Please tell me you aren't conflating the actions of a government with the desires of the governed.

Normally I don't pay much heed to comments like this, but that shit was so canned it still has the ring marks. Cranberry anyone?

Seems like it's functioning perfectly. Company screwed up and people are seeking redress through the legal system. What is your point besides being a snarky fuckface?

Conscription != no pay.

Further, this page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_budget_of_the_United_States

shows clearly that of $680 billion in US military spending, $525 billion of it has nothing to do with salaries.

According to this page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_military_expenditures

the US outspends everyone on a GDP basis except Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Jordan, Iraq, Oman, Israel, Eritrea, and Chad.

And on an actual dollar basis, the difference is truly staggering.

Now that was informative. Thank you.

There is a vast difference between an individual and a government. The framers saw that very clearly and lots of words were devoted to the subject. All lost now apparently.

I was personally hoping the phrase 'piss lightning and crap thunder' had gained new relevance...

Cling very, very tightly to that foaming patriotism. It's all you'll have left if things keep going like they are.

"Hell, its against the law to camp at a CAMPGROUND for two weeks."

No, it isn't. And shouldn't be. It may be against a campgrounds rules, but there's nothing in the law preventing it. Why in the hell would you think that there is or should be?

You reasoning is mostly right, but your conclusion is wrong.

Teeth = not reasonably sub-divisible, fragile
Lego = easily mass producible
Shiny/Wearable = irrelevant

You are correct in that not having at least all of the properties I mentioned before (and there are others that are useful as well) will disqualify a specific substance.

Also you are correct that if you get rid of 90% of the demand, presumably by convincing people there is a better way to store value that cannot easily be taken/devalued by social and political winds, the gold market would collapse.

Good luck with that.

"The gold price is more based on a circular logic: It's valuable because everyone thinks so."

Incorrect. It's called intrinsic value and gold has it. It's hard to dig up and there's not much of it. It never deteriorates (silver does) and is easy to work/subdivide (platinum isn't). It is also highly portable and easily storable (vs oil, wheat, etc). Aristotle laid it out pretty well when he wrote that something used as money should have the following properties: Durable, Portable, Divisible, Intrinsic Value

Those are the reasons gold has retained it's status for thousands of years, and continues to do so today. See my sig for confirmation even from one of our modern economic 'masterminds'. I would suggest that somewhere around nothing has changed concerning the status of gold since he said that. The fact that it looks nice and can be worn is just a bonus that influences the weak minded.

I think you meant Comrade.

That you Baghdad Bob? We love you!

Nearly every word that comes out of Chinese officials' mouths is painful to listen to. If it served their purposes they would claim the sky is red, forbid anyone from discussing it, jail/torture/disappear those who dared to still say it was blue, and denounce other countries for meddling in their internal affairs by stating the obvious. And do it with a straight face and a clear conscience. If that government not fucking evil, I don't know what is and I'm sick of hearing their blatant bullshit and absolutist statements. They are simply a slightly more moderate and much larger version of North Korea, and without the cult of personality.

To be clear, I think the Chinese culture is rich and ancient, and that the common, thinking people there feel much the same when they witness their own government's bullshit. It's their political structure and those who populate it that need to die in a fucking fire.