5 ms·

Oh come on. I'm not talking about the Illuminati here, I'm talking about the heads, advisers and important employees of executive departments like HUD, the Trea

Oh come on. I'm not talking about the Illuminati here, I'm talking about the heads, advisers and important employees of executive departments like HUD, the Treasury, the FED, things like that. If you'd done a little thinking before responding maybe you'd have considered that. Unless you think our society is just entirely unmanaged?

krageon 5y ago
You could perhaps have stated it as politicians and bureaucrats instead of "people", which would have made it more obvious to the reader you meant the government at large.
CyberDildonics 5y ago
You think they plan our social structure?
- betwixthewires 5y ago
  Aspects of it, absolutely. It's not even a secret, I'm not talking about some secret conspiracy. Social structures are largely a game of incentives, and the government agencies have a pretty powerful toolkit as far as incentives go. Here's an example, it is openly stated that the government maintains an inflation rate to discourage saving and encourage spending to stimulate the economy. This is a deliberate attempt to influence the culture of the US, and it works. We have a consumer culture where everyone buys services and cheap stuff and nobody saves money, the stated goal of these fiscal policies.
  - CyberDildonics 5y ago
    Instead of "people controlling our social structure" it seems like you wanted a hyperbolic way to say "people don't save enough money".
    - betwixthewires 5y ago
      Well it seems you're looking for an excuse to dismiss anything I say. So I'll leave you to it.
      - CyberDildonics 5y ago
        Your claim was that there are people 'manipulating our social structure' and instead of backing up a bold claim you backed off and just made the claim that people don't save enough money. If you don't want people to push back on what you say, don't say hyperbolic nonsense. This is a common pattern people fall into. They don't say what they mean, they say come bizarre abstract exaggeration to get a reply or reaction, then completely back off from what they originally said, then get mad that they are asked to explain their original claim.
        betwixthewires 5y ago
        I never said "manipulating" although without the negative connotation of the word it's semantics. And I haven't backed off a single thing. I didn't claim people don't save enough money. I claimed that it is fiscal policy of our government and has been for decades to stimulate the economy by discouraging saving and encouraging spending via debasement of currency. Discouraging saving and encouraging spending is manipulation of social structure. I fail to see where your disagreement lies in that statement. You did not address my example at all, you just dismissed it entirely. I restated it here to give you an opportunity to correct that if you want. I can give you more examples of government managing social structure if you like. In some instances the social and cultural impacts are secondary effects, often unintended consequences, but in many cases they're deliberate and openly stated, such as the example I've already given. What exactly do you think government means when they call themselves "government"? What does it mean to govern a society, population, land mass or nation?
        CyberDildonics 5y ago
        So you do actually think there are "people that do the systems planning of our social structure"? Here you are just talking about inflation and implying that that is the same thing as "systems planning of our social structure".

krageon 5y ago

You could perhaps have stated it as politicians and bureaucrats instead of "people", which would have made it more obvious to the reader you meant the government at large.

CyberDildonics 5y ago

You think they plan our social structure?

betwixthewires 5y ago
Aspects of it, absolutely. It's not even a secret, I'm not talking about some secret conspiracy. Social structures are largely a game of incentives, and the government agencies have a pretty powerful toolkit as far as incentives go. Here's an example, it is openly stated that the government maintains an inflation rate to discourage saving and encourage spending to stimulate the economy. This is a deliberate attempt to influence the culture of the US, and it works. We have a consumer culture where everyone buys services and cheap stuff and nobody saves money, the stated goal of these fiscal policies.
- CyberDildonics 5y ago
  Instead of "people controlling our social structure" it seems like you wanted a hyperbolic way to say "people don't save enough money".
  - betwixthewires 5y ago
    Well it seems you're looking for an excuse to dismiss anything I say. So I'll leave you to it.
    - CyberDildonics 5y ago
      Your claim was that there are people 'manipulating our social structure' and instead of backing up a bold claim you backed off and just made the claim that people don't save enough money. If you don't want people to push back on what you say, don't say hyperbolic nonsense. This is a common pattern people fall into. They don't say what they mean, they say come bizarre abstract exaggeration to get a reply or reaction, then completely back off from what they originally said, then get mad that they are asked to explain their original claim.
      - betwixthewires 5y ago
        I never said "manipulating" although without the negative connotation of the word it's semantics. And I haven't backed off a single thing. I didn't claim people don't save enough money. I claimed that it is fiscal policy of our government and has been for decades to stimulate the economy by discouraging saving and encouraging spending via debasement of currency. Discouraging saving and encouraging spending is manipulation of social structure. I fail to see where your disagreement lies in that statement. You did not address my example at all, you just dismissed it entirely. I restated it here to give you an opportunity to correct that if you want. I can give you more examples of government managing social structure if you like. In some instances the social and cultural impacts are secondary effects, often unintended consequences, but in many cases they're deliberate and openly stated, such as the example I've already given. What exactly do you think government means when they call themselves "government"? What does it mean to govern a society, population, land mass or nation?
        CyberDildonics 5y ago
        So you do actually think there are "people that do the systems planning of our social structure"? Here you are just talking about inflation and implying that that is the same thing as "systems planning of our social structure".