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Political correctness and it's consequences for entrepreneurs

Schonox

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I am getting a very bad feeling about the state of the world currently.
C0VlD-19 is just a symptom of a very ill situation from my pov, let me elaborate...

  • Approach to C0VlD-19 : governments have all these different approaches to the illness. Mortality rate has gone down and although I do agree it is a dangerous disease, I am somewhat of a 'let everyone use their own good sense' approach concerning this. It's a sad thing to see governments restrict every liberty and obligate the wearing of facemasks (at least in these parts of the world). Certainly since there is evidence that it may avoid maybe 1 in? 400? cases? at best. I feel like Covid is being used in a larger agenda and that it was a biological weapon, now threatening bars, retail sellers alike across the world and mostly in the USA and Europe.
  • Political correctness is perhaps at the root of all the problems I'd like to describe here. Here in The Netherlands we may not sell or have anything to do with Black Pete anymore. A few years back this wasn't an issue at all, and everyone had a lovely childhood. It has nothing to do with race anyway,... These days you can feel insulted if someone looks at you. You may even feel intimately touched or harassed #metoo . Constant bickering over so called police aggression, a jurisdiction that doesn't work anymore, where gangs and mobsters rule entire municipalities,... I thought technology would combat these problems, but it has made the problems even worse.
  • Social media and news outlets are also one of the main reasons the world is turning to shit before our eyes. We are being manipulated and driven towards some sort of mass extinction this way. The powers that be want us to turn onto each other.
  • Endless printing of fiat money, that will impoverish generations to come
  • Socialist dictates coming through the EU parliament, some factions within the US government etc which will have very nefarious consequences for entrepreneurs from my pov. Why would you even bother? They want to kill small entrepreneurs, everyone should 'get money' ,... Tax all and everything. Model state California.
  • Underlying conflicts brewing concerning the middle east, russia, china,...
Can someone please tell me all is not going to shit? I fear for my children's future.
 
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Kevin88660

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I am getting a very bad feeling about the state of the world currently.
C0VlD-19 is just a symptom of a very ill situation from my pov, let me elaborate...

  • Approach to C0VlD-19 : governments have all these different approaches to the illness. Mortality rate has gone down and although I do agree it is a dangerous disease, I am somewhat of a 'let everyone use their own good sense' approach concerning this. It's a sad thing to see governments restrict every liberty and obligate the wearing of facemasks (at least in these parts of the world). Certainly since there is evidence that it may avoid maybe 1 in? 400? cases? at best. I feel like Covid is being used in a larger agenda and that it was a biological weapon, now threatening bars, retail sellers alike across the world and mostly in the USA and Europe.
  • Political correctness is perhaps at the root of all the problems I'd like to describe here. Here in The Netherlands we may not sell or have anything to do with Black Pete anymore. A few years back this wasn't an issue at all, and everyone had a lovely childhood. It has nothing to do with race anyway,... These days you can feel insulted if someone looks at you. You may even feel intimately touched or harassed #metoo . Constant bickering over so called police aggression, a jurisdiction that doesn't work anymore, where gangs and mobsters rule entire municipalities,... I thought technology would combat these problems, but it has made the problems even worse.
  • Social media and news outlets are also one of the main reasons the world is turning to shit before our eyes. We are being manipulated and driven towards some sort of mass extinction this way. The powers that be want us to turn onto each other.
  • Endless printing of fiat money, that will impoverish generations to come
  • Socialist dictates coming through the EU parliament, some factions within the US government etc which will have very nefarious consequences for entrepreneurs from my pov. Why would you even bother? They want to kill small entrepreneurs, everyone should 'get money' ,... Tax all and everything. Model state California.
  • Underlying conflicts brewing concerning the middle east, russia, china,...
Can someone please tell me all is not going to shit? I fear for my children's future.
The root of the problem is global economy.

The decades of prosperity since 1980s is driven by U.S. and Europe borrowing and consuming while the rest of the world pouring resources and manufactured goods to be exported into western economies, until 2008 financial crisis and 2011 Euro debt crisis.

It was almost game over but global governments panicked and printed trillions of dollar to delay the reckoning. There was no real solution even until today.

When the economic pie is shrinking people are fear driven and look at politics from a zero sum game point of views. The politician who promise them to snatch more resources and benefits from others to them will win the votes. The extreme left will simply say let us screw the corporation and mega wealth owners and the extreme right will say if is all due to foreigners taking our jobs and illegal immigrants driving down standard of living.
 

BellaPippin

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It's not going to shit. Or well, it is, but it's not the first or the last time. It went to shit for Egyptian civilization, it went to shit for Ancient Greece, for the Roman Empire, it went to shit for Aztecs and Incas, it went to shit for Imperial Japan, it went to shit for commie Germany, it went to shit for USSR, etc etc.. You fear for your children's future because you're probably watching the news too much, which is the other point you are trying to make. You will barely see anything good on the media. Doesn't mean nothing good happens. Here, have a bit of this . There's also good things on the horizon for your kids, should they choose to be part of it.

Wearing masks drastically reduces the microdropplets released into the air by the wearer when talking in a confined space where social distancing isn't possible. But no, it won't protect YOU if you get coughed at by someone sick or casually micro-sprayed by a selfish person going around not wearing one inside Walmart. You protect OTHERS when you wear one. Is it necessary you wear one outside, with known family, etc? Naw. Wash your hands and don't touch your face, open a couple windows.

Now I don't like the government putting their nose where it's not their business but to say this is an attack on freedom it's a bit of a stretch. One of the roles of the government is to protect their citizens from each other. If your neighbor can just break into your house or your business and steal, kill you, and face no consequences, and on your end you could just shoot him to take his lot of land, where would be the civilized order? Likewise, if your neighbor were to contract a disease that could put your elderly mother at risk of dying and they didn't give a crap, it's the role of the government to protect your mother against that threat. So vaccines are mandatory and so are masks, at least temporarily. If your kid has an immune disease and can't be vaxinated, you can still send him to school knowing the other kids there HAVE TO be vaxinated and there's minimal risk of them giving him chickenpox or meningitis.

I'm sure in a developed country such as the Netherlands where even happiness indexes are thru the roof you probably trust your fellow citizens to use better judgment, but believe me this is NOT the case in other parts of the world. People will leave their kid in their car in 90 degree weather and roast them to death. They drive drunk, hit and run and ruin lives. You think they care if your grandma has asthma? The mask is itchy, omg, eW. The most unbearable 15 min of their lives while they pick up their Coke and Cheetos. You will see Asians wearing masks as they always have, because in their culture other people are also to be respected, so their fellow neighbor is also on their mind.

As far as different countries approach to the crisis, idk what surprises you. They're different countries with different governments, culture, and socio-economic systems that are only supposed to do what's in the best interest of their own country. As much as I like the UN it's not like in the movies where they all reach an agreement at a round table and team up.

As far as political correctness goes, I take it in a case-by-case basis. Some symbols, nicknames, etc. do represent and mean something demeaning and offending. Some of them are just what they are and people are overly-sensitive. What else can you do but roll your eyes, honestly. I know there's people that can tell the difference, but like the saying goes, you only hear the loudest ones which tend to be the dummies.

Honestly idk where you expected to go with this post, it's a bit of an anxiety brain dump IMO. Take control of what you can, get involved in your local community, go vote, meditate.. lol
 

Rabby

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I think the thought-scape is pretty bad among the general population. People are more polarized, and there's an extreme rise in shame-based culture, victim mentality, etc. It's a bit like the cultural revolution that hit China as Mao's power was waning (and which put him back in power). That's not to say we should give up. We can insert memes into the culture as effectively as anyone else... and we should, because there are people with an agenda to ruin us doing exactly that.
 
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Jon L

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I think the US is in permanent decline for a lot of the reasons you list. Here, you have tens of millions of people that have NO CLUE how to quit blaming others and make something of their lives. That does stuff to the national psyche - stuff that isn't good.

That said, even in a declining market, opportunities abound. There will be pockets of prosperity here for quite some time to come. Teach your kids how to succeed and they'll be just fine.
 

Kevin88660

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I think the US is in permanent decline for a lot of the reasons you list. Here, you have tens of millions of people that have NO CLUE how to quit blaming others and make something of their lives. That does stuff to the national psyche - stuff that isn't good.

That said, even in a declining market, opportunities abound. There will be pockets of prosperity here for quite some time to come. Teach your kids how to succeed and they'll be just fine.
UK is still fine. Had been declining for decades.

U.S. future will be at best UK and at worst Argentina.
 

BellaPippin

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U.S. future will be at best UK and at worst Argentina.

Hey hey-- we're still better than Venezuela

dd0.jpg
 
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WhoDatBoy

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Political correctness is perhaps at the root of all the problems I'd like to describe here. Here in The Netherlands we may not sell or have anything to do with Black Pete anymore. A few years back this wasn't an issue at all, and everyone had a lovely childhood. It has nothing to do with race anyway,...

Yoooo I did not expect to read about the notorious Dutch debate on this forum.

Honestly idk where you expected to go with this post, it's a bit of an anxiety brain dump IMO. Take control of what you can, get involved in your local community, go vote, meditate.. lol

I agree 100%. And please keep the Black Pete debate in your Facebook feed my friend. I think it looks even more racist to people from other places in the world.
 

Schonox

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Yoooo I did not expect to read about the notorious Dutch debate on this forum.



I agree 100%. And please keep the Black Pete debate in your Facebook feed my friend. I think it looks even more racist to people from other places in the world.

You are free to think that, and I am free to disagree.
 

Schonox

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It's not going to shit. Or well, it is, but it's not the first or the last time. It went to shit for Egyptian civilization, it went to shit for Ancient Greece, for the Roman Empire, it went to shit for Aztecs and Incas, it went to shit for Imperial Japan, it went to shit for commie Germany, it went to shit for USSR, etc etc.. You fear for your children's future because you're probably watching the news too much, which is the other point you are trying to make. You will barely see anything good on the media. Doesn't mean nothing good happens. Here, have a bit of this . There's also good things on the horizon for your kids, should they choose to be part of it.

Wearing masks drastically reduces the microdropplets released into the air by the wearer when talking in a confined space where social distancing isn't possible. But no, it won't protect YOU if you get coughed at by someone sick or casually micro-sprayed by a selfish person going around not wearing one inside Walmart. You protect OTHERS when you wear one. Is it necessary you wear one outside, with known family, etc? Naw. Wash your hands and don't touch your face, open a couple windows.

Now I don't like the government putting their nose where it's not their business but to say this is an attack on freedom it's a bit of a stretch. One of the roles of the government is to protect their citizens from each other. If your neighbor can just break into your house or your business and steal, kill you, and face no consequences, and on your end you could just shoot him to take his lot of land, where would be the civilized order? Likewise, if your neighbor were to contract a disease that could put your elderly mother at risk of dying and they didn't give a crap, it's the role of the government to protect your mother against that threat. So vaccines are mandatory and so are masks, at least temporarily. If your kid has an immune disease and can't be vaxinated, you can still send him to school knowing the other kids there HAVE TO be vaxinated and there's minimal risk of them giving him chickenpox or meningitis.

I'm sure in a developed country such as the Netherlands where even happiness indexes are thru the roof you probably trust your fellow citizens to use better judgment, but believe me this is NOT the case in other parts of the world. People will leave their kid in their car in 90 degree weather and roast them to death. They drive drunk, hit and run and ruin lives. You think they care if your grandma has asthma? The mask is itchy, omg, eW. The most unbearable 15 min of their lives while they pick up their Coke and Cheetos. You will see Asians wearing masks as they always have, because in their culture other people are also to be respected, so their fellow neighbor is also on their mind.

As far as different countries approach to the crisis, idk what surprises you. They're different countries with different governments, culture, and socio-economic systems that are only supposed to do what's in the best interest of their own country. As much as I like the UN it's not like in the movies where they all reach an agreement at a round table and team up.

As far as political correctness goes, I take it in a case-by-case basis. Some symbols, nicknames, etc. do represent and mean something demeaning and offending. Some of them are just what they are and people are overly-sensitive. What else can you do but roll your eyes, honestly. I know there's people that can tell the difference, but like the saying goes, you only hear the loudest ones which tend to be the dummies.

Honestly idk where you expected to go with this post, it's a bit of an anxiety brain dump IMO. Take control of what you can, get involved in your local community, go vote, meditate.. lol

Most of the people I see wearing such a mask wear it incorrectly. Top downside, inside on the outside, under their chin, under their nose, on their forehead,... Real false sense of security.
Then you have the people that wear them correctly; do they use a new one everyday? FFP3 grade? Or one of those washable 'I made it myself' kind of masks?

I agree about the rise and fall of empires and it's a natural occurance ofc.

Governments around the world should serve their citizens but are mostly self serving as is common knowledge. I used to work for a municipality and I got penalised and eventually sacked for doing my job too good. When I was laid off I was asked to 'not use my influence' to try and remain at work at said municipality (my family has a long held history there). It's vile and abnoxious, the whole political system.

It's a fine country to live in, in comparison. I moved from Belgium so I see it as an upgrade anyway.
Yet, I really don't trust in my fellow citizen's judgment. I used to be a fan of democratic election, of the people and all, you know? I now believe that a society could be better run by a group of elders for instance, certainly not having average joe influence what happens to a society as it is very detrimental to say the least.
 
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Kevin88660

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Hey hey-- we're still better than Venezuela

dd0.jpg
I think so. U.S. has the best technology and institution, in the entire continent so at worst it will be still above Chile and Argentina. A regional power at worst.
 

BellaPippin

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by a group of elders

God no. Half of the issues we're stuck on are because people in power have been there for 40 years and refuse to retire, and they keep the POVs of 50 years ago. If anything it should be a mix as long as everyone is competent. Youth needs to be represented cause these folks vote for stuff that's going to affect people way after they are dead.
 
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BellaPippin

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Most of the people I see wearing such a mask wear it incorrectly. Top downside, inside on the outside, under their chin, under their nose, on their forehead,

Lol so now you can see how well "letting everyone using their good sense" works. That's about all the good sense the average Joe has.

Then they just drop them in the parking lot. Not like some poor bastard is going to have to pick it up amiright.
 

RealDreams

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Most of the people I see wearing such a mask wear it incorrectly. Top downside, inside on the outside, under their chin, under their nose, on their forehead,... Real false sense of security.
Then you have the people that wear them correctly; do they use a new one everyday? FFP3 grade? Or one of those washable 'I made it myself' kind of masks?

I agree about the rise and fall of empires and it's a natural occurance ofc.

Governments around the world should serve their citizens but are mostly self serving as is common knowledge. I used to work for a municipality and I got penalised and eventually sacked for doing my job too good. When I was laid off I was asked to 'not use my influence' to try and remain at work at said municipality (my family has a long held history there). It's vile and abnoxious, the whole political system.

It's a fine country to live in, in comparison. I moved from Belgium so I see it as an upgrade anyway.
Yet, I really don't trust in my fellow citizen's judgment. I used to be a fan of democratic election, of the people and all, you know? I now believe that a society could be better run by a group of elders for instance, certainly not having average joe influence what happens to a society as it is very detrimental to say the least.
Here in Italy people don't give a shit about the situation.
You go out and see most people without a mask, especially during the weekend, despite the increase in infects.

Oh and yeah, holding the mask in your pocket during the whole night will surely cover you from covid.
It's not even a sense of "I can't breath with a mask". It's more like "If I have a mask I'll look unattractive and people will think I'm scared". Believe it or not these are the thoughts of most people.

Even more pathetic are the girls who put on a mask just so they can take a selfie and post it on Instagram and then keep going on their night without the mask. Who cares, it's all about impressing others, right?

Another problem is people not understanding the basic law of causality. Then they get infected, and tell themselves "I was unlucky. It's the government's fault" or blame someone or something else. Really childish behavior and to the point of being pathetic. No, it's not anyone's fault but yours. It's 100% up to you to take the needed precautions not to make it happen.

The problem with this is that people really have had their brain f*cked up by social media and modern technology to the point of having a damaged pre-frontal cortex.

Their attention span is so small that they can't even think of a first order consequence, let alone 2nd/3rd order.
 

Saavedra

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Here in Italy people don't give a shit about the situation.
You go out and see most people without a mask, especially during the weekend, despite the increase in infects.

Oh and yeah, holding the mask in your pocket during the whole night will surely cover you from covid.
It's not even a sense of "I can't breath with a mask". It's more like "If I have a mask I'll look unattractive and people will think I'm scared". Believe it or not these are the thoughts of most people.

Even more pathetic are the girls who put on a mask just so they can take a selfie and post it on Instagram and then keep going on their night without the mask. Who cares, it's all about impressing others, right?

Another problem is people not understanding the basic law of causality. Then they get infected, and tell themselves "I was unlucky. It's the government's fault" or blame someone or something else. Really childish behavior and to the point of being pathetic. No, it's not anyone's fault but yours. It's 100% up to you to take the needed precautions not to make it happen.

The problem with this is that people really have had their brain f*cked up by social media and modern technology to the point of having a damaged pre-frontal cortex.

Their attention span is so small that they can't even think of a first order consequence, let alone 2nd/3rd order.

They should get fined hard for that, that would teach them a lesson. How dare them endanger everyone's lives. I heard there are military run hospitals in New Zealand and people are forced there if they are sick. Italy should do something like it, it would make everyone safer.
 
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OverByte

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Book recommendation: Sovereign Individual written in the 90s (i think?), very accurate predictions of the transition to the information age which have come to pass, scary predictions to come. The predictions seem pretty far out there but make a lot more sense if you look at the world through a scale of centuries rather than decades.

And yes, social media is a major driver of polarization. Another book recommendation "How Innovation Works" describes social media as an inherently divisive technology, much like early radio was. One of the key reasons is that anyone can flaunt an opinion and you get these strong echo chambers that reinforce biases.

Politics is a mess due to the incentives of the system, if you want shitty results, incentivize shitty behaviour. The incentives of government is to protect employees, not customers (ie citizens). The cause-effect link is pretty simple, the solution I'm not so sure of though.

I definitely think things are worrying, however, I also wonder if the current PC culture is an overcorrection that will likely be reversed. Cultures evolve like organisms and I don't see this being sustainable, humans adapt, that's our superpower. The question is the timescale and the damage done.

In terms of entrepreneurship though, there will always be opportunity, focus on that. Turn off the news and social media, use it only for business, it will make you much happier.
 

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There's no HR department in my business. There's no political correctness. That's because I'm not working at some large company that will fire me for making a joke. Nor am I at school where I will get punished for saying anything inappropriate.

Yes the world is going to shit.

If you have a boss or some organization that controls you, the problem is unavoidable.

If you have your own business you can live free of the bullshit of the masses and express yourself and create a reality for yourself where you are in control.

The only people I know that can express themselves freely or be truly themselves are other business owners. Everyone else is worried their boss will fire them or their school will punish them or some other crap.

Build a business, get some "F*ck you" money, and live free of others controlling you.
 

Kevin88660

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Book recommendation: Sovereign Individual written in the 90s (i think?), very accurate predictions of the transition to the information age which have come to pass, scary predictions to come. The predictions seem pretty far out there but make a lot more sense if you look at the world through a scale of centuries rather than decades.

And yes, social media is a major driver of polarization. Another book recommendation "How Innovation Works" describes social media as an inherently divisive technology, much like early radio was. One of the key reasons is that anyone can flaunt an opinion and you get these strong echo chambers that reinforce biases.

Politics is a mess due to the incentives of the system, if you want shitty results, incentivize shitty behaviour. The incentives of government is to protect employees, not customers (ie citizens). The cause-effect link is pretty simple, the solution I'm not so sure of though.

I definitely think things are worrying, however, I also wonder if the current PC culture is an overcorrection that will likely be reversed. Cultures evolve like organisms and I don't see this being sustainable, humans adapt, that's our superpower. The question is the timescale and the damage done.

In terms of entrepreneurship though, there will always be opportunity, focus on that. Turn off the news and social media, use it only for business, it will make you much happier.
I think in the West is true where you have welfare + oligarch capitalism in a mature capitalism, that protect the employee but not just employee but also old established business brands. When you have enough regulations like no Opening of malls on sunday it also made new players harder to grind against old players and keep the entire industry margin reasonably high. Basically joe, jack and jone the big three players bury the hatchet and cooperate to stop undercut each other and write them into laws...and no new one can take over their place.

I think in Asia there is still the sense of 19th century cut throat capitalism happening. High competition, low regulation, razor thin margin. The result is employees are working long hours and business margin is thin. All the benefits go to the consumers. It is a norm in China that delivery bikers have to speed and dash across red lights to beat the timing and the delivery platforms are barely making much money. It has become a road safety hazard now and people are calling for regulations.
 
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Kevin88660

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Book recommendation: Sovereign Individual written in the 90s (i think?), very accurate predictions of the transition to the information age which have come to pass, scary predictions to come. The predictions seem pretty far out there but make a lot more sense if you look at the world through a scale of centuries rather than decades.

And yes, social media is a major driver of polarization. Another book recommendation "How Innovation Works" describes social media as an inherently divisive technology, much like early radio was. One of the key reasons is that anyone can flaunt an opinion and you get these strong echo chambers that reinforce biases.

Politics is a mess due to the incentives of the system, if you want shitty results, incentivize shitty behaviour. The incentives of government is to protect employees, not customers (ie citizens). The cause-effect link is pretty simple, the solution I'm not so sure of though.

I definitely think things are worrying, however, I also wonder if the current PC culture is an overcorrection that will likely be reversed. Cultures evolve like organisms and I don't see this being sustainable, humans adapt, that's our superpower. The question is the timescale and the damage done.

In terms of entrepreneurship though, there will always be opportunity, focus on that. Turn off the news and social media, use it only for business, it will make you much happier.
I suspect the PC culture is a product of social media and smart phones. When kids grow up in socially sheltered environment in the artificial world without much face to face interaction of human being the whole level of social-emotional skill and tolerance for unpleasant remarks has gone straight down.

People across generations always understand that discrimination is wrong and when they heard something is wrong they feel an emotional disgust that is probably level 4-5 on a scale of 10. Now for the new generation it is 8-9. I still remember the old time when saying someone fat is a neutral word. If you accept that premise, then you can accept that what used to be mildly disgusting it very very disgusting to the new generations , when it comes to identity based discrimination.
 

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The root of the problem is global economy.

The decades of prosperity since 1980s is driven by U.S. and Europe borrowing and consuming while the rest of the world pouring resources and manufactured goods to be exported into western economies, until 2008 financial crisis and 2011 Euro debt crisis.

It was almost game over but global governments panicked and printed trillions of dollar to delay the reckoning. There was no real solution even until today.

When the economic pie is shrinking people are fear driven and look at politics from a zero sum game point of views. The politician who promise them to snatch more resources and benefits from others to them will win the votes. The extreme left will simply say let us screw the corporation and mega wealth owners and the extreme right will say if is all due to foreigners taking our jobs and illegal immigrants driving down standard of living.


Peter Thiel, is that you? Cause this is exactly what he said in one of his talks post Trump election.
 

hellolin

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Also, the whole notion of "let everyone use common sense to figure out what they can do" is a very novel, new idea only pretends to a small fraction of western people at this moment. Most people, in time of crisis, will look into some sort of centralized power to help them resolve the problem, even at the prices of losing some freedoms. This is why the revolution originally started in the colonies of the US, and the subsequent diffusion of power WILLINGLY was so rarely, most humans, regardless of skin color, culture, or language speaking wouldn't act this way. I don't think a lot people realize how rare this whole "let everyone take responsibility for themselves" is extremely rare and relatively a new idea in human societies, when something doesn't work, humans default to the last default thing that worked, which were centralized government making every single decisions.
 
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Successful Steve

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They should get fined hard for that, that would teach them a lesson. How dare them endanger everyone's lives. I heard there are military run hospitals in New Zealand and people are forced there if they are sick. Italy should do something like it, it would make everyone safer.
Sounds like communism
 

outsidehawaii

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I am getting a very bad feeling about the state of the world currently.
C0VlD-19 is just a symptom of a very ill situation from my pov, let me elaborate...

  • Approach to C0VlD-19 : governments have all these different approaches to the illness. Mortality rate has gone down and although I do agree it is a dangerous disease, I am somewhat of a 'let everyone use their own good sense' approach concerning this. It's a sad thing to see governments restrict every liberty and obligate the wearing of facemasks (at least in these parts of the world). Certainly since there is evidence that it may avoid maybe 1 in? 400? cases? at best. I feel like Covid is being used in a larger agenda and that it was a biological weapon, now threatening bars, retail sellers alike across the world and mostly in the USA and Europe.
  • Political correctness is perhaps at the root of all the problems I'd like to describe here. Here in The Netherlands we may not sell or have anything to do with Black Pete anymore. A few years back this wasn't an issue at all, and everyone had a lovely childhood. It has nothing to do with race anyway,... These days you can feel insulted if someone looks at you. You may even feel intimately touched or harassed #metoo . Constant bickering over so called police aggression, a jurisdiction that doesn't work anymore, where gangs and mobsters rule entire municipalities,... I thought technology would combat these problems, but it has made the problems even worse.
  • Social media and news outlets are also one of the main reasons the world is turning to shit before our eyes. We are being manipulated and driven towards some sort of mass extinction this way. The powers that be want us to turn onto each other.
  • Endless printing of fiat money, that will impoverish generations to come
  • Socialist dictates coming through the EU parliament, some factions within the US government etc which will have very nefarious consequences for entrepreneurs from my pov. Why would you even bother? They want to kill small entrepreneurs, everyone should 'get money' ,... Tax all and everything. Model state California.
  • Underlying conflicts brewing concerning the middle east, russia, china,...
Can someone please tell me all is not going to shit? I fear for my children's future.
In med school, new docs are taught to wear an n95 mask in surgery that is designed to filter 3 microns and larger - TB is 3 + microns. Viruses are .1 micron.
All this BS about “protecting others” is nonsense scientifically.
Really tired of people parroting g this argument.
 

Successful Steve

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I am getting a very bad feeling about the state of the world currently.
C0VlD-19 is just a symptom of a very ill situation from my pov, let me elaborate...

  • Approach to C0VlD-19 : governments have all these different approaches to the illness. Mortality rate has gone down and although I do agree it is a dangerous disease, I am somewhat of a 'let everyone use their own good sense' approach concerning this. It's a sad thing to see governments restrict every liberty and obligate the wearing of facemasks (at least in these parts of the world). Certainly since there is evidence that it may avoid maybe 1 in? 400? cases? at best. I feel like Covid is being used in a larger agenda and that it was a biological weapon, now threatening bars, retail sellers alike across the world and mostly in the USA and Europe.
  • Political correctness is perhaps at the root of all the problems I'd like to describe here. Here in The Netherlands we may not sell or have anything to do with Black Pete anymore. A few years back this wasn't an issue at all, and everyone had a lovely childhood. It has nothing to do with race anyway,... These days you can feel insulted if someone looks at you. You may even feel intimately touched or harassed #metoo . Constant bickering over so called police aggression, a jurisdiction that doesn't work anymore, where gangs and mobsters rule entire municipalities,... I thought technology would combat these problems, but it has made the problems even worse.
  • Social media and news outlets are also one of the main reasons the world is turning to shit before our eyes. We are being manipulated and driven towards some sort of mass extinction this way. The powers that be want us to turn onto each other.
  • Endless printing of fiat money, that will impoverish generations to come
  • Socialist dictates coming through the EU parliament, some factions within the US government etc which will have very nefarious consequences for entrepreneurs from my pov. Why would you even bother? They want to kill small entrepreneurs, everyone should 'get money' ,... Tax all and everything. Model state California.
  • Underlying conflicts brewing concerning the middle east, russia, china,...
Can someone please tell me all is not going to shit? I fear for my children's
I am getting a very bad feeling about the state of the world currently.
C0VlD-19 is just a symptom of a very ill situation from my pov, let me elaborate...

  • Approach to C0VlD-19 : governments have all these different approaches to the illness. Mortality rate has gone down and although I do agree it is a dangerous disease, I am somewhat of a 'let everyone use their own good sense' approach concerning this. It's a sad thing to see governments restrict every liberty and obligate the wearing of facemasks (at least in these parts of the world). Certainly since there is evidence that it may avoid maybe 1 in? 400? cases? at best. I feel like Covid is being used in a larger agenda and that it was a biological weapon, now threatening bars, retail sellers alike across the world and mostly in the USA and Europe.
  • Political correctness is perhaps at the root of all the problems I'd like to describe here. Here in The Netherlands we may not sell or have anything to do with Black Pete anymore. A few years back this wasn't an issue at all, and everyone had a lovely childhood. It has nothing to do with race anyway,... These days you can feel insulted if someone looks at you. You may even feel intimately touched or harassed #metoo . Constant bickering over so called police aggression, a jurisdiction that doesn't work anymore, where gangs and mobsters rule entire municipalities,... I thought technology would combat these problems, but it has made the problems even worse.
  • Social media and news outlets are also one of the main reasons the world is turning to shit before our eyes. We are being manipulated and driven towards some sort of mass extinction this way. The powers that be want us to turn onto each other.
  • Endless printing of fiat money, that will impoverish generations to come
  • Socialist dictates coming through the EU parliament, some factions within the US government etc which will have very nefarious consequences for entrepreneurs from my pov. Why would you even bother? They want to kill small entrepreneurs, everyone should 'get money' ,... Tax all and everything. Model state California.
  • Underlying conflicts brewing concerning the middle east, russia, china,...
Can someone please tell me all is not going to shit? I fear for my children's future.
The world is definitely upside down right now. When liberal Sweden lets their citizens be adults and you have people here in this country who are forcing socialism down your throats... then you know something is going on.

When the president eats McDonald’s everyday, is obese, and has the most stressful job in the world and he comes out of it fine, then you know this virus is being pushed down our throats and there is some ulterior motive out there.
 
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hellolin

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In med school, new docs are taught to wear an n95 mask in surgery that is designed to filter 3 microns and larger - TB is 3 + microns. Viruses are .1 micron.
All this BS about “protecting others” is nonsense scientifically.
Really tired of people parroting g this argument.

Large human organizations are not about solving real problems, it's about perception of solving problems, this is why big crop and big govt. are equally shit.
 

DiamondDog

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This thread is a perfect example on what is wrong with today's political discussion. People are on this constant cycle of getting triggered over and over again by the news they consume. You end up with this very deranged view of reality where there is only room for dichotomy.

In reality people are much more varied than that. Painting everyone who doesn't belong to "your group" with the same brush creates a much more extreme world than it really is.
 

AidenRafi

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Book recommendation: Sovereign Individual written in the 90s (i think?), very accurate predictions of the transition to the information age which have come to pass, scary predictions to come. The predictions seem pretty far out there but make a lot more sense if you look at the world through a scale of centuries rather than decades.

And yes, social media is a major driver of polarization. Another book recommendation "How Innovation Works" describes social media as an inherently divisive technology, much like early radio was. One of the key reasons is that anyone can flaunt an opinion and you get these strong echo chambers that reinforce biases.

Politics is a mess due to the incentives of the system, if you want shitty results, incentivize shitty behaviour. The incentives of government is to protect employees, not customers (ie citizens). The cause-effect link is pretty simple, the solution I'm not so sure of though.

I definitely think things are worrying, however, I also wonder if the current PC culture is an overcorrection that will likely be reversed. Cultures evolve like organisms and I don't see this being sustainable, humans adapt, that's our superpower. The question is the timescale and the damage done.

In terms of entrepreneurship though, there will always be opportunity, focus on that. Turn off the news and social media, use it only for business, it will make you much happier.

I second the Sovereign Individual, i am halfway through it and am amazed the book was written in the 90s. I am almost naturally aligning my life to a lot of the principles and predictions laid out in it which is fascinating to me (looking at myself from a birds eye perspective).
 
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Kevin88660

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Peter Thiel, is that you? Cause this is exactly what he said in one of his talks post Trump election.
It is pretty much “mainstream” for a lot of people who observe on the global economy. I do not know about peter thiel’s opinion on this.

It is about a broken And unsustainable system other than finding scapegoats.

You can tax 100 percent revenue (assuming they will still make the same amount of money) of the corporations and it still wont solve the debt issue the U.S. is having right now.

You can raise 200 percent tax on Chinese import and stop all legal and illegal immigration. The manufacturing jobs will just end up in Vietnam, Mexico or elsewhere but not back to U.S.
 

Schonox

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Here in Italy people don't give a shit about the situation.
You go out and see most people without a mask, especially during the weekend, despite the increase in infects.

Oh and yeah, holding the mask in your pocket during the whole night will surely cover you from covid.
It's not even a sense of "I can't breath with a mask". It's more like "If I have a mask I'll look unattractive and people will think I'm scared". Believe it or not these are the thoughts of most people.

Even more pathetic are the girls who put on a mask just so they can take a selfie and post it on Instagram and then keep going on their night without the mask. Who cares, it's all about impressing others, right?

Another problem is people not understanding the basic law of causality. Then they get infected, and tell themselves "I was unlucky. It's the government's fault" or blame someone or something else. Really childish behavior and to the point of being pathetic. No, it's not anyone's fault but yours. It's 100% up to you to take the needed precautions not to make it happen.

The problem with this is that people really have had their brain f*cked up by social media and modern technology to the point of having a damaged pre-frontal cortex.

Their attention span is so small that they can't even think of a first order consequence, let alone 2nd/3rd order.
My mother is disabled, has been for a long time and has been since a rather young age (57).
She lives in a retirement home. I wish Id be able to get her out but the amount of care required combined with my own family is not feasible atm.
The Belgian government puts out all these regulations all the time, changing haphazardly , with the retirement home seemlessly following suit. They should be much more strict concerning access to certain places, entrance,... yet they follow the (bad) ordonances of the government. I fear for her life now infections have been found there as well.

You are right too about the social media aspect. In some way or the other social media and PoCo go hand in hand it seems.

I vividly remember a time where people had much less concerns all the time and were more joyous overall.


Book recommendation: Sovereign Individual written in the 90s (i think?), very accurate predictions of the transition to the information age which have come to pass, scary predictions to come. The predictions seem pretty far out there but make a lot more sense if you look at the world through a scale of centuries rather than decades.

And yes, social media is a major driver of polarization. Another book recommendation "How Innovation Works" describes social media as an inherently divisive technology, much like early radio was. One of the key reasons is that anyone can flaunt an opinion and you get these strong echo chambers that reinforce biases.

Politics is a mess due to the incentives of the system, if you want shitty results, incentivize shitty behaviour. The incentives of government is to protect employees, not customers (ie citizens). The cause-effect link is pretty simple, the solution I'm not so sure of though.

I definitely think things are worrying, however, I also wonder if the current PC culture is an overcorrection that will likely be reversed. Cultures evolve like organisms and I don't see this being sustainable, humans adapt, that's our superpower. The question is the timescale and the damage done.

In terms of entrepreneurship though, there will always be opportunity, focus on that. Turn off the news and social media, use it only for business, it will make you much happier.

Thanks a lot for this recommendation! I'll be sure to check them out.
Agree about PC being reversed sometime, but i do fear government interference in everything we do,...
At what point will we become nothing more than slaves, or mindless drones?


Also, the whole notion of "let everyone use common sense to figure out what they can do" is a very novel, new idea only pretends to a small fraction of western people at this moment. Most people, in time of crisis, will look into some sort of centralized power to help them resolve the problem, even at the prices of losing some freedoms. This is why the revolution originally started in the colonies of the US, and the subsequent diffusion of power WILLINGLY was so rarely, most humans, regardless of skin color, culture, or language speaking wouldn't act this way. I don't think a lot people realize how rare this whole "let everyone take responsibility for themselves" is extremely rare and relatively a new idea in human societies, when something doesn't work, humans default to the last default thing that worked, which were centralized government making every single decisions.

In the long run, how do these decisions work out though?
In my pov there is also another core human instinct. The fight or flight reflex. Or maybe yet another one, just the urge to survive, the survival instinct!
Personally I think it may be the worst time to adhere to a herd mentality. The industrialization and technological advances the past 70 years have brought us to a point where every human being can be looked at as very insignificant indeed. What is the cost of a life?
 

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