Stephen Joseph

One day I am going to bang my head so hard against this monitor I'm going to break it or the monitor...

FREE TRADE is good for EVERYONE! EVERY COUNTRY! Adam Smith (1776) It is the maxim of every prudent master of a family, never to attempt to make at home what it will cost him more to make than to buy... If a foreign country can supply us with a commodity cheaper than we ourselves can make it, better buy it of them with some part of the produce of our own industry, employed in a way in which we have some advantage. http://www.econlib.org/library/enc/FreeTrade.html Adam FREAKING Smith! Ever since Adam Smith published The Wealth of Nations in 1776, the vast majority of economists have accepted the proposition that free trade among nations improves overall economic welfare. Free trade, usually defined as the absence of tariffs, quotas, or other governmental impediments to international trade, allows each country to specialize in the goods that it can produce cheaply and efficiently relative to other countries. Such specialization enables all countries to achieve higher real incomes. http://www.econlib.org/library/ENC/FreeTra...tomsUnions.html

Stephen Joseph vs. Prince Killings Plus, SJ has a few words to say

Maybe I'm just justifying my years of out-of-state tuition, but that's not even close to true. FSU's a fine public school, but UVA is tiers above in almost every program, in terms of faculty, etc. I don't think FSU cracks the top-100 on the US News rankings, while UVA floats around 22-23 depending on how Michigan and Berkeley are faring that year. Even UF is, department for department, significantly higher-caliber than FSU. FSU has absolutely top-notch programs in Drama and Film. You're right, however, in that either big Florida school is a great deal for the price, and that FSU still has good programs overall. When I was scouting it out I was a bit disappointed in the amount of significant classes they had being taught by TAs, but I hear that's improved. Elitism? Maybe. I just love this fucking school. That's true. But, again, that's only if you want to go to graduate school. Tough call to make at 17. Additionally, I'll confirm FSU is definitely bursting at the seams with hot girls. UGA, I think, is still the east-coast standard-bearer in that department. I'd say they're pretty close. UGA girls have bigger tirt, florida girls are more tan. You know, I guess I hadjust met all the pot smokers from UVA..

You can never run a joke here at TSM into the ground!

well, im hoping my hitting comes alive...

And there is nothing wrong or bad about free trade or free movement of labor. Amnesty did not stop middle class expansion. Our economy cooled off, and then a dipshit president decided that bankrupting us might be the best idea ever. I'm just going to assume that youre entirely against free trade and the free movement of labor, regardless of the fact that no protectionist measure has ever benefited the economy of the host nation, nor the fact that from your most basic economic textbook to the phd-level, free trade is regarded as a VERY GOOD THING.

Cynthia is crazy! She constantly believes theres a conspiracy to remove her from office...

whats the deal with this, somebody help me out!

funny, it says april1 on it/..

No one would be established if I hadn't of saved the board. Beeyotches

Okay. Since I'm from GA, I know a good bit about Cynthia. She's freaking crazy. This is her crazy story of the year. One wonders how she still gets elected...

as if theres something wrong with a little tug

oh sweet jesus I hope youre kidding

Yeah, I saw...plus a few sleepers didnt make it to the starting rotation. Still liking my team though...

Not all entrepenuers are rich, but they are the ones creating the jobs. I'd argue that the creation of jobs is more important to the economy than the creation of wealth. Creation of wealth is meaningless if it doesn't get distributed. There are no perfect solutions in economics. Sometimes taxing people is good, sometimes its bad. Sometimes spending is good, sometimes its bad. Neither the Keynesians or the libertarian/supply-siders have been able to deliver us into economic Utopia. Free markets can be awesome things when you have a well-educated group of entrepenuers making rational decisions, but that doesn't always happen, so you need some regulation. And government decisions about economic policy can lead to a multitude of unintended consequences. Policy makers need to be pragmatic and look at situations on a case-by-case basis, instead of trying to apply blanket economic theories that never work all the time. There are perfect solutions in economics. In economics, its all math. The imperfection comes from the way we've designed our political process. That process is the one that takes the elegant economic solution, and craps on it with special rules, provisions, taxes, disincentives, incentives, and other policy "tools" for personal (or political, gain. It ain't the math that's broken, its the process. To NCM: If the middle class goes, so goes America. Thus, its in the interest of this so called oligarchy to ensure the middle class stays fat and happy and complacent, which is what's going on right now anyways. I would hardly call America an Oligarchy though. Upward mobility is still able to happen to all but the poorest, and hell, even the hispanic immigrants are showing the ability to move from poorhouse to middle class house in 1 generation. The problem is that people like you expect change NOW, when its a gradual process. And when change is made to happen NOW, that process is subverted, and everyone suffers in the end.

Incredibly bad economic policy. First you had wage and price controls that nixon institutited. That kept inflation artificially lower, like shaking a bottle of coke with the cap on. when the controls were lifted, inflation went nutso. On top of that we had a very fuel dependent economy, and oil prices (a raw input into many goods) rose, that went nutso. Finally, you had politicians thinking that the phillips curve always held (you can trade off between inflation and unemployment, higher inflation will lead to less unemployment and vice versa) the phillips curve obviously wasnt true. add that all together, and you get a bowl of economic soup that sucks. Now onto taxes... Who the hell creates wealth? The rich. Now, while it is true that the rich benefit more from personal property rights than middle or lower income peoples , it doesnt follow that they should pay taxes much over those income groups. They should pay more (since they benefit more), but really, there's no reason to increase taxes. The bigger problem is reducing the size of the government and our insanely massive debt before other nations decide to pull their funding of our debt and thereby sink our economy. FYI: We didn't tax the shit out of the rich in the fifties, just saying. Don't beleive a political comic pundit. You can tax the shit out of them because loopholes are in the millions. You can thank all your politicians for that. (flat tax). InuYusha, if you'd like more detail on stagflation, pm me. You know, since im the economist around here EDIT: You will never get any to agree on what anyone's "fair share" of anything is. Maybe if the government didnt do so fricking much that it really shouldnt be doing we wouldnt be worried about who to tax and how much. But we gots to have our medicare, big ass army in a foreign country, welfares, pork transportation bills and gotta fund education so we dont leave any children behind. did i make enough fun of both sides there? i hope so

1) MEANT hispanic 2) Quote all the "research" you want. You cite research during a boom period of the economy. Of course the lower end experiences better growth than the upper end, that's how things work when the economy is functioning well. When you have less, your growth rate as a percent is more than those who have alot 3) And yes, because I dont have to google search or rely on what other people have said, yes, I do understand economics better than you Smitty.

INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY I *love* how quick most everyone is to judge here

EHME, What your cousin says, while good and all, doesn't pass as fact in my book. It's hearsay, and dangerous hearsay at that. The way rumors and inneudo get started and passed off as fact (see: New Orleans) makes me very cautious to believe anything people say. I understand that they made players give DNA tests. I understand that she has physical signs of sexual trauma. So we can say that she had sex. We can't say who she had sex with, or whether it was consentual or not, until that evidence comes in, which I have no doubt it will. Getting worked up over it until then its just a waste of energy. EDIT: I'm particularly careful in cases of rape. A friend of mine was accused of raping a girl. He was beaten up a few days later and sent to the hospital, had death threats, and thrown out of school. In the end, the girl broke down in the courtroom under cross-examination and admitted she wasn't raped, but it was consentual, but she lied to her parents about it and just kept lying. Meanwhile, my friend still has the stigma of people now wondering to this day if he raped a girl or not, even though he was proven innocent.

Umm Duke's hardly over-running with racism. I've had plenty of friends there, and this is the first I've heard of it. I would've heard SOMETHING tangible when I was working with the Georgia Board of Regents and traveling to ACC schools to work with them on technological requirement legislation. There's racists everywhere, but rampant? Please, you don't know rampant until you go down to Georgia Southern. EDIT: And right now, it seems like that article just presumes guilt. We don't know yet, and until we do, I have to ask "Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty?"

If you cant afford to pay your workers, you go out of business If your workers can get a better job, theyll leave you. That's fair. And you know, if the work is so menial that they can't live on it, guess they get to work two jobs. People did that you know? Or they just have to live without cable tv. I live next to a primarily spanish apartment complex. It doesn't look the best (I dont mind, keeps property values lower so my rent is cheaper). They dont seem to have a bad time with life...they got a park and they play soccer every day after work...none of them are starving, they sure seem alot freaking happier working their barely above minimum wage construction and yard jobs than the suits that trudge through their complex every day to get to the metro. Since I know spanish, im able to talk to em, and I occasionally play soccer with em too. What I'm told is that even if where they live aint the best, its wayyyyy better than where they came from. And because of that, they dont mind living 4-8 in a two bedroom unit. Sure they want better, but they are pretty happy. Thats what being a minority community encourages...group solidarity, something this country as a whole lacks. The business of business is making a profit for the owner. Its not about, never should be, and never will be about making labor sustainable. A SUCCESSFUL business will do both, and it reap the benefits. But a business that relies on minimal skill, will pay a minimum wage. That's life. That's how it is, that's all it is, and no rose-colored glasses prescription of a cure will ever find a solution. But that's all that will be prescribed, because we will feel good that we raised the minimum wage, or gave someone welfare. Nevermind that we actually dont help anyone. That's not important. Just that we try. Yeah...right. You want to help the poor people? That apartment complex that I mentioned runs a volunteer english class. I've subbed a few times when they need someone. The easiest and quickest way for an immigrant to earn above minimum wage, to improve their living conditions, diet, and societal standing, is for them to learn english. I think it increases their wages something like 20-30% after the first year that theyre proficient. EDUCATION is the greatest welfare program we have.

Desmond said that HIS BOAT CRASHED BOAT DNE BALLOON

Except that its all wrong. Solow is right, the effect on jobs is weak, BECAUSE MOST JOBS PAY ABOVE THE MINIMUM WAGE!!! Raising the minimum wage will necessarily, unequivocally, reduce the number of jobs available for low-skilled workers who work at the minimum wage. I'm sorry, but its fucking mathematics. MW= 6.15 Let's say to earn a normal economic profit, I can afford to pay $20 an hour for labor. Thus, I hire 3 laborers. Now let's RAISE the minimum wage to a living wage. 10 Dollars. Now I can't hire three laborers. My production time takes longer. I can only afford 2. I produce less. Since I produce less, I must charge more to keep making the same profit. Hence, for those at the bottom of the ladder, the minimum wage DOES NOT help them. How can you even argue for it when its been clearly demonstrated that each rise in the minimum wage does nothing to offset those living in poverty or the unemployment rate for those living in poverty?!!! But yeah, what do I know. I'm just an economist who doesn't need google to understand this stuff

Islam doesn't need to die. InuYusha, do you even have a FUCKING clue about the religion itself, how it started, how it developed? My roommate is a Muslim, and also one of my best friends. Is he extremist? NO! He's a part of the group of Muslims who are attempting to REFORM their religion. Ever heard of the PROTESTANT REFORMATION? Oliver CROMWELL? CRUSADES? INQUISITION? Should Christianity have died then because of how nasty it was? Islam right now is undergoing a reformation. If you wish to learn something, pick up a book called "No God But God'. Otherwise, continue to speak your ideological tripe and show just how ignorant you are. FYI: Persians are CAUCASIANS. JEWS are ARABIANS.