Politics

Take a look at the gigantic population of China. It is so large that authorities have had to implement one-child regulations where couples can only have at most one child. Now look at the population of, say, Singapore(my country!). The government here has implemnted incentives such as Baby Bonus, where a parents get paid off-days and paid maternity leave in an effort to encourage population growth to drive the economy. As populations go up and up, a startling thought comes to mind - the spread of diesease, overcrowding, and all of the bad things that come with it. Just take a look at the first graph on this page : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overpopulation (yes I kno…

What are the best books in political science and history that you have come across? I'll start. I've found several great suggestions (like "War is a Racket") at A Nerd's Guide to Reading, but I'm almost finished reading through their list. Any other suggestions?

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2011/11/14/michael-moores-hypocrite-house/ Yap he is saying he is for the people but look it all fake.

The Government of any given country is there to establish law, but lets face it, a lot of the people in the government are not very bright, so if we were to replace the government by a board of scientists that decided laws in a totally un-bias way, do you think that that would be better and improve our quality of life?

So what if people were beholden to this Economic idea like a religion. So they went around the world and pushed this idea upon everyone through either force or guile. The cases where they have implemented this things havent went well for these people, but they believe it is a good idea just because the values and things they care about have gone up, but not because the theory is actually sound. Economic theory doesnt appear to be under the same scrutiny as the rest of science, perhaps that is because it is so hard examine. You cant experiment with a real economy. People quite often dont always behave ideally. But the manner, and way in which people are beholde…

I would like you to express your opinion on the following: Free Cannabis sativa recreational use legalization; Medical marijuana use authorization; Pros and cons of Cannabis sativa for our health; Pros and cons of its use to society. Please leave only comments and responses that are legitimate, justified and serious. We want a serious discussion and we will despise any incentive to its illegal use. Make use of intelligent argumentation.

The U.S. government recently signed the Asia-Pacific region Free Trade Agreement, in my opinion, is due to the fact that by 2020 they will be the largest number of elderly in the world. Which means there is a large market for consumer products which is one of the main reasons why corporations wanted the agreement signed. It is not just here in the U.S. that the baby boomers is created a hugh amount of stress due to aging on a much smaller younger age work force that supports them, China, India, Japan, Finland, Italy and Germany also will have the largest elderly population by 2020. It is Africa that will have the largest population that are under age 65 and most like…

Will or does the SOPA act portend the end of the internet as we know it? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZ3nNYV7cXY

Why? Look at this jawless child...please be warned, videos are very graphic. http://i.imgur.com/pwpg7.jpg (WARNING: NOT FOR THE FAINTHEARTED, VERY DISTURBING IMAGE. DO NOT CLICK IF YOU'RE UNDER 18) http://www.youtube.c...pcontrinter%3D1 U.N. or U.S. or Russia should invade Syria to remove its corrupt government or something, am I wrong? Apparently, Syrian government is OK with this. Apparently, government soldiers / officials are OK with this. Apparently, world is OK with this. Apparently, governments across the globe are OK with this. Disgusting....can't believe what I found or discovered. I seriously feel bad for this guy. Assad or whatev…

Winston Churchill had the following things to say about democracy..... "Democracy is the worst kind of government, except for all those that have been tried before." "The best argument against democracy is a 5 minute coversation with the average voter." I was watching a documentary called "The Code" by Marcus du Sautoy. In it he filled a large jar with jelly beans and got 200 odd people to guess how many jelly beans there were. Even though no individual was close to the actual number, when he averaged all the guesses, the result was almost spot on. That got me to wondering...........can anyone envisage a way to make democratic governments only ever legislate …

Economics Professors are scared that their students will ask a very simple question. What are quality and convenience? It may sound simple but these two things dominate our lives, but economists don't know anything more about it than you do. Why are they scared? Asking these questions shows the fundamental problems with indifference curve theory, which is the foundation of modern economics. This information has been covered up for more than a decade, but I'm asking you to show this to every economics student that you know. --- moderator: link removed. If you choose to participate as a proper member we'll reinstate it ---

The World’s situation is far from being perfect and it doesn’t seem to have perspective to repair itself(?). So there are growing in strength on one side e.g. - idealistic utopian visions, like Zeitgeist movement/Venus project expecting that the system will itself transform into resource-based, or - rage movements on the other side, like occupy movements or Anonymous which doesn’t seem to have realistic alternatives to what they are against. Let us think here about reasonable constructive possibilities which are both achievable in this moment and giving hope for the real improvement for our future. The general feeling is that the main problem is that the power co…

From: http://www.ilovephilosophy.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=178178 and http://kunstler.com/blog/2012/02/the-john-brown-moment.html Give Us Back Good Old FASCISM... In the 70s or 80s that which is happening in Greece would be considered, under all points of views, a Right Wing Fascist Type Coup, a Pinochet style change in government, it would be considered a pure Fascist like take of power on behalf of the Powers That Be (which are mostly the Capitalist, Free Market Ideology, Globalism Bible, Punish Workers and Anyone who is not a Superstar Winner like "Germany" and such) that want to impose a complete doctrine, an Economical Doctrine that is…

Barack Obama has perhaps accomplished more than any other President in just over three years of service. By deliberate design, Barack Obama daily makes America weaker abroad, less Free (more Authoritarian) at home, economically more feeble, and more bitterly divided than ever. Really, I think Barack Obama represents the greatest military campaign since Alexander the Great! He has done to America, in 3 years, what the Soviets were unable to do in 50. He has done in 3 years, what the Arab world has been unable to do in millennium. He is bringing all the Arab states together, under one banner, for a single purpose.→ The destruction of Israel. He's been like a …

How can the offspring of "Cuban Immigrants", dare to speak like a politician? http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=WiKrCUiP-fg

Are democracy and sustainability incompatible given that the vast majority of the general public are largely science illiterate?

I'm discussing with someone illegal immigrants and welfare. Here's my question, "do illegal immigrants currently receive welfare?" If so, please cite a source. Thanks!

Or he may as well have:

The American worker cannot and should not have to compete with impoverished third world laborers willing to work for survival level wages! I have no problem with free trade with another country, but only when it has similar living standards and environmental protection laws. I know Reaver is going to jump into this thread and complain that protectionism prevents the economy from expanding and would start trade wars. What will really prevent the economy from expanding is if the wages of the American worker decline even more. Yes, trade with China is lowering prices of many consumer goods, but it is driving down wages much more. American exports to China are in…

Here's a recent news article on this. I'll be the first to accuse myself of being cynical, but when I read something like this: Am I really supposed to believe that any company will incur a voluntary out-of-pocket expense? Do these companies get shareholder approval for such donations? Do they turn around to their shareholders and tell them, sorry, profits will be down slightly for the next decade while we engage in this donation program over in Africa? Do they tell employees that raises will be slightly less over the next ten years due to their give-away program? Or do they increase the costs of their products to be paid by insurance companies and pati…

I just watched a documentary called Occupation 101. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_jvXnPG9Xc Does anyone know of a good documentary that argues for the Israeli side?

To avoid democracy being deformed by money having a vote in addition to people, many countries have adopted restrictions on political campaign financing. Some allocate money to political parties based on their performance in the previous election, which unfairly entrenches the existing political power structure. Others allow private contributions only up to a certain amount, but this limit is always higher than the average voter can afford to spare, thus favoring the rich in what is supposed to be an equal democratic process. The ultimate goal of all reform efforts has to be to make campaign financing reflect the voter equality which is essential to democracy. One …

Santorum fail Yeah, will be interesting if this guy can last past Florida. He actually does a good job working the crowd and making his stupid argument appear valid. It would be nice if we had a presidential contender who actually was pro gay marriage and would debate this topic. I would have liked to share my opinion: 1) I think marriage is a core of a great society, providing a solid foundation to create families. 2) Extending this core to same gender couples will increase the number of stable families, improving society. 3) Marriage has evolved through time, it hasn't always been between only two people and was not liberally applied regardless of rac…

What the hell is going on? Imagine a World Without Free KnowledgeFor over a decade, we have spent millions of hours building the largest encyclopedia in human history. Right now, the U.S. Congress is considering legislation that could fatally damage the free and open Internet. For 24 hours, to raise awareness, we are blacking out Wikipedia. Learn more. Make your voice heard Facebook Google+ Twitter

I always knew that the connection of beauracrats and (many) NGOs to reality was tenuous at best, but this out of Durban simply shows how far from the real world they are. From the UNFCCC agreement that they wanted to get signed at durban; So how much "new and addititional finance" you may ask? So America, your share is around $800 Billion. I'm so glad you can afford it. But seriously, how far divorced from any form of economic reality do you have to be to even make such a suggestion? Only people living in a total fairyland could think that Germany has a spare 30 Billion Euros to throw at this. (There are other ways of funding this, see below.) …