Post Archive
Region: The Confederacy of Free Nations
Sí
Hello everyone, I'm new to this region and hope you all have a lovely day!
Jaslandia, Penguania And Antarctica, The United Providences Of Perland, Yukona
Welcome, and enjoy what the Confederacy has to offer!
Jaslandia, Penguania And Antarctica, Yukona
Hello and welcome.
Make yourself at home and enjoy your stay. :)
Jaslandia, Yukona
Welcome! if you have any questions, feel free to TG me!
Jaslandia, Penguania And Antarctica
You all should read this! Very interesting perspective on Free Trade!
https://www.cato.org/publications/trade-briefing-paper/blessings-free-trade
Killdash, Yukona
Just waiting for the South African Telecommunications Company, (Telkom) to fix the blown cables that connect our estate to the Internet.
It's only been 36 days, so no rush, really.
Jaslandia, Penguania And Antarctica
Freer the markets, freer the people
Aldaur
The author of the article is pals with a head banker. Of course he wants free trade. It benefits his class.
Aldaur, Penguania And Antarctica
And I found his disdain for unions predictable and arrogant.
Aldaur, Penguania And Antarctica
Apart from the people who lose their jobs because of cheap imports.
Intelligentpeople
It is still an interesting perspective on free trade. It lacks the "it creates jobs" narrative. I think free trade and the nationalization of key domestic industries is the way to encourage and sustain economic growth. It would keep jobs here and allow for cheap consumer prices.
Nuremgard
Still found much of his attitude dismissive.
Aldaur
The labour market is a different argument altogether -
"A society that puts equality before freedom will get neither. A society that puts freedom before equality will get a high degree of both. - Milton Friedman
I did too, but the message I took from it is that free trade creates wealth, not jobs. Which is still a pretty important function of the economy, so there just needs to be additional things that creates job retention and creation.
Intelligentpeople
He sounds a lot like my father with regards to his "unions don't solve anything" rhetoric.
Aldaur
Don't mention that man's name.
So as long as the majority benefit, the minority who are unemployed can go hang because we gte nice things?
Yes. It's always about wealth.
Aldaur
Typical right wing BS.
Aldaur
I like private unions, but not public unions. Public unions make it too hard to fire people for poor performance ans make the government efficient. The military is arguably the most efficient government institution, even with all of its waste, and that can largely be attributed to it not being unionized.
Killdash, Intelligentpeople
That's because soldiers don't need unions. They're trained state killers. Their jobs depend on doing as they're told.
What's your definition of a private union?
Somebody doesn't like the FREE'DMAN
Posted in the RP. Hope that godmodding gets fixed very soon, but everything else looks nice. I tried to add an innuendo to my post. It may be successful, it may not; y'all will just have to read it in the Confederacy General.
*here ends the shameless advertisement plug*
Killdash, Penguania And Antarctica
I really don't. Right wing hack. Much prefer Keynes.
Keynes wasn't even left wing as many assume, he simply advocated for more government intervention. Friedman is not at all a right-wing hack, he was very honest, spoke to the general populace and more importantly didn't come from the typical rich background of economists of the time.
Continental Commonwealths
I can't pinpoint what godmodding you're referring to? If it was Andromitus, he only copy pasted what I had Trikosky say already so that his post made more sense.
Andromitus, The United Providences Of Perland, Yukona
I agree with Keynes' position of more government intervention in the economy. However, one thing I did agree with Friedman about was letting the banks fail. That would have been true free market capitalism. If the sauce is good for the goose, it's good for the gander. But it's always the super rich that become the biggest socialists when they're on their knees to the State with their begging bowls.
Yukona
Oh, that was copy paste? Probably should've reread yours after school.
Let me edit my post then.
Friedman never said he was always right, but he certainly knew his stuff and is my go to economist for any assignments I have. His method of thinking speaks for the working man, not the super-rich, and he makes it evident he has theories he is working on, not solid facts he espouses as the solution to everything. Remember what happened after everyone adopted Keynes' theories, and now we have quantitative easing - 'cus that's nice. [/s]
Continental Commonwealths
How is Friedman, an advocate of cut-throat, unrelenting capitalism a speaker for the working man?
Free lunch myth? Just because he's for the free market doesn't automatically mean he's greedy, in fact I quote "of course, it's always the fella' next to us who's greedy" (the audience laughs). Having that opinion is, in my own, just as ignorant and anti-'working man' as you suppose Friedman is - keeping your mind open and not defaulting to a standard set of ideas is a great quality that should not go un-commended.
I'm not totally opposed to his ideas. Like I said, according to his ideology, the banks should have been allowed to fail. I agree with that. I watched a documentary on the three big economists of the 20th century, Friedman was one of them. I found his ideas interesting. I just don't like them, especially because his BS inspired Thatcher and Reagan.
I'll be honest, I've never really considered Friedman to be exactly the patron saint of workers either.
Nuremgard
He advised Reagan and Thatcher so he's hardly a working class hero.
Never said that at all, I just said that he's not "greedy" and he isn't "anti-working man".
Many people don't, that's not my problem
You did say he speaks for the working man, however. How?
Look at the free lunch myth and its implications on the working man.
That's not offensive at all. If anyone should have unions, it is people who risk their lives for others. However, we don't have them because we trust the organization to take care of us (which they do) and we know it will inhibit oir effectiveness.
A lobby to petition on behalf of worker's rights to either the corporate executive board or to the government.
I know there's no such thing as a free lunch. That's why I advocate a strong state of stellar public services with taxation to match it.
Maybe the soldiers need something to rein them in considering the atrocities some soldiers commit while at war.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmqoCHR14n8 - Well then at least watch a video on what it *actually* is
Silly Dingle, but I changed it any how :P
What don't you like about it being used in a public sector context then?
Aldaur
And just to reiterate, economics is a social science. No one who is an economist should subscribe to the idea that I am right and everyone else is wrong. As I said before, the ability to intake one another's ideas and form your own opinions is critical, but everything any economist from right to left is simply theory and they know that. When we look at the derived demand of labour, we're certain it's right, just like we know gravity exist, but what makes a good a certain price - that's still out there to be answered! (see Adam Smith, Marx, etc.)
Killdash
Three cheers for pipelines.
So what is his solution? Seems he really hates taxes. If there's no taxes then who pays for the infrastructure and other services that keeps society functioning? Or does he want a dog-eat-dog world in which everyone is out for themselves?
I hope he lived by his philosophy and paid to build his own roads, his own school, his own hospitals etc. If not, then he's a hypocrite.
BORED AS F$%&
Jaslandia
With respect, I can't agree with that.
One of the most important things for a soldier to do -not just to remain a soldier, but to not be placed in jail- is to understand the difference between a lawful and unlawful order.
Indeed, if a Soldier is ordered to kill a village -and battle fatigue has yet to set in to a significant effect- they would refuse and the CO giving the order would be court marshaled for their intent to break international law.
Gotta side with Nurem, if we're to follow the very preamble of our constitution, then we should acknowledge that allowing people to starve because it lowers the tax by a cent is typically pretty far from promoting the common good >.>
Jaslandia, Intelligentpeople
You make a valid point but armies are still state trained killers. It's fact. Armies are necessary evils.
Right wingers don't do the common good. They look after themselves and their own. Everyone else can rot.
Most of the things you listed are public goods and you can't stop people from consuming them, that's ridiculous. You're accusation of hypocrisy is equally so, just because he wants low taxes doesn't mean he has to build his own hospital, why don't you nationalise the pub you work at (generic example of teen job), that truly is silly. This isn't a debate about the implications of low taxes and if we were to have one I'd be happy to do it on discord, not here it's just two awkward and doesn't allow for diagrams and flowing conversation that's required for an economics debate, this is an argument that he's not the rich's boogie monster.
Your* I promise that's autocorrect
How are you all doing ?
Jaslandia, Intelligentpeople
Public goods which would be underfunded in his ideal world because he wants lower taxes.
Intelligentpeople
You hardly responded to much I have said over the course of debate so I'll take that as a no to discussing it further, shame. You completely missed my point, I'm not arguing for low taxation although I'd be happy to do that in Discord as said, but... Back to the exact same aforementioned point, why don't you get stop using money, nationalise your cafe and make yourself and everybody else equal if you're a communist, for example. What? You don't live in that society so it's not possible? Why not try make it your way then? Oh, that's called politics and what people use to amplify their view to a national scale. Go tell Corbyn not to use British Rail, or the private energy grid and instead to build his own national rail and light a fire in the airing cupboard of his affordable home?
Again, autocorrect, I meant the British rail, not the ironically state owned company British Rail
Jaslandia, Percyton
Okay, I think there's been a misunderstanding here. I think we'll just need to agree to disagree on Friedman.
We have the JAG office, Rules of Engagement and Laws of Armed Conflict that do that Nurem. The military is very reined in, and your lack of respect for people willing to risk their lives for you is really disheartening. Most respectable people do not commit war crimes, and most war crimes committed are on accident. With that said, they are prosecuted regardless.
As I explained before, it makes it very hard to fire people for poor performance or unethical behavior. For example, when sexual harassment is committed between a government employee and someone else, it takes years to remove them from work and/or discipline them for unethical behavior. In addition, promotion and bonus' are granted by time being in that position rather than performance. This is very detrimental to government effeciency. I believe in a strong state and an effective government so we don't have to privatize things, but we have to get rid of these unnecessary barriers that prevent progress. In addition, public employees are already in a position of power in terms of working for the government compared to working for a private company, so having a union for them is entirely unnecessary.
Intelligentpeople
Well, if you'd like to talk about my points and beyond further please drop me a tg and we can do so on Discord, god bless x
Nuremgard
I do respect people who do that. But is pointing out that sometimes those people do bad things so wrong? Or pointing out that the military is indeed a necessary evil wrong? I'm a pacifist. I wish we could live in a world where armies weren't necessary because I don't like the idea of humans killing each other en mass in a war.
I don't use Discord as I dislike hearing my own voice. I prefer writing. We should maybe talk on TG sometime.
You don't think it would be better to merely scale back or reduce the power of public sector unions? You'd prefer wholesale abandonment?
Well you're free to type as I speak, it's up to you, the speed of discord as a chat room rather than a forum/post board makes it so much easier
I know it's easier but I'm a very self-conscious person. Hence why I prefer writing.
Yukona, Intelligentpeople
Trust me, people in the military don't want to kill people either. We do it to protect our family and country. There's nothing wrong with saying that sometimes the military does bad stuff, no one is saying they don't. But there are mechanisms in place that ensure it doesn't happen. The point however is that the military is a more effective government institution because it doesn't have unions.
I could compromise on that, but there would have to be some serious legal reductions that allow people to be fired. It's like tenure, which I'd be fine with, if it wasn't so hard to fire or discipline people.
Killdash, Intelligentpeople
Do you not see where I'm coming from though? After all, being in the army is all about following orders.
Do you mean make it easier to fire people? Talk me through the system of unions where you live.
Whatever.
Sup Peng, how are you doing? :)
Depressed and disappointed. Tired too.
You ?
Hey Peng! I'm good. How are you?
Penguania And Antarctica
Jaslandia
You follow orders because it fulfills the mission and the people above you have the experience and expertise to plan whereas the people below have the technical expertise to carry out the plan. It is just like working for a company. The managers have an idea of what they want and provide the leadership to guide you on how they want it, and then you do the actual work. In the military, the mission is multi-faceted but it boils down to keeping the defense of our nation at heart. Also, you can disobey orders if you believe them to be illegal or unethical.
Yes, make it easier to fire and discipline people for poor performance and unethhical behavior. They can have unions to advocate for more rights in terms of wages and benefits/entitlements, but they have far too many legal protections that make it very hard to fire people even if they did something wrong. There was a case where a government employee sexually harassed a contractor, and it took 3 years to fire that person from their job because unions were protecting them. There are also many instances where government employees consistently under perform but because it is hard to fire people and because they have been there for so long, they got promoted. This is unacceptable because it makes for an inefficient government and one that citizens can't trust because they have an increasingly negative view of it.
Killdash, Intelligentpeople
Sorry to hear that.
Yukona
Adding another post to the Kongo RP
I'm terribly sorry. Would you like to talk about it?
Jaslandia, Penguania And Antarctica
http://s15.zetaboards.com/COFN/topic/10061422/4/#new
Posted on the Kongo RP dudes
As I've held it, the extensive array of protection devices offered by unions do mean that very few unjust instances occur. In cases like the above, I'd prefer the accused to have full breadth of law when it comes to a potential career ending verdict. As for the ineffectual workers, I will concede that this is indeed a problem that I have noticed. However, I think the more appropriate response is to merely simplify the rules, or add a harsh compensation penalty to management should the fired party prove independently that they were unfairly treated.
Aldaur
You what makes me pleased about Former General Mattis being the SoD?
I can't help but feel like he'll know a lot more about what those soldiers on the field can handle, and I feel like he'll focus on ensuring that they get the best gear possible.
Yukona
Not good enough because the unions will chip at that until they gain back all the power they had and more. I'd prefer to just abolish them and instead sign into law what benefits they have remain permenant, even constitutional. However, I could tolerate if public unions were drastically reduced and legally limited to protect worker benefits and wages, and had no places in the firing process. When it comes to ethnics, that can be done through HR or EPR.
Killdash
I use Vox a lot but I also like Forbes.
Aldaur
hey look, another Vox user
Vista Major, Intelligentpeople
Buddying up, aren't we?
Let's nuke em
That's hardly fair
Magnatronia
Making newcomers feel welcome
XD
Uhg, they changed moble. Why do they change things? Gah!
Merlinton, Continental Commonwealths, Penguania And Antarctica, Yukona
because the world needs more suffering
Aldaur, Continental Commonwealths, Penguania And Antarctica, Intelligentpeople
It seems you have a lot of bottled up and untapped rage, care for some Chaga Tea or Turkish Coffee?
Jaslandia, Intelligentpeople
Nah dude, I'm not actually this evil or aggressive. I just like playing the part! Trust me, ask anyone besides Kumania and they'll say I'm the bomb diggity to the max
Merlinton, Jaslandia
#OperationAssassinateThatBastardMaxBarry
Nuremgard, The Royal Republic Of Kumania, Jaslandia, Penguania And Antarctica, Pirate Kingdoms, Magnatronia
*smacks head and grabs shirt before pulling close to face*
Silence, you daft imbecile!
*whispering voice* Do you want the wrath of Barry, or God forbid, Violet to rain down hellfire on the region?! Shirley's no longer here, Al! We're going to die if that blasphemy continues! UNDERWEAR! MONEY! FAT!
*passes out*
Last part reference: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gL2lA673DqU
Nuremgard, Jaslandia, Aldaur, The United Providences Of Perland
[spoiler=Today are:]
Today are:
- A Room Of One's Own Day
- Betico Croes' Birthday (Aruba)
- Burns Night (Scotland and Scottish community)
- Dydd Santes Dwynwen (Wales)
- National Irish Coffee Day (United States)
- National Nutrition Day (Indonesia)
- National Opposite Day (United States)
- National Police Day (Egypt)
- National Voters' Day (India)
- Revolution Day 2011 (Egypt)
- Tatiana Day (Eastern Orthodox)
[/spoiler]
[spoiler=This day in history:]
This day in history:
- 41 After a night of negotiation, Claudius is accepted as Roman Emperor by the Senate.
- 750 In the Battle of the Zab, the Abbasid rebels defeat the Umayyad Caliphate, leading to overthrow of the dynasty.
- 1348 A strong earthquake strikes the South Alpine region of Friuli in modern Italy, causing considerable damage to buildings as far away as Rome.
- 1494 Alfonso II becomes King of Naples.
- 1515 Coronation of Francis I of France.
- 1533 Henry VIII of England secretly marries his second wife Anne Boleyn.
- 1554 Founding of São Paulo city, Brazil.
- 1575 Luanda, the capital of Angola, is founded by the Portuguese navigator Paulo Dias de Novais.
- 1704 The Battle of Ayubale results in the destruction of most of the Spanish missions in Florida.
- 1755 Moscow University is established on Tatiana Day.
- 1765 Port Egmont, the first British settlement in the Falkland Islands at the southern tip of South America, is founded.
- 1791 The British Parliament passes the Constitutional Act of 1791 and splits the old Province of Quebec into Upper Canada and Lower Canada.
- 1792 The London Corresponding Society is founded.
- 1858 The Wedding March by Felix Mendelssohn is played at the marriage of Queen Victoria's daughter, Victoria, and Friedrich of Prussia, and becomes a popular wedding processional.
- 1879 The Bulgarian National Bank is founded.
- 1881 Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell form the Oriental Telephone Company.
- 1890 Nellie Bly completes her round-the-world journey in 72 days.
- 1909 Richard Strauss's opera Elektra receives its debut performance at the Dresden State Opera.
- 1915 Alexander Graham Bell inaugurates U.S. transcontinental telephone service, speaking from New York to Thomas Watson in San Francisco.
- 1918 Ukraine declares independence from Bolshevik Russia.
- 1924 The 1924 Winter Olympics opens in Chamonix, in the French Alps, inaugurating the Winter Olympic Games.
- 1937 The Guiding Light debuts on NBC radio from Chicago. In 1952 it moves to CBS television, where it remains until September 18, 2009.
- 1941 Pope Pius XII elevates the Apostolic Vicariate of the Hawaiian Islands to the dignity of a diocese. It becomes the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu.
- 1942 World War II: Thailand declares war on the United States and United Kingdom.
- 1944 Florence Li Tim-Oi is ordained in China, becoming the first woman Anglican priest.
- 1946 The United Mine Workers rejoins the American Federation of Labor.
- 1947 Thomas Goldsmith Jr. files a patent for a "Cathode Ray Tube Amusement Device", the first ever electronic game.
- 1949 The first Emmy Awards are presented; the venue is the Hollywood Athletic Club.
- 1955 The Soviet Union ends the state of war with Germany.
- 1960 The National Association of Broadcasters reacts to the "payola" scandal by threatening fines for any disc jockeys who accept money for playing particular records.
- 1961 In Washington, D.C., President John F. Kennedy delivers the first live presidential television news conference.
- 1964 Blue Ribbon Sports is founded by University of Oregon track and field athletes, which would later become Nike.
- 1969 Brazilian Army captain Carlos Lamarca deserts in order to fight against the military dictatorship, taking with him ten machine guns and 63 rifles.
- 1971 Charles Manson and three female "Family" members are found guilty of the 1969 TateLaBianca murders.
- 1971 Idi Amin leads a coup deposing Milton Obote and becomes Uganda's president.
- 1979 Pope John Paul II starts his first official papal visits outside Italy to The Bahamas, Dominican Republic and Mexico.
- 1980 Mother Teresa is honored with India's highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna
- 1993 Five people are shot outside the CIA Headquarters in Langley, Virginia. Two are killed and three wounded.
- 1995 The Norwegian rocket incident: Russia almost launches a nuclear attack after it mistakes Black Brant XII, a Norwegian research rocket, for a US Trident missile.
- 1996 Billy Bailey becomes the last person to be hanged in the USA.
- 1998 During a historic visit to Cuba, Pope John Paul II demands political reforms and the release of political prisoners while condemning US attempts to isolate the country.
- 1998 A suicide attack by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam on Sri Lanka's Temple of the Tooth kills eight and injures 25 others.
- 1999 A 6.0 Richter scale earthquake hits western Colombia killing at least 1,000.
- 2003 Invasion of Iraq: A group of people leave London, England, for Baghdad, Iraq, to serve as human shields, intending to prevent the U.S.-led coalition troops from bombing certain locations.
- 2004 Opportunity rover (MER-B) lands on surface of Mars.
- 2005 A stampede at the Mandhradevi temple in Maharashtra, India kills at least 258.
- 2011 The first wave of the Egyptian revolution begins in Egypt, with a series of street demonstrations, marches, rallies, acts of civil disobedience, riots, labour strikes, and violent clashes in Cairo, Alexandria, and throughout other cities in Egypt.
- 2015 A clash in Mamasapano, Maguindanao in the Philippines killing 44 members of Special Action Force (SAF), at least 18 from Moro Islamic Liberation Front and five from Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.
[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Famous Birthdays:]
Famous Birthdays:
- 750 Leo IV the Khazar, Byzantine emperor
- 1627 Robert Boyle, Irish-English chemist and physicist
- 1736 Joseph-Louis Lagrange, Italian-French mathematician and astronomer
- 1759 Robert Burns, Scottish poet and songwriter
- 1874 W. Somerset Maugham, French-English author and playwright
- 1882 Virginia Woolf, English novelist, essayist, short story writer, and critic
- 1886 Wilhelm Furtwängler, German conductor and composer
- 1913 Witold Lutosławski, Polish composer and conductor
- 1928 Eduard Shevardnadze, Georgian general and politician, 2nd President of Georgia
- 1938 Etta James, American singer
- 1931 Dean Jones, American actor and singer
- 1933 Corazon Aquino, Filipino politician, 11th President of the Philippines
- 1942 Eusébio, Mozambican-Portuguese footballer
- 1981 Alicia Keys, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and actress
[/spoiler]
Quote of the day
It takes a long time for a man to look like his portrait.
- James Whistler -
Note: Penguania_And_Antarctica assumes no responsibility or guarantee for correctness of any given information. Any recourse to courts of law is excluded.
Jaslandia, Continental Commonwealths, Tserra, The United Providences Of Perland, Yukona, Intelligentpeople
The Picture of Dorian Grey, anyone?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Picture_of_Dorian_Gray
Merlinton, The United Providences Of Perland, Pirate Kingdoms, Yukona
It ain't a good change, but it ain't so bad.
Aldaur, Penguania And Antarctica
I don't know. The regional medals now cover the names, and everything is kinda scattered on the drop down menu
Aldaur, Penguania And Antarctica, Yukona
My thoughts exactly
Jaslandia
Dear Violet, it's already happening: one of the issues had Violet invoked by the Bernie expy.
*collapses into gibbering madness*
Jaslandia, Intelligentpeople
REMOVE FILTHY OBOTE MAN. IDI AMIN: HE'S THE GREATEST. UGANDA MONEY IS NOT SHÏT MONEY.
Jaslandia, Penguania And Antarctica, The United Providences Of Perland
Eh, it kept my site in it's black state, so I'm fine with it.
Like, the only I ask of NS is to allow me to chat with y'all who ain't currently on Discord, and to not kill Kalaron as a nation, so it's fine enough to me.
Sometimes I get a bit anxious that, if I designed a machine gun, it might be the worst in history...then I remember the Chauchat and realize it'd still be better :P
Intelligentpeople
Assembled with Dot's Region Saver.
Written by Refuge Isle.