Where debating everything under the sun is only the beginning

Quote from: krake on 2016-07-28, 15:05:06

If the bank gets bankrupt, it will be bailed out with taxpayer money.

Because you are a slave. I'm not.
Tax payers is the modernist name for slaves.

Quote from: Belfrager on 2016-07-29, 23:34:17

Quote from: krake on 2016-07-28, 15:05:06

If the bank gets bankrupt, it will be bailed out with taxpayer money.

Because you are a slave. I'm not.
Tax payers is the modernist name for slaves.

You don't have to pay taxes - at least as long as taxpayers from other countries are paying for you...

(112) “People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices.” A rare aphorism— Smith is rarely witty— and one libertarians would do well to ponder.

(140) Here’s a factoid for you: Smith thinks that when the poor are mostly fed by oatmeal, as in his native Scotland, they’re poorer workers and frankly uglier; while the Irish, raised on potatoes, are stronger and better looking.

Glancing through there, I came upon a link to Jacobs, which sounds like a much more interesting book. I think @jax might like it too. In any event, nice site, thanks!

Nations are illusions that take continuous propaganda to maintain. Cities are real (as is the countryside for those remaining there).

The city is where all activity and all value creation happens

The city state is vastly older than the nation state, if antiquity or seniority is an argument.

When I am in Prague most of my money is spent there

Cecil Graham: What is a cynic?
Lord Darlington: A man who knows the price of everything, and the value of nothing.
Cecil Graham: And a sentimentalist, my dear Darlington, is a man who sees an absurd value in everything and doesn’t know the market price of any single thing.

It's you who should learn rudimentary economics.

The Men’s Underwear Index, as it’s known, was originally conceived of and popularized by former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan. It looks at the sale of men’s underwear as an indicator of economic growth. In a healthy economy, the theory goes, men are more likely to buy new underwear; in shakier times, they’re more wary of spending and don’t buy much new underwear because it’s not a true necessity. [...]

So does the Men’s Underwear Index hold water? Well, in 2008 and 2009, sales of men’s underwear began to slow, which matched with the Great Recession. In fact, according to H&R Block, in the years leading up to and including the Recession, there was a three percent increase in men buying single pairs of underwear and a decrease in men buying multi-packs — a sign that buyers were looking to make one pair of underwear stretch a bit further. As the economy started to come back to life, men’s underwear sales across the U.S. began to increase again. They stayed pretty consistent.

Currently, it looks like men’s underwear sales for 2019 are down a bit. [...] But if you haven’t bought new underwear in a while, you might want to. Economic certainty be damned.

Critics of this theory suggest that it may be inaccurate for several reasons, including the frequency with which women purchase underwear for men, and an assumed tendency for men not to purchase underwear until it is threadbare regardless of the performance of the economy.

(...)

Some other Unconventional Economic Indicators that have been promoted include:

1. Hemlines: First suggested in 1925 by George Taylor of the Wharton School of Business, the Hemline Index proposes that skirt hemlines are higher when the economy is performing better. For instance, short skirts were in vogue in the 1990s when the tech bubble was increasing.
2. Haircuts: Paul Mitchell founder John Paul Dejoria suggests that during good economic times, customers will visit salons for haircuts every six weeks, while in bad times, haircut frequencies drop to every eight weeks.
3. Dry-cleaning: Another favorite Greenspan theory, this indicator suggests that dry cleaning drops during bad economic times, as people only take clothes to the cleaners when they absolutely need to when budgets are tight.
4. Fast food: Many analysts believe that during financial downturns, consumers are far more likely to purchase cheaper fast food options, while when the economy heads into an upswing, patrons are more likely to focus more on buying healthier food and eating in nicer restaurants.

2. Haircuts:
3. Dry-cleaning:

4. Fast food: Many analysts believe that during financial downturns, consumers are far more likely to purchase cheaper fast food options, while when the economy heads into an upswing, patrons are more likely to focus more on buying healthier food and eating in nicer restaurants.

my "get my hair cut as little as I think I can get away with" approach has nothing to do with money.

Yet I'm cheaper and healthier off by doing neither...

Seventy percent of the population didn't want this. […] 70 percent of the population in Stockholm want to keep a price for something that used to be free. […]

And the other question, who changed their mind? Who changed their opinion, and why? So we did another interview survey, tried to figure out why people changed their mind, and what type of group changed their minds? And after analyzing the answers, it turned out that more than half of them believe that they haven't changed their minds.

The best thing about TED videos is you don't have to watch them.