[Manic!]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nrj_ia-mOMg

It's great to see multiple companies in space now with many more close behind. Looks like I will be able to take a trip to space one day!!!

[westopher]

Hopefully when Bezos heads up there with the amazon rocket they don't let him come back.

[donk.]

Fuck amazon

[SkinnyPupp]

Half the world can't afford rent or proper health care, meanwhile billionaires are flying to space for funzies

Tax these fuckers

[StylinRed]

did they actually go to space, or are they still within the atmosphere, like the ISS?

edit: ah no they didnt even exceed the karman line

[donk.]

Half the world can't afford rent or proper health care, meanwhile billionaires are flying to space for funzies

Tax these fuckers

Ban single person wealth over X amount, taxes just end up back in their pockets lol

[underscore]

Half the world can't afford rent or proper health care, meanwhile billionaires are flying to space for funzies

Tax these fuckers

At least them spending it on dumb shit like space travel gets money back into the economy, instead of these twats just endlessly hoarding it.

[JDMDreams]

I don't get the hate, I really like how they are using their money to advance science and human achievements. Can't wait till they open Jurassic park. Don't tell me if you're the richest man in the world you won't do crazy shit like this:accepted:

[pastarocket]

Meh. -wonder if Bezos will live to see the day that his Blue Origin ships can do Amazon deliveries for customers living on a Mars colony.

Standard 3 to 6 business days for shipping from Earth to Mars? LUL

[MG1]

If I were a rich man (Fiddler on the Roof), I would do something right away to stop suffering around the world. But then, I would be a different kind of rich.

Being money rich usually means it was obtained at the cost of others. By that, I mean taking more profits than necessary, not paying employees enough, shitty working conditions, taking advantage of others, etc.

Again, not all filthy rich people are greedy little piles of shit. There are a few who try to make a difference, quietly.

[Infiniti]

did they actually go to space, or are they still within the atmosphere, like the ISS?

edit: ah no they didnt even exceed the karman line

Yeah, exactly. Hence why this is such a gimmick.

[Hondaracer]

Virgins one looks scary af, no thanks lol

Dropping from the plane and then starting up that booster motor must be ducking terrifying

[sdubfid]

If I were a rich man (Fiddler on the Roof), I would do something right away to stop suffering around the world. But then, I would be a different kind of rich.

Being money rich usually means it was obtained at the cost of others. By that, I mean taking more profits than necessary, not paying employees enough, shitty working conditions, taking advantage of others, etc.

Again, not all filthy rich people are greedy little piles of shit. There are a few who try to make a difference, quietly.


What percentage of your income are you using to help others?

These “greedy” billionaires put food on the table for over a million people and have donated hundreds of millions of dollars. Money rich usually means it was obtained by providing value to others. Henry Ford and the automobile, Andrew Carnegie and railways etc

[westopher]

LOL yes no rich person has ever exploited workers to gain a fortune.
How much did MG1 pay in taxes last year? Hint: it was more than Amazon.

[PeanutButter]

LOL yes no rich person has ever exploited workers to gain a fortune.
How much did MG1 pay in taxes last year? Hint: it was more than Amazon.

Did MG1 get your cell phone case to you the day after you bought it online?

I don't get why people hate on big corporations, without them, we wouldn't have a lot of the stuff we have today.

[PeanutButter]

^Sorry, I didn't mean for that to sound aggressive or anything

It's just there's a lot of stuff going on in the world and I don't know if the big corporations are the ones to blame. But, maybe they are?

[westopher]

So providing convenience exempts you from taxes?
We understand the collateral damage of exploiting a labour system that hasn’t evolved fast enough for capitalism to work effectively. That’s why we don’t like them.
It’s so weird when people advocate for widening inequality. You’re getting left behind it as well, so I’m not sure where any devotion to a billionaire which wouldn’t let you take a piss break if you worked for him comes from.
Sorry, that also sounded aggressive. I don’t hate every corporation, but when the product can be purchased from someone in my community that provides contribution to the local economy, it’s an easy choice, even if it means I have to walk a few blocks.
Money is technically finite, and the more unreasonable amount that ends up in a single persons bank account negatively affects the entire rest of the economy if it isn’t being spent and recirculated in the community.

[MarkyMark]

The whole idea of a multi-billionaire is just gross. I can't fathom being so fucking rich and then to top it all off, you go out of your way to give as little back as possible and find loopholes so you basically pay fuck all in taxes.

What is with rich people and the constant need to get more of something they can't even spend fast enough if they tried?

[Hondaracer]

Peeps begging for communism around here

So when is “too much” ? Like a local self-made businessman who’s worth 50 mill and pays no personal income tax because all their holdings and assets are incorporated? Is that too much personal wealth?

Imo I have far less of an issue with someone like chip Wilson etc. Who probably pay incredible sums back into the local economy than some foreign national who avoids paying any sort of tax, benefits from the system and then is just a leach on society using the healthcare system, etc.

The system needs to be overhauled, individuals are just doing what’s available to them.

[MarkyMark]

People out there striving to be Trillionaires and when someone speaks up about it the old "commie" comment rears its head lol.

[westopher]

Yeah I mean there’s never a fuckin in between right? If you can’t hold 15% of America’s wealth the only other option is waiting in line for government distributed bread.

[Hondaracer]

Cause I know it gets you guys going! Lol

But seriously like whats too much? Bezos etc is obviously too much and him and others are at a point where their wealth will just snowball. but I see this argument over snd over again and people (not so much here) lump like a business owner who has 30 employees as part of the problem

[westopher]

A good start would be to get rid of tax loopholes so a guy that made 100 billion to pay more taxes than a family of four that made 80k.
The statement I read “There should be no billionaires. You can hit 999999999 then you can’t have anymore, you get a plaque that says you won capitalism and you get a dog park named after you” would suffice for me.

[snowball]

A good start would be to get rid of tax loopholes so a guy that made 100 billion to pay more taxes than a family of four that made 80k.
The statement I read “There should be no billionaires. You can hit 999999999 then you can’t have anymore, you get a plaque that says you won capitalism and you get a dog park named after you” would suffice for me.

Tax loopholes would be a start. We don't want to say "the max anyone can be worth is 10 mil and the rest is the government's" cause that would be way too communist.

But to start, policies should be made so multi-billionaires can't exploit loopholes to further increase their wealth; loopholes that were put in place by their buddies in government.

[westopher]

Agreed, but I did say 999 million lol.
The issue is the money for political campaigning, and the promises of cushy jobs offered to ex politicians by companies that benefit from their policies enacted while in office. Yeah the Koch brothers can’t pay you 5 million to propose a law in congress, but they can pay 5 million towards the campaigns of all of those that vote for it so it’s easier for them to get into power. Not to mention the financial impact of those tax laws for politicians that hold shares in the companies they benefit. The whole system is so complex and intertwined to keep the power in the hands of the wealthy.
Morneau is the perfect example of it within our own country. The guy is in charge of Canada’s finances as a whole, yet “forgets” about his Spanish villa for tax purposes. Anyone who forgets about a house they own is obviously not trustworthy with public funds.

[PeanutButter]

So providing convenience exempts you from taxes?
We understand the collateral damage of exploiting a labour system that hasn’t evolved fast enough for capitalism to work effectively. That’s why we don’t like them.
It’s so weird when people advocate for widening inequality. You’re getting left behind it as well, so I’m not sure where any devotion to a billionaire which wouldn’t let you take a piss break if you worked for him comes from.
Sorry, that also sounded aggressive. I don’t hate every corporation, but when the product can be purchased from someone in my community that provides contribution to the local economy, it’s an easy choice, even if it means I have to walk a few blocks.
Money is technically finite, and the more unreasonable amount that ends up in a single persons bank account negatively affects the entire rest of the economy if it isn’t being spent and recirculated in the community.

Capitalism has many benefits, but it has to come at a price. There's no perfect system, but it appears capitalism is the better of the evils.

It's difficult to just single out one aspect of a system and say you have to overhaul it. How would one do that?

It's good to have discussions on how to make the system better, but I feel like more people benefit from Amazon being in existence than not.

The gap is widening because of time and compounding. After a certain period of time, compounding becomes exponential. That's why the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

I've learned that some people are just destined to be poor. You can't have everyone be rich, who would work at Mcdonald's? Socioeconomic status is a necessary evil.

[underscore]

Like a local self-made businessman who’s worth 50 mill and pays no personal income tax because all their holdings and assets are incorporated?

Part of the problem is people grouping someone worth 50 mill in with billionaires. Hell people group someone worth $5M with billionaires. They shouldn't be. The difference in scale is immense. Jeff Bezos is worth 4,248x as much as someone worth $50M. Mr. $50M is basically a fancy poor person, not a low end rich person.

If the guy worth $50M loses $50M he's broke. A billionaire can lose (or gain) $50M while they're eating breakfast and they don't even blink. Besides, the billionaire can just make it all again with that fantastic work ethic they have right?

I've learned that some people are just destined to be poor. You can't have everyone be rich, who would work at Mcdonald's? Socioeconomic status is a necessary evil.

Shouldn't the ideal be automation of all basic functions along with a UBI? I would think that would allow society and technology to progress at an even higher rate. The "system" also doesn't have to be an absolute one way or the other. Amazon can exist and provide value to people without being completely cunty and exploiting the shit out of every little thing that they can.

[westopher]

Again it’s not all or nothing. There’s still going to be rich people and poor people. There’s still going to be business owners and employees. It’s simply putting in measures that prevent the exponential growth from continuing until someone has more than the bottom half of the country COMBINED.
If people want capitalism in some form (even I do) it’s in their best interest to look at solutions for the widening inequality, the threat of automation, etc. as those workers that Amazon employs won’t have jobs forever. They will be replaced as soon as it’s possible and meanwhile bezos will be collecting more money and contributing even less than a shitload of minimum wage jobs packing boxes.
Watch the documentary saving capitalism by Robert reich. Bill clintons secretary of labour, and the voice for a modern capitalism that can benefit workers and still push for innovation and reward for those with the big ideas and big risks.
You can buy 10 mansions and 50 cars for 100 million, why is it reasonable to believe someone needs 330 billion more on top of that? You still get to be rich, and many more people will get to be rich, and many more will be lifted out of poverty.

[Hondaracer]

I think we are on the same page. And generally I feel like everyone here can agree with what you’re saying.

However, on many other platforms I basically see this sentiment that anyone with any sort of wealth is the enemy. This is where I have an issue with this sentiment against capitalism. We see it in Vancouver where there is this idea that people who own their homes are the reason others don’t.

This seems to be fairly widespread as well, these bottom feeders who will likely never amount to anything think their lot in life is due to any person who has more than they do.

Westopher starts a restaurant, invests all his personal savings and works his ass off to create somthing from nothing. His restaurant is so successful in fact, it becomes a chain. Westopher now has a chain restaurant that’s doing amazingly well

There are many people out there in this current state that would say, that fucking peice of shit westopher, capitalist asshole making me wash dishes for him! He’s the reason why im renting a room in a crack house!

This is a very real sentiment going on.

[JDMDreams]

^^ I've learnt that some people just want hand outs and bitch, or live on welfare for the rest of their lives. Why get a job when the government gives me free money every month, just poop out a few kids and they pay me even more. They literally have no motivation to do better for themselves, and live in their vicious cycle.

[westopher]

That’s true. People are too divided to have meaningful conversation which is beneficial to the current establishment. It’s exactly what they want. Blame your neighbour and you won’t blame the flaws in the system.
People want healthcare and they get called lazy commies, people want lower taxes and they’re called fascists.
Sometimes I don’t know why I try and make a point that there’s a better way when I have no fucking clue how to implement it and no power to do so, but I do know people don’t get anywhere by ignoring it.
Edit: lol perfect example posted above me. Like people actually think social programs are just a handout for the lazy.
Just because 5 lazy people take advantage of the system that it shouldn’t be offered for the 100 that benefit and succeed because of it. More people need to talk to fucking poor people instead of living in their own RS bubble where everyone only fucks supermodels and makes 250k a year.

[Hondaracer]

Well just look how gross politics have become and how intertwined they are in this discussion.

6 years ago the NDP promises $10 a day day care. Nothing happens

Now federal liberals piggy back on their daycare idea and promise to take care of it well after the election is done. But only if you vote for them!

As you said, it’s not surprising people are disenfranchised.

This isn’t just a slight on the liberals and trudeau either, this would have happened with any party that was in power. You come to expect it

[westopher]

That’s for fucking sure. A news story came up about the federal election potentially being on the horizon and I said to my wife “you know what, I don’t even know if I can fucking vote. What’s the point?” I was probably being hyperbolic after a couple of beers, but I’ve never even considered not voting in my adult life before now.
I’m not sure if politics has gotten greasier or if I’m just becoming more aware as I get older. If I believed the libs would actually institute the 10 dollar child care, or any of the other budget promises I’d be at the polls wearing a fucking Canadian flag as a cape via a hired snowbird jet, but as it stands I can’t believe anyone will be making a meaningful change for the average person.

[PeanutButter]

That’s for fucking sure. A news story came up about the federal election potentially being on the horizon and I said to my wife “you know what, I don’t even know if I can fucking vote. What’s the point?” I was probably being hyperbolic after a couple of beers, but I’ve never even considered not voting in my adult life before now.
I’m not sure if politics has gotten greasier or if I’m just becoming more aware as I get older. If I believed the libs would actually institute the 10 dollar child care, or any of the other budget promises I’d be at the polls wearing a fucking Canadian flag as a cape via a hired snowbird jet, but as it stands I can’t believe anyone will be making a meaningful change for the average person.

I thought the exact thought in the last couple years.

What is the point of voting anymore? Does it really mean anything?

[68style]

I don’t think it does, Russell Brand is a bit (I’m being nice) of a nutjob, but he has some fascinating takes on things at times and voting and why he’s never done it is definitely one of them… it really does throw you for a loop.

He talks about it in one of his books a lot, but this video really heats up about a minute in:
https://youtu.be/3YR4CseY9pk

[MarkyMark]

Billionaires and a mom and pop restaurant that gets popular are so different it's ridiculous. It's a classic deflection scare tactic much like gun lovers who say "just wait, first they want to make it harder for mentally ill people to get a gun, then next thing they'll be breaking down your door and taking your guns!!"

Sure there is lots of haters out there who hate any successful person, but none of them have any power to do fuck all about it and they never will.

[underscore]

My feeble attempt at effecting change has usually been to spoil my ballot. It's unlikely, but my slim hope is that if "spoiled ballots" is ever a large enough percentage of the vote someone might notice how many people think they all suck. I'd love to hear a more effective idea though, because that's the best I've got so far.

This isn’t just a slight on the liberals and trudeau either, this would have happened with any party that was in power. You come to expect it

You can say that again. They all know full well they can say whatever they want to get votes, because if they don't get elected it definitely doesn't matter and even if they do get elected there's absolutely nothing that actually holds them to their word anyways.

[PeanutButter]

My feeble attempt at effecting change has usually been to spoil my ballot. It's unlikely, but my slim hope is that if "spoiled ballots" is ever a large enough percentage of the vote someone might notice how many people think they all suck. I'd love to hear a more effective idea though, because that's the best I've got so far.



You can say that again. They all know full well they can say whatever they want to get votes, because if they don't get elected it definitely doesn't matter and even if they do get elected there's absolutely nothing that actually holds them to their word anyways.

Isn't the presumed logic of a spoiled ballot that the person just messed up on their ballot? It's not usually an intentional thing, it's generally treated as a user error?

[Gumby]

Lol I tried to “spoil” my vote in a municipal election and not vote for anyone (because I didn’t want to support any of them). It was one of those scantron things and the machine alerted the person working there that my sheet was blank, so I was forced to vote for someone. Guess I could have filled in multiple boxes...

[MG1]

Did MG1 get your cell phone case to you the day after you bought it online?

I don't get why people hate on big corporations, without them, we wouldn't have a lot of the stuff we have today.

I actually got my phone case from XSkin in Crystal Mall. I met the owner when he just had the tiny storefront in Crystal Mall. Really nice guy. Hard working. Now that he has a couple of locations, I don't see him that often. Plus, he has a family now..............

As for other things, I try my best to always buy local. My car audio systems are all locally bought. No Crutchfield or amazon or whathaveyou. I have no idea why you jumped to conclusions like that.

Then again, I don't really give two slugs what others say. Anyway, god bless.

[MG1]

Isn't the presumed logic of a spoiled ballot that the person just messed up on their ballot? It's not usually an intentional thing, it's generally treated as a user error?

Not really. I wanted to exercise my franchise, but didn't have any candidate I trusted in my riding. I spoiled it by a very big no in all spaces. Spoiled is spoiled and nobody knows or cares how it was done, but if a shitload of people do that, maybe it might send a message. Again, nobody is going to care. It makes me feel better. Of the many opportunities I was able to vote, this happened maybe three times?

Anyway, home run derby is on.....................

[mikemhg]

The problem is also these billionaires or quasi billionaires able to use "philanthropy" as a tax write off.

Sorry but no, you setting up a thinktank or "foundation" at a university or private institution to write white papers and propagate free market and libertarian values is not philanthropy.

You essentially have a class of wealthy families using this broken system (the Kochs, Waltons, Mercers, Coors, etc.) to funnel their millions into organizations to push political agendas and philosophic ideas both within education, and civil governance. This allows them to elect judges and politicians to further push laws and initiatives to grow their wealth, that isn't capitalism in the slightest.

Such undertakings shouldn't be a tax write off, and is a total joke that it's legal. The entire system is broken and requires an major fundamental overhaul.

Still, Richard Branson using his wealth to launch his boomer ass into space is not even at the base of the totem pole of problems discussed here -- I'm all for advancing tech in the private sector to this capacity.

Wait, are we still allowed to say totem pole?

[MG1]

So, people say, "I'm just the low man on the totem pole." Well, without the low man's strength, everybody on top falls...............

Yeah, the Thunderbird on top just flies away, gulolol.

[underscore]

Isn't the presumed logic of a spoiled ballot that the person just messed up on their ballot? It's not usually an intentional thing, it's generally treated as a user error?

I honestly don't know, but I'm not sure what other option I have. If you vote for someone they assume you like what they're saying, if you don't vote at all they assume you don't care either way. It would be nice to have an actual "none of them" box to tick so it could be counted as such.

Realistically you're probably right, my single vote likely gets lumped in with the mistakes. But if collectively a good portion of the votes showed up as spoiled that would seem like a pretty clear "you all suck". At least I like to think so.

[underscore]

Kinda back on topic

https://i.imgur.com/EnJmYFd.png

[Infiniti]

Wait, are we still allowed to say totem pole?

Its actually "carved and painted tree trunk" these days. Hope this clarifies.

[westopher]

I'm going off topic of the space ship, but on topic of the things we were discussing, just in case someone wanted to see something hilarious.
https://scontent.fcxh2-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/213357622_2734635093493738_3269930300787446890_n.j pg?_nc_cat=110&ccb=1-3&_nc_sid=730e14&_nc_ohc=BS8-Wlak8l0AX-FxhVw&_nc_ht=scontent.fcxh2-1.fna&oh=82bf83f4a5c0a4442b80677205aa6a9a&oe=60F3ABAA

[CRS]

Do you really expect more from someone who had failed to get their GED multiple times?

[westopher]

Hahah this is really, really wild though.

[JD¹³]

Billionaires and a mom and pop restaurant that gets popular are so different it's ridiculous.

Sure there is lots of haters out there who hate any successful person, but none of them have any power to do fuck all about it and they never will.
This post couldn't be more wrong. Horribly pessimistic.

Henry Ford built his first car in a workshop behind his house. 7 years later the Ford Motor Company built it's first car in it's first plant. He went on to revolutionize the idea of mass production and assembly lines.

Two brothers opened a neighborhood restaurant in California and soon learned from the mass production / assembly line method and brought it to the food industry. Driving costs down, making food faster, serving more customers. That monster is known as McDonald's.

Amazon started as an alternative to the brick and mortar book store at a time when the internet was in its infancy but already revolutionizing commerce. He sold his first book online in 1995 to someone on dial up using Netscape, a barely year old new way to browse 'websites' and send 'email'.

I could go on but ALL these corporations started as someone with an idea. The difference is scale of time, ingenuity, and hard work. And a lot of luck. These billionaires were LITERALLY mom and pop style businesses when they started that went beyond popular and into to the category of revolutionary and integral in modern society. There are people out there right now who are working on ideas and businesses that will make them household name billionaires in 10 years, or less.

[westopher]

Henry Ford is a literal nazi who’s complimented by Hitler by name, in mein kampf
McDonald’s pioneered the concept of feeding people GMO trash which was responsible for the obesity epidemic in America
Amazon is a giant dropshipper/logistics company dependent on avoiding taxes, worker abuse and exploiting the laziness of people to destroy small businesses and prevent the proper function of local economies.
I get the point you are trying to make, but you made the point of why people hate corporations with these examples.
It’s a simple consistency between all of them. Being completely morally bankrupt.

[MarkyMark]

This post couldn't be more wrong. Horribly pessimistic.

Henry Ford built his first car in a workshop behind his house. 7 years later the Ford Motor Company built it's first car in it's first plant. He went on to revolutionize the idea of mass production and assembly lines.

Two brothers opened a neighborhood restaurant in California and soon learned from the mass production / assembly line method and brought it to the food industry. Driving costs down, making food faster, serving more customers. That monster is known as McDonald's.

Amazon started as an alternative to the brick and mortar book store at a time when the internet was in its infancy but already revolutionizing commerce. He sold his first book online in 1995 to someone on dial up using Netscape, a barely year old new way to browse 'websites' and send 'email'.

I could go on but ALL these corporations started as someone with an idea. The difference is scale of time, ingenuity, and hard work. And a lot of luck. These billionaires were LITERALLY mom and pop style businesses when they started that went beyond popular and into to the category of revolutionary and integral in modern society. There are people out there right now who are working on ideas and businesses that will make them household name billionaires in 10 years, or less.

Ok, so these companies started out small and got huge. What are we arguing about? The whole point of my post was a successful business and a multi-billion dollar successful business aren't close to the same thing. I didn't say they could never become huge, but if they did they should be taxed accordingly.

[JD¹³]

While that all may be true we are all enjoying the fruits of their business today. You could find a negative point about every large business or corporation. Money, power, and the influence they have on people will always be a problem for mankind. Does that make Elon Musk a "good" billionaire since he's sold most of his material possessions? Or is he still a tax cheat piece of shit because he moved to Texas which doesnÂ’t collect state income or capital gains tax for individuals?

Is there an example of a flawless billionaire, corporation, etc? Not argumentative, actually curious. Who are the examples to look to?

Ok, so these companies started out small and got huge. What are we arguing about? The whole point of my post was a successful business and a multi-billion dollar successful business aren't close to the same thing. I didn't say they could never become huge, but if they did they should be taxed accordingly.

Dude, what? You said "Billionaires and a mom and pop restaurant that gets popular are so different it's ridiculous" and that "[no one has] any power to do fuck all about it and they never will." I posted examples that exactly counter that and now you're saying a successful business and a multi-billion dollar business aren't the same thing. I just proved that they are, with time. What point do you want to stick with? Better tax laws that allow for a balance of revenue to the state/country that they operate in while being an attractive enough tax rate to keep business there and people employed? I think we can all agree with that.

[underscore]

There's nothing wrong with GMO's, and they certainly aren't the reason McDicks helped make so many people so obese though.

[MarkyMark]

While that all may be true we are all enjoying the fruits of their business today. You could find a negative point about every large business or corporation. Money, power, and the influence they have on people will always be a problem for mankind. Does that make Elon Musk a "good" billionaire since he's sold most of his material possessions? Or is he still a tax cheat piece of shit because he moved to Texas which doesnÂ’t collect state income or capital gains tax for individuals?

Is there an example of a flawless billionaire, corporation, etc? Not argumentative, actually curious. Who are the examples to look to?



Dude, what? You said "Billionaires and a mom and pop restaurant that gets popular are so different it's ridiculous" and that "[no one has] any power to do fuck all about it and they never will." I posted examples that exactly counter that and now you're saying a successful business and a multi-billion dollar business aren't the same thing. I just proved that they are, with time. What point do you want to stick with? Better tax laws that allow for a balance of revenue to the state/country that they operate in while being an attractive enough tax rate to keep business there and people employed? I think we can all agree with that.

My whole post was towards Hondaracer saying that people might group multi-billionaires and some dude with 50 million together. I said that was ridiculous and it is. You proved nothing except a handful of businesses that popped off and became huge, that doesn't mean every successful business it going to be worth billions one day. You decided to go off on one point about small business becoming huge and what point are you trying to make on top of that?

[westopher]

There's nothing wrong with GMO's, and they certainly aren't the reason McDicks helped make so many people so obese though.
There's lots wrong with the GMOs that McDonalds uses.
Yes there are beneficial ones, bananas, seedless watermelons, etc
There's ones McDonalds uses, high fructose corn syrup, "vegetable oil" filled with trans fats, beef pumped full of steroids and absolutely hammered full of food right before slaughter on shit covered killing floors, etc.
I'm not saying GMOs made people fat, I'm saying the food is full of irresponsible GMOs, and the fast food revolution in America, and the fact that inequality also means it's all the lower class can afford, is the reason America is absurdly obese. It's cheaper to get McDonalds than it is to eat fresh vegetables.

[68style]

I'm going off topic of the space ship, but on topic of the things we were discussing, just in case someone wanted to see something hilarious.
https://scontent.fcxh2-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/213357622_2734635093493738_3269930300787446890_n.j pg?_nc_cat=110&ccb=1-3&_nc_sid=730e14&_nc_ohc=BS8-Wlak8l0AX-FxhVw&_nc_ht=scontent.fcxh2-1.fna&oh=82bf83f4a5c0a4442b80677205aa6a9a&oe=60F3ABAA

I clicked on this ... person's(?)... Twitter profile... and on the side where it says "You might like" the first suggestion was Matt Gaetz.

LOL.

Says a lot about her algorithm settings that the first similar result is that fuckface.

[CivicBlues]

Lauren Boebert...lol. The "anti-AOC" they call her...well I guess if she wasn't a total dumpster fire.

In 2015, Boebert was arrested in Mesa County for making a public disturbance at a musical festival. In 2016, she pleaded guilty to an unsafe vehicle charge after rolling her car into a ditch late at night. In 2017, her restaurant was responsible for over 80 cases of food poisoning at the Garfield County Rodeo after serving food without a license.

[Manic!]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SSVr3EKTlM

[murd0c]

Space is Amazon territory.. That is way way more impressive then anything Virgin did!!

[StylinRed]

He went up to the karman line at least

[skidz]

are all the soyboys from the coronavirus thread going there?

[whitev70r]

Branson's design looks a bit better, it looks like a reusable craft. Bezo's ... looks like a rocket with a capsule and it landed with a thud. Not even in water, it landed on ground ... as a passenger, that must have jarring !!!

[Hondaracer]

Bezos actually goes to space, thus the vehicle

In order to fly in and out of space you’d have to create somthing closer to the shuttle than to Bransons rocket ride

[Manic!]

The landing did look hard. They said retro rockets where suppose to fire just before landing but but i didn't see any. Both parts of the rockets are reusable.

[StylinRed]

Bezos actually goes to space

still well within Earth's atmosphere (just sayin)

[CivicBlues]

Is anyone else surprised Jeff Bezos has a twin-like brother that went up to space with him? LOL, the evil-supervillain vibe with this guy just got dialed up a bit more.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E3UuUUCWQAo1I3p.jpg

[underscore]

Is this supposed to be impressive or something? It's not like these guys are doing anything new here.

[highfive]

Loving the online memes of Bezos and doctor evil... lol

Space was virgin territory and Bezos sends up a dildo looking spaceship haha

[westopher]

Didn’t red bull send something up as high as the virgin craft to have a dude skydive from it?

[Manic!]

Didn’t red bull send something up as high as the virgin craft to have a dude skydive from it?

https://e3.365dm.com/21/07/768x432/skynews-space-race-bezos-branson_5435445.png?20210703082346

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_diving

In 2014, Alan Eustace set the current world record highest and longest-distance free fall jump when he jumped from 135,908 feet (41.425 km) and remained in free fall for 123,334 feet (37.592 km)

[highfive]

Is anyone else surprised Jeff Bezos has a twin-like brother that went up to space with him? LOL, the evil-supervillain vibe with this guy just got dialed up a bit more.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E3UuUUCWQAo1I3p.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfcU_CiVWLg

His laugh is def evil... lol

[Hondaracer]

So all this time, money, and resources to basically experience weightlessness for a few minutes and not really go to space..

[GGnoRE]

I know we all want to poo poo on the billionaires but this is a game-changer in space exploration. 10 years ago, even 5 years ago, would you have ever imagined exploring space as a civilian? Now its possible as long as you got $$$. As for the distance into space, this is literally just the beginning lol

[CivicBlues]

Great so instead of just becoming a test pilot, being selected by the Canadian Space Agency and going through a grueling training program for Astronauts; I just have to become a billionaire now. Easy peazy lemon squeezy!

[Hondaracer]

I know we all want to poo poo on the billionaires but this is a game-changer in space exploration. 10 years ago, even 5 years ago, would you have ever imagined exploring space as a civilian? Now its possible as long as you got $$$. As for the distance into space, this is literally just the beginning lol

It kind of speaks to a billionaire pissing contest though over true helpful innovation

All 3 of these companies were founded roughly the same time, 2004 or so. Space X is now the NASA go-to for actual space missions that go to actual space and link up with the international space station etc. Truely remarkable research and innovation by Musk and Co.

While on the other hand you’ve got these two clowns in Bezos and Branson spending the same amount of time to simply reach the edge of space, privately funding and not collaborating for any goal other than privatized, for profit “space” travel

For the future of mankind and the innovation which comes from getting to space, I’d assume you need to actually GO to space? Lol

Just think of how absurd the term “For profit, privatized space travel” sounds lol

[underscore]

How is this in any way innovative? Yuri Gagarin went to space and did an orbit 60 years ago. Aren't these guys just spending shitloads of money reinventing the wheel here? I can't imagine trying to brag about achieving less than a Soviet-built tin can did 6 decades ago.

[MarkyMark]

Yeah I don't see what the big deal is here, didn't we go to the moon in the late 60s? Who gives a fuck about a billionaire joyride thats "really high up"?

[Manic!]

How is this in any way innovative? Yuri Gagarin went to space and did an orbit 60 years ago. Aren't these guys just spending shitloads of money reinventing the wheel here? I can't imagine trying to brag about achieving less than a Soviet-built tin can did 6 decades ago.

One was state funded the others are private. Virgin and Blue origin are about space travel for tourists. Russia was selling rides into space for around 20 mill US in 2012. These are going to cost significantly less.

[GGnoRE]

It kind of speaks to a billionaire pissing contest though over true helpful innovation

All 3 of these companies were founded roughly the same time, 2004 or so. Space X is now the NASA go-to for actual space missions that go to actual space and link up with the international space station etc. Truely remarkable research and innovation by Musk and Co.

While on the other hand you’ve got these two clowns in Bezos and Branson spending the same amount of time to simply reach the edge of space, privately funding and not collaborating for any goal other than privatized, for profit “space” travel

For the future of mankind and the innovation which comes from getting to space, I’d assume you need to actually GO to space? Lol

Just think of how absurd the term “For profit, privatized space travel” sounds lol

How is this in any way innovative? Yuri Gagarin went to space and did an orbit 60 years ago. Aren't these guys just spending shitloads of money reinventing the wheel here? I can't imagine trying to brag about achieving less than a Soviet-built tin can did 6 decades ago.

I disagree in that not all "innovation" comes in the form of doing something truly new. When Tesla came out with their first EV for $110K in 2009, its not like they were inventing the concept of EV either. The innovation here is in making space tourism a commercially viable product. Right now, its projected to cost $250K per person. Bring that cost down significantly over the years and I bet a lot of people would be interested in exploring space (hopefully a lot further into space then).

[Hehe]

Haven't posted a while because I thought I was getting too extreme with my right-leaning thoughts and from personal experiences with people near me in my life, I thought to take a break and really think it through. The last few days, something happened and I decided to come out of a posting hiatus.

Coming from a family of business people, I find the idea of capitalism fascinating and it is in my opinion (pre-break at least), the way to motivate a person forward. After spending much of the break reading about BLM, human right movement and more, I came to a conclusion that neither extreme really works.

Capitalism would always mean a concentration of resources in the hand of a few, because at its core, it's about always using resources at hand to improve the condition.

Socialism at its extreme doesn't work either. California now has people just taking stuff and walking out of store because anything less than $950 is considered a minor misdemeanor and the accused would get an equivalent of a traffic ticket.

And here the thing that hit me hard. Just 2 days ago, a childhood friend of mine got shot and died, while the robbers were trying to rob the cash he had with him. This was in Argentina, where even if the person who did this were caught, the police said unless we can establish a premeditated plan to kill him, the person would be out in a few months because the motive was to rob my friend, which is also a minor crime there.

This piece of shit killed my friend, leaving his wife and 2 small kids devastated and their life would never be the same... all because the law was written in a way that there is too little consequence if they were caught.

This same reason "there is a little consequence" is the same way why capitalism is broken too. The benefit that they have by hoarding all the resources far outweigh the cost (social, financial... etc) of not doing it.

So, what am I proposing here? I propose strict laws against crime of any kind. This is to protect those who are trying to make a living the right way. And to get the big corporations to actually pay attention to what they are doing because there are severe consequences for their screwup. Second, I think there should be an incentive for those with resources to spend. Billionaires are welcome to exist, as long as they are spending their share to the society.

A regular folk spend 90% of their income on necessities while saving the rest as accumulation for wealth. A billionaire, with all the trip to space and megayachts, probably only spend 10% of their income on the economy. This is unfair. Instead, we should promote spending. Make taxation in a way that welcomes spending and tax heavily on remainder. Bezos probably makes a few billion every year (without actually altering his holding of AMZN shares). He should spend (pre-tax) almost all of it while putting little as wealth preservation. The same should go for anyone (person or corp) with a net asset of 50MM+. You either spend it or lose it.

[CivicBlues]

- Thinks Socialism means recklessly decriminalizing theft and murder.

- Goes on to promote the solution is to tax the rich - which is literally, Socialism :lol

Good to have you back man otherwise, did you ever find that dictionary of yours?

[Hehe]

I don’t think socialism as such. But the way democrats and many of the countries, including Argentina are getting socialism wrong.

Socialism is about those who are more capable carry those who are less so. However, it does not mean we should make those less fortunate any less responsible. The way they are writing the law is doing exactly that; Those less fortunate, whether willingly or not, should be taken lighter.

That should not be the case. Everyone should bear the same exact responsibility to our society. Riches should not be allowed to continue to hoard wealth, just the same way those who have less should not be allowed to bear less responsibility.

[SkinnyPupp]

So, what am I proposing here? I propose strict laws against crime of any kind. This is to protect those who are trying to make a living the right way. And to get the big corporations to actually pay attention to what they are doing because there are severe consequences for their screwup. Second, I think there should be an incentive for those with resources to spend. Billionaires are welcome to exist, as long as they are spending their share to the society.

A regular folk spend 90% of their income on necessities while saving the rest as accumulation for wealth. A billionaire, with all the trip to space and megayachts, probably only spend 10% of their income on the economy. This is unfair. Instead, we should promote spending. Make taxation in a way that welcomes spending and tax heavily on remainder. Bezos probably makes a few billion every year (without actually altering his holding of AMZN shares). He should spend (pre-tax) almost all of it while putting little as wealth preservation. The same should go for anyone (person or corp) with a net asset of 50MM+. You either spend it or lose it.

Congrats, after actually thinking about things for a while you became a Socialist

[Hehe]

Congrats, after actually thinking about things for a while you became a Socialist

:fuckthatshit: I became less righty, not stupid.

[SkinnyPupp]

:fuckthatshit: I became less righty, not stupid.
No you are literally advocating for socialism.. That doesn't make you stupid, it just means you are being more considerate with your politics.

I don't know how, but America somehow turned socialism into a dirty word. Communism too, although that is more expected. Although in theory it makes sense, in practice it has been used in awful ways. So has capitalism, and is to this day, but for some reason that's automatically good, but communism is automatically bad.

[underscore]

^ decades of Cold War propaganda probably had a lot to do with it.

I disagree in that not all "innovation" comes in the form of doing something truly new. When Tesla came out with their first EV for $110K in 2009, its not like they were inventing the concept of EV either. The innovation here is in making space tourism a commercially viable product. Right now, its projected to cost $250K per person. Bring that cost down significantly over the years and I bet a lot of people would be interested in exploring space (hopefully a lot further into space then).

While that's true, what they're working to innovate is something that doesn't seem beneficial to the world. All this concern about climate change but now we want to burn tons and tons of rocket fuel for joy rides?

Socialism at its extreme doesn't work either. California

:suspicious:

[Ulic Qel-Droma]

How is this in any way innovative? Yuri Gagarin went to space and did an orbit 60 years ago. Aren't these guys just spending shitloads of money reinventing the wheel here? I can't imagine trying to brag about achieving less than a Soviet-built tin can did 6 decades ago.

yeah... and the same can be said about the wright brothers flying over a field.

or the first car ever made.

you do know the only reason we aren't conquering space is because it costs a lot.

these guys are gonna make it cheaper, and more effective, and then down the line, we will be space conquering.

governments never got a person past the moon because they couldn't. it costs too fucking much and the risk is too high.


the pros of individuals with so much money and power is they can laser focus and shoot as far as they can with little bureaucracy standing in their way in one lifetime.

if you gave the same amount of money to the government or spread it out to the common people, the result would be... nothing. you couldn't even measure it. yeah maybe some people would have more food on the plate, for what? for how long? what's that really gonna fix? it just perpetuates things.

like giving a bum a dollar. that's really gonna change his life. lol.

what would really happen is some people would get more food on the plate, some new tv's and eventually over time that money would still fall into the hands of the rich because that's how money works.

im certainly not at the top of the pyramid, but i have a chance. that chance is good enough for me.

I would rather live in a system with a chance of that, than no chance at all.

[SkinnyPupp]

Yes let's "conquer space" while burning the planet to the ground FailFish

[68style]

Yes let's "conquer space" while burning the planet to the ground FailFish

Well at least it’s a solution to the created problems, could be worse? :alone:

[Manic!]

Lets just ban all vacation travel. Who needs to go on a cruise ship anyways.

[68style]

Fat and old white people need love too

[SkinnyPupp]

Well at least it’s a solution to the created problems, could be worse? :alone:
I always thought it was funny when people talk about moving to and "terraforming" Mars. Like Mars is only slightly less habitable than Earth will be in 50 years.. Why not work on "terraforming" Earth? Or at least try to prevent it from becoming Mars?

[underscore]

yeah... and the same can be said about the wright brothers flying over a field.

or the first car ever made.

Well no, because the plane and car didn't exist then. Those were actual firsts in uncharted territory. Technology far beyond what Branson and Bezos are doing has existed for decades. They are just reinventing the wheel here. If you want to build a better plane you start with the current tech and more forward from that. You don't build a Wright-style glider and then brag about gliding across a field.

governments never got a person past the moon because they couldn't. it costs too fucking much and the risk is too high.

NASA could've done it ages ago if the US gov't didn't cut their funding like mad so they can blow up kids in the desert instead.

the pros of individuals with so much money and power is they can laser focus and shoot as far as they can with little bureaucracy standing in their way in one lifetime.

Except again, they aren't doing anything new or useful here and they're wasting even more effort running parallel to each other.

[mikemhg]

yeah... and the same can be said about the wright brothers flying over a field.

or the first car ever made.

you do know the only reason we aren't conquering space is because it costs a lot.

these guys are gonna make it cheaper, and more effective, and then down the line, we will be space conquering.

governments never got a person past the moon because they couldn't. it costs too fucking much and the risk is too high.


the pros of individuals with so much money and power is they can laser focus and shoot as far as they can with little bureaucracy standing in their way in one lifetime.

if you gave the same amount of money to the government or spread it out to the common people, the result would be... nothing. you couldn't even measure it. yeah maybe some people would have more food on the plate, for what? for how long? what's that really gonna fix? it just perpetuates things.

like giving a bum a dollar. that's really gonna change his life. lol.

what would really happen is some people would get more food on the plate, some new tv's and eventually over time that money would still fall into the hands of the rich because that's how money works.

im certainly not at the top of the pyramid, but i have a chance. that chance is good enough for me.

I would rather live in a system with a chance of that, than no chance at all.

That's not really true.

The reason why we were able to make it to the moon in the first place is essentially socialism. Large amounts of taxpayer dollars were diverted to fund NASA as a large percentage of GDP. It shows that when government puts money behind something and consolidates, things get done. This is how the mass boom in infrastructure (highways, bridges, housing, NASA, etc) were able to be achieved in the 60's.

It's the rampant race to the bottom in terms of cutting taxes which has resulted in this atrophy in terms of getting things done. Look at the below, and see the rapid decline of allocated GDP to NASA, this is why we're now relying on private companies, and billionaires like Musk and Bezos to get to space.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budget_of_NASA