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Boris Yeltsin's visit to a suburban Houston supermarket in 1989 (2016)

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Re: Boris Yeltsin's visit to a suburban Houston supermarket in 1989 (2016)

#271

Post by 4ad »

Waterluvian wrote: post #249
gnarbarian wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

we have a big cultural problem. our current economy is great at optimizing for low cost mass produced items that last 6 months and then get thrown in the dump. a pair of shoes that lasts years isn't as profitable as a pair sold every 6 months. a coat or car that can be repaired is one less customer shopping for a new one. engineers design cars they don't have to work on or repair, and will never drive. in a healthy e…

Lost me at cars. Cars used to be horrible. They’ve never been better.

Cars have never been more reliable and safer, however "better" is a woefully underspecified and subjective thing.

Things I don't like about modern cars: they all look the same, crappy capacitive controls and touchscreens inside the car, constant tracking mandated by law, much harder to work on the car if you are a car enthusiast.

To me, a classic car from the 80s, or even early 90s is a far nicer vehicle to be in and drive, and provides a far better subjective experience, both in and out of the car, so in a sense, modern cars are "worse" for me.

Re: Boris Yeltsin's visit to a suburban Houston supermarket in 1989 (2016)

#272

Post by lkramer »

winrid wrote: post #219
pavlov wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Now the challenge for us is that we’re still stuck thinking stores full of Chinese junk is the pinnacle of civilization and we’re unable to know any better despite accumulating evidence of planetary destruction.

Isn't it xenophobic to call it "Chinese junk"? The cheap junk is designed here in the US to be as cheap as possible and break as soon as possible. We did that. Not them. They're just building it.

It the same way that "Made in Japan" or "Made in Taiwan" used to be a label for cheap knock offs. Over time, as China shifts their economy, it will probably change, but right now "Made in China" have a certain connotation, and it becomes an easy shorthand for the disposable crap that fills our stores.

Re: Boris Yeltsin's visit to a suburban Houston supermarket in 1989 (2016)

#273

Post by kortilla »

4ad wrote: post #271
Waterluvian wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lost me at cars. Cars used to be horrible. They’ve never been better.

Cars have never been more reliable and safer, however "better" is a woefully underspecified and subjective thing. Things I don't like about modern cars: they all look the same, crappy capacitive controls and touchscreens inside the car, constant tracking mandated by law, much harder to work on the car if you are a car enthusiast. To me, a classic car from the 80s, or even early 90s is a far nicer vehicle to be in and…

> constant tracking mandated by law

I hate this. What is the year that this started?

Re: Boris Yeltsin's visit to a suburban Houston supermarket in 1989 (2016)

#274

Post by kortilla »

ubermonkey wrote: post #9

I dunno about Yeltsin and the Houston store, but I do know this: I went on a student tour of the USSR as a college student in 1991, arranged through my University (U of Alabama). I was getting a minor in Russian language, and it seemed like a fun trip. It actually got MORE fun because in the run-up to the trip (in spring, 91) there was some dissent in the USSR and many parents wouldn't let their kids go. In order to…

> Listen, if you have a chance to drink with WWII Hellcat pilots, do it.

I would love to, but at this point they might all be dead… :(

Re: Boris Yeltsin's visit to a suburban Houston supermarket in 1989 (2016)

#275

Post by nivenkos »

ozim wrote: post #248
danielodievich wrote: post #198

Few years into our emigration to USA, my family brought my grandfather over to USA. He was a blue collar worker, electrician at the cement factory, entering that profession right after the war, which he spent under the occupation and mostly I think as a shepherd for cows and pigs in what is now Belarus. He has built several houses in his life and was always incredibly handy with tools. We took him to Home Depot. He l…

You did not have to go as far as USA to see that. Trip to western Berlin would be enough. Countries that got under USA sphere of influence had it much better. They got lots of money with Marshall's plan to rebuild economies after war. So even if they would knew there is a better life it was all decided at Jalta and they were most likely not able to do anything about it without straight out starting new war against So…

Except those in the "USA sphere" that had pro-US dictators forced upon them - like Chile, Argentina, Guatemala, Indonesia, etc. - even Spain, Portugal, South Korea, Taiwan and Brazil suffered greatly under US-supported (to varying degrees) dictatorships.

Re: Boris Yeltsin's visit to a suburban Houston supermarket in 1989 (2016)

#276

Post by kortilla »

birdymcbird wrote: post #257
Jensson wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cuban rulers would rather its citizens starve than implement democracy. They have fake elections to trick their people, each seat has only one candidate selected by the communist party so it is all a sham.

-> “Cuban rulers would rather its citizens starve than implement democracy.” cuban here. please dont pretend america care about democracy. america have interests. when they need new regime they suppress democracy as needed or push for democracy. main idea to get some regime subservient to american economic interest. why america has so many migrants at border but america do nothing or even talk about what crisis happe…

This is all smokescreen. Cuba is perfectly capable of trading with Canada and it does. The citizens are still destitute due to government corruption.

Re: Boris Yeltsin's visit to a suburban Houston supermarket in 1989 (2016)

#277

Post by [deleted] »

D_Alex wrote: post #226
refurb wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Capitalism has been responsible for lifting hundreds of millions out of poverty. Communism, or any other system, can’t make that same claim. Unless you have an alternative, your claims of exploration will fall on deaf ears.

>Communism, or any other system, can’t make that same claim. I don't really think communism is a viable economic system, because of, you know, people . However, a couple of points should be made: - Communism has always had to deal with enmity of world's richest and most influential nations (USA and UK in particular). Possibly because communism has had this inbuilt idea that it needs to spread to everywhere, whether t…

[deleted]

Re: Boris Yeltsin's visit to a suburban Houston supermarket in 1989 (2016)

#278

Post by wrp »

gnarbarian wrote: post #216
pavlov wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Now the challenge for us is that we’re still stuck thinking stores full of Chinese junk is the pinnacle of civilization and we’re unable to know any better despite accumulating evidence of planetary destruction.

we have a big cultural problem. our current economy is great at optimizing for low cost mass produced items that last 6 months and then get thrown in the dump. a pair of shoes that lasts years isn't as profitable as a pair sold every 6 months. a coat or car that can be repaired is one less customer shopping for a new one. engineers design cars they don't have to work on or repair, and will never drive. in a healthy e…

> I have a pair of 5 year old redwing boots...

Ha! I have a 45 year old pair of Red Wing Pecos boots that's been resoled twice. Now just use them for yard work, though.

Re: Boris Yeltsin's visit to a suburban Houston supermarket in 1989 (2016)

#279

Post by jjeaff »

jhoechtl wrote: post #212
pavlov wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Now the challenge for us is that we’re still stuck thinking stores full of Chinese junk is the pinnacle of civilization and we’re unable to know any better despite accumulating evidence of planetary destruction.

But where lies the middle ground? Soviets having one sort of butter vs. 20 sorts of butter (yoghurt, drills, ...) many of which were produced abroad? Maybe we can correct (economic) future by simply insourcing some goods and therefore work and forget about the knowledge society boloney?

Most of the food in the grocery store in the US is not produced abroad. Especially perishables like dairy which have import restrictions and would be too pricey to bring in from far away.

Re: Boris Yeltsin's visit to a suburban Houston supermarket in 1989 (2016)

#280

Post by Jensson »

nivenkos wrote: post #267
Jensson wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm from Sweden, not USA. I think there are many problems with USA, but it isn't capitalism at least, I'd say the major problem is that their democracy doesn't properly represent the will of the people. Sweden isn't perfect, but I don't see many countries that does a better job, and Sweden is very capitalist, we voted about going towards communist but people didn't want to. Instead we have a strong capitalism, but wi…

The issue with Sweden is that it taxes work, not wealth. You easily hit the 56% rate on income tax and even the poorest workers pay 25% VAT, meanwhile wealthy landowners and shareholders pay no inheritance tax and minimal capital gains and property tax. So it impedes social mobility and encourages hard workers to move abroad - this has been made much worse with the refugee crisis too, as they're practically discourag…

Taxing work instead of wealth greatly encourages Swedes to start companies. I think that is a big reason why we have so many successful start-ups from Sweden. Sweden discourages the corporate climbers, it is a very bad way to make money here, I don't think that is bad in itself, it means that smart people will try to do something outside of existing companies, either by moving abroad or by starting a company.

But I am not stupid, I too moved to Switzerland to work since it netted me many times more money per hour worked. That is why I said that Sweden isn't perfect, I'm not sure what the perfect system is, but Sweden is still pretty good.

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