Look at the Guardian link I provided. Many of your comments and questions are answered there. It looks at how the degree of austerity measures has affected the rate of recovery for various countries.
Remember, not all public servants are equal. Privatization will cut the count of "public servants", but can actually increase the cost of the service for a net loss to the economy.
Actually, once they have once and for all ceased even trying to pay back the loans, they will be running at a surplus. A bit of currency devaluation will be a boon to their significant tourist trade.
I'm not claiming it is the best possible solution, but since the IMF et. al. won't quit flogging the dead horse that is austerity, it may be the only option open to Greece.
Why should an old person learn to use (in rapid succession) CompuServe, AOL, Yahoo, LiveJournal, Myspace, Facebook, Flicker, Pinterest, Instagram (and so on and so on), instead of his relatives putting a little effort into hand written letters and face time?
Because those handwritten letters and face time are going to become a chore very soon, and chores have a tendency to be "forgotten", especially when they only exist in the first place because their benefactee is too lazy to invest into learning modern communication methods.
If you make it hard for other people to stay in contact, they probably won't bother.
THIS! Mod up!
Don't forget visual impairment. They may be depending on the splat looking thing next to the red thing being the send button. Move it and good luck.
Reddit was started as an experiment in free speech.
Wait, what?
I recall Alex coming on Slashdot a lot to promote Reddit when he first launched it. "An experiment in free speech" was not anything I recall being discussed. I also remember him posting on Slashdot while still developing reddit.
What I recall, is promotion of a general interest platform that was more open than Slashdot (unlimited moderations for all!) and less susceptible to vote brigading than Digg.
It was while ago, so I may be a bit foggy on the specifics.
I think what the Libertarians fail to realize is that farmers, as a general rule, are not smart enough to diversify or maintain course.
First, I think that's a ridiculous assertion. Smart farmers don't diversify because the taxpayers bear the risk of their crop failure, or of crashing prices; they have insufficient incentive to diversify.
Second, if we had a true free market, dumb farmers would go out of business and we would be left with smart farmers allocating resources efficiently. Isn't that the point of economic libertarianism?
Note: I am far from libertarian.
Sure, and then Greece will default and exit the Euro. That is probably the best outcome for Greece in the long run anyway. Of course, it will mean no more pay back on the debts at all and it will damage the Euro.
Remember, there are several other countries in a similar (but not as severe) condition as Greece. They are, no doubt, watching very carefully to see how this works out.
The problem in the U.S. is not people who don't have skills. People have skills. The problem is that skills aren't valued. If you have skills, you will get paid shit. If you manipulate money, you will get paid a lot. This is why there's been such a geek brain drain into the financial industry. The U.S. does not value working for a living. We value gambling for a living.
There's balancing the budget and then there's selling every productivbe tool and resource you have to balance the budget.
The first is sustainable. The latter works for about a month and then the next payment comes due and you don't even have the means to bring in money to pay it. The 'deal' being pushed on them was the latter.
The rest of Europe really doesn't want Greece to default and pull out of the Euro. Notice how once the referendum passed, the people rattling that particular saber started backpedaling. Greece going back to the Drachma could do Europe more harm than it does Greece.
The deeper you dig, the more it looks like the current situation was orchestrated to some degree. But the crooks in the banks that did the orchestrating don't get their payoff if Greece won't play along.
It's just the "fuck you" attitude that gets to us. When users demand features, you are supposed to listen. But nope, this stock answer is trotted out every time as a way to avoid doing work.
But it's not work. The developers are free to listen to you, and they're also free to ignore you. You aren't their boss. Refusing to treat you like you were isn't "fuck you". You just took it that way because getting rejected is humiliating and you didn't want to admit you misunderstood the situation.
Works very well. You can set it at any height you like. Not too expensive either, at least as compared to other motorized adjustable desks. I'm pleased with it overall.
Facts hurt your feelings? All that shit is true and that should tell you something. That you think they're talking points shows that you have no idea what's actually going on with your government. And it's something that a foreigner like me already knows about.
It's so much better when the commisar decides & comes in to take all your excess food, right komrade? Make everyone poor so that none can complain that any are poorer!
You know, if you feel the need to lie about your opponent to make yourself look good, then that usually means you are the bad guy.
Or was it your indoctrination speaking? Some old Cold Warrior reliving their youth? A kid who thinks Red Scare is fashionable? Inquiring minds want to know how you got from "I guess this explains why we still have beggars" to "Make everyone poor so that none can complain that any are poorer!"
It is easier to write an incorrect program than understand a correct one.
