Respect Your Elders

First rule, don't ignore the problem. Make damn sure everyone is aware of the consequences of this system.

If it's always at the forefront of people's minds, micro solutions present themselves and we grab them when we see them.

 

and what exactly are supposed to grab, when there is really nothing there there.

 

I've long supported regulations limiting the size of corporations. Size is what brings corruption and loss of consumer options. This is an old idea; i.e., anti-trust legislation in the late 1800's.

People seem to think that large corporations and investment banks run everything that matters, but nearly half of all nongovernment jobs and more than half of newly created jobs in America are with companies that have less than 500 employees. Most of them get their financing through local and regional banks that have no offices in New York. Billions of dollars are made on this side of the economy.

Some marketplaces are more subject to consolidation than others. Cable TV is an example of a market that needs more regulation. Comcast and Time Warner are monsters. In other areas such as manufacturing, companies often grow to be bloated and unresponsive, and eventually get devoured by smaller, newer, more innovative competitors. In the restaurant business, national chains are actually losing market share to locally owned competitors where the owner actively manages the business. Consumers are increasingly rejecting what the largest companies have to offer, especially at the upper end of the price range, where profits are highest.

Somebody your age might come up with the idea of starting a company that makes appliances that last a long time. Somebody my age can tell you that Maytag already tried that and got eaten alive by Whirlpool, which makes junk that breaks if you stare at it too hard. Consumers say they want quality, but their actions don't match their words, and words don't matter much in the economy. High quality costs more, and people won't pay extra for it, at least not in the durable goods market. Consumers over-ruled Maytag's corporate management and said no to their strategy. It's a textbook example of consumers voting with their money for a bad option.

I don't like it, but who can change it? How?

 

The fall of Rome.....got too fat, bloated and gluttonous and collapsed onto itself.....
history often teaches us that it does repeat itself.

 

Someone, I can't remember who, said: 'the only thing we learn from history is that we don't learn from history'.

I'm not quite that cynical , but I know what they meant.

 

First let's understand it. Cyclical consumption. People are encouraged to always need more things and buy more things.

All money is debt. As soon as currency is created it is owed back with interest. The loan plus interest CANNOT be paid back. This creates an atmosphere of urgency to create something, anything that can be sold so that you're not the loser. There will be a loser, your job is to market your retarded exercise device to gullable people so that you're not the loser.

Advertising steps in to help these desperate sellers. Sellers don't want to lose the game of musical chairs so they hire expert conmen to emotionally manipulate all the idiots who keep breeding more idiots.

Waste is the main byproduct of this system. Technical efficiency is a hazard in this environment. We gotta keep people buying shit and doing shit, and feeding into the pyramid scheme. Free market rules dictate that your company needs to cut as many corners as possible, and take whatever underhanded measures are necessary to increase demand. Growth is the most important thing. We're all in debt after all. We should never settle down and relax, we should always find innovative ways to be uncomfortable. Then we can solve that discomfort and create work in the process.

 

Solutions.

My number one recommendation is for stupid people to have 2 kids maximum. The market mentality will always cause sellers to look for stupid people to exploit. As long as those stupid people are available, there will be exploitation and waste. Exercise and nutrition are my favorite examples. I informed myself on both around age 16. Thank goodness the internet was up and running. I used it and dug, and filtered until I had a very very good grasp on the simple things that worked. So many people are unable to filter the garbage out, and they are sold on diet pills and unwieldy contraptions that are supposed to solve their problem areas. They are prey to the predators who are willing to capitalize on their weakness. In the process the wasted materials and manhours pile up into enormous mountains of retardation that we all get to look at and be exposed to.

I honestly think any system can work with a collective IQ of 120. Capitalism, Communism, whatever. Currently people consistently fall for political platitudes and appeals to emotion. There is no awareness of what pragmatic policy looks like. No awareness of the need to abolish central banking. If there were 300 million Me's in America, our presidential public forums would look much different. We need to demand real debate, but most people can't follow a real debate or recognize logical fallacies.

A rating system à la Amazon.com is verrrrry beneficial for pointing out cheap products. I'm pretty torn between the dangers of a monopoly like that site might become, and the incredible benefits of being able to see dozens or hundreds of reviews from real customers.

 

Too abstract and theoretical for me to respond.

 

When someone considers their age to be a servicable substitute for rational argument, they're old.

If I had to throw a number out of what I personally consider old, 50 might be old. 60 is definitely old.

 

50 is the old age of youth. It is also the youth of old age. Stupid is as stupid does,regardless of age.

As far as government systems go, most are found wanting. Ours is rigged to the max.

 

there is a problem with that word 'respect' in as much as it is not always a favor, or the best or most considerate thing, for those 'respected'.
by that i don't mean anyone should be cut out of consideration.
but then that IS my point, that no one should be cut out of consideration, elders nor anyone else.

and consideration means, among other things, not to rob anyone of thinking their own thoughts,
in order to demand their attention, to gratify one's own ego.

young old, rich poor, and everything else, it is considerateness of behavior that is the value of anyone.

 

I hate to break it to you Nerd....but you aren't stating new ideas. You are like any youngin' with big ideas and little life experience. Please save these posts you make and read them in 25 years. You'll be surprised how much you'll change and grow with age.

 

I'm 50 years old, but I feel like I'm 18.

Humans have the capacity to live for two hundred years, or more.

I won't live that long because I eat bad food, smoke, drink, and don't meditate, etc.

There are "old people" who should be listened to, and respected.

I saw a video one time where a man (who couldn't even remember how old he was) saw a bird flying sideways or something on his island.

He told everyone on the island to get to the top of the mountain right away.

A tsunami came and they all survived.

 

At 58 I'm rather glad I don't feel like I did at 18.

 

edited out

 

The same could be said of experience which is time put in. Rational arguments don't argue the truth only for their own rationale. As far as regard goes I think most of the world cares more or less for life and this is a fundamental problem. Our solutions would be self evident if we weren't so callous of life in general. Life is precious and it doesn't favor special causes all of it constituting an environmental fabric.

So the measurements you are trying to determine are based on a sliding scale, example what age is old. You can't make accurate determinations based on a sliding subjective scale. That effort is vain and immature regardless how old you are. You don't have enough experience to be prescribing solutions for the world. Your idea is to be rid of offending nature relying on your perspective as a solid foundation which as we have pointed out, is not a stable but a sliding basis. I'll just put it down to the foolhardiness of youthful immaturity. Solution is equal dispersal. All things being equal you deserve my respect to the extent you respect me and in the same all things being equal turn, you deserve my respect to the extent that you respect others.

 

Also in the US:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Betterment_League

 

Some of you lot annoy me.