Planetary Annihilation: Total Annihilation IN SPACE

[Kahuna]

If they got 5 mil, they'd bring a real life version of Planetary Annihilation with the rate the stretch goals are scaling.

Raise 5 bils and you can finance a launch of a real spaceship to mars =)

Imagine if all defense budgets of all countries were used to research new technologies and space travel.. makes me think..

[Wingflier]

Thus the problem with Capitalism which nobody seems to want to acknowledge...all the wasted resources.

[chemical_art]

Military conflict and its costs came long before capitalism 

[Wingflier]

I'm not just talking about war, but yes, that is one very expensive byproduct of Capitalism.

[chemical_art]

*shrug*

It's like democracy.

It's not the best and leaves a lot to be desired, but no one has found something that in practice is better overall.

Edit: whoa, I thought mixed economies were a sub branch of capitalism but I see its not clear to say, the least, but that is what I think is best.

[Wingflier]

That's not entirely true.

The Capitalist-Socialist hybrid East European Countries are doing the best by far right now in terms of pretty much every social standard we have; as opposed to the U.S. which is basically a purely Capitalist Nation which seems to be rapidly declining (though our citizens continue to be extremely resistant to change).  Interestingly, religion in those countries is massively declining as well, while religion in the U.S. seems to be more important than ever.

Personally I think that eventually we'll find a system that completely removes Capitalism and Democracy from the equation, and takes a more Scientific approach to government than what we currently have (which is based mostly on flawed human perception and opinion).

[Mánagarmr]

Oh god, guys! Don't go all political on me!

[chemical_art]

I agree mixed economies are the best, but no one is pure capitalism, from the United States from China. They all have some oversight, but no where near enough. 

Those Eastern European countries are having the best growth, but their standards are still the lowest, and they are growing so fast in part because they started so low. The concept is like saying someone who has never ran but makes a faster % gain in improvement after a year of intense training gains compared to someone who has trained for a decade. The former has changed dramatically but the later has not, but the former hasn't magically found the best solution either.

So the Western Europe countries haven't changed much over the century no where near as much as Eastern bloc countries in economic structure. However, that doesn't necessarily account for everything either. Those Eastern European bloc countries don't have such a large financial industry, so when an economic collapse of fiance hit they are not as effected.

That doesn't mean for a second that means changes aren't needed. The financials' system of waving magic to make wealth on paper is entirely negative and only leads to problems.

[Aklyon]

Oh god, guys! Don't go all political on me!

Or me!

[Wingflier]

I agree mixed economies are the best, but no one is pure capitalism, from the United States from China. They all have some oversight, but no where near enough. 

Those Eastern European countries are having the best growth, but their standards are still the lowest, and they are growing so fast in part because they started so low. The concept is like saying someone who has never ran but makes a faster % gain in improvement after a year of intense training gains compared to someone who has trained for a decade. The former has changed dramatically but the later has not, but the former hasn't magically found the best solution either.

Agreed that there's no such thing as a "Purely Capitalistic"  society, though the U.S. is much more Capitalistic than most countries in the world.

I wasn't referring to the growth of the Eastern European Countries either, I was referring to their current state using modern Social Standards. 

In terms of Education, Work-Life balance, reported happiness, job opportunities, college costs, and many other factors, the U.S. is declining and the Eastern European Nations (as well as other nations such as Australia and New Zealand) are increasing.  Yes, I agree with you that the U.S. has to tackle many problems that these other nations don't because of its sheer size (in terms of population and land mass), but I'm also convinced that our extreme dependence on Capitalism is very harmful to the country.

For example, in Denmark they pay 72% of their income as taxes annually, yet Denmark is currently one of the most desirable places to live in the world with the highest reported happiness, work-life balance, and many other positive social aspects very high as well.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/the-happiest-countries-in-the-world.html?page=all
http://www.financialjesus.com/how-to-get-rich/top-10-happiest-countries/
http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/#/11111111111

This really contradicts the negative American stereotype that more taxes are always a bad thing, and that a Capitalistic "trickle-down" system is going to work best for our country when it clearly hasn't (except for the extremely wealthy; America has one of the highest wealth disparities in the world, with a small percent of the population living in exorbitant luxury, and a large percentage of the population living in abject poverty).

[chemical_art]

Denmark is among the most pro friendly (capitalistic friendly) economies in Europe. To quote wikipedia:

As a result of its acclaimed "flexicurity" model, Denmark has the most free labour market in Europe, according to the World Bank. Employers can hire and fire whenever they want (flexibility), and between jobs, unemployment compensation is very high (security). The World Bank ranks Denmark as the easiest place in Europe to do business. Establishing a business can be done in a matter of hours and at very low costs.[68] Denmark has a competitive company tax rate of 25% and a special time limited tax regime for expatriates.[69] The Danish taxation system is broad based, with a 25% VAT, in addition to excise taxes, income taxes and other fees. The overall tax burden (sum of all taxes, as a percentage of GDP) is estimated to be 46% in 2011.[70]

Good on Denmark for making it easy to do business while making social programs so that people are not abandoned.

Norway's economy is highly, highly dependent on oil. Over 20% of its gdp is exporting oil. Selling oil is very profitable, and is a large part of its wealth. With its huge trade surplus and wealth with few people, its no wonder its so wealthy and can afford such generous social programs. Good on them.

Looking at the Netherlands, I notice a trend. Eastern European countries for one reason or another are very good at exporting things. Denmark, Norway, Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, all export huge amounts of products. Rather then the money being squandered at the highest of classes, this wealth is used on social programs which is great.

[Bossman]

OK, the economic discussion should be forked off into its own thread.

Re-rail: the funding has passed $1.5 mil, it's time to see what the final stretch goal is.

[chemical_art]

OK, the economic discussion should be forked off into its own thread.

Re-rail: the funding has passed $1.5 mil, it's time to see what the final stretch goal is.

It is true it was off track. But this is an arcen forum, where a thread isn't complete till a thread re-circles upon its self at least once.

So the circle of the thread life continues...yea metal and lava planets!

[LaughingThesaurus]

Yeah a thread about AI War led to discussion of breakfast food cannons. I'm not surprised this thread accidentally went all political.

[Aklyon]

Yeah a thread about AI War led to discussion of breakfast food cannons. I'm not surprised this thread accidentally went all political.

Breakfast food cannons and a pancake golem being stuffed into mantis, which probably wasn't expecting breakfast then.