This Is Why Poor People's Bad Decisions Make Perfect Sense

[onodera]

And explains why they are better off today than in 1992.



You're conceding Russia which demostrates that these particular policies, in and of themselves, are peripheral issues.



Markets always exist. The only thing that changes is the level of freedom they operate under. Freer markets = better economic development and capital expansion over time.

1. Most people are not better off now. I am, but that doesn't mean everyone is. Don't confuse me with HC.

2. I am not conceding Russia. While the production of consumer goods was lower in the SU than in the US, there was no widespread poverty (I'm talking about the 70s here) and social mobility was much more prevalent.

Markets always exist. But without regulation they don't become free and efficient, they become oligopolies.

[molly bloom]

Why can't we, in the age of the internet, get a degree simply through a library card and some elbow grease?

Or through redeemable pizza offer vouchers, say.

[molly bloom]

I realize that it's fashionable to believe that poor people are stupid with poor impulse control.

I'm not a dedicated follower of fashion. And I wasn't referring to your inability to keep from posting enormous historical errors.

Is your argument that motels in Texas are on the high end? I'm being generous to her argument.

No. Is Moron your first language?

Is Moron your first language?

No. I don't put tins or cans in microwaves, nor do I advise it- unlike some people.

It's a poor financial decision.

It's an addictive narcotic which quells the urge to eat and calms you down. Perhaps she smokes 2 a day, perhaps 1. I don't know, and neither do you. Besides which, don't tobacco companies spend an awful lot of money convincing us of the better lifestyle we'll have if we buy and smoke their product ?

What do you have against the free market and advertising ?

Perhaps I ought to provide you my essay on Mssr. Wilson written in 12 grade.

No, still have enough lavatory paper thanks.

[molly bloom]

Italy invaded libya because of an incredible little man syndrome affecting an entire nation. And it was Ethiopia, not Libya. Unless you mean following the fall of france in world war II, in which case it was because they were at war with the French and the British.

I think you'll find Italy was in Libya because other European powers had parts of Africa and it didn't want to lose out. Italy was also bringing ice cream and pasta to Eritrea and Somaliland and indeed was defeated at the Battle of Adowa (fighting Abyssinia) in 1896.

[DinoDoc]

The wisdom of cats:

[MOBIUS]

I grew up in poverty (no hot running water, amongst other things) with my mother and am the product of a failed school system (teachers' strikes for my last two years - exam years) and a failed school (my year had the worst exam results in its history) from which I left aged 16, in one of the poorest parts of East London (Bethnal Green, Tower Hamlets).

That's my excuse for posting on Poly, what's yours...?

[Imran Siddiqui]

You poor man .

I mean the posting on Poly part, of course.

[Ben Kenobi]

1. Most people are not better off now. I am, but that doesn't mean everyone is. Don't confuse me with HC.

I have many friends who left the former soviet union. They are very much happier in America.

2. I am not conceding Russia. While the production of consumer goods was lower in the SU than in the US, there was no widespread poverty (I'm talking about the 70s here) and social mobility was much more prevalent.

Funny. My Russian friends say the exact opposite.

Markets always exist. But without regulation they don't become free and efficient, they become oligopolies.

Insofar as regulation includes central planning - markets are unable to achieve proper price discovery.

[Ben Kenobi]

It's an addictive narcotic which quells the urge to eat and calms you down

At 300 a month, it's an expensive addiction.

[Ban Kenobi]

Even if we take your "pack a day" assumption seriously (that's like 20 cigarettes a day ffs) that's under $200 a month in most states. But there literally no evidence that she actually smokes that much.

[regexcellent]

Even if the people in Russia aren't better off (which I strongly doubt), everyone else in the world is way better off with the Soviet Union gone. If the Soviets had never ****ed around in Africa, Latin America, or Southeast Asia they wouldn't be half the huge ****holes they are today.

It's really just so fitting that in the demise of communism, it's Russia that suffered the worst while the Baltic states, Poland, East Germany, and so forth have begun to prosper.

[Hauldren Collider]

Karma's a bitch

[Ben Kenobi]

Even if we take your "pack a day" assumption seriously (that's like 20 cigarettes a day ffs) that's under $200 a month in most states. But there literally no evidence that she actually smokes that much.

Given that she lives in San Fran?

[rah]

That doesn't mean she buys her cigs there. Most people in Chicago buy theirs in Indiana. Or on-line.
You just can't make assumptions.

[kentonio]

If the Soviets had never ****ed around in Africa, Latin America, or Southeast Asia they wouldn't be half the huge ****holes they are today.

You are aware that you could swap Soviets for Americans in that sentence and it still be perfectly valid, right?