Keeping Prespective

World Population today 7.8 Billion.
We produce more food more efficiently than ever.
The global average atmospheric carbon dioxide in 2019 was 409.8 parts per million, with a range of uncertainty of plus or minus 0.1 ppm. Carbon dioxide levels today are higher than at any point in at least the past 800,000 years.
 
This Pandemic is nature's way of culling the population of the Earth. My wife's opinion/ gut feeling. We are both proponents of less humans is better. Elephant in the room stuff. Too many termite mounds.
 
I think the obesity epidemic will kill more people than the virus in 2021.
 
This Pandemic is nature's way of culling the population of the Earth.
If that were true it would be doing a better job.

1.3 million deaths (to date) is awful, especially for those effected. But against a population of 7.8 billion it is not a long term game changer.
 
This Pandemic is nature's way of culling the population of the Earth. My wife's opinion/ gut feeling. We are both proponents of less humans is better. Elephant in the room stuff. Too many termite mounds.
I wouldn't argue, but weren't the Chinese responsible (allegedly)? Or is the elephant yellow?
And does a vaccination programme help or hinder?
 
What we need to do is change the rate of population growth from exponential to linear and work on developing a desire for quality rather than quantity. When you make thousands of throw-away widgets instead of a few longer-lasting ones, you create environmental problems. The costs of doing something right first time is not much more than doing a job without attending to detail. A lot of things come down to personal values. Some people cannot see the value in anything, only the price. Values linked to emotions. An expensive art work or stage show, work usually stimulates good emotions in the observer. Like Norton Commando motorcycles ?
What is the horniest motorcycle you have ever seen or ridden ?

 
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What we need to do is change the rate of population growth from exponential to linear and work on developing a desire for quality rather than quantity. When you make thousands of throw-away widgets instead of a few longer-lasting ones, you create environmental problems. The costs of doing something right first time is not much more than doing a job without attending to detail. A lot of things come down to personal values. Some people cannot see the value in anything, only the price. Values linked to emotions. An expensive art or stage show, work usually stimulates good emotions in the observer. Like Norton Commando motorcycles ?
People are the same as widgets?

All been done before.

The Eugenics Movement​


 
For all those who think socialism, antifa (whatever tf that is) and BLM are pushing us down the slippery slope to Hell, when was America greater than it it now? The only time I can think of that even compares is post-WWII when the soldiers came home, Unions enjoyed 70% workforce membership and the USA was rightly looked upon as having saved the world from fascism. Of course, there were problems, but nothing we didn't think we could handle. When was it better than now if not then? And how would a detour to the facism of the golden rule (he who has the gold makes the rule) make things better than they were in ANY period of American history?
 
But America DID have all the gold after WW11 ...

America had become THE world superpower and amassed unprecedented wealth and was having a tremendous economic boom.

Are you trying to say that all of this was as a result of left wing / socialist political policies ?

IMO it was a result of the times, not political policies.

The U.K. is evidence of that, we had a social ‘labour‘ government post war, and the country was broke, broke beyond belief, but it was a result of the times, not political policies.
 
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I think the obesity epidemic will kill more people than the virus in 2021.
This belies how well off people in the US have become. Lots to eat, no need to physically work hard and a lack of self discipline.
But this will do little to reduce out-of-control population growth. Obese people certainly can and will procreate before they die, just
like most everyone else.
 
For all those who think socialism, antifa (whatever tf that is) and BLM are pushing us down the slippery slope to Hell, when was America greater than it it now? The only time I can think of that even compares is post-WWII when the soldiers came home, Unions enjoyed 70% workforce membership and the USA was rightly looked upon as having saved the world from fascism. Of course, there were problems, but nothing we didn't think we could handle. When was it better than now if not then? And how would a detour to the facism of the golden rule (he who has the gold makes the rule) make things better than they were in ANY period of American history?
In Australia we have people who hate unions, even among the workers. I was a middle manager for more than 30 years in very responsible jobs and sometimes ended up facing union guys. Unions are a legitimate expression of industrial democracy, and only exist because of absence of other forms of participative expression. In most Australian companies, the staff suggestion scheme is a joke. I once worked for a large telecommunications company which was being privatised. There was a 'loyalty share issue for employees' which gave them access to the company shareholder meetings. After three years of meetings which involved interminable dorothy dixers and bullshit - most of the employees had sold their shares.
The Liberal party in particular, relies on adversarial division for it's survival Our unions are mostly a reaction to cunicism.
ISO9000 requires continual improvement which needs to come from the shop floor. When union members do Job Safety Analyses, that represents an infunded productivity gain for their employers. - But we still fight - who wins ?
 
For all those who think socialism, antifa (whatever tf that is) and BLM are pushing us down the slippery slope to Hell, when was America greater than it it now? The only time I can think of that even compares is post-WWII when the soldiers came home, Unions enjoyed 70% workforce membership and the USA was rightly looked upon as having saved the world from fascism. Of course, there were problems, but nothing we didn't think we could handle. When was it better than now if not then? And how would a detour to the facism of the golden rule (he who has the gold makes the rule) make things better than they were in ANY period of American history?

The broad facts of income inequality [in the United States] over the past seven decades are easily summarized:
  • The years from the end of World War II into the 1970s were ones of substantial economic growth and broadly shared prosperity.
    • Incomes grew rapidly and at roughly the same rate up and down the income ladder, roughly doubling in inflation-adjusted terms between the late 1940s and early 1970s.
    • The gap between those high up the income ladder and those on the middle and lower rungs — while substantial — did not change much during this period.
  • Beginning in the 1970s, economic growth slowed and the income gap widened.
    • Income growth for households in the middle and lower parts of the distribution slowed sharply, while incomes at the top continued to grow strongly.
    • The concentration of income at the very top of the distribution rose to levels last seen nearly a century ago, during the “Roaring Twenties.”
  • Wealth — the value of a household’s property and financial assets, minus the value of its debts — is much more highly concentrated than income. The best survey data show that the share of wealth held by the top 1 percent rose from 30 percent in 1989 to 39 percent in 2016, while the share held by the bottom 90 percent fell from 33 percent to 23 percent.

Keeping Prespective


 
There are a lot of ways of looking at what raising income means
For instance you can look at a pie and divided it up between the 95th percentile and the rest.
looks like the 95 percentile has gobbled up more than their share.
but that is not really how it works,
the pie does not stay the same size it gets bigger and bigger as the economy grows.
So even if the "rich" get richer, so can everyone else.


The U.S. leads the world in the number of millionaires. America has added 675,000 new millionaires over the past year, bringing its total to 18.6 million people. China added 158,000 new millionaires in this period, raising its total to 4.5 million.

In the U.S., to join the high-end club of the 0.1%, you’d have to been paid about $2.4 million in 2017. For the truly ambitious, the 0.001%, which is comprised of about 1,433 people, you’d have to have earned $63.4 million. To put these numbers into perspective, if you made $41,740 you were in the 50th percentile. If you had a salary of around $145,135 you were listed in the top 10% and $208,053 took you into the into the 5% club.


Another way income increases is when the same goods cost less.
 
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Did a couple of laps on one of these Aermacchis, when it was brand new. Very tight fairing hard to fit in. 120Mph on straights. The triangular tyres made it very unstable on a straight line, But went like a flatiron in the bends. Rear brake too efficient, we had to disengage one brake shoe. Probably the horniest Harley ever made. Great fun.
What is the horniest motorcycle you have ever seen or ridden ?

 
There are a lot of ways of looking at what raising income means
For instance you can look at a pie and divided it up between the 95th percentile and the rest.
looks like the 95 percentile has gobbled up more than their share.
but that is not really how it works,
the pie does not stay the same size it gets bigger and bigger as the economy grows.
So even if the "rich" get richer, so can everyone else.


The U.S. leads the world in the number of millionaires. America has added 675,000 new millionaires over the past year, bringing its total to 18.6 million people. China added 158,000 new millionaires in this period, raising its total to 4.5 million.

In the U.S., to join the high-end club of the 0.1%, you’d have to been paid about $2.4 million in 2017. For the truly ambitious, the 0.001%, which is comprised of about 1,433 people, you’d have to have earned $63.4 million. To put these numbers into perspective, if you made $41,740 you were in the 50th percentile. If you had a salary of around $145,135 you were listed in the top 10% and $208,053 took you into the into the 5% club.

Another way income increases is when the same goods cost less.
That is why it is interesting to look at wealth concentration as well, which has reversed the post-WW2 gains and has returned to the levels of the 1920s.

Keeping Prespective


Keeping Prespective
 
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