[ExI] A Small Request [was Re: Impressive book: Farewell toAlms]

[Olga Bourlin]

From: "J. Andrew Rogers" <andrew at ceruleansystems.com>
To: "ExI chat list" <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org>
Sent: Friday, February 08, 2008 11:31 PM
>
> Eh?  Say what?  The local economy has been in non-stop growth mode
> since that movie was made by almost any metric you can think of.  The
> assertion that there was a significant increase in suicides after the
> movie due to major new economic hardship is absurd and makes it hard
> to take you seriously.  Whatever it is you "read", it is pure
> unadulterated bullshit of the finest quality.

I'm sorry - didn't mean to sound as if I knew - I don't know.  I also read 
that part of the reason why there may have been an increase in suicides off 
the Golden Gate Bridge was due to the talk of putting up barriers to prevent 
suicides (and so people are doing it while they can, so to speak).

I don't doubt a lot of what I read is unadulterated bullshit.  La merde hit 
le ventilateur big time some eight years ago, and we've all been slimed with 
it ever since:

http://www.nationalpriorities.org/costofwar_home

http://www.thestar.com/columnists/article/295870

http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2008/01/31/army-suicides-up-20/

> That assertion is so contrafactual that I am at a loss for words.
> Where do you get your news and why have you not noticed its blatant
> shortcomings before? Blind uncritical acceptance of its nominal truth?
> It is mind boggling.

Again, I apologize.  I was trying to recall something I had read - just 
speaking off the cuff.  Not meant as a dissertation.

However, I have been observing how for the last 20+ years the middle class 
has been eroding - haven't you?  Certainly, many people (and businesses) 
have been on a "non-stop growth mode," but many people also populate the 
other side of the divide.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/29/business/29tax.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

http://goodfelloweb.com/layabouts/income_gap.html

http://www.njpp.org/rpt_njpull.html

Olga