Socialism Marches

Capitalism Progresses.  There's a difference.

The world economic upheaval continues.  It seems to TCD, that part of the problem develops from countries having too many bills and not enough money to pay those bills.  (I know, our economic prowess is stunning).  So investors don't like those countries and they decide to leave them (physically and financially) when those countries try to take more and more of their money.  So, the countries wind up in an even worse position to pay said bills.  Some of those countries include:

France, Greece and Spain (the U.S. doesn't fit here because we just print more money... although... POTUS is promising to raise taxes on the wealthy 10% so they are paying more than they currently are... which is 70% of the bill).  Ok, ok, add us to the list but we're still not socialist.

So what to do when you have no money?  Obviously, you decide "austerity measures" are cruel because they sound cruel and you go right on spending money. Excellent plan! How could this happen?  In short, socialism (or socialist theory rather).

 

There are various kinds of Socialism.  There is small socialism like when the government taxes you at a greater percentage than your neighbor (and gives that money to Amtrak in the form of subsidies for four decades without them ever making a profit)...  And then there is great big Socialism like when the government takes everything you own and tells you that you don't deserve more than others simply by  virtue of working harder.... and calls you scum in the process.  (For the record, to get more under Big Socialism, you must be a leader in the Socialist Working Party!  Like these guys in China, who are technically communists but there is no major distinction between Communism and Socialism when you get to the far end of the spectrum.)

{More After The Jump}

Strange World

ABROAD:

Saudi Arabia promised a while back that they would increase oil production, if necessary, to allay concerns over production cuts by other countries (thereby keeping the price of gas within bounds of reason). Thankfully, they held true to their word over the last several months. However, Iran has been being Iran, and stated they will not provide oil to the U.K. or France and very well may close the Strait of Hormuz (in addition to going nuclear). That has people worried. To top it off, the remainder of OPEC countries and refineries are cutting production for their annual spring cleaning.

"Well what does that mean?!" you cry. It means, oil prices are at an all time high-- as in the most expensive ever in the United States. So, thank goodness for Saudi Arabia right? Well, no. They've decided to cut production also.

We need more crude oil production here in North America. Some sort of oil-related "pipeline" from Canada might be a good idea, no? Too bad that didn't happen...

IN SCIENCE:

Quantum computing. Scientists have established a repeatable proof-of-concept indicating we can build computers at the atomic level (which means they could be extremely fast). These sub-nano micro processors would be created by stringing single atoms together by magic. And yes, this advancement will inevitably lead to this.

Naturally, the next step will be robots forcing us to live on lab grown hamburgers.