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ancap commented on Are You an Anarchist? The Answer May Surprise You by David Graeber (2000)   theanarchistlibrary.org/l... · Posted by u/TotalCrackpot
bell-cot · 2 years ago
Um...how many stories in the media, from the front page of the NYTimes to top-grossing movies, are about the incompetence & evils of governments & members of ruling classes?

I'm thinking that the problem is audience bias. Outside of a few little niches, running "All Is Well in Happy Valley"-type stories does not pay the bills.

ancap · 2 years ago
> Um...how many stories in the media, from the front page of the NYTimes to top-grossing movies, are about the incompetence & evils of governments & members of ruling classes?

I don't have a copy of today's NYT so I'll leave it to someone else to perform the exercise. But it's besides the point. You're asking the wrong question. Again speaking generally, when the media criticizes the "incompetence & evils of governments" it is in effort to elevate or promote some other government party, or to promote their alternative program or policy, not to fundamentally alter the system of government itself. When they criticize a member of the ruling class it frequently is part of a coordinated PR campaign organized by another member of the ruling class.

Anyone part of the media who veers too off course the path of allowable opinion is quickly reigned in or let go.

ancap commented on Are You an Anarchist? The Answer May Surprise You by David Graeber (2000)   theanarchistlibrary.org/l... · Posted by u/TotalCrackpot
_benj · 2 years ago
> Anarchists are simply people who believe human beings are capable of behaving in a reasonable fashion without having to be forced to.

I find this definition interesting because it seems to me there’s a very prevalent portrayal in media pointing towards the opposite, that is that humans left alone (read, without some powerful/wealthy authority) will unravel into the most depraved state imaginable.

Reading the book factuality was fascinating because it showed me a view of humans that you don’t see in mass media since ordinary is boring and thus we only get either extremes of good or bad (read, saving the Amazon rainforest to a mother killing her child)

Anarchy by this definition is hard to believe (although I aim to) because we are bombarder with the exceptions to the rule

ancap · 2 years ago
> I find this definition interesting because it seems to me there’s a very prevalent portrayal in media pointing towards the opposite, that is that humans left alone (read, without some powerful/wealthy authority) will unravel into the most depraved state imaginable.

That's not surprising as the media, speaking generally, is a class which aligns itself closely with the ruling class and is incentivized to maintain the status quo.

ancap commented on Are You an Anarchist? The Answer May Surprise You by David Graeber (2000)   theanarchistlibrary.org/l... · Posted by u/TotalCrackpot
hnthrow289570 · 2 years ago
>The first is that human beings are, under ordinary circumstances, about as reasonable and decent as they are allowed to be, and can organize themselves and their communities without needing to be told how.

That's a crock of shit, look at how brutal early civilizations were compared to today. You have an argument over long terms (100+ year spans), but not in the near term.

If you want the assumption to apply to the near term, you have to accept that people behave in part based on the laws and society which they grew up with, which then makes you look weird for being against that system. That's what gives rise to the common decency.

ancap · 2 years ago
Compared to today? In the past century hundreds of millions of people have been slaughtered by states. Compare that with any "private sector" killing, now or in "early civilization" and the mounds of bodies are non-existent by comparison.
ancap commented on Target, Walmart Automate More Store Tasks   wsj.com/articles/target-w... · Posted by u/esturk
pwinnski · 8 years ago
Wages keeping pace with inflation, but not rising above, are "flat."
ancap · 8 years ago
I think there's some confusion here because often when talking about "flat" or "stagnant" wages people are referring to the idea that inflation outpaces wage increases (which is wrong, and the point I was addressing). But even taking into account how you're referring to "flat" wages, the logic is still wrong. If we take a worker today who earns the same wage, in inflation adjusted dollars, as a worker in, say, 1985, today's worker has a hugely increased standard of living, better healthcare, longer life expectancy, etc.
ancap commented on Target, Walmart Automate More Store Tasks   wsj.com/articles/target-w... · Posted by u/esturk
AlexandrB · 8 years ago
> Our current unemployment rate is virtually the lowest in 20yrs and it's hard to hire ANYBODY as a result. (1)

This observation is so weird in the context of flat wages and the proliferation of sub-minimum-wage "gig economy" jobs. If labor was really scarce, shouldn't that put upward pressure on wages? Perhaps what automation is doing is giving employers a way out of competing for labor. The long range consequences seem pretty obvious: massive, rising inequality.

ancap · 8 years ago
That's because wages aren't flat. All of the studies which claim wages are flat make one or more methodological errors. The errors primarily being 1) using different price deflators when calculating price inflation vs wage inflation and 2) not including the value of benefits in their calculation of wages. Studies which avoid those methodological errors have shown that wages have kept pace with inflation.

Dead Comment

ancap commented on China Slaps Tariffs on U.S. Products   nytimes.com/2018/04/01/wo... · Posted by u/johnny313
Raidion · 8 years ago
I mean, it doesn't make sense if everyone is playing fair. You can't negotiate without being willing to sacrifice something to hurt the other side. In war, that's soldiers, in trade wars, that's the consumer.

Ideally, everyone looks at their own tariffs and decides these aren't worth it, because, like you said, they hurt consumers. This means everyone lowers tariffs and life continues better than it was before.

ancap · 8 years ago
Actually, it doesn't make sense even if everyone is not playing fair. Self-harm is self-harm. What kind of negotiating is that? "If you shoot a hole in your boat I'll shoot one in mine!"
ancap commented on China Slaps Tariffs on U.S. Products   nytimes.com/2018/04/01/wo... · Posted by u/johnny313
ancap · 8 years ago
Economic ignorance abounds in these comments. Tariffs are more accurately termed a punitive tax on consumers. A country enacting reciprocal tariffs is like shooting a hole in your boat to get back at your neighbor who shot a hole in their own boat. It makes no sense.
ancap commented on Lab-grown diamonds threaten viability of the real gems   scmp.com/business/compani... · Posted by u/bobsoap
ameister14 · 8 years ago
We don't currently have a free market, and most customers definitely do not know the provenance, relative supply or transport/marketing cost of almost anything they buy. They trust food, for example, because the government secures it and regulates it.

>What's important is the principle of subjective value--that the buyer and the seller value what they are getting more than what they are giving up--and that can happen without the various criteria of transparency you outline.

No, that's important to a market period. A free market is a specific thing.

You need the other things to move away from the necessity of government regulation (transparency, for example.) If you don't know what's in that apple and nobody is going to make sure it's safe, you can't buy or sell it efficiently.

ancap · 8 years ago
Even absent government regulation, I still don't see consumers being terribly concerned about the source of their apple. Why? Because the quality of it is reflected by the reputation of the seller. But even if I were to concede the argument for the particular case of food, that does not mean that knowledge of provenance is a prerequisite for a free market.

>You need the other things to move away from the necessity of government regulation

I guess this is the crux of the matter. You are suggesting that transparency must pre-exist a free market, I am suggesting that a free market pre-exists transparency, and when necessary transparency will be demanded by the consumers.

u/ancap

KarmaCake day54July 1, 2014View Original