dagblog - Comments for "Silly, Silly Other Countries"

Well I admit I was also

artappraiser — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 20:01:10 +0000

Well I admit I was also thinking about what cultural differences have to do with it, as that is one of my favorite things, and there I get confused as well. Especially confusing in that the fatalism explained by the Chinese taxi driver can be seen in acceptance of your fate in a caste system. I'm not sure they are the same thing, that's what's confusing. But I don't have a problem seeing a stark difference in intent like you do, I see it as very stark, as two opposite approaches intersecting as they pass each other.

I get that she's basically a

miguelitoh2o — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 19:58:16 +0000

In reply to I was not arguing for or

I get that she's basically a leftist, Just wondered where you thought her thinking that inflation impacts the poor disproportionately makes her so.

I was not arguing for or

artappraiser — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 19:53:55 +0000

In reply to AA, as to your statement:

I was not arguing for or against what she said. I was pointing it out:

Dilma Rousseff Is Sworn as Brazil's New President

During the inauguration, Dilma Rousseff, Brazil’s first female president, said that the “government’s most dogged fight will be to end extreme poverty and create opportunities for all," adding that she “will not rest while there are Brazilians without food on the table, while there are disheartened families living in the streets, while there are poor children left to their fate”

[....]

“It is through growth associated with strong social programs that we will overcome income inequality and achieve regional development,” she said.

For that reason she repeated the need to “preserve economic stability as an absolute value” and said that to do so, inflation must be kept under control.

“We will not allow under any hypothesis that this plague (inflation) again leave our economic fabric in tatters and punish our poorest families,” she said.

[...]

http://laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=382807&CategoryId=10718

You can find a lot more in business news if you google it including Rousseff specifically, rather than looking to general theory.

Sorry. Still not seeing

EmmaZahn — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 19:46:00 +0000

In reply to I think the main difference

Sorry. Still not seeing that. In fact, the opposite. Isn't relocating Chinese people to an unidentified location in 'the country' more like sweeping them under the rug than letting them live and quite literally die in the streets of India as they do and did just a couple of decades ago. The still very much alive caste system probably makes that level of visible human suffering even easier for a Hindi to accept than our very own domestic Calvinists.

It must have been thinking about the caste system that caused my thoughts to stray to Siddharta. I must remember to write those thoughts down.

Thanks artappraiser. I can't

Michael Maiello — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 19:31:10 +0000

In reply to Good on you destor for your

Thanks artappraiser. I can't read everything and still read what I want so I do have to be careful about mouthing off. Happy to admit I'm wrong when I am, though!

I think the main difference

artappraiser — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 19:07:19 +0000

In reply to Never was much good at nuance

I think the main difference he is pointing out is that one is sweeping one's problems under a rug, out of site out of mind (India,) and the other is quite the opposite: rigorous attempts at social engineering in order to deal with problems (China.)

AA, as to your statement:

miguelitoh2o — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 18:57:07 +0000

In reply to Good on you destor for your

AA, as to your statement: "Also a suggestion: mho, one can't dismiss the "still a lefty" label so easily; she speaks of inflation as most devastating to the poor", I wonder what you're thinking .

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/20/AR200803...

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=245806&rec=1&srcabs=6...

I could go on, but googling "inflation, effects on the poor" will serve you better than enumerating here.

Well, I will just point out

artappraiser — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 18:56:19 +0000

In reply to Ah, but even if we taxed

Well, I will just point out that "socialist" Canada sees some benefit in keeping the top income tax rate at 29% and taxing half of cap gains as ordinary income and not taxing the other half, and they tax estates like that, too.

But I don't think we have to go as low as they do. I didn't see a single example of a uber rich person seriously complaining about Bill Cllinton's top rates. Genghis did a post once about straight out asking the uber rich to agree to 50% a while until things were better, he thought most of them would pay it without much complaint or fear, so do I. But I also think you would see flight and evasion at 90%, sure as shooting, every country that does it sees it, diminishing returns. And I think just talking about it feeds a class war scenario rather than ameliorating one, works against "we are all in this together" and looks like a robin hood view of things to a lot of working class people who don't cotton to such. Keep asking for it, I think you're insuring the left remains a small minority in this country. Obama's statement that I quoted got it right.

Good on you destor for your

artappraiser — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 18:37:57 +0000

In reply to I'm an ignoramous sometimes.

Good on you destor for your reaction. I was just going to leave the mistake lay unremarked. But I will tell ya now, it told me that you hadn't read much on her because most of the articles have a picture precisely because of the gender history. Good for you for responding like you have, you have restored my faith in you.

Also a suggestion: mho, one can't dismiss the "still a lefty" label so easily; she speaks of inflation as most devastating to the poor . And in Latin America, they cetainly have past examples of that. I don't think one can easily remove the "global" from the "what is to be done about all of this" anymore. Not to mention many of the uber wealthy are global.

LOL! Good thing you're cute

we are stardust — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 19:06:57 +0000

In reply to I'm an ignoramous sometimes.

LOL! Good thing you're cute and generous to a fault, then! I just happened to read a piece with her photo, and saying she is the first-ever Prez of Brazil. Hope she's a good 'un.

Da Silva is only a cross-dresser, and only at parties, like Rudy G. You have me laughing, D.