51–60 of 66 posts
> The picture above is a clue. In the 18th and then 19th century there was a sequence of taxes on glass. Most famous of all is the window tax of the 18th century which, in fairness, wasn’t primarily a tax on glass. It was mostly a tax on housing (the more windows, the more you paid - hence why people bricked in windows). Eighteenth century Britain levied a great many consumption taxes on things that were disproportio…
I find it interesting that the book is available about everywhere save for North America according to the author, but the first distances in the text are given in yards, mainly used only in North America. Ok, this is not the exact book text, but still, it looks as a misfit to the audience of the book.
> It's that it is possible to resuscitate dormant or shrinking sectors. It is possible to re-industrialise quickly. China managed to go from peasantry in the grip of communism to arguably the biggest economy in history over a remarkably short period. And it is hard to get a read on exactly what is going on in that country but that seems to be despite heavy state intervention in the economy and without the benefits of…
Communism is what brought China out of peasantry. They were literally peasants for a couple thousand years, then they became Communists at which their standard of living started to improve and never stopped. Admittedly the Communism became a lot less Communist, but to paint Communism something that existed at the same time or even as a contributor to peasantry was weird.
> policies in the West since the end of the cold war have been an absolute disaster
The US adopted socialist policies after shattering the organized left, pouring money into the safety net, elevating unions, and subsidizing housing, health care, education and technological innovation. In the late-70s to the early-80s it gradually stopped, and that's why we have what we have now.
> It is enough to make you wonder if it is the politicians or the voters who are more evil and incompetent.
What?
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That’s not true at all. China is known for its “nail houses” for example. https://www.theguardian.com/cities/gallery/2014/apr/15/china...
Among all these pictures there is exactly 1, the first one that would be an example of someone living in an important place, a middle of a road, and refusing to move. And the occupied place isn't very important to the state, but rather only to a couple of residents. All others just show that demolitions have started, and there are houses not yet demolished. 0/1.4 billions of people is actually convincing the other wa…
The point is that China doesn't "just crush" dissenters. This is ignorant Western fantasy which is used by people to justify the dismantling of their own rights. China needs a Bill of Rights like the US's, and most of the US populace needs to stop being such a sucker for nearly century-old propaganda that it doesn't burn its own treasure in service of elite-propagated paranoia.
I find it interesting that the book is available about everywhere save for North America according to the author, but the first distances in the text are given in yards, mainly used only in North America. Ok, this is not the exact book text, but still, it looks as a misfit to the audience of the book.
> It's that it is possible to resuscitate dormant or shrinking sectors. It is possible to re-industrialise quickly. China managed to go from peasantry in the grip of communism to arguably the biggest economy in history over a remarkably short period. And it is hard to get a read on exactly what is going on in that country but that seems to be despite heavy state intervention in the economy and without the benefits of…
In some ways China acts more like WWII Germany than SU Marxist Leninism or Maoist China. Private enterprise exists and encouraged but the state ultimately dictates what happens and has party members in leadership positions in those companies.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Among all these pictures there is exactly 1, the first one that would be an example of someone living in an important place, a middle of a road, and refusing to move. And the occupied place isn't very important to the state, but rather only to a couple of residents. All others just show that demolitions have started, and there are houses not yet demolished. 0/1.4 billions of people is actually convincing the other wa…
This reply doesn't make a lick of sense. You're just making things up off the top of your head. The point is that China doesn't "just crush" dissenters. This is ignorant Western fantasy which is used by people to justify the dismantling of their own rights. China needs a Bill of Rights like the US's, and most of the US populace needs to stop being such a sucker for nearly century-old propaganda that it doesn't burn i…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
still isn't for most purposes, and most people are still more comfortable with yards than meters for day-to-day stuff (friends are often looking at me blankly when I give a distance in meters)
IMO metric is missing a critical measurement that is roughly the size of "a foot". Most measurements in one measuring system have very similar equivalents in other measuring systems or useful approximations, like a pound being 1/2 a kilo, a liter being about a quart, or a meter being about a yard. Even various ancient chinese measurements can be similar like this. Except the metric system seems to have eschewn the co…
Define 1 metric hand = 1 decimeter, and you can cleanly convert between hands and meters (it's just a factor of 10 instead of the weird jump from centimeters to meters) and at the same time be able to approximate three metric hands to a foot.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
In some ways China acts more like WWII Germany than SU Marxist Leninism or Maoist China. Private enterprise exists and encouraged but the state ultimately dictates what happens and has party members in leadership positions in those companies.
The heads of tech companies in the US are no less embedded in government than the heads of tech companies in China.
My main point though is that the government-industry relationship in China in many ways mimics the one in Nazi germany more than a continuity of the Maoist industry-government relationship where 5-year plans were part of the plan and it was much more unidirectional.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
IMO metric is missing a critical measurement that is roughly the size of "a foot". Most measurements in one measuring system have very similar equivalents in other measuring systems or useful approximations, like a pound being 1/2 a kilo, a liter being about a quart, or a meter being about a yard. Even various ancient chinese measurements can be similar like this. Except the metric system seems to have eschewn the co…
I went to school with a 30cm ruler in the 80s. As a result I have an instinctual sense for that length.
That's what confuses me. It's a dumb confusion admittedly. It's basically an argument to "Beauty" or aesthetics or similar.