4 ms·

And what about the rest of the world? Can we do anything other than just trusting the US citizens to get their government to do the right thing?

x1798DE 11y ago
You can donate to the EFF or support open source encryption technology like Signal and GPG.
arebop 11y ago
Make your own country less corrupt, more free, and better for the economically-worst-off, so that your own entrepreneurs may eventually overtake the authoritarian superpowers?
- wyager 11y ago
  >and better for the economically-worst-off, Not that I disagree with this, but how is this supposed to help entrepreneurs? If anything, it will just increase the tax burden of running a business.
  - FroshKiller 11y ago
    Or lower the barrier to entry to the marketplace for economically disadvantaged people with their own ideas and talents....
  - arebop 11y ago
    decreases the risk of failure and makes it less important who your parents were.
  - tete 11y ago
    If you do stuff like building infrastructure, creating efficient health care systems (because you can do stuff for all the people lowering the price and having a bigger positive effect on overall health) you actually make it better for startups, cause they can use the infrastructure, need to pay lower wages (because health care and infrastructure are cheaper/taken care of). If you use tax money on education you also have a positive effect for both startups and poor people. You also even out the divide between new and and established companies, established companies having non innovative advantages, such as brand names, maybe their own "infrastructure". So you even get rid of companies that try to keep status quo and have innovation stall. The sad thing is that currently some governments/parties/politicians create inhuman, even counter productive productive competition between humans while at the same time have companies be cartels and monopolies and more importantly create counter productive anti-competition laws such as intellectual property, to a degree really awful patent systems, brand protection stuff, etc. It's kind of destructive in regards of innovation and progress.
    - wyager 11y ago
      All good points. Thanks for the well-reasoned response.
  - awakeasleep 11y ago
    paying for a stable and educated society increases the size of the talent pool you can draw from.
  - drcube 11y ago
    You're not going to be a very successful entrepreneur if your customers are broke.
    - wyager 11y ago
      You can't create wealth out of thin air. The government can't make people un-broke without someone else paying for it. Either you're losing money to taxes or some of your customer base is losing to taxes. Either way, no benefit (unless your company targets the poor in particular).
      - drcube 11y ago
        You can create wealth out of thin air. The economy is not a zero sum game.
        wyager 11y ago
        Ok, that's fair, there are several mechanisms (increased resource extraction, new tech, etc.) that can create wealth. However, taking money from one group and giving it to another does not create wealth. There is also an administrative overhead associated with such mechanisms, which could have been put towards more productive activities.
  - cname 11y ago
    I'm wondering how myopia is going to help anything, including running a business. EDIT: I find it somewhat irritating that this needs to be stated, but helping the economically disadvantaged doesn't mean just raising taxes and giving everyone a welfare check. The narrative has been so well framed. It could (and should IMO) mean creating a more just economic system while providing a real safety net. Ultimately, this would involve people being educated and able to obtain jobs that pay a decent wage. There's some tax money involved in that, but I don't think we necessarily need to _raise_ taxes. Perhaps we just need to reallocate a bit from the war chest.
    - wyager 11y ago
      Your response was neither useful nor insightful. >It could (and should IMO) mean creating a more just economic system What exactly does this mean? Don't just give me platitudes about better education.
- Zigurd 11y ago
  Make your own country independent of deep-state interlocking intelligence services. Part of the problem is that the US will set the tone for dozens of countries where it has cultivated linkages that often override the will of the people. I'm looking at you, Sweden.

x1798DE 11y ago

You can donate to the EFF or support open source encryption technology like Signal and GPG.

arebop 11y ago

Make your own country less corrupt, more free, and better for the economically-worst-off, so that your own entrepreneurs may eventually overtake the authoritarian superpowers?

wyager 11y ago
>and better for the economically-worst-off, Not that I disagree with this, but how is this supposed to help entrepreneurs? If anything, it will just increase the tax burden of running a business.
- FroshKiller 11y ago
  Or lower the barrier to entry to the marketplace for economically disadvantaged people with their own ideas and talents....
- arebop 11y ago
  decreases the risk of failure and makes it less important who your parents were.
- tete 11y ago
  If you do stuff like building infrastructure, creating efficient health care systems (because you can do stuff for all the people lowering the price and having a bigger positive effect on overall health) you actually make it better for startups, cause they can use the infrastructure, need to pay lower wages (because health care and infrastructure are cheaper/taken care of). If you use tax money on education you also have a positive effect for both startups and poor people. You also even out the divide between new and and established companies, established companies having non innovative advantages, such as brand names, maybe their own "infrastructure". So you even get rid of companies that try to keep status quo and have innovation stall. The sad thing is that currently some governments/parties/politicians create inhuman, even counter productive productive competition between humans while at the same time have companies be cartels and monopolies and more importantly create counter productive anti-competition laws such as intellectual property, to a degree really awful patent systems, brand protection stuff, etc. It's kind of destructive in regards of innovation and progress.
  - wyager 11y ago
    All good points. Thanks for the well-reasoned response.
- awakeasleep 11y ago
  paying for a stable and educated society increases the size of the talent pool you can draw from.
- drcube 11y ago
  You're not going to be a very successful entrepreneur if your customers are broke.
  - wyager 11y ago
    You can't create wealth out of thin air. The government can't make people un-broke without someone else paying for it. Either you're losing money to taxes or some of your customer base is losing to taxes. Either way, no benefit (unless your company targets the poor in particular).
    - drcube 11y ago
      You can create wealth out of thin air. The economy is not a zero sum game.
      - wyager 11y ago
        Ok, that's fair, there are several mechanisms (increased resource extraction, new tech, etc.) that can create wealth. However, taking money from one group and giving it to another does not create wealth. There is also an administrative overhead associated with such mechanisms, which could have been put towards more productive activities.
- cname 11y ago
  I'm wondering how myopia is going to help anything, including running a business. EDIT: I find it somewhat irritating that this needs to be stated, but helping the economically disadvantaged doesn't mean just raising taxes and giving everyone a welfare check. The narrative has been so well framed. It could (and should IMO) mean creating a more just economic system while providing a real safety net. Ultimately, this would involve people being educated and able to obtain jobs that pay a decent wage. There's some tax money involved in that, but I don't think we necessarily need to _raise_ taxes. Perhaps we just need to reallocate a bit from the war chest.
  - wyager 11y ago
    Your response was neither useful nor insightful. >It could (and should IMO) mean creating a more just economic system What exactly does this mean? Don't just give me platitudes about better education.
Zigurd 11y ago
Make your own country independent of deep-state interlocking intelligence services. Part of the problem is that the US will set the tone for dozens of countries where it has cultivated linkages that often override the will of the people. I'm looking at you, Sweden.