Nonetheless, I'll probably have to vote for him because the other side will be running some jackass like Palin, Pawlenty or Bachmann, and letting them get within 3 miles of the White House would be disastrous.
Have you ever wondered what would happen if everyone wrote in "none of the above?" It's a complete impossibility but makes for some good thought...
Inflation is measured as the overall increase in the prices of commodities and goods.
Um, no. Inflation is the loss of purchasing power of the currently accepted "money." Prices only go up in terms of (insert favorite fiat currency) because the supply of (insert favorite fiat currency) increases, i.e. the central bank (federal reserve in USA) prints more.
If gold were really a true indicator then we should see massively skyrocketing prices all over the place, which we don't (gold has increased over 500% from 10 years ago).
15%-20%+ annually is not skyrocketing?
Gold is being driven by supply and demand. Currency devaluation contributes a very small amount by comparison. Otherwise, the implication is that we are supposed to be in the midst of crazy inflation. You'd think people would notice a 500% increase in prices. The world would definitely notice a dollar's whose value is 1/500th what it used to be. At the very least international corporations, businesses, and the FOREX markets would have taken note of such an event.
The US Dollar has lost 98% of its purchasing power since the federal reserve came on the scene.
Credit cards forged and stolen - yep, although there are protections where people are not liable for fraudulent transactions
PINs get stolen - only if people write them on their card or nearby, or tell someone their PIN = their responsibility
Enter PIN at ATM under duress - it happens; get the proper police report filed and you do have some recourse
In the first and third scenario, there are protections. Protections that are afforded through insurance premiums and monitoring services paid for by the bank. Then there's the thing about interchange fees (service fee paid for by the merchant to process a card transaction). I'm sure plenty of people have heard the squabble about those fees. Have you ever wondered how your bank is able to (in most cases) give you a card for free? Ever wondered how your bank is able to offer you $0 liability on fraudulent transactions? How about monitoring your card activity to detect fraud, for free? I can tell you the card networks do not run on magic pixie dust, or repair themselves, or keep themselves upgraded to support the traffic. The interchange fees help pay for all of that. It is commonly known that by virtue of a merchant accepting plastic for payment, their gross sales increase by 30%. A big benefit? I think so.
Disclaimer: I do work in the banking industry
My car broke down and I had to call my insurance company. They wanted to know the street address of my location. I was broke down outside a McDonald's. I had to leave my car, walk into the restaurant, and ask for the manager, since none of the underlings knew the street address. If I lived in a 3G area instead of Edge, I would have used that feature in a heartbeat.
This.
Just 10 years ago people would have been grateful to have broken down outside a McDonald's. Something about how easy it was just to walk in and get the address.
So continues our skid...
In other words, they have plenty of chiefs and no fucking indians. (that's not a pun at India, it's a phrase familiar to all sailors and many Marines.)
The pun in question here does not refer to people from India but to Native Americans (which I am). Oh, and I fuck quite well thank you very much.
Company X has a right to TRY to make a profit. They do not however have a right to guaranteed profit. If Company Y can (even through reverse engineering) do it cheaper/better/faster then more power to them. That's called competition. Your argument of reverse engineering brings us to the bigger reason for pushing back against IP, and that is the current dismal state of copyright laws. My opinion is the original copyright limits remain the most proper. Most things in the consumer markets are well into the bargain basement seven years after release and technology improved a few times over. If a music album hasn't made a profit in seven years, it probably won't in the next 113. Yes protections should be provided for inventors, but reasonable limits MUST be applied to make it effective.
The M.O. we're seeing in the US today is that if your business model is failing, petition the government to create laws to ensure your continued relevance, however futile your attempts may eventually prove to be. A concrete dam can't hold back ALL the water... and eventually it will fail.
I agree with you but we're just users.
We're also the one's with the money and the votes (for congress I mean, we don't really vote for the president).
"...take off and fly like an aircraft to avoid roadside bombs."
Did anyone else read this as "...take off and fly like an aircraft to quickly* deploy assets to quell the masses from the air while keeping the soldiers relatively out of reach of citizen retaliation."
*quickly meaning not having to wait for traditional air support after the call is made.
Yes I know the tinfoil is a little tight today.
If only Dionysus were alive! Where would he eat? -- Woody Allen