Citryphus

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• Commented on Mariachis covering unlikely songs
  Not "funny," per se, but definitely brought a smile to my face....
• Commented on Video: Rushkoff on Colbert
  I think when a post is assigned a number it should be immutable. The #14 I referred to at 2:31 is now #16. The new #14 (Who is #1? You are #6...) raises a good question. I think yes, Ruskoff...
• Commented on Video: Rushkoff on Colbert
  #20 Demidan, incorrect. The Gold standard was interrupted several times, during WW1 for example. FDR ended the gold standard in 1933, but the Bretton Woods gold standard was introduced in 1946. This is what Nixon ended in 1971 and what...
• Commented on Video: Rushkoff on Colbert
  #14, I think you should watch the video again and listen to what he said. It's quite clear. Are you claiming poetic license? I thought the book was an argument. Sarah Palin says a lot of stupid shit that ain't...
• Commented on Video: Rushkoff on Colbert
  If an "economic stimulus" is defined as something that incentivizes--or forces--individuals to shorten their time preference, i.e. to demand more goods and services sooner rather than later, then one can easily come up with straw man examples like "getting cancer."...
• Commented on Graphic novel adaptation of Richard Stark's Parker The Hunter
  Westlake was a prolific writer of crime fiction. My favorites are the Dortmunder series penned under his own name. Also, both "God Save the Mark," and "The Ax" are really great novels....
• Commented on Stiglitz: America's double-standard on economic crises infuriates the poor world
  Yep, the bailouts and deficit spending are hypocritical. The important difference, however, is that the world still wants to lend the US money, whereas those other countries had to go hat in hand to the IMF. Should the US ever...
• Commented on Life Inc: a book against corporatism, published by a corporation
  Rushkoff, in each of the threads following the excerpts from your book I have taken the time to point out the interpretations of law and history in your book that are factually incorrect. I may have been a harsh critic,...
• Commented on Life Inc: a book against corporatism, published by a corporation
  #8 Rushkoff: "Don't get me wrong. Some of my best friends are corporations..." If corporations per se are not the problem, why do you use the term over and over again? Why do you twist the definition of corporation into...
• Commented on Father, High on PCP, Eats Son's Eyeballs Out
  Wow, talk about attacking the messenger. Give Xeni a break! A truly exceptional event, for good or evil, deserves a post. This one gives me another chance to practice channelling rage. I can't imagine being first on scene to that...
• Commented on Retrotech: I want my vinyl back, too
  Finally, something Rushkoff and I can agree on. The cords were better. I hope they bring back the real electromagnetic bell and striker too....
• Commented on Greed is an Excuse, Not an Instinct
  Hayek did not write there was "no central controller." At the time of his writng, the USSR and Nazi Germany had some pretty strong central controllers. He wrote that central planning would fail because a small group of planners would...
• Commented on Life Inc: Chapter One, part one
  Gee Catbeller, that sounds awful. Except that individuals are also protected by government and it's tax-paid police and military forces. And free individuals are free to form associations. And unlike a partnership, where liability is joint and several, meaning you...
• Commented on Life Inc: Chapter One, part one
  Your notion of "corporatism" seems to be intertwined with state monopoly. You have to start way back in history because today, in most of the developed world, the percentage of corporations that enjoy some state-sanctioned monopoly approaches zero. Royal charters,...
• Commented on If the banks are so healthy, how come we're all still broke?
  1. The invention of the chartered monopoly corporation, which was not about promoting commerce but extracting wealth from those who were. So you cast "chartered" monopoly as the villain but not natural monopoly or laissez-faire competition. Interesting choice. I wonder...
• Commented on If the banks are so healthy, how come we're all still broke?
  Mr. Rushkoff, I'm not likely to read your book. I don't use "corporation" as a pejorative word. I'm capitalist and unashamed. I've been both a debtor and a creditor with good results. I am curious, however. Can I ask that...
• Commented on Debt is not a good product
  Swampdog, the alternative to raising equity capital in the public market is to raise it in the private market, and the intermediaries putting private investor and cash-strapped venture together are typically investment bankers. They perform a real function and add...
• Commented on Debt is not a good product
  The problem with bumper sticker slogans is they become cliche, and lead to cliche-ridden thinking. Take for example the many absurd comparisons to "Ponzi schemes" on this thread. To abuse another well-known cliche: In the future everything will be a...
• Commented on Debt is not a good product
  Swampdog, you've got it backwards. High demand drives prices up. Also, the secondary nature of the stock market is pretty transparent. You hold a claim on a share of the future earnings of the company. You are willing to pay...
• Commented on Debt is not a good product
  Well, put me in the pro-debt camp. Debt helped me buy a house, and get through college and grad school. Some businesses are capital intensive; that's just their nature. If you need millions of dollars of equipment to make semiconductors...
• Commented on Your word is dead to me
  Wow, the emacs/vi wars never ended......
• Commented on Top 50 drug "trips' in movies
  I would have liked to see the scene from "Ours, L'" (The Bear) where the bear cub eats the shrooms make the list....