Comments by bradshsi

Er except the 8086 microprocessor development project started in 1976, some 7 years after the moon landing.

As I recall the first use of microchips was as guidance for US ICBMs.

The point being the microprocessor was always going to staggeringly useful with our without the Apollo space program.

Yep, that 2 tier structure smacks of wanting the cash that comes with being a public company but not the accountability (to shareholders) that comes with it.

News International has a similarish 2 tier structure, allowing Murdoch to retain effective control despite owning only 12% of the shares.

I never did warm to Vegemite.

Brought up on Marmite, I always found Vegemite a bit bland. I don't expect it will ever fade away completely. Its way too polarizing (from a taste standpoint), for that to ever happen.

I mean people think eating certain fish eggs is height of luxury cuisine....When you consider it that way eating Vegemite (or better still, Marmite) seems fairly normal.

Since when did advocating increased social freedom become left wing ?

Sounds more libertarian to me.

Secondlife has about 1 million active users and from the metrics I saw those were pretty stable, certainly not consistent with "everyone leaving".

So given that accuracy doesn't appear to be core to your post, I'm thinking the no experience comment cuts both ways.

Personally I thought the article was pretty balanced and not hype. I have no love for FB (and am not on it), so its not that I have some built in pro FB bias. Perhaps you could just admit you don't like FB and leave it at that ?

I'd mostly agree although as with most broad generalizations it falls apart a bit when you look at individual countries.

For example Oman has a more open environment and hence more innovation.

Saudi Arabia's ARAMCO has significant internal expertise and does plenty of drilling, but outside of that relatively small pool of well educated people, you have a a noticeable lack of innovation.

I don't notice anyone invading Saudi Arabia recently and yet native R&D and innovation is at a low level. So you can't blame invasion for all the ills of the region.

Actually the abiding image of Saudi Arabia can be summed up when one flys into or out of Dammam airport. It is a truely wretched place, a symbol to the lack of desire to grow and innovate (beyond petrodollars).

And who decided what books to include and what text to redact ?

Some blokes in a room meeting hundreds of years later?

Basically you are basing your whole morality on a set of texts assembled after much political calculation and very human interventions. Good luck with that.

That isn't my reading of it. The Heritage plan called for vouchers for Medicare only. It didn't talk about coverage, presumably leaving that up to the consumer.

For everyone else it called for tax credits and for the high risk, subsidized risk pools at the state level.

It called for the individual mandate of course. I was going to post the link to a copy of the Heritage Foundation plan presentation but the evil economist spam filter wouldn't let me.

Actually their logic on consumer choice is pretty faulty, just as it is with Obamacare. Consumer based healthcare as they both envisage it is doomed because the information and systems that would allow people to make the best choices doesn't exist. That is assuming people make good choices ignoring sales pressures, which we know from past experience isn't the case.

Its called an "Example" for a reason.

Besides since the US is a nation of immigrants (and the better for it), how would it be surprising if our country occasionally displayed at least some attributes of past homelands ?

Hey they can't even agree as to whether priests should be able to marry and you think they are united on biblical interpretation...

Seriously, I disgree. I don't think there is anything like the uniformity you suggest. Take my previous reference to Genesis 9:4. Some interpret it uber literally (Jehovah's Witnesses), some choose to ignore it (most Christians), some choose to follow its moral guidance (Vegetarian Christians).

Actually I doubt that the average "Christian" has a much insight into what the bible actually says (although the same goes for most religions). So any "general agreement" is (as I argued before), simply current social mores.

Yep, Bubba dodged signing it. Around the same time I seem to recall some of our well balanced congress debating invading the Hague if any American was ever tried there.

Of course Clinton also dodged signing the international treaty on landmines. So much for US moral leadership...

The problem is that while much of the Bible is written reflecting very human failings, a sizable minority choose not accept this (at least when it suits them).

My personal favourite is the part of Genesis (9:4) that prohibits eating meat that has blood in it. For those of you who have enjoyed the Merchant of Venice, you will know how well that works (not).

So what we end up with your approach is a sort of swampy moral morass. Which bits should be kept ? Which bits ignored ? If you ask 100 people I expect the range of replies will preclude any clear direction since their responses will have far more to do with current social mores than any spiritual guidance.

Different types of recessions, accounts for different types of recoveries. Actually the USA is recovering faster than the historical average for post financial crisis recessions.

Oh and if Obama is the most anti business, where is your evidence for the claim otherwise its just shiny hyperbole ?

Oh and while we're at it your version of the UK doesn't match mine (nor my recollection when I lived there). The NHS get significantly higher satisfaction ratings than any health system we have here. The only health system that comes close is the VA. Or maybe looking after wounded vets is too socialist ?

1. Greenspan made significant errors, not least of which was believing the markets to be self correcting. His opposition to derivatives regulation significantly contributed to the crisis.

2. Nope, housing for minorities is a baseless claim I've seen peddled a few times. I've never seen anyone post any evidence to support it. Indeed there was a recent paper that concluded it had no significant contribution to the crisis. Now liar loans OTOH happened on Dubya's watch.

Finally I don't really care what Obama's Papa said. If you can quote Obama saying he'll tax at 100% then you'd have a lot more credibility.

I was going to post a vaguely amusing rebuttal, but then I thought better of it.

Either he believes what he's writing (in which case the rebuttal would be lost on someone so unmoored from reality). Or he's posting in jest in which case he's already laughing at me :).

Not all developing economies need fall into the corruption trap.

Take Botswana which has avoided much of the corruption endemic in Africa and now has about the same GDP per person as Russia.

On the other hand Russia gives a good example of what happens when you let corruption flourish. A supposedly developed economy that is sliding backwards. The only thing saving them is their natural resources.

You are right correlation is not necessarily causation.

However:

1. I never implied the corporations were bad and governments good.

2. If your government is incompetent and/or rent seeking this creates both bad economic conditions and a need for bribery. Thus bribery is as good a proxy of poor government as any. You still need effective policies to tip the risk/reward equation back towards honest hard work.

3. How do you propose to "get countries to change their political and economic policies" ? Sounds slightly utopian to me. One more practical way is to be an example of how things should be done and require others to be better in their dealings with you. This is what FCPA does.

Oh and a bribe is not a fine. There is a clear legal and moral distinction.

And if the government of the country in question is so disfunctional it can't even enforce existing laws ? What would you do then ?