Things like the TPP? I've never yet taken the time to look into it to try to understand what effect it will have on the trade of the countries that are in it and why anyone might regard it as bad. Is it generally considered to be good for Australia?the Chinese focus on creating new "silk roads".
Democracy: Every Cook Can Govern
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Re: Democracy: Every Cook Can Govern
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Re: Democracy: Every Cook Can Govern
I suspect it would be pretty difficult to design an algorithm which would be able tell whether a poster appears to be genuinely contemplating violent revolution just from analyzing their words here. I'm a human being and I'm still not completely sure of this one myself. Simply looking for the occurrence of certain words wouldn't tell you anything.Since this thread was started, several keywords may have flagged government operatives.
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To me the language of "rights" is problematic. I do think that everywhere people are being honest and fair-minded, they will naturally gravitate toward taking care of each other. America is a real outlier among the advanced nations. If you go nearly anywhere else you see much better conditions and outcomes. America, like Russia, is a kind of blend somewhere between an advanced nation and a 3rd world oligarchy.ZoneOfNonBeing wrote:Chili - but why have social safety nets when that can be the norm? Social safety should not be the backup plan, it should be THE plan.
-- Updated November 10th, 2017, 7:36 pm to add the following --
Can you agree that housing, food, and health insurance are human rights? Do you agree that every person deserves a living wage?
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Re: Democracy: Every Cook Can Govern
As far as I can tell, whenever Australia do business with the US our deluded conservatives are eaten alive by hard nosed American negotiators. I doubt that losing a little of the US's business and its superior negotiation ability will much harm Australia.Steve3007 wrote:Greta:Things like the TPP? I've never yet taken the time to look into it to try to understand what effect it will have on the trade of the countries that are in it and why anyone might regard it as bad. Is it generally considered to be good for Australia?the Chinese focus on creating new "silk roads".
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I've always imagined a stereotype of Australian business negotiators being pretty hard-nosed and blunt themselves. I guess that's largely due to the Murdoch effect and the stereotype of the blunt plain-speaking Aussie male. I remember reading the British/American journalist and author Bill Bryson's account of working for the Times newspaper in London during the 1980s when the new Australian management swept in. His account was of the old tradition of the seedy, alcoholic Fleet Street hack spending most of the day "researching stories and following leads" in the pub being swept away by the brutal commercial realities of the new Australian overlords.As far as I can tell, whenever Australia do business with the US our deluded conservatives are eaten alive by hard nosed American negotiators.
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Interesting story on the radio this morning about food banks - places where people can go for charitably-donated food if they can't afford it. In the US, they're apparently called food pantries and one in 7 Americans have used them. The story was about Walmart paying their workers too little to live on and then making donations to food pantries to deflect criticism for that.
Perhaps a revolution is needed after all. Or perhaps an increase in the legally mandated minimum wage? Or perhaps that would simply mean that companies like Walmart, in a competitive world, couldn't afford to employ some people at all. Tiny wage better than no wage? Discuss.
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Re: Democracy: Every Cook Can Govern
As far as I can tell, whenever Australia do business with the US our deluded conservatives are eaten alive by hard nosed American negotiators.
:lol: The FTA was like a negotiation between a fanboy in the thrall of his big brother, and said brother. theconversation.com/how-the-us-trade-de ... -pbs-32573Steve3007 wrote:I've always imagined a stereotype of Australian business negotiators being pretty hard-nosed and blunt themselves. I guess that's largely due to the Murdoch effect and the stereotype of the blunt plain-speaking Aussie male.
As you know, I think that the relationship between organisations and individuals today is increasingly echoing the relationship between humans and animals. Shrinking wages is just one symptom. Also note that the pressure on wages continues to be downward rather than upward due to outsourcing work to cheap labour in developing countries. The poorest country sets the benchmark.Steve3007 wrote:Interesting story on the radio this morning about food banks - places where people can go for charitably-donated food if they can't afford it. In the US, they're apparently called food pantries and one in 7 Americans have used them. The story was about Walmart paying their workers too little to live on and then making donations to food pantries to deflect criticism for that.
Perhaps a revolution is needed after all. Or perhaps an increase in the legally mandated minimum wage? Or perhaps that would simply mean that companies like Walmart, in a competitive world, couldn't afford to employ some people at all. Tiny wage better than no wage? Discuss.
2023/2024 Philosophy Books of the Month
Mark Victor Hansen, Relentless: Wisdom Behind the Incomparable Chicken Soup for the Soul
by Mitzi Perdue
February 2023
Rediscovering the Wisdom of Human Nature: How Civilization Destroys Happiness
by Chet Shupe
March 2023