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Watched his discussion of his new book.
On wage disparity (paraphrase) - "There are some interesting studies that show that happiness has nothing to do with income. This is something that we're going to have to address. For example take the fact that per capita income has gone up drastically but people are no happier." Um yeah you grizzled turtle, cause all the money is going upwards while inflation tags along.
On globalization (paraphrase) - "We are on the cusp of something truly magnificient. The incomes of poorer countries are converging with the industrialized countries. And you can almost see the invisible hand of Adam Smith guiding it all! It's been an incredible force for good." Good for the rich to become super rich, and solidify their grip on the entire planet. How can a massive labor market be good for us? Oh that's right we have to sacrifice our futures for the rich and people in other countries... right.
On the retirement of the baby boomers (paraphrase) - "Well the politicians should tell them that they need to retire later. Or cut their benefits, or tax the young people... but what we really need to do to increase production is to better our education and to increase our import of foreign skilled and highly skilled workers from the developing world. This will dramatically suppress wages which will increase productivity, and will also make people feel better about wage disparity. You see, people care more about their social standing than their income. It's a sad fact." WTF?!?!?! Ok medicare issues i got it. But suppress wages to better the economy? Who's economy? Oh that's right, the only people that "matter": the super rich. But at least we can all poke fun at the foreigners who we let in to take our jobs.
On the coming period of massive inflation and economic downturn (paraphrase) - "Unfortunately interest rates will have to skyrocket, and I fear that the political system will freak out. What I'm most afraid of however is the populist movement gaining a greater hold in America. Thankfully it has been very low key since the 90's, but in a time of economic strife it threatens to overwhelm this great capitalist system." Yes wouldn't it be terrible if the plebes could see doctors, and have homes and stuff. That would leave far less space for golf courses and people with no soul like you would have to wait in line to have your bodies preserved.
This whole worship of completely unregulated capitalism is garbage. Markets are for unneccesary things. You think the army relied on the market during WWII? Hell no, it FORCED manufacturers to make friggin tanks, and asked housewifes to grow vegetables and knit socks. The reason that we've been the most powerful nation in the world isn't because of the ability of people to get super rich at the expense of others... it's because of their ability to force people to work themselves to death like slaves to make them richer. You know, I'll take some time with my family over working 70 hours a week any lifetime, and in belonging to a country that can kill massive amounts of people so they can take their resources and make them compete with me for a job. Oh but the rich get to work 5 hours a week and sit on TV talking about the glory of free markets.
Eat the fuckers I say. Douse them in their own Poupon and eat them! Let them fight their own wars and plunge their own toilets.
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