Sen. Bernie Sanders - The War Against Working Families

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Orwell
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06 Dec 2010, 8:29 pm

What Marshall said about confirmation bias. But as to the math...

Inuyasha wrote:

I made the mistake of taking 2 different math classes at the same time as well as not having summer vacations. I really hate Linear Algebra and Differential Equations. Calculus was actually easy.

I typically do 2-3 math classes a semester. I've done up to 4 at a time if you count cross-disciplinary courses in physics and biology that were fairly math-heavy. I'm currently one class away from finishing a degree in applied math, and I could finish the requirements for a pure math degree in two more. (Don't plan to though... topology is pain)

Linear algebra is fun, and one of the basic things you have to know to do higher-level math. Differential equations can be tedious sometimes, but it's not bad. Nonlinear systems of ODEs are very interesting.

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As to critical thinking I had to take a class involving it Freshman Year.

So did most people. That doesn't mean they've mastered it.

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Looks like there tax rates are going to remain the same and not increase for anyone.

Yep. In typical Obama style he caves despite having 2/3 of the electorate on his side on this issue.

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number5
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06 Dec 2010, 8:42 pm

Orwell wrote:

What Marshall said about confirmation bias. But as to the math...

Inuyasha wrote:

I made the mistake of taking 2 different math classes at the same time as well as not having summer vacations. I really hate Linear Algebra and Differential Equations. Calculus was actually easy.

Quote:

As to critical thinking I had to take a class involving it Freshman Year.

So did most people. That doesn't mean they've mastered it.

Quote:

Looks like there tax rates are going to remain the same and not increase for anyone.

Yep. In typical Obama style he caves despite having 2/3 of the electorate on his side on this issue.

Of course he caved, he's a democrat. This is why I find the all rhetoric from his opposers about his crazy, hard-left agenda so amusing. He's a blatant centrist. So much for addressing the national debt any time soon. :roll:

And I hated Linear Algebra. There was something about it that just seemed a little over my head, mostly the programming stuff my prof. made us do. I did great at Differential Equations, though.

Orwell
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06 Dec 2010, 8:54 pm

Oh, you must have had a computer scientist for a linear algebra prof. Yeah, approached from a programming angle it can get needlessly messy. I learned linear algebra from a topologist, so the focus was always on the strictly mathematical side of it.

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Wedge
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06 Dec 2010, 8:58 pm

Inuyasha wrote:

You left out other factors such as new markets being extended to other countries. Of course rich people are going to have more and more income when they suddenly have new markets opened up to them.

Also during the 90s we had the .com bubble.

They also had less and less taxes. From the 40s until the end of the JFK administration the highest marginal tax rate was 90% and is 35% now. Also international trade can't explain all the rise in inequality. If you compare US with European countries, inequality has risen in US but not in European countries that also beneficed from globalization and "new markets". Only in England that adopted under Margaret Thatcher policies similar to the US has inequality risen. Inequality has not risen in similar ways in France, Norway, Germany, Belgium nor Italy.

marshall
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06 Dec 2010, 9:29 pm

number5 wrote:

And I hated Linear Algebra. There was something about it that just seemed a little over my head, mostly the programming stuff my prof. made us do. I did great at Differential Equations, though.

Linear Algebra can seem dry at the introductory level. It's easy when you're first learning the theory to think "what's the point of this". Later on it really has a ton of applications though. Everything from statistics, to fluid dynamics, to 3D graphics / CGI design. Empirical orthogonal functions (EOFs) are used a lot in my field, which is climate science.

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07 Dec 2010, 12:48 am

Inequality actually decreased in France during this time. That from 1981-95 the Socialist Mitterand was President and though Chirac was described as conservative, he was not of the new type that took over in the Anglosphere.

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07 Dec 2010, 12:00 pm

Wedge wrote:

It is not class warfare or socialism. US had more equalty in the 40s up to the 80s when the growth rate of the economy was higher. That was the period of the formation of middle class America. Only in the 80s with the "trickle down" economics and Reagan dismanteling the public programs that helped the poor that inequality took a hike. Between 1979 and 2005 the real income of the median household rose only 13 percent, but the income of the richest 0.1% of Americans rose 296 percent. (source: http://economistsview.typepad.com/econo ... an-in.html ). Two-thirds of the nation’s total income gains from 2002 to 2007 flowed to the top 1 percent of U.S. households ( http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=2908 ). And the rich still want more tax breaks and less taxes.

It is no coincidence that during that period average real wages in the U.S. rose. Starting in the mid seventies plus or minus real wages began to go flat.

What is really galling is that during the period say from 1970 to the present when real wages went flat the productivity of American workers was rising. Which means U.S. workers earned their keep by way of productivity but were prevented from reaping the rewards of this productivity. Unfortunately the goodies often went to the people who did little or nothing to create the. This is highly unjust.

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Inuyasha
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07 Dec 2010, 12:27 pm

xenon13 wrote:

Wasn't Chirac doing a lot of business with Saddam including selling military equipment to the despot.

xenon13
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07 Dec 2010, 1:22 pm

Inuyasha wrote:

xenon13 wrote:

Wasn't Chirac doing a lot of business with Saddam including selling military equipment to the despot.

When Chirac was president Iraq was subject to a trade embargo. Chirac was Prime Minister in 1986-88 but such things were not in his province.

Inuyasha
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07 Dec 2010, 1:57 pm

xenon13 wrote:

Inuyasha wrote:

xenon13 wrote:

Wasn't Chirac doing a lot of business with Saddam including selling military equipment to the despot.

When Chirac was president Iraq was subject to a trade embargo. Chirac was Prime Minister in 1986-88 but such things were not in his province.

He was doing business with Saddam both from 86-88 and from when he was President. Don't believe me? Google: "Oil for Food"

@ marshall
Thanks for proving me right about liberals = close minded.

The person used sources, video evidence, etc. to compile the video. I'm sorry you are just too lazy to look at the sources the individual used. Or is it just you don't want your world view shattered?

Dantac
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07 Dec 2010, 3:01 pm

Inuyasha wrote:

Isn't he a self-avowed socialist?

Also isn't the top 1% paying the majority of taxes. Additionally there aren't as many rich people as there used to be.

I like what he did on some of the transparency stuff, but he's way off his rocker on this. This is blatent class warfare.

You make 100 bucks a year. You work at walmart and buy your groceries from walmart. Rich guy makes 1 million. He owns walmart.
Your tax is 2% his tax is 25%

you're left with 98 bucks. he's left with 750k.

Raise rich guy's tax rate. Walmart prices rise slightly, a mere few cents or just a dollar on almost all items. You pay from your 98 bucks that price increase 'cause you got no other choice.

The price rise in walmart pays for the added tax rate that the rich guy received.

This is how it has been through all history regardless of the market system. If a tax is involved and the wealthy get a tax hike, they pass down the increase to the mass market...aka the lower economic class.

Eventually it gets to a point where they cannot increase prices any more as the poor simply cant afford to cut on anything else (sound familiar?). So the recourse is to have the gov. give them tax breaks. That way they can keep the high prices at walmart while not paying as much taxes; in return the system remains status quo..the rabble doesnt get financially oppressed to the point of rebellion and the rich make more money.

Inuyasha
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07 Dec 2010, 3:05 pm

Uh isn't minimum wage over $5 per hour? So unless this gentleman is working under 20 hours a year, or Walmart is violating the law, this is a pretty bad example.

skafather84
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07 Dec 2010, 3:29 pm

Inuyasha wrote:

Uh isn't minimum wage over $5 per hour? So unless this gentleman is working under 20 hours a year, or Walmart is violating the law, this is a pretty bad example.

It's a simplified example.

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ruveyn
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07 Dec 2010, 6:27 pm

Dantac wrote:

Inuyasha wrote:

The alternative is no Wal-Mart which is one of the biggest employers in the country. So you have all those folks with no-wages instead of low-wages. Being against rich guys equivalent to being against employment. When was the last time a poor guy gave you a job?

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Quartz11
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07 Dec 2010, 7:16 pm

ruveyn wrote:

Dantac wrote:

Inuyasha wrote:

It's not as if there would be nothing to fill a void if Walmart did not exist. Just here in New England, three regional retail chains closed in the late 90s as a result of Walmart's expansion into the region.

ruveyn
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07 Dec 2010, 10:11 pm

Quartz11 wrote:

It is called competition. That is what keeps prices low.

ruveyn

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