atomic_fungus (atomic_fungus) wrote,

#4622: Economic idiocy, and idiocy in general.

The debt ceiling is back again! Despite the GOP's best efforts at containing federal spending--


Looks like I can't hold that pose. I was trying for satire, a biting and incisive paragraph or two of pure irony, but unfortunately I can't even pretend that the GOP cares about cutting federal spending, not even long enough to snark about it.

They don't care. They don't care how big the deficit gets; no one in the federal government cares. That's why they suspended the debt ceiling in February of last year. Even though that suspension expires in a few days, do not think that it will actually expire: the extension will be coming, posthaste, and it will sail through Congress without so much as a brief pause.

Any debate about the issue between the various wings of the Government Party will be mere posturing for the rubes in flyover country. There will be a deal, it'll be reached quickly, and the debt ceiling will continue to be ignored.

* * *

It's taken rather longer than anyone predicted, but Greece is coughing up blood now. Nationalizing pensions is probably the last bolt in their quiver; after that, where will the money come from? Some wags are suggesting that Greece simply not pay wages or pensions for two months; you can imagine how well that would go over.

I mean, if you were told that you wouldn't be receiving any paychecks for the next two months, would you go to work? Could you, if you couldn't afford gasoline? It would be an economic disaster.

It's the endgame of profligate overspending, and it's coming soon to a government near you!

* * *

Seattle's $15 an hour minimum wage is making it impossible to run a restaurant in the city. This is not going to have salutary effects on business in Seattle. It will, in fact, drive a bunch of folks out of business, and Seattle will then lose the tax revenue it formerly received from those businesses.

Way to cut your own throat, you commie shitheads.

* * *

Global carbon emissions stable despite "expanding economy". They are stable because the economy is not expanding. The economic expansion is entirely an exercise in funny numbers, all of it made up out of whole cloth. We are in an economic depression that started in 2008.

* * *

Vox Day sums this one up perfectly: "I find it interesting that these progressive churches still insist on turning a cold shoulder to unrepentant murderers and child molesters. It's really rather intolerant and unChristian of them, isn't it?"

* * *

California uses far too much water. Most of the state is desert, and always has been; irrigation is the only reason the state can produce so much food. But California has been dry for several years, and running the pumps to pull water from the ground is merely staving off the problem.

It's truly unsustainable.

The best way to fix this? Desalinization plants, big ones, powered by nuclear reactors. You can have as much fresh water as you want, but you're going to have to give up your NIMBY crap and hyper-eco-nazi bullshit to have it. Or we can let California turn into a giant f-ing dust bowl where no one will be able to live, because there's no water there.

* * *

So, now let's switch modes and talk about stuff that's not stupid.

In the "pretty f-ing smart" department, Disney plans to release original versions of the Star Wars movies on BluRay. Eps 4-6, "New Hope", "Empire Strikes Back", and "Return of the Jedi", in their original format without George Lucas' latter-day revisionist fuckery. "Han shot first" and all.

Win. I will be buying that set.

* * *

I have to wonder if a conventional hard drive would last that long. 2.4 petabytes is a lot of data.

I'm still thinking about putting an SSD in Floristica, to replace its boot drive; ideally I'd like to run WoW from the SSD as well. There's a 120 GB drive at work which sells for $70, which would do handsomely.

* * *

Today the weather is gorgeous. I didn't even put my coat on when I left work today. Tomorrow is supposed to be more of the same, and since I only work a couple hours tomorrow I am hoping to enjoy it a little bit.

I don't, in general, like riding the motorcycle in spring before we've had a good rain, because the rain washes the salt off the roads. Salt is very bad for aluminum, and I have no desire to have to re-polish the entirety of my engine. So I won't be riding the bike much, if at all; the shakedown cruise the other day was pleasant but the edges of the pavement are still white with salt crystals, so...yeah.

Heck--on my way home from work, I was on the on-ramp and saw sparkles all over the shoulder, and thought, "Gee, there's a lot of broken glass over there..." and then I realized that it was probably salt.

But there are things I can do, and should do, outside...if I can get the gumption up. One task that must be done soon is to change the oil in both my Jeep and Mrs. Fungus' car; they're both overdue. Thrillsville.

Nice weather might give me the opportunity to get the Jeep on jack stands and get some idea what needs to be replaced in the front end. (I am fervently hoping the answer is not "all of it" because that's far beyond my budget.)

* * *

Right now, however, I'm pretty well bushed. It's not that my work is physically strenuous, but the stress just takes all the energy right out of me.

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