If you like your plan you can keep it, period

[teatree]

You didn't refute his point. Saying he lost the argument by posting a link means nothing.

OK, the Latin was probably a bit of a stretch.

Here's guerilla's argument in plain English:

Hitler won a majority; everyone who wins a majority is like Hitler (subtext: Obama is like Hitler because he won a majority too!)

Hitler liked children; People who like children are just like Hitler

Hitler was a painter; all painters are like Hitler

And so on.

 

[kumansk]

"You guys are such suckers, arguing over nothing! I've just dismissed some of the most important philosophical issues to ever exist on this planet in a single post on wickedfire!"

Like albert camus mentioned in one of his books, the only important philosophical question to date is the question of suicide. Is it worth it to live or not. All this politics taxes slavery blah blah is just pissing in the wind, an adapt or die thing really.

Seriously, you're all so afraid of something. Why? That you lose your job? Build skills that only you have. That they put s bullet in your head? Move out of their line of sight. That they take your money? Have no money. Im serious on the last one. The worldwide taxation is a play on your fears. They don't mind you leaving their game as long as you don't take the other 350 million fools with you. You want to help people? Die a martyr, if you're really lucky, some guy will write a poem about it. If that's your thing, go for it. I have better things to do with my life.

I agree, but you wouldn't be thinking the same if you had a family to take care of, or a great deal of people relying on you to provide for them or live up to something they never could. This only works for the loners who value nothing but self-interest and can dismiss their external realities with ease

 

[thehobbster]

Like albert camus mentioned in one of his books, the only important philosophical question to date is the question of suicide.

To a materialist, maybe. There are many people who suspect that death is absolutely safe.

Just because we are all moving from point A to point B (birth to death) doesn't mean the experiences in between leading from A to B aren't important or worth considering how to maximize happiness for everyone while making sure people are being paid for their efforts and contributions and not being robbed to help slackasses slang crack and ghost ride a caddy.

Albert Camus sounds like a reductionist, meaning he doesn't see the full picture. Which is what makes making silly statements like the one he made above so easy.

 

[wayn3]

That i don't have people who depend on me doesn't mean i don't have people who love me. I just don't turn them into mindless slaves that can't provide for themselves

 

[guerilla]

OK, the Latin was probably a bit of a stretch.

Here's guerilla's argument in plain English:

Hitler won a majority; everyone who wins a majority is like Hitler (subtext: Obama is like Hitler because he won a majority too!)

Hitler liked children; People who like children are just like Hitler

Hitler was a painter; all painters are like Hitler

And so on.

This is incorrect.

I didn't say everyone was like Hitler.

I said that when you appeal to a majority (a fallacy known as argumentum ad populum) you're basically saying majorities make things right. Therefore the election of Hitler was "right" in whatever moral/ethical/metaphysical sense you mean.

If you don't think Hitler was right, then your argument about a "majority" doesn't always hold true.

Also, as far as calling someone out on a logical fallacy for what was probably the first time, I wouldn't lead with the informal Hitler fallacy. It doesn't demonstrate competence (as I just showed) with that style of argument at all.

TL;DR Never, ever appeal to the "majority" again. It is a logical fallacy.

 

[JakeStratham]

Here's guerilla's argument in plain English:

Hitler won a majority; everyone who wins a majority is like Hitler (subtext: Obama is like Hitler because he won a majority too!)

Hitler liked children; People who like children are just like Hitler

Hitler was a painter; all painters are like Hitler

And so on.

Early survey data show that you are the only person on this board who didn't get guerilla's point.

 

[Moxie]

Most people on here make their money by scraping other people's material

It makes me laugh when all the people on here are so sure that they need no-one

Has anyone really said that? Some people here need fleshlights and some need their local church, but neither of those are tax-payer funded.

free web 2.0s

How many of those are non-profit or government controlled? How much did Google pay for Blogger?

You like being beneficiaries but not contributors.

Some users here have their own article directories, some provide free web space to others, people like Guerilla have spent hours assisting others, etc.

Even Galacon the angry redneck is now trying to help the Phillipines, in case you didn't notice.

I'd like to see a true "libertarian" community set up on some oil derrick in the Pacific, with no help at all from the rest of the world even when a typhoon strikes. They could make a fun reality show about it.

You seem to be suggesting that those in the "true libertarian community" wouldn't help outsiders in similar need.

Paypal co-founder Peter Thiel is one of the main proponents of seasteading. He's also a big philanthropist.

 

[mattseh]

Its funny watching people in the US argue about socialised medicine. Take it from someone that has lived in a country with a fully socialised medicine system called medicare (Australia)...it doesn't work.

Accepting income taxes of 48.5%, due largely in part to the medicare system, is a tough enough salt to take but then you rub in the fact that now...because I work for a living...I have to pay generally $50 just to see a doctor, forget about major surgery...I dont see the value.

It just simply acts as a disincentive for people to go out and generate economic activity and to look after themselves. I remember talking to an old guy pumping his pension down the guts of the poker machine and when I asked him what about the future...he told me not to worry...he has the gubmint to pick up his health costs. Newsflash...its not the gubmint that pays....its me!

Forget about the economic case for government not regulating and distorting the market for health care and just solely focus on the lesson it teaches us about work. Work and you get penalised and have to pay for others health care. Don't work and get free health care. What has the bigger incentive?

Socialised medicine is a transfer of wealth dressed up under humanitarian reasons to look like "fair play".

/end rant
And yes i'm drunk and this rant was authorised by jryan54

...are you going to ASW? If you say no, I'll force you, because me and grindstone want you to go (we're the majority). BTW, you're paying for my plane ticket. It's fair. Don't worry, it's only business class, and you get miles as well! I take such good care of you.

If you disagree, you can PM grindstone, or you can vote. Same effect either way.

 

[hellblazer]

GDP is an arbitrary number that gets used by too many lay people that can't even tell you what the components of GDP are.

Also, relative GDP between countries is an even more stupid measure, except in the most vulgar raw transaction/purchasing sense. US government debt is the greatest in the world, and this distorts its purchasing, and gross GDP number significantly.

On this point, how would you compare the relative size or productivity of economies then? Say you were comparing two different states within the U.S.? I assume GSP means nothing to you?

 

[jryan21]

Interesting reaction and solution to .GOV woes by a few worthy programmers:

Story-
- Yahoo Screen

Site-
HealthSherpa

(CBS News) On Friday, President Obama had this to say about problems with the Obamcare website during a speech in New Orleans: "I promise you, nobody's been more frustrated. I wanted to go in and fix it myself, but I don't write code."

But plenty of programmers do write code. And three of them have created their own website that addresses some of the most annoying problems with HealthCare.gov.

In a San Francisco office shared with other tech start-ups, three 20-year-olds saw HealthCare.gov as a challenge.

With a few late nights, Ning Liang, George Kalogeropoulos and Michael Wasser built "thehealthsherpa.com," a two-week-old website that solves one of the biggest problems with the government's site.

"They got it completely backwards in terms of what people want up front," said Liang. He added: "They want prices and benefits, so that they could make the decision."

LOL do they have a affiliate program?