The difference being, here we don't let the commoners engage in bribery, it is only reserved for the higher levels, and even then measures are taken to conceal the nature of the transactions. In many developing countries, everyone gives and receives bribes for many things. It is acceptable (and there are limits). I think it's healthy, if the system is corrupt, everyone should be able to exploit its corruption.
MIT economist believes U.S. is shifting to be more similar to developing nations
121–130 of 279 posts
Re: MIT economist believes U.S. is shifting to be more similar to developing nations
#122Earlier quoted context omitted.
Wait what? So because there are even poorer people on the other sides of the ponds, some of which might actually benefit in some tangential way from globalism, it's OK for the 0.01 % to rob their closest neighbours blind?
> to rob That's a pretty strong claim you have here. Can you back it up? As far as I see, the 'closest neighbours' are in the ditch because they now compete with workers from other continents, and turns out that these workers are ready to do the same work for less. If I used to pay you money for your work, but then found someone else that would do that for half a price, I'm not robbing you. If anything, it's you who'…
You make it sound like most people that make those decisions have a choice with outsourcing. If you don't lead the project to outsource they'll find someone that will. And if leadership won't make the decision the company you supply will find a competitor. and if you're a fortune 500 company then the bad quarterly results will get you replaced.
Re: MIT economist believes U.S. is shifting to be more similar to developing nations
#123Earlier quoted context omitted.
What countries don't have any impoverished neighborhoods?
Developed ones. A more serious answer: each country has impoverished neighborhoods. The difference between developed countries and developing ones is the magnitude of the impoverished neighborhoods. So far I haven't seen any really big slums in Germany, for example.
Then you obviously havent been to Halle/Silberhöhe. But as you said, the difference is the magnitude. The scale of informal economies is certainly higher in Brazil, Honduras or Colombia. While here, even in problematic spots of certain cities, you will have the occasional criminal, the economic situation of a whole city is not dependent on it.
Re: MIT economist believes U.S. is shifting to be more similar to developing nations
#124Am I wrong in attributing/connecting most of Americas problems with its flawed constitution/democratic system? The first version of something is rarely the best version, and while the US constitution contained a lot of fantastic elements and freedoms that every educated American knows about, it also contained a democratic system (first past the post/two party system) that is mathematically bound to breed divisiveness…
I generally agree with your point but it is worth pointing out that almost any democratic system will have flaws which can lead to unexpected results. See Arrows impossibility theorem.
Re: MIT economist believes U.S. is shifting to be more similar to developing nations
#125The difference being, here we don't let the commoners engage in bribery, it is only reserved for the higher levels, and even then measures are taken to conceal the nature of the transactions. In many developing countries, everyone gives and receives bribes for many things. It is acceptable (and there are limits). I think it's healthy, if the system is corrupt, everyone should be able to exploit its corruption.
> everyone should be able to exploit its corruption
disgusting.
Re: MIT economist believes U.S. is shifting to be more similar to developing nations
#126Earlier quoted context omitted.
Globalism doesn't "attempt" anything, its not designed and it doesn't have agency.
I don't 100% agree with that. doesn't have agency true. not designed not so sure. There are plenty of treaties and other contracts between countries that effect how money etc. flows to countries. world bank and others.
Globalization is happening with or without those policies, though. Even if you don't like it, it's an unhappy reality.
Re: MIT economist believes U.S. is shifting to be more similar to developing nations
#127The difference being, here we don't let the commoners engage in bribery, it is only reserved for the higher levels, and even then measures are taken to conceal the nature of the transactions. In many developing countries, everyone gives and receives bribes for many things. It is acceptable (and there are limits). I think it's healthy, if the system is corrupt, everyone should be able to exploit its corruption.
Except if it's the justice system and the victim doesn't get justice. Oh and the taxpayers which are overpaying for an inferior product/service so someone can line their pockets. OR the person that gets sick or injured because someone isn't properly trained. I could go on but I'm starting to get little sick...
Re: MIT economist believes U.S. is shifting to be more similar to developing nations
#128Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you're interested in fixing the problem the article discusses, this is pretty much exactly the wrong approach. You would actually be hard-pressed to find a solution more diametrically opposed to fixing the problem.
My belief is that post-scarcity society with very high technological unemployment and universal democracy are fundamentally incompatible. People who are net recipients from the government, should not vote, or they will vote the society into collapse. Can they ever vote for anything but more free stuff? Other problems are fixable with more attention/funding to law enforcement, and yes using all the AI toys: crime pred…
Never mind that most people who have to use welfare for cash assistance actually hate it, and they would rather earn their own living wages via work. Welfare queens are very few and far in between.
Re: MIT economist believes U.S. is shifting to be more similar to developing nations
#129Am I wrong in attributing/connecting most of Americas problems with its flawed constitution/democratic system? The first version of something is rarely the best version, and while the US constitution contained a lot of fantastic elements and freedoms that every educated American knows about, it also contained a democratic system (first past the post/two party system) that is mathematically bound to breed divisiveness…
> Am I wrong in attributing/connecting most of Americas problems with its flawed constitution/democratic system? Almost certainly. The US was doing fine for most of the 20th century. Globalism is what has brought wages down. Globalism combines the economies of the richest countries with the economies of the poorest in an attempt to "help" poor countries. As rich countries and poor countries combine economies, they mo…
If it were 100% globalism than why is tech so concentrated?
Re: MIT economist believes U.S. is shifting to be more similar to developing nations
#130Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you're interested in fixing the problem the article discusses, this is pretty much exactly the wrong approach. You would actually be hard-pressed to find a solution more diametrically opposed to fixing the problem.
My belief is that post-scarcity society with very high technological unemployment and universal democracy are fundamentally incompatible. People who are net recipients from the government, should not vote, or they will vote the society into collapse. Can they ever vote for anything but more free stuff? Other problems are fixable with more attention/funding to law enforcement, and yes using all the AI toys: crime pred…
If it's truly a "post-scarcity" society, people can have all the free stuff they want. If they can't, then it's still a scarcity society.
More law enforcement is rarely the solution to any long-term problem: that's how you end up with the East German situation where 1/4 of the population was Stasi informers.