iflyboats

I don't know how Yaron Brook and Alex Epstein can stand to argue with that fucking freak.

Thanks for the replies. Doesn't egalitarianism contradict nihilism though?

Source: http://www.newsrealblog.com/2010/07/23/obamas-not-a-socialist/ Also this from his website: http://www.peikoff.com/the-november-elections/

Peikoff has described Obama as "an almost, but not yet fully consistent egalitarian nihilist." Can anyone explain what his reasoning is?

I know Steve Jobs has been criticized for his lack of philanthropy. That makes me like him more.

I'll be seeing it on Tuesday when I'm in Seattle. I will withhold judgment until then, but I'm not encouraged by what I've heard so far. Given the importance of the movie I don't think it should have been done anything less than perfectly.

Just when I thought that nothing could be worse than the libtards

Cliffs: if the truth gets out, Republicans will be to blame, says Geithner. http://www.cnbc.com/id/42592652 Republicans Will Be to Blame if US Defaults: Geithner Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Thursday told Republican lawmakers that they would shoulder the blame if the country got too close to defaulting on its debt and roiled markets worldwide by not approving a debt limit increase. In yet another warning about the perils of not allowing the U.S. to borrow more to fund spending already approved by Congress, Geithner said it would be deeply irresponsible for lawmakers to use debt limit negotiations for political gains. Congress must agree to raise the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling or the legal amount that the country can borrow. But Republicans have said they are unwilling to do so without reforms on government spending and have threatened to take negotiations to the deadline. "(Lawmakers) will say there's leverage in it, we can advance it. But that would be deeply irresponsible and they will own the risk," Geithner said. "It won't happen in the end, but if they take it too close to the edge, they will own responsibility for that miscalculation," he said. Treasury has forecast that the limit will be reached by May 16. After that point, Treasury can take emergency measures to avoid hitting the debt ceiling. But those actions will only give the United States about a two-month window before Treasury is unable to issue debt to fund government operations. Geithner said lawmakers "understand that you can't take any risk the world starts to think the United States won't meet its obligations." "There's no conceivable way that this city, this government can court that basic risk," he said.

I listen to Schiff every day and I agree with him. No way the Fed is going to stop printing anytime soon. I would rather hold precious metals than foreign currencies as a hedge against inflation, but I do see the value in holding dividend-paying stocks denominated in foreign currencies. I don't know why you would just hoard cash in foreign currencies since all other currencies are being printed down to some extent. If you haven't already, you really need to read Peter's books, Crash Proof 2.0 and The Little Book of Bull Moves in Bear Markets.

Is it possible for a capitalist country to become so productive and wealthy that most people can live comfortably on investment dividends alone? Will we ever see a day when you can buy a few shares of stock and pay for basic living expenses on the returns alone, with no need to work? Not that working would ever be undesirable, but it's just interesting to think about whether such a level of productivity is possible.

I see. Point taken.

With no effort on my part to pass judgment on his thesis, one can be intellectually brilliant and still be very badly philosophically misinformed. See the thread on Chris Langan.

I've entertained conspiracy theories. Not believed in any, but at least entertained them. The conspiratorial view offers explanations for certain observations that are hard to explain otherwise. I agree there isn't sufficient proof to conclude that these conspiracy theories are correct, but I can see why people find them attractive explanations. I actually find conspiracy theories a lot less irrational than what people on the left believe.

That theory explains the big bang as the beginning of the physical universe as we currently know it. It doesn't mean that existence itself started at the time of the big bang.

I think Eminem is the most talented artist of the last 15 years in any genre.

Theft should be prosecuted, although I don't agree that a felony is necessarily appropriate in this case. Stealing media would seem on par with shoplifting.

The nature vs. nurture debate is way off the original thread topic, and I have too much work to do to get into it right now. Perhaps I shouldn't have brought it up. My apologies.

I'm not aware of Jewish cultural traditions, but whenever there are clear trends based on race, such as blacks dominating the 100m dash or Jews dominating finance, I tend to think that cultural forces alone are insufficient to explain those differences.

He's from Israel so I'd assume so.

Jews are a distinct racial/ethnic group totally apart from religion, so the word "Jew" has a double-meaning. Supposedly, Jews have the highest average IQ of all racial groups. This might explain why they dominate the top ranks of Objectivism, as well as why there are a disproportionate number of high-achieving Jews in other intellectual arenas, such as science and business.

I answered yes to all questions. It's obvious to me that genetics play a huge role in our lives. They determine our basic attributes and influence almost everything about us except which ideas we choose to assimilate. While genes are not absolute determinants of what we become, they potentiate our abilities, and provide better-endowed individuals with huge advantages over others in all arenas mental and physical. I'm also a big believer in racial diversity. If the different races of humans can differ in terms of skin color, which is obviously a genetic trait, they can differ in terms of any other trait influenced by genetics. Sadly, the influence of progressivism has totally warped the entire field of science dealing with race. If you even suggest that racial difference exist, you immediately get attacked as foaming-at-the-mouth racist in many quarters. Look at what happened to James Watson.

I really want to see an Objectivist antithesis of Michael Moore. Unfortunately, it would take a one-in-a-million mind to be as smart as Moore is stupid.

Yeah it does. But right now, I believe we are in grave danger of suffering a violent reduction of our standard of living unless we get spending under control and stand up to the grotesquely irresponsible and destructive actions of the Federal Reserve. The Pauls are serious about doing that. Given the gravity of the situation as I percieve it, I am willing to support men who oppose abortion if they offer us a chance to avoid the hyperinflationary economic armageddon that I believe we are currently heading toward.

Rand comes off as being a lot more aggressive than his father, who is polite to a fault. I don't see either of the Pauls as being substantially theocratic. I'm pretty sure I will be supporting Ron in 2012.

I guess a better way to say put it is that Letterman "won" in the sense of having successfully shit on capitalism in front of a large audience.