Catch up on stories from the past week (and beyond) at the Slashdot story archive

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×

Comment Re:They are brave, but there's a difference (Score 0) 566

Wow! How much Kool-Aid did you drink?

So the majority of the 1% grow rich by lending money at an exorbitant interest and exploiting the 99%?

First, you would like to marginalize the 1% by casting them as vampiric members of our society who obviously gained their wealth by immoral means. It's much easier to determine they are undeserving of their personal property and wealth. I'm sure there is a good portion of the wealthy that inherited their wealth. Does this mean they have no rights to their personal property and how they spend or use it?

Second, some factors in why the middle class in the US is shrinking is our move away from a base of manufacturing, instilling in our youth that they have "rights" to anything they determine they "need" at the expense of others instead of earning it, and allowing a growing number of our society to live off the teet of the government (the taxes paid mostly by the 1%) instead of working for a living.

Every child is told to get a college degree and they'll be handed a six figure income for little work. Guess what? Not every person is college material. Not every person has the abilities to obtain and perform in a high-skilled job. They say the illegals are doing jobs that Americans don't want to do. That's true, because somehow even the most unqualified individual in our country is led to believe they are better than that. Well, all of us are not better than that. Some individuals must do the manual labor and the unskilled jobs. Then there are others who are not willing to put forth the extra effort it takes to climb out of the lower and middle class and achieve greater success. However, this does not mean they are somehow entitled to the benefits of those who are able and willing to put forth the effort.

You look at the individuals who have achieved the "American Dream" and they were not sitting on the couch, smoking weed and watching Jersey Shore or Dancing with the Stars. They are always looking at ways to better utilize their time and resources and how to make the most out of what they have. The 1% are made up of these people and descendants of these people. They invest their wealth so that others may borrow money to open a business, buy a home or send their child to school. Yes, they make money on those investments as well they should. To think that is extortion is ignorant.

Lastly, all I saw in your last paragraph was we want, we want, we want. The only valid portion is to "remove the corruption that is screwing up the system." For this, we must as a nation return to the intent of our founding fathers. We must reduce the Federal Government to a minimalist role and return the power to the States and local governments where we as individuals have a larger voice and our representatives must come face to face with their constituents on a regular basis. When our communities have a greater say in how they are governed, the equity and justice will fall in line with the expectations of that community.

That is where our Republic has failed the most. We are disconnected from the political machine that is the Federal Government and nothing short of a revolution will change that. The problem is what sort of revolution will we have? One that strives for personal responsibility and ownership or one that strives for a larger welfare state that will ultimately cripple this country. Just take a look at Greece.

Comment Re:What happened to the constitution? (Score 0) 578

Settle down there old timer!!

As you may be senile and forgot, I'll remind you that the highways were established to facilitate travel of our military within the country.

And yes, driving *IS* a privilege. If it were a right, then you would not have to pass a driving test or obtain a license for that matter. You could just get a car and hit the road, because it is your *right*.

By the way, show me in the Constitution or the Bill of Rights where this *right* is proclaimed.

Comment Re:The cheek of it! (Score 1) 271

"books wear out after being read 2-3 times"

If your books wear out after 2-3 readings, then you do not take very good care of your property. There are books that have been around for decades at the library and are still in good condition.

"DVD's cost almost the same (sometimes even more) as games"

Seriously???? When was the last time you saw a DVD cost $60 or more??
Answer: NEVER!!!! ( I am excluding imports and DVD collections like TV series, because you are getting much more content than a typical DVD movie.)

Comment Re:Thanks Sony (Score 1) 271

"If you buy a second hand game from Gamestop, Sony (or EA, Microsoft et al) is not seeing a penny of that but they still have to host your ass when you turn up to play the multiplayer."

Microsoft does see money in the form of XBOX Live subscriptions. That's why I don't mind paying my $4/month to use their service. I don't have to worry whether I can play my game, no matter if it is new or used. (At least until the game is considered EOL and server support is removed. Not sure if any games published for the 360 have had their multiplayer shutdown or not, but original XBOX games have.)

Sony used their FREE online as a selling point over Microsoft. It's not as free anymore and I believe this is just the beginning. It won't be long before they will go to a fully paid system. Microsoft understood the need to charge for the online service as there is considerable cost over time. They charge a reasonable fee and provide a quality service for that fee. Everyone buying an XBOX 360 knew this up front and were able to make an informed purchase. Sony will ultimately give in to that sucking sound from their infrastructure cost and make a change.

Comment Re:Big difference (Score 1) 1486

"I'm curious how you verify that your mother loves you, or that what you did yesterday actually happened. Have you verified that you slept last night, and didn't disappear into the ethos to fly around the city unconsciously? Can you verify that your decision to drive home tonight won't lead to a fatal car accident? Or will you just have faith in your driving, and choose to do so?"

Seriously? Your "argument" actually killed a few of my brain cells.

Comment Re:Doesn't the law help? (Score 2) 613

WOW! You obviously do not use XBox Live.

"Pay to play? no. pay to play OTHERS, but a silver account is free, you have to pay $70.00 a year for gold..."
Yes, you must pay to play online. There is no single player gaming experience through XBox Live. The silver membership is basically limited to a friends list and messaging, but no games.
Where does ANYONE pay $70.00 for a 12 month gold membership?!?!? Microsoft doesn't even charge that much. You can usually get one for under $50 through Amazon and sometimes under $40 at some sites.

"It's a way to extort money out of xbox owners, most dont pay it."
I find the value that XBox Live adds to my online multiplayer experience to be WELL WORTH the price of a happy meal each month. Seriously, "most dont pay it"???? There are an average of around 350k to 400k players on Black Ops every weeknight. That doubles on the weekend and that is just one game!!!!

In summary, you are clearly anti-Microsoft and just want to spew ignorant hypocritical drivel. Well Done on the Insightful mod!

Comment Re:Seriously? (Score 1) 1352

+4 Insightful??? Are you kidding me?!?!?

That's the problem right there: many people believe that The Daily Show is actually a legitimate news show.

Not only are the "facts" they present biased by their political philosophy, but they present the information in whatever manner necessary to get a laugh. (They are on Comedy Central after all) They have no presumption of journalistic integrity. That doesn't mean they never present a well-rounded view of a story. It just means you have to take the information they give you with a grain of salt. It should not be your only source of news as it is first and foremost entertainment.

Broaden your horizons and watch/read multiple sources of news to help decipher the truth behind all the bias.

Comment Re:Waiting for the Classist Anti-Walmart Hipsters. (Score 1) 278

"Humanitarians dislike WM because of the well-publicized abhorrent treatment of employees, such as locking them in the store overnight"

As far as I know, all Wal-Mart Supercenters are open 24 hrs/day and only close one day out of the year (Christmas Day), so how could employees be locked in the store overnight?

Comment Re:Communism necessitates totalitarianism, of cour (Score 1) 539

OK. I'll burn some karma.

"It works fairly well, but it should apply a little more taxation on the truly rich. Not giving money to the poor directly, but not forcing the poor to pay the rich person's prices."
the top 0.1% of taxpayers by income pay 17.4% of federal income taxes (earning 9.1% of the income), the top 1% with gross income of $328,049 or more pay 36.9% (earning 19%), the top 5% with gross income of $137,056 or more pay 57.1% (earning 33.4%), and the bottom 50% with gross income of $30,122 or less pay 3.3% (earning 13.4%). US Tax Distribution

The "truly rich" pay their fair share of taxes already considering most of the poor pay NO federal income tax.

"The government in the U.S. would do well by subsidizing more things: farming is well subsidized; education needs a whole hell of a lot more money; alternative fuel research and implementation would help drive down gas prices as well as provide more economic means of transportation."

Yeah, more subsidizing is what we need. We already pay "farmers" to NOT grow food. That's subsidies in action.
We have increased funding to schools year after year and our test scores do not show a direct link to the amount of money spent. What we need is to get the teacher unions under control and overhaul the public school system. Teachers should be accountable for how well their students perform.
Yes, implementation of an alternative fuel that is actually an effective substitute for oil-based fuels would be wonderful. Let me know when we find one. We could be using nuclear power much more, but the far-left tree-huggers won't let that happen.

"Tweak the market" is your code for more governmental regulatory control or subsidies. Either way, the general public will suffer.

You obviously have no clue what you are talking about. Keep drinking the Kool-Aid that the socialist far-left keeps dishing out.

Slashdot Top Deals

"A car is just a big purse on wheels." -- Johanna Reynolds

Working...