forward thinking about the UI

[Liam Proven]

On Tue, Nov 24, 2009 at 4:56 PM, Michael Haney <thezorch at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Tue, Nov 24, 2009 at 9:44 AM, Liam Proven <lproven at gmail.com> wrote:
>> [Shrug] Outside of the USA, I'm afraid the rest of us can't fathom
>> your network squabbles. The rest of the world went GSM about 15-20y
>> ago; all our phones just worked, everywhere, so we have a working
>> world network. The US with its small number of monopoly telcos and
>> broken cell networks is like a museum piece to us. You guys were still
>> using /pagers/ a decade after they were history everywhere else, which
>> is what led to those hateful Blackberry things.
>>
>
> The United States is being held back by the Oligarchy who are the real
> rulers here.  Until we wrestle control of our government out of the
> hands of the richest 2% of the population this country will never
> truly be free.
>
> In America money can buy you anything, even your own Congressman.

Well, I'm not sure I'd go that far myself, but I can't really disagree.

ISTM that if there is one overall trend I've seen in my 42y of life,
it is that in the developed world especially, the gap between rich and
poor has widened. It's not that the poor to middle-class are poorer -
they're not, they're by and large better-off - but that the rich are
much much richer and more conspicuous. Indeed consipicuous
consumption, in my youth a tasteless sign of poor manners, is now
hailed & lauded. I find shows like "Cribs" to be appalling, vulgar &
deeply nasty, myself - possibly some of the nastiest of reality TV,
itself an unpleasant genre.

I have no idea of any possible solution to this, though.

Norway has the highest standard of living in the world, and the
norwegians pay very high taxes, discouraging anyone from getting
/really/ wealthy. Top executives mainly seem to get benefits in kind,
not money. That seems to work pretty well for them...

-- 
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