Is deleting history is unhelpful?

12,312 Views | 166 Replies | Last: 4 mo ago by Beer Baron
Macarthur
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I also saw an article (I'll try and link it) that said McDonald's has raised their prices like 300% since 2014…or the wording was they raised their prices 3 times higher than inflation. Can't remember the exact stat.

The point is, yes, inflation has increased prices but there is a greed element that can not be discounted.
Zobel
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AG


What is greed in a system of free exchange?

What makes your salary or wage correct? Are you greedy to ask for a raise? Or shouldn't you give your employer a break and take a pay cut? Wouldn't that be less selfish and ungreedy of you?
Macarthur
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I'm not denying the market has a role in balancing the exchange.

I would argue that what we have been seeing more and more is the market is way out of balance.
Rongagin71
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I'm not even sure what "the market is out of balance" means.
I am sure that Sears, Kodak, Nokia, XEROX, etc aren't in the "balance" any more.
Macarthur
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I understand your point, and it is difficult to pin down, but given the context of what we're talking about, I don't think companies that have gone out of business has much relevance.
Rongagin71
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My idea is that those companies would still be with us if they had charged more OR had been more efficient.
The problem with greed isn't necessarily that it causes companies to want to charge more, it is that money is often wasted and /or spent inefficiently due to greed/stupidity
Aggrad08
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AG
Rongagin71 said:

My idea is that those companies would still be with us if they had charged more OR had been more efficient.
The problem with greed isn't necessarily that it causes companies to want to charge more, it is that money is often wasted and /or spent inefficiently due to greed/stupidity



Having these companies collapse or be beaten by competitors is not a problem. The problem is when that's not a possibility.

Neither democrats nor republicans have any interest in letting Goldman Sachs fail.

The other issue is a lack of competition. Most of The top 7 of the S&P 500 have completely dominated their markets to a degree we would have broken them up in the past, like we did with AT&T or American tobacco
Zobel
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AG
But he was talking about fast food prices.

Why would they charge less when people are still going? Why should they? You don't have to eat at McDonald's.
Aggrad08
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AG
Zobel said:

But he was talking about fast food prices.

Why would they charge less when people are still going? Why should they? You don't have to eat at McDonald's.


For fast food you should charge the rate that turns the most net profit.

As long as the market is sufficiently competitive this will self adjust. People are already learning they can carry out from a sit down restaurant for about the same price as fast food.
Zobel
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AG
I agree. But the other guy was whining about greed.
Leonard H. Stringfield
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Perhaps not deleted as that is part of history too. But, it will be modified going forward. In many cases, VERY much so. Especially regarding humanities origins.
"Roswell, 1947, there was a uap (ufo) that crashed, in fact there were 2 uaps, 1 crashed and one flew away and the other one did not and was recovered by the US GOVERNMENT."
- Lue Elizondo-former director of the Pentagon's Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program-August 20, 2024

Are A&M's core values..optional? Who has the POWER to determine that? Are certain departments exempt? Why?

Farsight Institute, Atlanta, GA

BusterAg
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AG
Sapper Redux said:

BusterAg said:

Aggrad08 said:





To your basic question, yes I think it's good to have these predictions time capsuled. But to turn your point back at you, do you agree that the predictions made by seamaster et al in those threads provided have not come to pass?
Not really. As with most predictions, they were in the right direction, just a bit off the mark.

I don't think anyone saw the ***** / boob chopping block coming in 2019 for our young adults. Nor the pronoun craze. Nor the amount of normalization of transgenderism in public schools. Pedophilia itself was off the table, so the crazy lefties are just biting around the edges wherever they can.

Also, pedophilia is becoming less stigmatized, right? Minor attracted person? What the hell?
Wait, do you think transgender people just emerged in 2019? No, it became the conservative cause du jour around then.
Transgender kids is a new thing. And, a terrible, terrible thing.
BusterAg
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AG
Allowing kids to choose their gender in grade school, with teachers reinforcing that type of behavior, parent's preferences be damned, is not some thing that has been around for a long time. Or, are you arguing that it has?

Sexualizing kids is absolutely going down the wrong path regarding pedophilia. I will remind you again of rainbow dildo butt monkey at a grade school library: https://torontosun.com/news/british-library-apologizes-for-hiring-rainbow-dildo-butt-monkey-for-kids-event

I don't see how you can argue that it is a good thing to expose kids to these kind of topics.

Sexualizing kids is bad.
Having sex with kids is bad.

Both involve kids and sex. That is how they are related. Silly or obtuse to argue otherwise.
BusterAg
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AG
Macarthur said:

I also saw an article (I'll try and link it) that said McDonald's has raised their prices like 300% since 2014…or the wording was they raised their prices 3 times higher than inflation. Can't remember the exact stat.

The point is, yes, inflation has increased prices but there is a greed element that can not be discounted.
Food inflation has been higher than average inflation. Much of that is because food costs of production are very exposed to energy prices. You can't just say hamburgers are more expensive than average inflation and chalk that up to greed.
BusterAg
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AG
Zobel said:



It begs the question - if the government can spend money on infrastructure at will, with no penalty and obtain economic growth without end why would you ever stop? The simple answer is because you can't, any more than increasing the minimum wage indefinitely create economic growth. China is a great example of this kind of folly.
I mean, you do have to use some common sense. Don't build a bridge to nowhere, obviously, but that is just a strawman.

If you save commuters 20 minutes a day each way to get from point A to high commerce areas, point A is going to develop quickly, the real estate becomes more valuable, local public and private services spring up around point A, and the economy grows, even ignoring any Keynesian multiplier. When government spending starts to crowd out private investment, you have a problem. When government spending is on infrastructure that will increase commerce and economic efficiency on projects that private companies are not likely to spend money on, you actually help the GDP long term, and project payback can be exponential.

If you hand out checks to poor people, you only get the Keynesian multiplier.
Macarthur
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BusterAg said:

Macarthur said:

I also saw an article (I'll try and link it) that said McDonald's has raised their prices like 300% since 2014…or the wording was they raised their prices 3 times higher than inflation. Can't remember the exact stat.

The point is, yes, inflation has increased prices but there is a greed element that can not be discounted.
Food inflation has been higher than average inflation. Much of that is because food costs of production are very exposed to energy prices. You can't just say hamburgers are more expensive than average inflation and chalk that up to greed.

The point is that prices and profits have risen at a higher rate than inflation.
Aggrad08
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BusterAg said:

Allowing kids to choose their gender in grade school, with teachers reinforcing that type of behavior, parent's preferences be damned, is not some thing that has been around for a long time. Or, are you arguing that it has?

Sexualizing kids is absolutely going down the wrong path regarding pedophilia. I will remind you again of rainbow dildo butt monkey at a grade school library: https://torontosun.com/news/british-library-apologizes-for-hiring-rainbow-dildo-butt-monkey-for-kids-event

I don't see how you can argue that it is a good thing to expose kids to these kind of topics.

Sexualizing kids is bad.
Having sex with kids is bad.

Both involve kids and sex. That is how they are related. Silly or obtuse to argue otherwise.
Who are you arguing with? I'm saying that your predictions have failed completely. Not that "nothing any progressives ever do or advocate for is ever stupid". Particularly when you pick one off examples that aren't indicative of ordinary life.



Macarthur
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https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/an-oil-price-fixing-conspiracy-caused
Beer Baron
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AG
So your big example of pedophilia becoming widespread, accepted, and advocated for in America is a single library in the UK booking something without researching what it was, then getting massive blowback, stopping the performance, and apologizing for it? Do you read any of the stuff you post about or just see a headline, get upset, and then post it immediately?
BusterAg
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AG
Macarthur said:

BusterAg said:

Macarthur said:

I also saw an article (I'll try and link it) that said McDonald's has raised their prices like 300% since 2014…or the wording was they raised their prices 3 times higher than inflation. Can't remember the exact stat.

The point is, yes, inflation has increased prices but there is a greed element that can not be discounted.
Food inflation has been higher than average inflation. Much of that is because food costs of production are very exposed to energy prices. You can't just say hamburgers are more expensive than average inflation and chalk that up to greed.

The point is that prices and profits have risen at a higher rate than inflation.


Gross profits for McD increased by less than 4% y/y. That does not outpace inflation.

And, how else would you describe inflation other than an increase in prices?
BusterAg
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AG
Beer Baron said:

So your big example of pedophilia becoming widespread, accepted, and advocated for in America is a single library in the UK booking something without researching what it was, then getting massive blowback, stopping the performance, and apologizing for it? Do you read any of the stuff you post about or just see a headline, get upset, and then post it immediately?


You guys are out of touch if you don't think the average American is absolutely pissed about the sexualization of kids in schools, and you are being obtuse if you claim that sexualizing kids is a good thing to do, or not a stepping stone towards more degeneracy.

Are you really suggesting that teaching kids to change their gender at age 8 has absolutely nothing to do with more widespread acceptance of homosexuality? Is that your position?
Sapper Redux
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I think the current bull**** moral panic of which this post is a great example is due to conservatives losing the culture war over acceptance of homosexuality.
Beer Baron
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AG
No one is saying sexualizing kids is ok, and no one is doubting that you're really worked up over this. As usual, the right has invented something and then gotten very upset about it (again, see: satanic panic. Where did all those cults go by the way? Despite our society's alleged slide into moral depravity, it seems like they haven't been blamed for a murder in decades).

Also, your "example," which no one here (or in your article for that matter, if you ever bother to read it) is defending, isn't actually an example. you didn't address that at all by the way, just like you ignored your falsehood that Germany decriminalized child porn. In fact, it's a great example of a community rejecting the very thing you don't want. In the United Kingdom of all places!


Macarthur
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McDonald's gross profit is up 30% since 2020.


https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/MCD/mcdonalds/gross-profit


And youre focusing on one thing and not seeing the overall picture.
Zobel
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AG
That's a compound rate of 6.6%.

Edit 4 years vs 3. Now it's about even with Inflation.
Macarthur
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https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2023/12/08/excess-profits-of-big-firms-have-driven-up-inflation-report-claims.html

https://www.epi.org/blog/corporate-profits-have-contributed-disproportionately-to-inflation-how-should-policymakers-respond/

https://www.wsj.com/economy/global/inflation-profits-consumer-prices-8b95374a

https://fortune.com/2024/01/20/inflation-greedflation-consumer-price-index-producer-price-index-corporate-profit/

https://www.ineteconomics.org/perspectives/blog/profit-inflation-is-real

https://www.npr.org/2023/05/19/1177180972/economists-are-reconsidering-how-much-corporate-profits-drive-inflation
Zobel
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AG
What is your point? How do you stop people from freely transacting in a competitive market?
Macarthur
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Good question. I'm not advocating for some sort of gov intervention or anything but I do find it kinda crazy how the narrative centers only around inflation as it relates to certain inputs and others are completely ignored.

What I do know is that these types of things are not healthy for the economy and could cause some real problems.

Zobel
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AG
"These kind of things" = people buying what they want?
Macarthur
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Price gouging. People will only be able to afford so much.
Zobel
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AG
The line outside the McDonald's nearest to my house often wraps around the store. And the chick fil a. Should you go tell those people they shouldn't eat there?

What defines gouging?
Rongagin71
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AG
I'm not a lawyer but I know there is a law against gouging during the preparations for an incoming hurricane, and assume it applies to other similar situations. But just how one can tell what percent of profit is due to gouging during times of constant high inflation has got to be difficult. Surely it has got to be tempting for businesses to charge what the market will bear.
Macarthur
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No surprise that these places in affluent areas are doing well. You're focusing on narrow examples and the things I've referenced along w the post about collusion w oil companies and OPEC are focusing more of the broader picture. These companies are making record profits, so it's no surprise you see long lines at some places.

My point is that there can't help but be a pull back, at some point.
Rongagin71
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Macarthur said:

No surprise that these places in affluent areas are doing well. You're focusing on narrow examples and the things I've referenced along w the post about collusion w oil companies and OPEC are focusing more of the broader picture. These companies are making record profits, so it's no surprise you see long lines at some places.

My point is that there can't help but be a pull back, at some point.
I agree with the "pull back" comment - economic cycles are a thing.
As far as the oil&gas industries record profits...that is affected by the war and blockade of Russia, plus the restrictions on drilling that have reduced expenses and encouraged companies to stockpile capital for the future.
Biden has sold a lot of the nation's emergency stockpile in order to fight high prices at the pump but the oil&gas people know he is their enemy and will not let up trying to get a more reasonable President. The Dems have made it clear that they want electric cars and as little internal combustion as possible, they don't understand that this will make little if any difference to CO2 levels.
Macarthur
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There is evidence of collusion. Are you saying it's fine for a business to engage in an illegal activity because the president isn't friendly enough to their industry?

And the move away from fossil fuels is much bigger than "Dems" and Biden.
 
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