There are certainly problems with "hard currencies" as was seen when private individuals were able to corner markets on physical gold when much of the world currencies were based on the gold standard. However, the argument about how the current Federal Reserve system works in the US right now, is factually correct. All debt, when you count lending by banks to businesses and individuals, as well as government debt, could not be paid off as the debt in total is greater than the money supply. That is just one of the side effects of fractional reserve accounting.

The question is, can the overall system be sustained without succumbing to hyperinflation and collapse. If gradual inflation can be maintained the system is sustainable and the paradox of more debt than can be paid off is not disastrous. If on the other hand the debt grows too large too fast, hyperinflation can set in and the system collapses, resets, defaults, or what ever poison you want to pick.

This leads us to consider if the current pattern employed by our government, and population, in the US has already hit the point where hyperinflation is now inevitable due to the debt load. Going by WWII debt to GDP numbers, it would appear that collapse is not a foregone conclusion. How ever individual debt at that point was not at current levels. The US at that time was a net producer while now it is a net consumer. I myself am not very worried about a collapse. The Federal Reserve owns approximately 50% of the total debt. It is within the authority of Congress to dismantle the Fed and discharge all obligations to it, and I have no doubt that if faced with certain collapse emergency actions would be taken.

Molog

Umm, the drugs you are talking about were developed by the pharma corporations, not a US tax payer funded research lab. If you have an example of something that was developed in such a facility and is patented which you are paying royalties for you would have a very strong counter example. As it stands, you are off topic and missed the point.

Molog

It's not even remotely the same. Microsoft is a for profit corporation. If you had enough shares you sure could prevent them from enforcing their copyright against you, but that is a different story. You might buy MS products but you do not have money automatically taken out of your pay check to go to Microsoft so that they may provide protection and basic services for you.

The State of Oregon is a state GOVERNMENT, not a corporation. It exists to serve the people of Oregon. If tax payer dollars payed for the creation of that text, it should not have a copyright assigned to it. If it was a private work by a state employee, then they should be able to sell it outside of the office but not through it.

No government, Federal, State, or Local should be able to hold copyright on a work.

Molog

I'm willing to listen to the facts, and I never modded you a troll. What code in Unix was placed into Linux? I want the file names and line numbers of the Unix code, and the file names and line numbers where it was injected into Linux. If SCO presented that evidence in discovery, please point me to the filing.

Molog

I most certainly would condemn that, as I think everyone else on this thread would. How about you cite your source for this crime taking place. People were not defending the CIA or anyone for torturing persons, you accusing everyone in the US of being guilty of this crime and supporting it, if it did occur, is what has made people angry. I am a US citizen and I don't support this activity and I have never taken part in it.

Wrong. Students do have those rights. They should not face punishment from the government for their exercising free speech. The school, however, can punish them in the form of detention, suspension or expulsion.

Molog

Have you ever had a broken leg? I haven't looked at the statistic in a while but I believe that about 1 in 50 children will have had a broken bone by the time they turn 18. That's only a 2% chance, but if you are one of the lucky parents that has that happen and you don't have health insurance some very bad things happen.

If an ambulance took them to the hospital, with no insurance you will probably incur a $1000 charge for that ride. Emergency room admittance is probably another $500. The doctor will charge $3000 for setting the bone, the hospital will charge $800 for putting on the cast. If they keep them in over night assume $700 in additional fees. If they need prescription pain relievers and anti-biotics, with no insurance you could easily incur another $200 just to buy those. From my rough guesstimate this would result in a $5200 charge and I'm afraid I might be on the low end of the estimate.

There are lots of things besides just getting sick that health insurance saves you from disaster with. Any type of accident requiring medical care could bankrupt you right then and there. It might be a lottery but the reward out weighs the price. I know that I have already benefited from having my family insured. If we had opted to save money by not having insurance we would be bankrupt and would no longer have our home.

Molog

Why? Is Obama really that much better than McCain? Would McCain have been worse than Bush? I just saw two complete liars campaigning. Obama just got away with telling bigger lies. The only thing I can hope for is that the Republicans can filibuster the Democrats' bills. Not so much to push a Republican agenda, but to keep either party from screwing us any more than they currently do.

Molog