Capitalism is a economic system not a form of government. The Chinese government resembles mostly a totalitarian regime. Even though China has laws in the books concerning safety, environmental protection, child labor and other worker protections they are not enforced and violations and abuse by Corporations are the norm. Your argument that laws placing requirements on industry are not needed because "The vast majority of private companies are run by people with excellent ethical and moral standing" is clearly contradicted by the Chinese example, as well as our own history during the Industrial revolution.

China has the sort of unbridled capitalism with lax oversight which many conservatives here dream of. The results are lax safety standards which resulted in over 75,000 dead in accidents in 2012. Rampant child labor. Polluted environments. Slave like labor conditions (Foxconn for example). We had these same conditions here in the 1900 before the labor movement. If you believe that in the absence of accountability Corporate management will not resort to shady tactics to get a leg up on the competition and to maximize profits then you are clearly ignoring history, past and present. While in some cases such as Apple and Nike consumer backlash can force improvements, there is really no substitute to government action to ensure minimum standards are applied to every company.

Much better leak controls as well. Documents that can expose corruption are labeled state secrets and whistle-blowers are imprisoned for exposing state secrets. Think how much they can save on tiresome book-cooking and cover stories.

It is not the role of government to protect investors from competition with new technology. The medallion price drop will benefit the vast majority of drivers who as you mention only rent them at rates which leave little profit for themselves.

Democracy doesn't come easy or intuitively either, the Arab Spring is a testament to that. The great European empires and even many of our founding fathers thought our great experiment in Democracy was doomed to failure but after some 200 years of practice we have a pretty decent one.

All industrialized nations have implemented elements of socialism, the question is what minimum standard of living does a state guarantee its citizens and at what costs. The U.S has among the lowest safety nets among industrialized nations but the people living in relative poverty in the U.S enjoy a standard of living that the 1.5 Billion living in absolute poverty can only dream of. Scandinavian nations have among the highest level of socialist elements in place but society there demands a great amount of social cohesion at the expense of individual freedom.

Presumably stingrays are used for the real time interception of communications and live tracking of a suspect. Having the telcos provide the capability for real time monitoring across their networks to law enforcement provides far more potential for abuse than localized stingrays.

This is very much like the argument that gay marriage bans do not discriminate because they apply equally to straight people, personally I prefer to apply the smell test rather than theoretical arguments. Statistically while blacks have disproportionately higher levels of targeting by the police they also make up a disproportionately higher percentage of the underprivileged population. As for the broken windows I do not advocate selective law enforcement, as I mention in my original post the Politicians and Police work in conjunction on anti-poor legislation and tactics. There is simply no other explanation other than deliberate targeting, why the penalties the law imposes for minor infractions mostly committed by the poor are so tough.

They do not move away instead they have the Politicians and Police departments enact laws and policies that turn the Poor areas into virtual prison colonies. This is what happens in NYC with policies like "Stop and Frisk" which lets cops effectivly harrass poor people that step outside of their zones and "Broken Windows" which allows them to haoul them in for minor infractions. For schooling the solution is of course private schools and voucher programs.

You are assuming that he was not complicit and wanted to be held for as long as possible. To me this whole thing sounds like a ploy for 15 minutes of infamy.

Just remembering that game gives me nausea.

Defaulting on national debt is no easy way out of crisis. It means greatly devalued currency, harsh Capital Controls, high borrowing costs and ultimately the foreign banks and governments the money is owed to, do not simply forget the loans exist.

If you want to accurately predict the future do as Jules Verne did and write as many of them as you can possibly think up. History indicates that you will be mostly wrong and a large number of predictions will increase the odds of getting something right.

Ubers plan for for entering a new markets has always been to start the service under the radar without asking permission. Once the have reached a certain number of users, a critical mass of sorts, they start advertising the service heavily relying on the user base to make a big stink if the regulatory agencies or courts try to stop them. In South Korea they went as far as offering free rides to everyone in order to keep in line with regulations but mostly to influence public opinion. The powers that be were clearly not amused.

Doesn't this assume the rich and poor are buying the same items and services at the same prices? Which is hardly the case.

A whole wheat or gluten free loaf of bread costs a lot more than your basic white loaf (Sorry actual celiacs).

A free-range natural chicken costs a lot more than the factory raised ones.

Organic produce costs more than your industrial farming equivalent.

File-minion costs several times per pound than ground chuck.

A luxury class car costs a lot more than a compact or full size car.

A sports car costs a lot of money and is hardly usable for most as the sole vehicle.

A haircut at a saloon costs several times what it would cost at the local barber.

If you want you can also tack on a luxury tax to higher end items and services as many states already do.