely different based on the goals of the institution. From "everyone can, with work" as in High School, to "only those who are good enough" as (h…

I see you've read DH Xavier too

Re: David Rockefeller has died

#137
post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Rockefeller upheld the family’s philanthropic tradition, giving away more than $900 million during his lifetime. https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlodonnell/2014/07/11/the-roc... "That young man was John Davison Rockefeller in 1855, who in 25 years would become the wealthiest man of his time, and arguably the wealthiest in history, reigning over a monopoly that refined as much as 90 percent of America’s oil. His flag…

They're talking about net worth. You're talking about income. Kind of silly either way though - why don't you just come out and say that you think he should have donated more?

No, I prefer just to point out the hypocrisy surrounding getting acclaims for "philantrophy" in the US.

Seems like even those who have the most give out back less to others than they would have done just by the regular taxation laws, living in a typical European country.

Re: David Rockefeller has died

#138
post #114

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> John D. was a devoted Osteopath for most of his life. If you haven't read Titan, it's a fascinating bio. That's interesting, I didn't know that. More than osteopathy, the similar yet different practice of chiropractic is a better example of a legally and politically well-organized "alternative medicine". Through legal ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilk_v._American_Medical_Ass'n ) and political pressure from the 1…

I would like to point out that chiropractic medicine is not necessarily quackery. There are certainly some elements that may not always work, but there are also many things that do. The classes in the schools are certainly not a joke - they take real anatomy and real body mechanics, real radiology and real biochemistry - and the requirements for graduation are not trivial. Additionally, although scientific method has…

Chiropractic largely works because it has purged so much of its foundational ideas and is almost congruous to physiotherapy (albeit with more focus on manipulative therapy than exercise).

>That's why some alternative medicine solutions sometimes work as well and even better than modern medicine.

I can see some forms of alternative medicine being complementary (hence the name), such as meditation or yoga, but better? Could you point to some examples? Genuinely curious about this.

Re: David Rockefeller has died

#139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> i don't think inequality can be solved by globalization. No, it's the other way'round. On the way to globalization, we need to make sure inequality stays within reasonable levels, otherwise the whole thing will fail.

Globalization is the exploitation of the lower standard of living in other areas. The reason corporations ship jobs overseas is because it's cheap. This in no way controls inequality, and in fact makes it worse.

> Globalization is the exploitation of the lower standard of living in other areas.

Yes, I am aware that some people define it that way.

Re: David Rockefeller has died

#140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Globalization is the exploitation of the lower standard of living in other areas. The reason corporations ship jobs overseas is because it's cheap. This in no way controls inequality, and in fact makes it worse.

> Globalization is the exploitation of the lower standard of living in other areas. Yes, I am aware that some people define it that way.

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