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Thread: Random Thoughts

  1. #47301
    Here till the end MadMan's Avatar
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    Target failed in Canada, also.

    I have friends who like similar movies that I do. However as I get older I find that no one has my exact taste in movies, which is fine.
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  2. #47302
    The Pan megladon8's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting MadMan (view post)
    Target failed in Canada, also.

    I have friends who like similar movies that I do. However as I get older I find that no one has my exact taste in movies, which is fine.
    Yes, but Target closed within a year.

    Lowe’s has established itself in Canada over more than a decade.

    I don’t think they’re going anywhere. Just a massive restructure, that cost tons of people their jobs but made the shareholders happy.

  3. #47303
    Replacing Luck Since 1984 Dukefrukem's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting megladon8 (view post)
    Yes, but Target closed within a year.

    Lowe’s has established itself in Canada over more than a decade.

    I don’t think they’re going anywhere. Just a massive restructure, that cost tons of people their jobs but made the shareholders happy.
    You make it seem like the board members are some evil group of people sitting around a table from the 80s, smoking cigars and wondering ways to lay people off during the holiday. This is capitalism. It means people in Canada were not buying enough stuff to sustain their current business practices. (This also impacted in the US too btw... they closed 25 stores in the US in the last year) Would you rather things continue to operate as usual until there is zero cash left in Lowe's and you go to work one morning to find that it's shuttered?

    Maybe instead of Capitalism you would prefer a socialism nation where you are guaranteed work, but other freedoms are completely banned?

    What does America have to do with this? Would you rather no US companies take a footprint in Canada?
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    Quote Quoting D_Davis (view post)
    Uwe Boll movies > all Marvel U movies
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    I work in grocery. I have not gotten sick. My fellow employees have not gotten sick. If the virus were even remotely as contagious as its being presented as, why haven’t entire store staffs who come into contact with hundreds of people per day, thousands per week, all falling ill in mass nationwide?

  4. #47304
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    Quote Quoting Dukefrukem (view post)
    You make it seem like the board members are some evil group of people sitting around a table from the 80s, smoking cigars and wondering ways to lay people off during the holiday. This is capitalism. It means people in Canada were not buying enough stuff to sustain their current business practices. (This also impacted in the US too btw... they closed 25 stores in the US in the last year) Would you rather things continue to operate as usual until there is zero cash left in Lowe's and you go to work one morning to find that it's shuttered?
    10 executive officers at Lowe's were paid ~$40 million in 2019.

    I don't think the argument here is you can't make money. Or you can't be well paid.

    I think the argument is: Don't personally make millions off the working class and then fire them when things "get tough."

    Maybe instead of Capitalism you would prefer a socialism nation where you are guaranteed work, but other freedoms are completely banned?
    You're using "socialism" as a proxy for "totalitarianism" which isn't quite accurate, I think.

    There are plenty of European countries that employ robust socialist or democratic socialist policies and their people don't seem particularly oppressed.

  5. #47305
    The Pan megladon8's Avatar
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    Duke always has more sympathy for the uber rich than the working class. This isn’t new.

  6. #47306
    Administrator Ezee E's Avatar
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    Same restructuring happens everywhere in basically any Fortune 500 company

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  7. #47307
    The Pan megladon8's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting Ezee E (view post)
    Same restructuring happens everywhere in basically any Fortune 500 company
    Ah, well, it’s okay then.

    Nevermind.

  8. #47308
    Replacing Luck Since 1984 Dukefrukem's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting Irish (view post)
    10 executive officers at Lowe's were paid ~$40 million in 2019.

    I don't think the argument here is you can't make money. Or you can't be well paid.

    I think the argument is: Don't personally make millions off the working class and then fire them when things "get tough."



    You're using "socialism" as a proxy for "totalitarianism" which isn't quite accurate, I think.

    There are plenty of European countries that employ robust socialist or democratic socialist policies and their people don't seem particularly oppressed.
    Link??? I doubt that. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/d...530ddef14a.htm

    Are you talking about including stock? Exit packages? Because that's not really comparable when you just want to ;stick it to the man' all the down to the individual contributors.

    And yes I was. The communist party of China is a form of socialism; I was just merely taking a short cut. Move there Meg and tell me how you think life is. Better yet. Move to Shanghai and report back when you post about how shitty your company stature is on the shanghai version of Match-cut. Also let us know how Tank man is doing.
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    Quote Quoting D_Davis (view post)
    Uwe Boll movies > all Marvel U movies
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    I work in grocery. I have not gotten sick. My fellow employees have not gotten sick. If the virus were even remotely as contagious as its being presented as, why haven’t entire store staffs who come into contact with hundreds of people per day, thousands per week, all falling ill in mass nationwide?

  9. #47309
    Replacing Luck Since 1984 Dukefrukem's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting megladon8 (view post)
    Duke always has more sympathy for the uber rich than the working class. This isn’t new.
    I have less empathy for the people that complain about my countries policies when their own country's GDP is 1/20th the size and 5 out of the 10 top companies in Canada are banks. Your country couldn't contribute less to the continent if it tried. But corporate America fucking sucks? Take us away and watch your country get swallowed by Russia.

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    Quote Quoting D_Davis (view post)
    Uwe Boll movies > all Marvel U movies
    Quote Quoting TGM (view post)
    I work in grocery. I have not gotten sick. My fellow employees have not gotten sick. If the virus were even remotely as contagious as its being presented as, why haven’t entire store staffs who come into contact with hundreds of people per day, thousands per week, all falling ill in mass nationwide?

  10. #47310
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    I feel like you're moments away from calling someone a "pinko."

    This is meg's job, man. This is might be a political abstraction to me and you but it's his livelihood.

    He's a friend of yours, right? At least on the forums? Show a little sympathy.

  11. #47311
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    Quote Quoting Dukefrukem (view post)
    I have less empathy for the people that complain about my countries policies when their own country's GDP is 1/20th the size and 5 out of the 10 top companies in Canada are banks. Your country couldn't contribute less to the continent if it tried. But corporate America fucking sucks. Take us away and watch your company get swallowed by Russia.

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  12. #47312
    Replacing Luck Since 1984 Dukefrukem's Avatar
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    He didn't personally lose his job did he? If so I apologize. He's totally baiting me with "MERICA fuck yeh" and I took it hook line and sinker.
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    Quote Quoting D_Davis (view post)
    Uwe Boll movies > all Marvel U movies
    Quote Quoting TGM (view post)
    I work in grocery. I have not gotten sick. My fellow employees have not gotten sick. If the virus were even remotely as contagious as its being presented as, why haven’t entire store staffs who come into contact with hundreds of people per day, thousands per week, all falling ill in mass nationwide?

  13. #47313
    Quote Quoting Dukefrukem (view post)
    And yes I was. The communist party of China is a form of socialism; I was just merely taking a short cut. Move there Meg and tell me how you think life is. Better yet. Move to Shangha are report back when you post about how shitty your company stature is on the shanghai version of Match-cut. Also let us know how Tank man is doing.
    Having lived in the PRC for four years (2011-2015), albeit in Hangzhou rather than Shanghai, I feel obligated to step in here. Even describing the contemporary Chinese system "a form of socialism" is a stretch, to put it mildly. After Deng Xiaoping came to power in 1979, he instituted sweeping economic reforms that have radically transformed China since the era of Mao Zedong. China today is more accurately described as having an authoritarian capitalist system than a socialist one. The percentage of Chinese employed in state-owned businesses is a very small fraction of the overall workforce, and across the board, workers' rights are virtually nonexistent. There are no labour unions and a huge pool of workers, meaning employers have virtually unlimited leverage over their employees.

    More broadly, when millennials such as you and I talk about "socialism," what's generally being referred to isn't Stalinism or Maoism but the Keynesian welfare state, which prior to the neoliberal onslaught of the post-1979 era, was the main alternative to socialism in the developed western world.
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  14. #47314
    Replacing Luck Since 1984 Dukefrukem's Avatar
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    I see what you did there baby doll. Touche
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    Quote Quoting D_Davis (view post)
    Uwe Boll movies > all Marvel U movies
    Quote Quoting TGM (view post)
    I work in grocery. I have not gotten sick. My fellow employees have not gotten sick. If the virus were even remotely as contagious as its being presented as, why haven’t entire store staffs who come into contact with hundreds of people per day, thousands per week, all falling ill in mass nationwide?

  15. #47315
    collecting tapes Skitch's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting Scar (view post)
    This is the point of the night where I’m torn between forcing him to drink water, or buying him shots of Jager.
    If you're not trying to kill your comrades with alcohol poisoning, are you even comrades?

  16. #47316
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    Quote Quoting Skitch (view post)
    If you're not trying to kill your comrades with alcohol poisoning, are you even comrades?
    Depends how far you are away from a trauma center....

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  17. #47317
    Administrator Ezee E's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting Dukefrukem (view post)
    He didn't personally lose his job did he? If so I apologize. He's totally baiting me with "MERICA fuck yeh" and I took it hook line and sinker.
    Hopefully not, as I would apologize too.

    Same thing happens for my company every Jan-April with new fiscal year earnings and having to show a bigger EBIT. These companies hire these audit groups to figure out where they're bloated and how they can be more effective. It's across the board in any commerce and in any country. I'm just surprised that in the food-restaurant world, that the US is still in the mindset of 20% tipping when they could probably just remove the host/hostesses and half the waiters if they did what Europe/Australia do.

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  18. #47318
    Here till the end MadMan's Avatar
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    I was going to post that China isn't socialist but I see baby doll has already addressed that. But hey I'm surprised that Duke didn't mention Venezula.
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  19. #47319
    Here till the end MadMan's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting megladon8 (view post)
    Yes, but Target closed within a year.

    Lowe’s has established itself in Canada over more than a decade.

    I don’t think they’re going anywhere. Just a massive restructure, that cost tons of people their jobs but made the shareholders happy.
    Sounds like typical cold hearted capitalism to me.
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  20. #47320
    Replacing Luck Since 1984 Dukefrukem's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting Ezee E (view post)
    Hopefully not, as I would apologize too.

    Same thing happens for my company every Jan-April with new fiscal year earnings and having to show a bigger EBIT. These companies hire these audit groups to figure out where they're bloated and how they can be more effective. It's across the board in any commerce and in any country. I'm just surprised that in the food-restaurant world, that the US is still in the mindset of 20% tipping when they could probably just remove the host/hostesses and half the waiters if they did what Europe/Australia do.
    My company is still going through restructures every year since Dell bought us. We had massive layoffs every 4-6 months and those jobs were replaced by the China workforce. At least when you work for a retail cooperation, that option is impossible.

    And wow. Drunk Duke cannot spell.
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    Quote Quoting D_Davis (view post)
    Uwe Boll movies > all Marvel U movies
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    I work in grocery. I have not gotten sick. My fellow employees have not gotten sick. If the virus were even remotely as contagious as its being presented as, why haven’t entire store staffs who come into contact with hundreds of people per day, thousands per week, all falling ill in mass nationwide?

  21. #47321
    Replacing Luck Since 1984 Dukefrukem's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting baby doll (view post)
    Having lived in the PRC for four years (2011-2015), albeit in Hangzhou rather than Shanghai, I feel obligated to step in here. Even describing the contemporary Chinese system "a form of socialism" is a stretch, to put it mildly. After Deng Xiaoping came to power in 1979, he instituted sweeping economic reforms that have radically transformed China since the era of Mao Zedong. China today is more accurately described as having an authoritarian capitalist system than a socialist one. The percentage of Chinese employed in state-owned businesses is a very small fraction of the overall workforce, and across the board, workers' rights are virtually nonexistent. There are no labour unions and a huge pool of workers, meaning employers have virtually unlimited leverage over their employees.

    More broadly, when millennials such as you and I talk about "socialism," what's generally being referred to isn't Stalinism or Maoism but the Keynesian welfare state, which prior to the neoliberal onslaught of the post-1979 era, was the main alternative to socialism in the developed western world.
    Going back to this for a moment; Doesn't the state control basically any sweeping legislation it wants for any China based corporation? All the way down to the basic human civil rights? It's why political freedom is restricted. It's why they sensor news outlets from any source that isn't China based. They don't want their people thinking for themselves as a way to control the outcome. They don't want their people knowing just how much better it is anywhere else in the world.



    But then again, reading through your Mao Zedong reference, economic reform, all your timelines add up.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social...haracteristics
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    Quote Quoting D_Davis (view post)
    Uwe Boll movies > all Marvel U movies
    Quote Quoting TGM (view post)
    I work in grocery. I have not gotten sick. My fellow employees have not gotten sick. If the virus were even remotely as contagious as its being presented as, why haven’t entire store staffs who come into contact with hundreds of people per day, thousands per week, all falling ill in mass nationwide?

  22. #47322
    collecting tapes Skitch's Avatar
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    Anarchist, baby. Ooohhh yeah

  23. #47323
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    Quote Quoting Dukefrukem (view post)
    It's why they sensor news outlets from any source that isn't China based. They don't want their people thinking for themselves as a way to control the outcome. They don't want their people knowing just how much better it is anywhere else in the world.
    I don't think that's the agenda. Chinese government wants to control the narrative, not necessarily hide "how good the world is", because it really isn't, not outside the very narrow western bubble. Most of the US has it worse in many ways than most of China in many ways that matter ti an average person immediately.

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  24. #47324
    Quote Quoting Dukefrukem (view post)
    Going back to this for a moment; Doesn't the state control basically any sweeping legislation it wants for any China based corporation? All the way down to the basic human civil rights? It's why political freedom is restricted. It's why they sensor news outlets from any source that isn't China based. They don't want their people thinking for themselves as a way to control the outcome. They don't want their people knowing just how much better it is anywhere else in the world.

    But then again, reading through your Mao Zedong reference, economic reform, all your timelines add up.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social...haracteristics
    You're correct that China doesn't have a "pure" market economy because, to do business in China, you have to be on the government's good side (as the manager of the Houston Rockets recently found out), although it's not like some African countries where bribes are a fact of life.

    With regard to government censorship of information, the situation is less draconian than what you describe. The New York Times was banned in China over their reporting on Xi Jinping's personal wealth. So when you type the address in your browser, you just get an error message. Also, the Wikipedia page on Tiananmen Square is blocked. On the other hand, CNN International is still broadcast in China, but the image suddenly goes black whenever they talk about the ongoing protests in Hong Kong.

    Certain tech companies like Facebook and Twitter are also blocked in China, both to control discourse and to assist Chinese companies like Weibo that offer comparable services. That said, it's important to note that ordinary Weibo users frequently criticize the government, albeit within certain ideological limits.

    As to your broader point, which I take to be that economic freedom is identical with political freedom, I think the one China has consistently demonstrated over the last forty years is that economic liberalization does not necessarily entail any significant political reforms. Indeed, since Xi came to power in 2012, the government has tightened restrictions on free speech significantly.
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  25. #47325
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    Wouldn't you all rather talk about Owen Glieberman's crazy ass 10 Most Overrated Films of the Decade list rather than Chinese politics?

    /derail

    PS: Duke's premise is faulty and has been from the start so I don't know why some of you are engaging with it as if he comes by it honestly

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