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A Socialist Math Problem Of Extreme Difficulty
Answer the following, real-world math question:
"If your mother goes to a government-subsidized supermarket and buys two pounds of sugar and three pounds of meat, how many pounds does she have?"
Think about the answer hard, because problems such as these may be coming to a common socialist core curriculum near you soon. For now, however, they are confined to the borders of that socialist paradise, Venezuela, where as AP reports, students study math "by calculating the benefits of government land takeovers." They practice English by reciting where late President Hugo Chavez was born and learn civics by explaining why the elderly should give him thanks.
You thought propaganda in the US was bad: "pro-administration messages scattered through the pages of Venezuela's textbooks have become yet another point of conflict in this hyper-polarized country, where Chavez's socialist party won a bare majority in the presidential elections of 2013."
However, unlike the US, the locals in the oil-rich, everything else-poor Latin American country have the temerity to act out against propaganda: "parents recently tossed books into the streets in front of some schools and burned them, acts the loyalist media compared to censorship by the Nazis in 1930s Germany. As children head back to school after winter break, many Venezuelans remain outraged over texts that treat the founder of a deeply divisive socialist revolution with the sort of reverence U.S. textbooks reserve for George Washington."
A deeper glimpse into Venezuela's indoctrination machine:
Math lessons include calculations of how much production has increased as a result of the government's agrarian reform initiative, and how much land the government still has to reclaim from private owners. Students are asked to figure out how much shoppers save at government-subsidized appliance stores created by Chavez.
Learning English? Answer the question, "Where was Hugo Chavez born?"
"They are brainwashing our kids, erasing our nation's history, and replacing it with their own version," said information technology worker Hector Cuevas, who was appalled when his son brought home the books as a sixth-grader.
Yes... and? As long as you remember to BTFD, and don't forget the Caracas stock market has been one of the best performing stock indices in the 21st century, hyperinflation and devalued currency notwithstanding, what other part of history is there to remember?
Minister of Education Hector Rodriguez defended the books this fall, and also urged critics to work with the government to improve the collection.
"Certainly they can be improved, like any human endeavor," he said, according to Venezuelan news website Noticias24. "Those who want to criticize should read the books, and when they find an error they should let us know to correct it."
* * *
An early edition of the government's social studies book shows a photo of an elderly person writing, "Thanks, Chavez" and instructs students to explain why.
One book interrupts an explanation of fractions to praise a food program "developed by the Bolivarian government to ensure that the poor can eat."
Who knew that the origins of the Obamaphone lay with Bolivarfood?
You laugh, but at this rate of full-retardedness, quite soon Venezuela's will be hired to write the financial textbooks of America's rigged, centrally-planned markets:
Geometry professor Tomas Guardia of Central University of Venezuela has spent months documenting what he and his colleagues call basic errors in math books. One defines a square as a shape with four sides, when that could be a rectangle or a rhombus.
"I'm not a historian, but if the math textbook is so problematic, there's a good chance this book is also full or errors and propaganda" he said, gesturing to a photo of Chavez embracing a child in social studies book captioned, "The future of the land of Bolivar is her children."
Cuevas, meanwhile, often pulls out his father's old math textbook to use as a reference for his son. He fantasizes about a collection of textbooks that would reflect his less-sunny vision of modern Venezuela.
"They always use examples like, 'If your mother goes to a government-subsidized supermarket and buys two pounds of sugar and three pounds of meat, how many pounds does she have?'" he said. "Why don't they use an example like, 'If you mother spends two hours in lines waiting to buy sugar, and later waits three hours to buy meat, how many hours has she waited?'"
In America it's not that different, only unlike Venezuela, very few read anything, especially not textoobks. That's what the Teevee and the Kardashians is for.
But back to our original question: the extremely difficult math problem in question has nothing to do with what is written in some propaganda-spouting textbook, but is the following: how long is it possible to have stories like this:
- Venezuela Bolivar Devalues 89% in Start of New FX Market
- Venezuela Devalues Bolivar By Another 44% For Some, Still 600% Higher Than Black Market Due To 50% Inflation
- Venezuela's Maduro Averts Military Coup, Arrests Three Air Force Generals
- Venezuela Runs Out Of Toilet Paper
- Venezuela About To Run Out Of Food Despite Fresh All Time High In Its Stock Market
- Venezuela Sets New "Fair" Prices For Chicken, Sugar, Rice & Coffee
- Venezuela Goes On A Looting Spree
- Venezuela Plunges Into Darkness As President Maduro Lays Out Socialist Vision On National TV
- No Spaghetti For You: Venezuela Noodle Maker Halts Production Due To Lack Of Dollars
- No Drinking Water In Venezuela Until Bankers Get Paid Back
- Breathing The Air In Venezuela? Prepare To Pay
- Venezuela's "21st Century Socialism": Food Lines For The People, New Cars For The Military
- Maduro Rating Plummets As Shoppers Prepare To Be Fingerprinted
- "Now There's Not Even Soap" Maduro Heads To China To 'Save' Socialist Utopia Venezuela
- "Cash-Strapped" Venezuela Stares Into The Abyss... And Its Default Risk Goes Parabolic
- Venezuela Runs Out Of French Fries
- The Last Straw? Venezuela Runs Out Of Fake Breasts
And avoid a full-blown, and very violent, revolution?
A hint, from a few mintes ago: ANTI-GOVT PROTESTS HELD TODAY IN EAST CARACAS’ CHACAO DISTRICT.
Perhaps the answer will reveal itself sooner than most expect.
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Sounds like N. Korea.
Same thing, different language....
3+2=6! Orwell lives!!!
George Orwell was born on my birthday. That makes me special, just like Obama having a Kenyan drunk deadbeat Dad makes him special.
l will have my children give praise to Obonzo daily. When does land reform start here in USSA?
Workers earnings are not keeping up with inflation, parasites that don't work, their "earnings" exceed the rate of inflation. Those parasites fear any system of government that would allow workers earnings to keep up with or even exceed inflation. Did you know that? Their worst fear is a system of government that spends newly printed paper mostly on those at the very bottom of the economic pyramid, that would require the parasites to actually get jobs and work like the rest of us.
The problem with Venezuelans is they really deep down do not want to work for a living. Much like Americans most want to sit on their ass or punch keys on a computer all day long Socilaism is the excuse not the problem.
Honestly - you can´t fault them for that! Who want´s to work? People who work for their money are chumps.
Some of us like work. Physical labor even more. People who hate work are the chumps.
"History is nothing more than agreed upon lies"
-- Emperor Napoleon
Or 'the Beast', depending on which history you read.
That´s the sound natural attitude. God bless you. And it would work well in a normal sound capitalistic system. But that´s not what we have. Nowadays you hook up with oligarchs and politicians for money , blow and hookers. And - we will be hearing more about Bill Clinton and his escapades. Soon.
People will go where the highest rate of return is - wether it is in a non-productive government 'make job' and unfortunately today for many it is far more rewarding to collect those government benefits in whatever form they are presented than to actually be independent of it.
China runs it's own variant of welfare borrowing money to pay it's peasants to build entire cities that nobody lives in. It is cheaper to do that than to try to deal with a starving rioting peasant burning your shit down.
One day that is going to flip (I figure 2015) and it's going to be super ugly when it does. Imagine all the obese diabetics who can barely lift themselves off the couch having their EBT cards and welfare benefits cut off. The same obese people that spit out 6 kids by *any* guy that would knock them up so they could make a good living from the welfare. They are going to send their kids out to riot.
Of course the Elite being the forward thinkers that they are - prepared accordingly and have prepared a military state.
"" Imagine all the obese diabetics who can barely lift themselves off the couch having their EBT cards and welfare benefits cut off."
Don't underestimate the fatties, they are a lot stronger than you think. They get a hell of a workout carrying all the extra weight. If I get just 5 lbs. over my optimal weight, I really feel it, it slows me down a lot and I feel it in my knees. Not only that but, their huge fat "stores" will problably enable them to survive prolonged famine...
It's like free all body kevlar.
Until you realize it really isn't and bleed out.
10 things the media won’t be talking about after the Paris terror attack
. . . and a schizoid spook for a mum; far more dangerous.
Your Property tax bill should arrive any day now.
Fire up your search engine and look up "core math" in our own country, courtesy of the Bill Gates Foundation.
... >>> "Where was Hugo Chavez born?"
... close to his mama? ... hell if I know ...
... like ... what do you get when you cross an elephant and a rhino? elephino ... :)
Trying to figure out what you'd have to breed together to get a whatthefuckdoihno!
I think there is a youtube video of someone trying to do just that. And the result was one indignant rhino.
Naw, they've just adapted the US Department of Education's Commode Core Curriculum to Venezuelan schools.
"Commode Core"
I'd run out and copyright that, Stooge, I think you're onto something.
North Korea doesn't have oil.
Other than dat...pretty bitching similar.
Indoctrination destroys mental flexibility and when Venezuela falls apart no one will know how to fix it because that was not part of the dialectic.
If you have one bucket that holds two gallons and another bucket that holds five gallons, how many buckets do you have? [/Idiocracy]
The answer will be seasonally adjusted and revised either higher or lower.
Really, it depends on what the definition of "bucket" is...
Depending on the weather.
7 gallons of buckets.
Did I win?
.
If it takes a week to walk a fortnight, how many buckets are there in a bag of water ?
Ask Paul Robin Krugman, the 5 watt lightbulb powerhouse.
Fuck government. Cunts.
Good Government - oxymoron
Putin (and the Russians) are very quiet these days.
You can wait, shit will be great!
hehe.
The answer is 0 pounds...because in on corner of the store is where they have no meat, and the other corner of the store is where they have no sugar.
Most academics are naturally unskilled and spineless and easily compartmentalized thus making them ideal disinformation stooges.
Dat Like srappin in da 'hood be ach?
Propaganda in the United States is more subtle, less clownish, and therefore much, much more dangerous.
It works because Americans are the stupidest people on earth.
You betcha.
Well, if my mother was shopping in a British government-subsidized supermarket, she'd have a lot more pounds than I would, because my pounds would be paying for her groceries.
Good thing your mom is not buying a mattress, firmness is measured in stone. Winks.
How about some levity relevant to the topic?
A few months ago, my 1st grader son and I sat down to do his homework. All of the pages were photocopies of an original lesson. If you've ever seen a photocopy of a picture, they typically don't turn out so good. Well, one of the pictures was in a group of the "3 greatest Presidents of the United States", according to my son's public school. The presidents were Washington, Lincoln, and Obama. Barack's picture was just a shot of big, white teeth hovering over a suit and tie. Any resemblance to a man's face wasn't there. My stomach hurt I was laughing so hard.
The accidental symbolism of the picture was lost on my 6-year-old but not on me.
What makes you think it was accidental?
Plenty of teachers hate the system too.
So the Greatest at What was a trick Question Right ?
Which photocopy did your son receive for Obama? Colonel Sanders of KFC or The Fly Landing Pad?
Meat: If O'barecrack had a son, he would look like your avatar.
Cheers!
Yo! Ebonics izza mahden inglesh langwig spok in da Bronx, beotch!
English isn't spoken ANYWHERE in US!
The language is superficially similar, but that's about it!
It's a tricky one LM. Many of us Englishers mock our bastard US offspring for using 'aluminum' (for example), when it is actually the original name, supposedly to fit in with sodium, potassium etc. I've read some convincing arguments that suggest that some American accents and pronunciations are closer to historic use than present day English English, and prior to various dictionary revisions on both sides, there is a lot to be said for the authenticity of the language used in the US.
I used to be a bit precious about 'proper English' until I delved deeper into English etymology, which is truly fascinating. It's an incredibly dynamic language, borrowing from European, Indian and many other dialects (which I'm sure you're aware of). Orwell was obviously interested in the dynamic nature of English and the evolving modern argot when he warned us very clearly about its potential for nefarious manipulation. Trying to standardise a language is really just an exercise in limiting free expression (though I'm guilty of being a grammer Nazi from time to time!). The scandal of translating the Bible into 'modern' English was an hilarious episode in our history, and don't forget Geoff Chaucer and 'proper' English in his time!
Allas, allas! that evere love was synne!I folwed ay myn inclinacioun
By vertu of my constellacioun,
That made me I koude noght withdrawe
My chambre of Venus from a good felawe.
- Wife of Bath (lol, 'chambre of Venus'!)
(not my downvote, btw!)
"Trying to standardise a language is really just an exercise in limiting free expression "
I fully agree with this statement, acutally.
The whole purpose of language has traditionally been to transmit meaning as clearly as is posssible.
Legalistic elastic lawyer-babble and related political weasel-speak are the anti-communication of charlatans and crooks; generally best to be distrusted and reviled...
English is a fascinating language, indeed. in many ways, it's the most bastardized, dynamic and flexible language I know. This very flexibility makes it easier for manipulation, though
"Trying to standardise a language is really just an exercise in limiting free expression". I disagree. One example of a heavy standardization is French. But then, you have new words popping up for new expressions and new thoughts. Italian and German are very good at that, with neologisms being treated like long-waited-for newborns
In fact I'd say that really free expression needs clear, concise and precise vocabularies, the sort of exercise that is often seen as "standardization"
and this is where English is at it's lowest, particularly in politics and media. the AngloSphere does not only need grammer Nazis like you, it would need some vocabulary Nazis as well
I'll make one example I have made often: "globalist". It has no proper definition. I don't mind people fighting "globalists", but how the hell can you fight something that is not clearly defined? It's about as useful as "them"
but propaganda always found badly defined words very useful, and some counter-propaganda could be easily done just by analyzing this kind of words and where they are used as tell-tales for propaganda. For which German, interestingly, has a neologism coming out from the times Eastern Germany was socialist, and had to suffer lots of socialist propaganda (and endless numbing political speeches):
Hülsenwort (plural Hülsenwörter) - sometime Worthülse (plural Worthülsen) - literally: (Hülse = shell) + (Wort = word), i.e. "shell-word" or "word-shell" (proposal for English neologism: wordshell)
definition: a word without content, an empty word, or (very German, lol) an unserious word
a better, more precise command of your language improves the precision of your thoughts, your very command of your thinking, making your thinking also more rational
(an even better comprehension of the mechanics of thought, though, is achieved when you try to master several languages. though such enterprises need decades of study/application)
a warning, though: the use of more precision in language... has a price. a heavy one. Humour. English is so deliciously humourous because it's so unprecise, and so unprecise because it's so full of humour
------
Charles V of Habsburg is attributed to have coined the following witticism about european languages:
"I speak Spanish when I pray to God and speak to priests, French when I speak to diplomats, Italian when I speak to women, German when I speak to soldiers and English when I speak to my horse"
and there you have the summary of that era's "best suited for" language breakdown:
Spanish was recognized as best suited for mystical, religious thought (well, he had to start with his "home base", after all, the Spanish Empire was the 800 lb gorilla in the room, and it's priests very influential)
French was recognized as best suited for diplomacy (and it was the language of diplomacy)
Italian as being best suited to say charming things without promising anything (most people would already laugh when he was at that part) which betrays the subleties of Italian
German as being best suited to give precise commands (hilarity would be resurge at that part, then most mercenaries of that time were German speaking)
and he would end with English... making a joke (and a barb in the direction of England, the lone outpost not fully under his thumb)
Does the anecdote mention the horse replying at all?
Yep, without a wider vocab your expression is limited, but language should be set free, so we can enjoy great words like 'MOAR'. How would we explain the last 5 years or so without 'moar'??
As for the imprecision of English and its colloquialisms, I can think of no greater example than this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaGpaj2nHIo
The answer is: 1 pound of sugar, 0.5 pounds of meat and 3.5 pounds of sawdust.
But I really hope the Ven gov is successful in convincing its citizens that they live in a socialist utopia. Otherwise they would be flocking to the US.
The answer is -1 pounds since it took six pounds of money and ration coupons to buy those items.
Wrong.
The answer is more likely over 147 pounds, which is the average weight of a British woman.
Eh, average US woman is about 166.
http://www.livestrong.com/article/357769-weight-height-for-the-average-a...
Hey! That's 30% moar womanflesh to love!
A bargain.
Let put the so called economic guru’s to a test.
Of the seven Millennium Prize Problems set by the (CMI) Clay Mathematics Institute, six have yet to be solved, as of October 2014.
P versus NP
Hodge conjecture
Riemann hypothesis
Yang–Mills existence and mass gap
Navier–Stokes existence and smoothness
Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture
The seventh problem, the Poincaré conjecture, has been solved. The smooth four-dimensional Poincaré conjecture—that is, whether a four-dimensional topological sphere have two or more inequivalent smooth structures—is still unsolved.
In Minkowski space, time is the 4th dimension, so is the 4th dimension in the Poincare conjecture still time or a spatial dimension? I ask as I have always felt that time is an erroneous hypotheses - only motion and entropy exist, as what we percieve as time is, for example, simply the motion of a isotope experiencing entropy. Maybe I'm not even wrong.
Perhaps you can be both wrong and right? Time will tell.
Lol! Smartarse! :)
picture the Greek Myth of Chronos, the giant winged titan chained by his divine children in order to provide a steady time flow, and so order in the universe
unleash that titan, and Chaos returns, and a renewal of the universe itself
your theory is in a lot of questions around modern physics: is there a time flow where there is no matter?
Pounds?! What are you talking about? I'm pretty sure there's not any cheese in either of these rat mazes. Call them what you will. I'm actually pretty suspicious that they're both parts of one big overlapping cheeseless maze.
“Is it possible for an international organization to deliberately maneuver nations into a world war? The answer again must be
in the affirmative. What type of organization would be capable of succeeding in such an action? Only an organization devoid of
any allegiance whatever to any nation and whose objectives exclude the interests of the organized states of the world. Its particular
interests and objectives must be served in some manner by the devastating aftermath of war. It must have exhausted its efforts in the fields of propaganda and diplomacy. Such an organization must be judged by men who are international in thought and action. They must be men who are incurably hostile to the world and who are convinced that the world is hostile to them and all they represent. They must, of necessity, believe themselves superior to all others and have an abiding faith that their objectives are sacred. They must be convinced that the end thoroughly justifies the means. They must be possessed of unlimited funds and supported by innumerable loyal agents. They must have access to the ears of the mighty and their agents must have the confidence of the powerful in every important post throughout the world. They must be able to manipulate the mysteries of finance and control the minds and actions of people everywhere. They must be in control of the means of communication and dominate the propaganda media throughout the world. And, finally, they must have
a well conceived plan that allows for errors and failures; a plan that reckons the possibility of road-blocks and delays, but charts
the methods of demolition where possible and the shortest detours where other devices fail. They must be men who are endowed with
oriental patience as well as oriental cunning; men who might spend a life-time picking a lock so that their successors might enter the door.” United States Senator Jack B. Tenney in 1953
His booklet “Zion’s Trojan Horse” (Approx. 75 pages) is well researched and sourced. You can read it or download for free. https://archive.org/details/ZionsTrojanHorse
If you think that “evil Nazis” somehow now run America and control the world, then I especially recommend reading this book. Stop being dupes, do your own research, and stop giving your permission for your own enslavement, and that of future generations of humanity.
Wow
Terrific link. Thanks.
"If your mother goes to a government-subsidized supermarket and buys two pounds of sugar and three pounds of meat, how many pounds does she have?"
I'd say 250 lbs. All on her ass.
Miffed;-)
Ah, my dear beloved Miffed. Always a pleasure to see you post your snark! Hope you are well my friend.
I've got a better example of new "maff". An oz of weed is now 20% less than actual weight. Dealers aren't even bothering to pinch some bud off the top after its been weighed in front of their customers eyes. They're just converting to Metric to mindfuck the stoners who can't be bothered to look at the scale and have no idea how to convert grams to oz's.
Weed dealers are the new Banksters. And so is the dealer who sells you a box of Cheerios.
/s
Discounting inflation that's the Venezuelan equivalent of a MC D's quarter-pounder. Of course that comes with free .gov cheese and an equal amount of sawdust.
The same thing is happeng in American schools....
The WORSTof the worst become teachers and they feed them this garbage they call education.
Anyone who is a teacher is part of the problem.
The fact that VZ even remotely functions at this point just shows you how much further we have to go before it gets real.
Good or bad, I believe that you are correct.
God help us all.
US textbooks have been slanting history for 30 years and consequently the Man on the Street can't even find the answer to "Who shot Liberty Valance?"
The bravest of them all
deleted
In the USA, Common Core's goal is first to achieve commonality. After that is done, then any information can be put through it.
Are we getting used to Obama's version of European socialism?
Join the BLS and the numbers really don't matter. Unemployment that is 20% equals 5.5%.
And with the Federal Reserve math in Obamaland and krugmanland.
Where 10 equals 100 and 100 equals 1,000 (fractional reserve).
If a banker loses a trillion in derivative bets and then goes to a Fed window, how much of the tax payer's money can he get for free, to misallocate in wheat futures?
Q: In the Soviet Union, what's the exchange rate between the pound, the ruble, and the dollar?
A: For a pound of rubles, you can get a dollar.
But can I get a bride? That is the question.
My wife sez "no!"
I'd say yes. As long as I keep bedroom duties and she could clean well.
Miffed;-)
Hell they have the NWO agenda built into the colleges too but the professors and students make fun of it. One professor made salutes as if to Hitler when he passed out their survey. The students pass out infowars pamphlets. Those Washington D.C. globalists are the laughing stock of higher education. When multiple groups of contractors run government your libel to get the strangest bullshit pushed on you. Anyhow it doesn't work except the contractors get to collect their fees. Myself I have this wonderful class about climate change in the 17th century and you know what my collegues are going to learn from me don't you. Not global warming but the solar minimum that has begun another mini ice age just like the one in the 17th century. You have nothing to fear. The government can't do anything right.
Good thing Tyler never used that one for a Captcha question. I never would have a post.
Captcha questions were the good old days. Couldn't post if you could not figure out. It was always math questions. Here is my take on a expanded filter. Kidding, no one could get into ZH site.
2.50x - .9x = 3000
1.6x = 3000
x = 1875
did i pass? (i couldn't resist....he he heeee)
Eleven people. Each shakes hands with one less than the person before. I calculated backwards: 1+2+3+ . . . 11=66.
Maggie Thatcher might not have been everyone's cup of tea but she was certainly right when she said that the problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.
At the end of the day though, both the free market and the free thinking individual are being destroyed under both so called "capitalist" as well as socialist systems.
Unless we are treated and herded like pigs to the trough, I do not see a happy ending.
If you look back throughout history there's allways a few individual free and independent thinkers who somehow manage to survive and effect deep changes in society.
Rest assured there are those people who are ready for whatever happens, be it a One-World government, a cashless society, environmental collapse, societal collapse, a police state, etc.
This is how the human condition changes; for better and worse.
This is the end result I mentioned the other day that happens every time that the globalist extremist false duality parties team up to make a better world
They fail miserably 100% of the time but everyone refuses to admit they were wrong. This is followed by;Name calling, finger pointing, then street fights and riots (ie. Ferguson, Arab Spring, Turkish Spring etc.), then death squads targeting opponents and key players (starting now with high level Bankster deaths, Police executions of unarmed citizens, Murders of Police etc), then local conflict (ie. US .gov repeatedly instigating race based incidents to start a race was in or near big cities like Martin vs Zimmerman or White Cop vs Back with hands up), regional conflict (Ukraine, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria etc) and finally global conflict where they mass murder millions and start all over again to build their Utopia
Anyone tired of the globalists bullshit yet?
It's actually simple to stop them. And the American citizenry are on the right track. So I'll have to give them credit they haven't fallen for it yet or let it escalate out of control. Even with the open use of arsonists, outside agitators, government tactical teams in places like Ferguson they held it together and knew the real enemy. That's why the recent rash of hits on police have occurred so they can escalate what they couldn't get to happen in Ferguson and elsewhere to a level where they hope to force large scale violence
Wouldn't it be ironic if in the end the Americans defeat the globalist plan. Not because they fight back but because they're apathetic from being drugged up with globalist prescriptions and poisons in their food, water and air that the globalists can't get the reaction they need to get the war that they want started
The unexpected power of apathy. Just goes to show that there is no problem too big to not care about, if you're willing to not put in the effort.
"What do we want? Apathy! When do we want it? Who cares?"
Perhaps the US should pay closer attention to where it is going.
As the US sees inequality rise and creates a super rich 0.1%, is this really a good idea?
Lessons from the rest of the world who have a bit more history.
Europe used to have an aristocarcy of the super rich, was there any trickle down effect?
No.
The third world still has massive inequality and a small super rich, is there any trickle down effect?
No.
The trickle down effect is something invented by the US super-rich (new aristocracy) to justify their own existence but it doesn't actulaly exist.
In old Europe we once had absolute monarchs who told their citizens they had a divine right to rule. It was a convenient justification for their own existence.
In old Europe with millenia of history the path has been:
absolute monarch -> aristocracy -> meritocracy
The US seems to be doing this in reverse:
meritocracy -> aristocracy -> absolute monarch
The US will get to an absolute monarch when one of the new aristocratic famlies dominates over the others.
They will probably try and con the people that they have a divine right to rule too.
The problem is that the people obsessing over inequality don't seem to realize that the USA is already the 2nd largest welfare state.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/12/07/worstall_us_welfare_system_secon...
Those with high incomes will simply raise prices in response to higher taxes and pass the costs on to their clients or employers. When government costs over $21,000 per citizen or over $57,000 per private worker per year the cooks and the cashiers ain't gonna end up with much, just enough to keep them on the job. We need to increase the ratio of people doing useful work to the overall population. Unfortunately, that would require restructuring our entire government.
Wealth over a certain level doesn't do much for demand.
Most figures show real incomes in the US stagnant since the 1970's.
With inflation rising this means disposable income and demand fall.
Having a few very rich people does not make an economy that works.
This is why inequality is important.
The super rich (the new Aristocracy) like to justify their own existence with silly ideas like the trickle down effect.
They also like to try and push people away from looking at them as the source of the problem and come up with all sorts of red herrings to confuse the masses.
A super rich with no means of looking after the elderly, disabled and the poor is third world and old Europe.
It is a past most Europeans are only too happy to leave behind and like to see their elevation from third to first world.
The US is determined to go from first to third world, good luck and adios.
Math Problem of Extreme Difficulty:
When I was on the road to Saint Ives, I met a man with seven wives. Each wife had seven sacks. Each sack had seven cats. Each cat had seven kits.
Kits, cats, sacks, and wives.....how many were on the road to Saint Ives?
None. Now go find John McClain and for the love of God....kill him
16,809?
One.
State propaganda is not new and is not limited to countries like Venezuela. It is widespread and endemic in our own countries too and it tends to be on a much bigger scale, much more sophisticated and even more taxpayers' money is spent on propagating it. The UK educational system was taken over by progressive socialists years ago and the kids all get brainwashed from Day One.
A few general examples:
- flat out lies over the invasion of Iraq 2003.
- flat out lies over the War on Terror.
- flat out lies regarding the state of the Western economies.
- flat out lies over events in the Ukraine.
- UK school education on 'climate change' is premised on the basis that it's caused by mankind, despite the evidence for this assertion being extremely wobbly.
The list goes on and on. And our own MSM has become highly sophisticated over the years in learning how to ignore, trivialise or spin news stories to support their friends and masters in government or the greater Establishment (Deep State).
There are few better recent examples of this absolute distortion of truth than MSM reporting of MH-370 and MH-17, and the civil war in the Ukraine. I have yet to see one person brought on to MSM to express the truth: all guest interviewees are pre-checked to ensure they're fully signed up to the "official state propaganda".
broadly agree. private propaganda is also not new. particularly in the UK. one excellent example for me is the Daily Telegraph
and I love how that newspaper changes tack whenever elections are approaching, leaving the usual "libertarian" approach and becoming fully conservative for the duration of the campaign
Agreed, but newspapers like The Telegraph, The Mail, The Sun, The Mirror, The Express and of course the BBC and truly disgusting Sky News are the preferred conduits for spreading State propaganda, especially at important times like General Elections or other major events.
Wait and see how they all close ranks and spread scare stories of what'll happen to Britain if/when the empty suit Cameron sanctions a referendum on EU membership. The Scotland ref was a classic example of the tactics used.
They are all expected to follow the political agenda and silence/distract away from any debate on Foreign Policy (which frankly doesn't change whichever Party wins because it's not really decided by elected politicians) National Security (exactly the same reason) and War on Terror (which is politically manufactured as it's a direct consequence of Foreign Policy). Then of course there's no debate allowed on the gathering police state that's emeging in Britain, partly because the Met Police are out of control and political elites on both sides like what's happening.
Between elections, they have slightly more leeway to wander on to other topics.
In case you missed it: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-01-05/satirical-preview-2015#comment-...
I'm worried that the real power of propaganda is simply giving the government the confidence to what it could have done anyway. Are there really people in Venezuela who still worship Maduro because of propaganda or are they all sick of him and see through his bullshit but don't have the power to overthrow him?
The political elites indulge in propaganda to a) head off possible unrest, especially if what they are doing is dubiously lawful and b) to maintain public support and win votes at the next election.
In my experience half of them are sick of the government but many of that half are resigned.
The other half keep voting for the socialists. Most of those are slum-dwelling ghetto trash who get free electricity, free housing, subsidized food, and some kind of stipend to exist and vote, even if the pay is subject to 50% inflation every year.
The remaining minority of the half that still votes for Maduro are the True Believers of socialism. They are maybe 5-10% of the total population. These people are sycophants and lap up every word of the official propaganda. I know a couple of them personally. They're usually educated, self-brainwashed and totally nuts.
Keep in mind that the gov't over there wields an extraordinarily powerful propaganda machine directly, because it has direct control of every major source of economic revenue (i.e. money) including the most important one, PDVSA (most major business there have been expropriated and nationalized). The political opposition on the other hand has zero funding.
William Randolph Hearst
How many pounds does she have ?
Depends how much she weighs herself + what she carries as purchases (unless she eats the goodies on the way, which makes her less of a socialist, more of a capitalist banker type skimming from the top).
Government math adds up to at least 15 pounds in total.
Reality one pound 8 ounces plus a copy of the Koran, with compliments.
Many leaders in the US would probably just love to have us in this situation.
That mother could never buy that quanity in the stores there now...that is the real answer...
Ah yes, the old fifth column excuse: socialism would work so well for everyone if it wasn't for those saboteurs! Or if we could just find really good leaders!
Socialism really does work well on small scales with no central control, no government. Same as capitalism.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/v/vladimir_lenin.html#GbsQ2PtwIk0dZj6H.99
Give us the child for 8 years and it will be a Bolshevik forever.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/v/vladimir_lenin.html#GbsQ2PtwIk0dZj6H.99 Government sponsored classroom mind control, who would have thunk it would be bad.
I just spent a couple of weeks in Venezuela over Xmas. It was depressing. I mean 80% of the country it's just a totally pathetic, dangerous, ugly place. What surprised me was the apparent "meh, whatever" passivity of so many people there. Maybe it's a Latino thing, or maybe there is a building undercurrent of anger that I'm missing. The government is wholesale building fully furnished homes and giving them for free to slum-dwellers. I did see lines at stores when the store got a fresh delivery of soap and milk. Chicken is rationed to 2 per shopper per day. It's one thing to read it on Zerohedge and laugh at it, it's totally another to see it with your own eyes. Like I said, it's depressing to see.
If I didn't know better, I would think the country is a dictatorship. On almost every TV channel, during commercial breaks there is usually one commercial by some kind of state-owned entity praising the government and socialism. On every billboard, every wall in even the smallest towns, sides of apartment buildings, and pretty much anywhere else where there is space, there are slogans like "Making the Socialist revolution permanent", "Socialism or death", "Chavez lives and the fatherland follows", etc. and pictures of Chavez punching his fist in the sky, Chavez hugging a bunch of children, Chavez kissing the national flag, etc. etc. I mean this stuff is literally everywhere you look, all the time, and there is zero contra-propaganda from the opposition. It's like they don't even exist.
Well hammer mah sickle... we don't need no steenkin' markets, comrade!
Operation Exit failed.
Operation Checkmate is next. It will start very soon.
"Diplomatic negotiations" with Cuba begin on the 21st of Jan. My guess is that you will start to see "anti-government protest" headlines in the MSM around the 23rd.
The themes have been sufficiently implanted and are subconsciously familiar.