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Humanities majors running America couldn’t grok the risk they were taking by incentivizing the outsourcing of these mining and refining processes. This behavio

Humanities majors running America couldn’t grok the risk they were taking by incentivizing the outsourcing of these mining and refining processes. This behavior to ban sales of materials needed for every advanced engine, actuator, sensor, etc. is why the Taiwan situation is fraught.

stevula 1y ago
Hey, leave us humanities majors out of it. Most of us have studied critical thinking skills and ethics, which could have easily been used to avoid the various geopolitical messes we’re in right now.
jfengel 1y ago
Sounds more like business majors. Who spend their spare time shoving humanities majors into lockers.
- cosmicgadget 1y ago
  Lockers in college?
bigbadfeline 1y ago
> Humanities majors running America couldn’t grok the risk they were taking by incentivizing the outsourcing of these mining and refining processes. Outsourcing of everything wasn't incentivized, it was forced on the US industry by Wall Street and their Republican friends. Around 2005-2006 there were 2 Congress bills about balancing the US current trade account, both were written and sponsored by Democrats but neither could get enough sponsors for a vote. At that time, the GOP was full speed "outsource baby, outsource" and Wall Street analysts would bury any company refusing to follow the party line.
- fzeroracer 1y ago
  This hits the nail correctly. It's really funny to see people act like it was different heads running the economy back then, you've got the same big businesses and same big names now directly running the US government. The ones that outsourced everything and stripped away America's ability to be self-reliant are the same ones now stripping away America's ability to trade with even its closest allies. People mistake their actions now as protectionism when it's about looting and pillaging what little is left so that they can keep their death grip on capital.
- Telemakhos 1y ago
  I wouldn't hasten to blame outsourcing on one political party or the other. Those of us old enough to remember Ross Perot and his "giant sucking sound" (his projection that free trade agreements under consideration in the early 1990s would lead to outsourcing and negative outcomes for the American economy) also remember that he was a third-party candidate. Both of the big parties and their candidates (Bush and Clinton back then) supported philosophies of trade that would (and in retrospect did) lead to outsourcing. Until Trump, neither party was willing to commit political capital towards questioning the free trade orthodoxy in any meaningful way, and it was free trade that lowered barriers to outsourcing.
  - bigbadfeline 1y ago
    > I wouldn't hasten to blame outsourcing on one political party or the other. I don't blame it on one political party, I'm setting the blame record straight. The current admin blames the Democrats for everything including outsourcing, when in fact only some Democrats tried to prevent it from going too far. > Ross Perot and his "giant sucking sound" The guy damaged the independent candidate idea more than anyone because he was politically illiterate - a common occurrence among big ego business owners. > Until Trump, neither party was willing to commit political capital towards questioning the free trade orthodoxy. On the contrary, The GOP and the Trump admin are trying to make political capital by hyping ridiculously implemented tariffs which fuel inflation, kill the dollar and put a lot of small businesses in danger. Trump doesn't even rise to the level of Perot, rumors are already floating around about who's actually running the show. "Questioning the free trade orthodoxy" isn't the same as doing the right thing at the right time and place. We get tariffs at arbitrary levels, on a haywire timetable and that cannot be good for anything besides speculation, which the people pay for via inflation.
braingravy 1y ago
What a hilarious world view that humanity majors are running the U.S. The U.S. is ran by wealthy elites, who run the U.S. in such a way to make themselves more wealthy. Of course they would outsource every job and business related resource mining operations if that meant more profit in the short term. It’s just good business!
s5300 1y ago
[dead]
KPGv2 1y ago
It seems to me the people running America are Trump (business), Bezos (engineering), Musk (Physics), Pichai (engineering), Zuckerberg (CS), Mike Johnson (business), John Thune (business), etc but yeah the Vice President has a humanities degree

stevula 1y ago

Hey, leave us humanities majors out of it. Most of us have studied critical thinking skills and ethics, which could have easily been used to avoid the various geopolitical messes we’re in right now.

jfengel 1y ago

Sounds more like business majors. Who spend their spare time shoving humanities majors into lockers.

cosmicgadget 1y ago
Lockers in college?

bigbadfeline 1y ago

> Humanities majors running America couldn’t grok the risk they were taking by incentivizing the outsourcing of these mining and refining processes. Outsourcing of everything wasn't incentivized, it was forced on the US industry by Wall Street and their Republican friends. Around 2005-2006 there were 2 Congress bills about balancing the US current trade account, both were written and sponsored by Democrats but neither could get enough sponsors for a vote. At that time, the GOP was full speed "outsource baby, outsource" and Wall Street analysts would bury any company refusing to follow the party line.

fzeroracer 1y ago
This hits the nail correctly. It's really funny to see people act like it was different heads running the economy back then, you've got the same big businesses and same big names now directly running the US government. The ones that outsourced everything and stripped away America's ability to be self-reliant are the same ones now stripping away America's ability to trade with even its closest allies. People mistake their actions now as protectionism when it's about looting and pillaging what little is left so that they can keep their death grip on capital.
Telemakhos 1y ago
I wouldn't hasten to blame outsourcing on one political party or the other. Those of us old enough to remember Ross Perot and his "giant sucking sound" (his projection that free trade agreements under consideration in the early 1990s would lead to outsourcing and negative outcomes for the American economy) also remember that he was a third-party candidate. Both of the big parties and their candidates (Bush and Clinton back then) supported philosophies of trade that would (and in retrospect did) lead to outsourcing. Until Trump, neither party was willing to commit political capital towards questioning the free trade orthodoxy in any meaningful way, and it was free trade that lowered barriers to outsourcing.
- bigbadfeline 1y ago
  > I wouldn't hasten to blame outsourcing on one political party or the other. I don't blame it on one political party, I'm setting the blame record straight. The current admin blames the Democrats for everything including outsourcing, when in fact only some Democrats tried to prevent it from going too far. > Ross Perot and his "giant sucking sound" The guy damaged the independent candidate idea more than anyone because he was politically illiterate - a common occurrence among big ego business owners. > Until Trump, neither party was willing to commit political capital towards questioning the free trade orthodoxy. On the contrary, The GOP and the Trump admin are trying to make political capital by hyping ridiculously implemented tariffs which fuel inflation, kill the dollar and put a lot of small businesses in danger. Trump doesn't even rise to the level of Perot, rumors are already floating around about who's actually running the show. "Questioning the free trade orthodoxy" isn't the same as doing the right thing at the right time and place. We get tariffs at arbitrary levels, on a haywire timetable and that cannot be good for anything besides speculation, which the people pay for via inflation.

braingravy 1y ago

What a hilarious world view that humanity majors are running the U.S. The U.S. is ran by wealthy elites, who run the U.S. in such a way to make themselves more wealthy. Of course they would outsource every job and business related resource mining operations if that meant more profit in the short term. It’s just good business!

s5300 1y ago

[dead]

KPGv2 1y ago

It seems to me the people running America are Trump (business), Bezos (engineering), Musk (Physics), Pichai (engineering), Zuckerberg (CS), Mike Johnson (business), John Thune (business), etc but yeah the Vice President has a humanities degree