Comments for HighCrass.com

Comment on Strength in Numbers by Dame

Dame — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 21:30:26 +0000

Lost 2 IT guys here last week, the remaining 1 is responsible for 185 computers. Solo. My arm’s too short to box with God, but…

Comment on oh, no, you had NOTHING to do with it! by B Tween

B Tween — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 23:27:50 +0000

Re 1: Japan experienced a decade or more of stagflation because of the central bank’s intervention in the popping of their credit bubble. The cure was worse than the disease for sure, but the banking system was never totally nationalized, and Japan has never really recovered from the 80s. Now it’s getting disastrously worse.

Re 2: Free market capitalism is not in and of itself inherently evil. What IS evil is wanton deregulation for the sake of deregulation. I’ve used this line before: freemarkets are great, but every game needs a referee to keep the players honest. What was wrong with the Clinton era globalization efforts, that we worsened under Bush, was that everyone was gaming the system at some level, and our own country’s leaders sold us out for short term gains, thereby creating an utterly inequitable, exploitative and unsustainable system of global commerce. We alone were not globalizing – it was an effort by every nation with cash to spend.
Today, of course, those nations are hoarding cash – that is becoming progressively worth less and less (relatively).
The values of “things” do change, even as merely a measure of time and materials, which was Adam Smith’s fundamental argument.
But values are related to scarcity, and if skilled labor is scarce in Ohio, but plentiful in NY, then those goods produced in Ohio will cost more, while those produced in NY will cost less. As long as every individual’s time is valued differently, there will be differences in values of goods produced. But you’re right about the pipe dream. An hour of a heart surgeon’s time will never equal an hour of a Wal Mart greeter’s time, so there will never be true ‘equality’ in the purest sense.

Comment on oh, no, you had NOTHING to do with it! by Sukey

Sukey — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 22:40:09 +0000

1. Heard an economist on NPR talking about how the Japanese tried fixing their economy back in the 80’s and 90’s by trying to bail to bail out banks so they’d lend to consumers and that didn’t work. What did was doing the banks job until the economy stabilized. Of course, now they’re completely screwed because the global economy has tanked en mass.

2. I’m an anti-globalization-ist so I have to say… DOWN WITH FREE MARKET CAPITALISM! Isn’t this what got us into this situation? First off, the value of stuff doesn’t actually increase, slowly or otherwise. It is what it is. The value of a thing is based on the materials and the labor required to make it. Everything else is a socially agreed fiction.

As far as there ever being a level playing field, I think that’s a pipe dream. As long as there’s real inequality – in education, in wealth, in access – the theoretical equality we hope for will also remain nothing more than another socially agreed upon fiction.

Comment on With beautiful Corinthian Leather seats… by chuck abbate

chuck abbate — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 11:40:45 +0000

lutz and his minions are nit wits, the volt? what the fuck happened to the ev-1?didnt gm go out and grind them all down into metal shavings.just give me 200 billion to fix my railroad system and we”ll be fine.

Comment on Strength in Numbers by chuck abbate

chuck abbate — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 11:37:43 +0000

if i am a ward of the stste the rest of my life…..so be it.

Comment on oh, no, you had NOTHING to do with it! by alex

alex — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 19:26:22 +0000

To say that real estate goes up is at this point only true in the sense that the price of a big mac always goes up. the first thing i learned in economics class is that price is the result of supply and demand.
Probably for the next 20 years at least, the demand will be less for six figure and above housing simply because people will not be given credit or mortgages by banks to anywhere near the same degree. moreover, the supply will be plentiful because of all these houses that have been built under the greenspan philosophy in florida and phoenix and the like that are currently unoccupied or perhaps still under construction. large supply with small demand equals low price, and that looks to be the case for a long time.

Comment on But… Man Needs the Largest Man-Made Islands by alex

alex — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 18:54:02 +0000

someone should tell them about the dubai real estate crash:

http://smashingtelly.com/2009/02/15/bye-bye-dubai/

Comment on How about a less crass bailout? by atween

atween — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 09:42:19 +0000

unfortunately i invested my 50MM B$ with BM

Comment on How about a less crass bailout? by chuck abbate

chuck abbate — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 21:16:32 +0000

you said it brother. these people(bankers,no wankers!),have never given a fuck about anybody but themselves. what you have now is the culmination of darwinistic capitalism at its worst. make no mistake folks; we are flirting w/depression. may john maynard keynes have sex with ayn rand!