This assessment is terrible and you people mod it up to 5...

Inflation does not proportionally effect the working classes. It damages Rentiers, people on incomes derivative of financial holdings. (Niall Ferguson The Assent of Money). Someone living hand to mouth can ask for a raise to compensate for inflation. His boss will write inflation into the next generation of contracts. Some widow living off of income from bonds, Social Security and her husbands pension is screwed. The former "might" not get an increase for inflation; while the latter has no chance at anything.

This bankruptcy garbage is insane. The US has yet to exceed any crazy threshold in terms of public debt, Japan has issued credit in excess of twice their GDP with no hyperinflation. Professor Ferguson uses Argentina as the prime example of what happens in relation to hyperinflation; "what made Argentina's (monetary policy) so unmanageable was not war, but the constellation of social forces: the Oligarchs, the caudillos, the producers' interest groups and trade unions-not forgetting the impoverished under-classes or descumizados (literally the shirtless).To put it simply, there was no significant group with an interest in price stability. Owners of capital where attracted to deficits and devaluation; sellers of labour grew accustomed to a wage price-spiral. The gradual shift from financing government debt domestically to financing them externally meant that bond holding was outsourced."(p. 111) (Oh and the best part is, after Argentina declared bankruptcy it only took a decade to re-establish their credit with the international bond markets. Essentially meaning that they got out of 50 years worth of debt obligations for 10 years worth of low growth)

We here in the US have about 70 million people, or more then one fifth of our country, that has a strong interest in price stability since they're all about to, or already live on, fixed incomes (the 35-70 million old people duh). The Federal Reserve has no interest in creating hyperinflation as that would destroy our economy. (Inflation =/= Hyperinflation; Everyone just talks as if they are the same.) So we have several groups, old people being the strongest group in terms of voting, interested in preventing hyperinflation

As far as us being insolvent. We could erase our debt in a decade by wiping out the Health Care industry, institute a single payer system and Tax the industry by the difference. You'd pull 500 billion dollars of waste out of the economy every year and pay down the debt with it. To extend the household metaphor; We here in the US can literally just switch cable and phone providers and be out of debt in 15 years or less. This is hardly anything close to bankruptcy... .

The Federal Government already has the legal power and infrastructure to shift money in the way that the OP describes.

This issue of "Total Central Control" versus "Total Individualism" is an illusion. Every modern Military is an example of a Large institution with centralised authority and high levels of micromanagement that prizes a high degree of individual autonomy. Individual courage and initiative are required as local decisions are best made by people there; while system wide coordination of resources is also required. Some would argue that that autonomy exists within a framework and is therefore not individualism at all. I would say that one could generalise that argument to include all activities that are considered to be individualistic by society, Reductio ad absurdum.

With regards to the increased output of Chinese Universities; the degree one earns there may, or may not be, similar to what we have here in the West. There is a long history in China of study in Confucian institutions which awarded a Degree. Initially a Degree meant a position in the Government Bureaucracy of the time; essentially entrance into the upper class. At other times a Degree was required to enter civil society; perhaps an analogue to owning a business here in the U.S. now days. During those periods Degrees were bought rather then earned; sometimes at the explicit consent of the Dynasty in order to raise funds for extraordinary times.

He presumes that regulation would lower their profit margins taking ammunition out of that money machine gun that they point at newly graduated Engineering students.

The standard reply to this is that any effective oversight here in the U.S. will just push banks to the state with the least regulation; since there are no barriers to the interstate flow of capital. So either we'd need effective worldwide regulation of financial entities or we have to recreate barriers to the movement of capital. That last one effectively amounts to reversing globalisation.

The biggest down side to this type of data aggregation is that it won't lead to decreased advertisements directed at people that either, completely ignore all adds, or never/infrequently purchase anything advertised to them.

Isn't good trolling a sort of variation on the Socratic Method? Illumination of truth though feigned ignorance or by soliciting contradictory comments from the Original commenter (In this case the "OP")?. Alternately if you consider the worst case scenario, where the troll is just attempting to make you mad, why even bother to engage them as they have already expressed their inability and or lack of desire to engage in a meaningful conversation.

Just in case anyone was curious about why the images where taken in the first place. Public service agency's, both Police and EMS/Fire departments routinely pass around photos like these at conferences and training sessions and in private. I was actually shown this particular set of photos back in late 2006-07, roughly around the time they where taken. There are several reasons we do this type of thing, some of which do not apply to this particular case;

Images of accident scenes are sometimes helpful when delivering a patient to an emergency facility. (This does not apply here) This is as much an issue of efficacy as anything else. Instead of saying things like "impact between the C and D posts", "negative steering wheel deformation, negative windshield staring." etc.... I can just show them a picture.

They make for useful teaching aids. This is actually more complex then it first appears. It can help you assess an accident scene before even seeing a patient, giving you clues to the nature and quantity of injuries present. Perhaps more important though, EMS personal spend a lot of time driving, 20 to 40 hours a week depending on your work schedule and particular company. This is dangerous, more so then most people realize. This particular danger is increased because we have been given the ability to ignore traffic laws during certain conditions. Images like those mentioned make up the most vivid and palatable examples of exactly why you do not drive with out due regard. To this effect I have actually seen perhaps a half dozen examples of accidents involving emergency vehicles.

There is a sort of benefit from being acquainted with morbid scenes before actually having to deal with one. Although I would be hesitant to say that this is why these pictures where widely distributed. But this does not apply to the "Faces of Death" crowd that has probably been distributing these photos.

And yes there is a certain amount of morbid gawking that goes along with it. I'm not entirely sure that I could phase that in a more positive way. Perhaps they only way some people can cope with this sort of thing is to grow contemptuous of it. Which can only happen with repeated contact and to some extent ridicule.

This looks like another incarnation of the "Lincoln was _______" phenomena. Apparently Lincoln was so awesome that he has to embody every singly significant idea or social event since his death.