advertisement


PFM politics threads

I left the Naim forum and stayed on PFM because 1) I liked what I saw here - an interesting group of regular people talking about music, hi-fi and other stuff, and 2) Naim banned political discussion.

I am interested in all determinants of human behavior: biological, psychological, cultural, political, social and economic. I find discussions about how modern economies work (or don't) fascinating, and I try to participate as time and energy allows. IMO, MMT comes closer to describing how economies actually work than previous models. Even Larry Summers wrote "Who's Afraid of Budget Defecits?". Defecit spending has been embraced in the US by both Dems and GOP when they are in control. The GOP loves defense spending but, of course, reverts to austerity when they control Congress during a Dem presidency. To hell with what's good for the country, their only motivation is to deny their political opponents any "wins".

My one area of discomfort with MMT is taxes. No, they are not used to fund spending. Yes, taxes are how we maintain the value of money (our government's "promise" to redeem). I see a few on the right saying MMT is good because it "justifies" huge tax cuts for the corporations and the wealthy. Bollocks I say. MMT acknowledges that without taxation, money loses its value through inflation. Taxes remain essential, as does the discussion of who pays what share. I strongly believe in a more progressive tax code.

I think much of the consternation here comes from the fact that there are new posters who are now posting long posts in large numbers. I don't mind at all, but it has changed this place. It has made political and economic threads here a bit less "comfortable" for some, and perhaps confusing for others. IMO, there's nothing in principle wrong with that - it's how we all learn and grow. We just all need to be just a bit more welcoming and diplomatic (me included). If the purpose of posting is to share opinion and influence others, then I am once again reminded of a childhood lesson: you can catch more flys with honey than vinegar.
Hop over to the MMT a thread. It has recently been revived and so far the “noisy crew” have stayed away.

We actually seem to be having a civilised debate.
 
My brother has an interesting way of dealing with door-to-door religious salespersons. He has long been retired, so has plenty of time on his hands. He also has a Bible, and knows his way around it. So when the JWs or the Mormons come knocking, he doesn't slam the door in their faces, or politely say he's not interested. He invites them in, sits them down, and cites Chapter and Verse from the Bible to contradict their sales patter. After a while, they're edging towards the door.
Mormons don't study the bible. They use the Book of Mormon, which I find much more amusing.
 
My brother has an interesting way of dealing with door-to-door religious salespersons. He has long been retired, so has plenty of time on his hands. He also has a Bible, and knows his way around it. So when the JWs or the Mormons come knocking, he doesn't slam the door in their faces, or politely say he's not interested. He invites them in, sits them down, and cites Chapter and Verse from the Bible to contradict their sales patter. After a while, they're edging towards the door.
I've taken a similar approach with JWs on a few occasions. Sadly, it only works once per address. They must be keeping a blacklist.
 
I’ve never put anyone on ignore, and as the resident right winger, I’ve had my fair share of abuse over the years. In saying that, the vast majority of PFMers are very decent people, they don’t throw insults around, are great to chat to, and I’m happy to defend myself if needed. The real horrors tend to hang around for a while, but rarely last very long, before realising that a hifi forum is probably not the best place to peddle their obsessions ad infinitum.
Do those with opinions different to yours ever assume your conduct is nefarious, and that you wish to cause harm rather than good (like most people)?
 
Last edited:
Do those with opinions different to yours ever assume your conduct is nefarious, and that you wish to cause harm rather than good (like most people)?
The problem is not with people with different opinions, it is with those who cannot formulate an opinion and instead resort to personal insult and innuendo
 
The problem is not with people with different opinions, it is with those who cannot formulate an opinion and instead resort to personal insult and innuendo
I think there's another dimension, too (and I may have been guilty of this on, for example, the Brexit threads). It is that one becomes so sure of the 'rightness' of one's own position, it's easy to fall into a way of thinking that a contrary position is not only 'wrong' but deliberately and malignly so.
 
I think there's another dimension, too (and I may have been guilty of this on, for example, the Brexit threads). It is that one becomes so sure of the 'rightness' of one's own position, it's easy to fall into a way of thinking that a contrary position is not only 'wrong' but deliberately and malignly so.
I may have fallen into that trap myself, but all too often a contrary opinion is not even expressed, it is just personal.

When I first tried to explore what I thought was an interesting idea on pfm, I was told that I lacked understanding and knowledge, but now that a few very knowledgeable and very informed people have come along it is noticeable that such a line of attack has changed to just out and out personal innuendo and nothing else. The recent thread set up just to attack @Klassik on a personal matter being a prime example.

Another tactic has been to moan that MMT is ‘everywhere’, yet we see time and time again, people raising MMT where it wasn’t before, to claim that is “everywhere” again.

The problem seems to be that MMT grates with peoples understanding but they can’t quite say why, so resort to ridicule.
 
I may have fallen into that trap myself, but all too often a contrary opinion is not even expressed, it is just personal.

When I first tried to explore what I thought was an interesting idea on pfm, I was told that I lacked understanding and knowledge, but now that a few very knowledgeable and very informed people have come along it is noticeable that such a line of attack has changed to just out and out personal innuendo and nothing else. The recent thread set up just to attack @Klassik on a personal matter being a prime example.

Another tactic has been to moan that MMT is ‘everywhere’, yet we see time and time again, people raising MMT where it wasn’t before, to claim that is “everywhere” again.

The problem seems to be that MMT grates with peoples understanding but they can’t quite say why, so resort to ridicule.
Can you see what you’ve done here?
 
The problem is not with people with different opinions, it is with those who cannot formulate an opinion and instead resort to personal insult and innuendo
Are you sure your problem is not people with different opinions? Your habit of tacking between preaching AUP and resorting to personal insult and innuendo when convenient is blatant.
 
So blatant I've not noticed it. Is there another meaning of 'blatant' I've missed? I know new coinages of words crop up all the time...
 
Are you sure your problem is not people with different opinions? Your habit of tacking between preaching AUP and resorting to personal insult and innuendo when convenient is blatant.
Yes.

You are a prime example of someone who responded to one of my posts with made up nonsense then despite repeated requests for you to actually formulate an opinion, did no such thing but carried on much as you are now with personalised snide and passive aggressive flippancy. You were eventually pulled up by the mod, gave an obsequious apology to the mod, then started up another thread to continue where you left off until that too was closed down by a mod.

And what is more noticeable, is that you are now chasing me from thread to thread with more of your jibes and no still no attempt at anything pertaining to any issue other than your personalasation agenda whatsoever.
 
Yes.

You are a prime example of someone who responded to one of my posts with made up nonsense then despite repeated requests for you to actually formulate an opinion, did no such thing but carried on much as you are now with personalised snide and passive aggressive flippancy. You were eventually pulled up by the mod, gave an obsequious apology to the mod, then started up another thread to continue where you left off until that too was closed down by a mod.

And what is more noticeable, is that you are now chasing me from thread to thread with more of your jibes and no still no attempt at anything pertaining to any issue other than your personalasation agenda whatsoever.
I asked @doctorf a question here, and you replied. Who is chasing who?
 


advertisement


Back
Top