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San Francisco, 3:34 PM
Sun Nov 8
11 posts in the last 24 hours
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11/22/08
I'm not scared of change, just intrigued by the possibilities.
11/22/08
(Je cherche a vous, France.)
11/23/08
11/22/08
I'm just sayin the facts
11/22/08
11/22/08
11/22/08
11/22/08
11/23/08
11/22/08
i'm just sayin <_<
11/22/08
11/22/08
and they would make it worse without any bailouts too... nice huh?
11/23/08
11/22/08
I'm just saying. >_>
11/22/08
I'm just saying. >_>
11/22/08
Frequently enough, greed and capitalistic evil are more encouraged when you have government that imposes such massive, costly regulation that it is rendered nigh-impossible for new companies to set up shop. This protects the monopolies and oligopolies of corporate giants.
You can't be surprised that some huge firm will grow corrupt and engage in criminal behavior when there's no room for real competition to keep their avarice in check, all thanks to Washington bureaucrats playing favorites.
11/22/08
11/22/08
11/22/08
11/22/08
Competition, as it is with the free market, is bad for business. Not for my business or your business, but for the ones at the top who make tons of money. Thus you have a situation where the free market is actively resisting the corporate monopolies and cartels. This eventually breaks the system, all thanks to unchecked greed and stupidity.
Im not saying the free market is a bad idea.Im just saying that we need to reign in on totally irresponsible behavior on the part of fat cat CEO's (many of whom arent as smart as they need to be).
11/22/08
11/22/08
Mecharine sums it up pretty well. Laissez faire capitalism (or any purely competitive system) is self-destructive. Once somebody gets to the top of the competitive pyramid, they can rig the game (by lobbying the government, out-bidding competitors, etc.) to maintain and increase their power at the expense of everybody below them.
A truly free market has to be a fair market; and the only way to keep it fair is a certain level of regulation.
ACyclicUniverse is right--there needs to be a balance.
11/23/08
Wow - textbook regurgitation of ancient attacks on capitalism. You would think people would at least get new material.
First, lets note the straw man established here. A social system which permits govt interference into the free market ("rig the game", "lobbying", etc) is NOT laissez faire capitalism. A system which is "purely competitive" by definition would NOT allow such interference. So you are complaining about statism here but blaming capitalism - which is exactly what is being done in regards to today's financial 'crisis'.
You explicitly admit here that *govt* interference in the market is the problem. Yet instead of seeking ways to stop such govt interference, you seek to INCREASE that interference. In other words, you demand govt "regulation" of the free market because the *govt* is not regulated enough. That is like demanding more poison after you have been poisoned.
Talk about "self-destructive."
Put simply, there is no such thing as a "fair market". There is only a free market. And in it, there will be those who succeed and those who fail. There will be those who, because they are more successful can build on that success, where others because they are not as successful cannot compete with them. That is a BENEFIT not a problem.
A "fair market" is simply someone pulling out a gun and forbidding free human interaction - instead demanding THEIR DICTATES be obeyed. Its time to put the guns down and do away with the thuggery - rather than demanding MORE of it.
11/23/08
Don't you make me pull out this flamethrower.
11/17/08
11/17/08
11/17/08
11/17/08
1) They spent a lot of money to build this thing in the first place. Now that's finished, they have to expect maintenance.
2) This thing has a very specific goal: Find or fail to find the Higgs boson. The first experiments haven't even started yet.
3) No one has ever built a machine like this before, unexpected failures can happen and have to be dealt with. I pretty sure the planners knew this going in.
4) This is mostly an EU project (I mean I know it's true an international project with funding and staff from all around the world but--). I think there is a little quasi-nationalist pride involved with this because of that. The Europeans want to show Asia and North America what's what.
5) 21 million is tiny in comparison to what national governments, even pretty small ones, spend many other programs.
When you spend that much money significant social inertia is generated. We're in it now. If they decided to stop it today, it might take a few years for it to slowly grind to a halt.
11/17/08
6) On a project this size and complexity, the contractor has the upper hand on negotiating small additional fees. It's not the smartest thing to dole something like this out to the lowest bidder.
BTW, they won't find the Higgs Boson.
11/17/08
In the case of the Higgs, well, probably not, but we won't know until we try right? The experiment is clearly defined--we have a very good idea what the mass of the Higgs should be--and the Higgs is required by the Standard Model, if we don't find it, the Standard Model must be revised.
11/17/08
11/17/08
11/19/08
11/17/08
11/17/08
11/17/08
Yes, it can. $21 million is chump change, especially for governments. For example, the current powerball jackpot is $50 million, raised by asking people to throw their money away - there's profit on top of the jackpot, too.
The LHC has already cost enough that repairs on this scale are going to go through, it's just a matter of when.
-Kle.
11/17/08