No. Say the people who know more about economics than the hillbillies who think that Trump is on their side. — CuddlyHedgehog

No, those "who know more about the economy" are the leeches who make money by being money changers, speculators, etc. I have almost zero respect for such people. Whenever I see someone making a lot of money out of working a job actually - I don't respect that person, because they don't deserve the money, they don't take risk. The entrepreneurs, not the analysts and speculators, should run the economy.

Says who, the financiers who make money by stealing from those who produce, the money changers and the leeches of society who suck those who are actually productive dry?

Reelection move. — Cavacava

So soon?

After all, he's best at shooting himself in the foot and making things worse for him. — ssu

Nicholas Nassim Taleb writes this about Trump in his new book:

When I saw Donald Trump in the Republican primary standing next to the other candidates,
I became certain he was going to win that stage of the process, no matter what he said or did. Actually, it was because he had visible deficiencies. Why? Because he was real, and the public - composed of people who usually take risks, not the lifeless non-risk-taking analysts [...] The detractors of Donald Trump, when he was still a candidate, not only misunderstood the value of scars as risk signaling, but they also failed to realize that, by advertising his episode of bankruptcy and his personal losses of close to a billion dollars, he removed the resentment (the second type of inequality) people may have had toward him. There is something respectable in losing a billion dollars, provided it is your own money.

If you don't regard that as being forceful, then something's wrong with you. Ok, the rich people are given a choice, but if they choose wrongly their reward is death, and according to the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, rich mean go to hell and receive eternal damnation, which is rather forceful.

Jesus is God, and as God has killed so many people I don't see why Jesus would not.

Jesus would never support a worldwide revolution? The second coming of Christ and the Day of Judgement is global revolution. The four horsemen of the apocalypse and the devil come and oppress the world. The people and angels must be lead by Jesus to free them from the oppressor. At the end, the people will be judged, the good will go to heaven and the bad (including those who have oppressed the poor in their lifetime) will go to hell. Tell me in what way that is not a revolution. — René Descartes

This is BS. Marx advocates an immanent revolution within the world, driven by human beings. Marx believes humans can judge right and wrong accurately.

Jesus advocates a transcendent revolution, driven by the Divine, not by sinful human beings. These two are not the same at all. Neither is divine punishment the same as human punishment.

A paradox for some: I'm Jewish, which according to some (racists), means my IQ must dwell within to the Empyrean. However, I don't think IQ is an expression of biological race. So, to some (racists), given my clearly superior Jewish IQ, they must accept that IQ is not an expression of biological race. — Maw

Hmmm I thought it was your finances which were supposed to be Empyrean :lol:

How's about a general principle that when a person's personal space is occupied by another - specifically that person A is inside person B, then person B is entitled to evict person A, even if person B is unable to support themselves or find a new home? If it works for houses, it ought to work for bodies. — unenlightened

How do you square this with:

Personally I am against abortion, I think it is wrong. I find it repugnant. I think it is an abuse. Arguments about what counts as a person seem largely irrelevant, and there seems to me to be no hard line to be drawn. — unenlightened

Don't make me laugh. — René Descartes

No man, what Trump did is kids play. Really - even Trump himself cannot and does not talk such things in public. He apologised for it when it came out.

Also look at how he shies from saying anything about having had sex with beauty contest contenders, etc.

You have not seen Trump and you will never see Trump - as President - asking a journalist publicly to have sex with him, saying on TV that his wife isn't watching so he can flirt with other women, having sex orgies with underage prostitutes at his house, pretending to have sex with a policewoman in the middle of the street where everyone can see etc.

That is also why the U.S has such a high rate of tax evasion, losing hundreds of billions of dollars every year. If one does not evade tax one is not a successful business man. — René Descartes

Legally avoiding tax is different than illegally avoiding it.

If you want to be president of the US you either have to be sexist or have sex with lots of women or get involved in some war. Cause that shows they are "Strong":strong: — René Descartes

No, probably quite the contrary.

By the way, Italy is in Western Europe, not Eastern, so I don't see what Berlusconi has to do with your comment about Eastern European nations. — René Descartes

In terms of culture, Italy is closer to countries like Greece than to the Western European nations (England, France, Germany, etc.).

Oh, is it? — Noble Dust

Yeah, a web developer is a civil engineer who has gone to sleep :naughty:

Sleeping is the correlation between civil engineering & web development?

Sleep?

I actually know several guys I studied with who went into programming of one kind or another. — jamalrob

Well yeah, programming sure. A lot of civil engineering involves programming too - finite element analysis, parametric modelling, etc. all can't do without programming.

T Clark and Agustino are the only philosophical civil engineers I know, so I'm guessing it's just a delightful coincidence. — jamalrob

Yeah, I've never met others either.

What's the correlation between civil engineer and hobbyist philosopher? :chin: :chin: — Noble Dust

More interesting than that, what's the correlation between civil engineering and web development :rofl:

For what it's worth, my good friend's 25 year old daughter got her bachelors in fine arts, worked for a year, and then went to a 6-month computer coding program. She made $85,000 to start. Now, a year later, she makes $115 thousand. She is very, very smart. Again - for what that's worth. — T Clark

Actually, I know someone who made the same kind of money at an earlier age as a software developer. When I went to university I met this computer scientist guy whose family was quite well connected (to say the least) and on placement, right after he finished first year of university, he was making £60,000 per year, working in London for one of the big banks in IT.

Though I have to tell you that I have great disrespect for people who make a lot of money working a job and taking no risks.

This is also a fairy tale, one we often hear from entrepreneurs. The successful ones, of course. The ones who give TED talks extolling the virtues of failure and reminiscing about the days when they lived on gruel, and so on and on. — jamalrob

I have not personally known an entrepreneur who had it easy, especially not in the beginning. Even doctors who had worked for 20+ years, when they first started on their own they had quite a rough patch. Though some entrepreneurs have it easier than others, obviously. I would put IT entrepreneurs like us in that category actually - basically no transportation logistics, no inventory management, heavily automated (because online), don't depend on work geographically, etc. It's quite a simple business really.

If you're, say, a civil engineer, then working for an established company is the best way to develop your craft, because it provides the resources, variety of projects, and administrative support to allow you to focus on your specialist tasks. — jamalrob

Oh, interesting - I actually am a civil engineer by degree. There is a reason why I'm not working as a civil engineer and it's precisely this - it's difficult to start a business as a civil engineer.

How useful is it for an engineer to have to worry about business when what they really want to do is build great dams? — jamalrob

That's not what I meant. Sure, in the beginning, as an engineer, you need to work for an established company to develop your craft. 5, 10, 20 years. But if you keep working after that in the same conditions, then almost certainly you've stopped growing. Either you must change position, or you must start on your own, a consulting company, a general contractor, etc.

He's still on the 10'th page of Google search, so there's A LOT of more potential for growth — Posty McPostface

By the way man, I meant to ask you if you don't mind sharing this, what's his main lead generation method? (I suppose it's not search engines granted his position - does he do Adwords?) You can reply by PM if you want to.

Entrepreneurism is not an option for someone without strong self-confidence — T Clark

That's not true. Entrepreneurs appear to be self-confident because people identify them as taking risks, and it is true that they do take risks. But taking risks is not synonymous with having a strong self-confidence.

I'm an entrepreneur, and I can tell you for sure that my fear response is a lot more sensitive and strong than for most people. Inwardly I am never confident, and always think whatever I do will fail. I have also been diagnosed and put on medicine (no longer take the meds) for generalised anxiety disorder (GAD), hypochondria, and OCD. Outwardly, to all my friends - they would say I am really confident. But the outward is just a show - I've learned that not displaying fear allows me to control situations better, so I hide it - I've learned to ignore it and act in spite of it.

So this is a sort of cultural prejudice that the entrepreneur is this sort of "super-human". It's actually an excuse - they don't try their hand at entrepreneurship because "it's not for them".

A certain dose of arrogance helps in being an entrepreneur - and stubbornness too. But it needs to be a rational kind of arrogance and stubbornness - not the kind that makes you take bad business decisions.

drive — T Clark

Yes, I would say this part is required - you must really want it - for whatever reason. Whether that's the money, the independence, the power to change something, etc.

Working for a company run by others doing what you are good at is a better option for those of us who are not as dynamic as you perhaps are. — T Clark

No, that's just a way to stay in your comfort zone. You never grow that way, so if your life is about feeling safe, sure, do that, but otherwise I wouldn't recommend it because you'll regret it later.

It's naive to be recommending it to PMcP, who is questioning whether or not he even has a self. — T Clark

Why? Try searching Google for "entrepreneur anxiety" and you'll be amazed at how many entrepreneurs struggle with anxiety - and also other mental illnesses. Almost a majority of entrepreneurs suffer of mental illness.

https://www.inc.com/john-brandon/49-of-entrepreneurs-deal-with-a-mental-disorder-heres-how-to-cope.html

I would say that if you learn to control it and manage it, being "different" is an advantage as an entrepreneur.

Most people have this fairy tale idea of the entrepreneur as some kind of invincible hero who always succeeds at whatever he touches - a sort of Midas. But that's not true - he succeeds because he puts in literarily almost non-stop working hours for many many years, and battles through whatever comes his way, whether that is mental illness, fear, lack of finances, etc. - whatever comes his way, he will bear it, and like a bull not get his eyes off the ball, not give up.

"He likes bella ragazze! What do you have against him?"



:rofl:

Show me where you see something like this in the US.

Does a post get banned by an overuse of emojis? — René Descartes

No - unless you do that every post in serious threads which aren't located in The Lounge.

Hahahaha! Where have I heard all these stories before. Oh, the United States of America, isn't that a funny coincidence. :lol: :rofl: :sweat: :lol: :lol: :rofl: :joke: :lol: Hahahaha! — René Descartes

No man, I'm serious, this stuff is quite frequent in Eastern Europe.

In Eastern Europe, if a President asks a female journalist to come have sex with him - his rating goes up! He's seen as a real man, strong :strong:
In Eastern Europe, if a man does NOT cheat on his wife, then we say he is not a man.
In Eastern Europe, if a man pays his taxes, then we say he is retard. That is why, when I first started in business and my father saw me paying me taxes, he said "What are you doing?! Are you making millions of dollars?! If not, then don't worry, nobody will come after you!". Ever since I actually paid my taxes, he has taken me to be a hopeless retard.
In Eastern Europe if you do not have sex with as many women as possible, then we say you are a homosexual. That is why Vladimir praised Berlusconi for shagging the prostitutes:


In Eastern Europe, if you do not accept bribe, we do not know what to say anymore!

since you seem to be a devout atheist yourself. — René Descartes

I don't think you know me, and no I'm not an atheist.

I don't think you understood Geach, or the argument. — René Descartes

Ok, if that makes you happier, I don't understand it.

And Eastern Orthodox Christians as well as Polish Catholics are far more dedicated and devoted to their religion then American Christians will ever be. — René Descartes

No, not necessarily.

And what behaviour are you talking about that are atheist — René Descartes

Oh let's see - like cheating on their wives? Treating women like a sex toy? Corruption at all levels, starting from the local policeman to the President of the country. Greedy. Tax evasion. Uncaring. That's how many people are in Eastern Europe. Sure, they go to Church from time to time, wear crosses around their necks, receive the priest in their houses, etc. But to what end - the priest also takes bribes! :rofl:

Oh and I forgot about swearing - don't get me started on that one!

I think it was Peter Geach who said to atheists something like "You deny God's existence yet your attitudes and behaviours belief that claim". He is essentially saying people,call themselves atheists yet live their lives as though God exists, so I think you are wrong. — René Descartes

Hm? I'm saying that in Eastern European countries people call themselves religious, not atheists. But if you watch their behaviour, you see that that's not quite the case.

The internet makes it so easy to start a business and connect with a market. You literarily can do pretty much by yourself what 40 years ago you could only do by hiring and managing a team of people.

The thing about the internet is that there's so much opportunity to be realized just from sitting at home. I have a friend whom I gave the idea to start a supplement company with buying the supplements penny cheap from China (can be done through Alibaba) and outsourcing the packaging and shipping. It's really a one-man job and doesn't require too much oversight once you get the thing going. Last I spoke with him, he was making 50k a month sitting at home and just playing with himself. He's still on the 10'th page of Google search, so there's A LOT of more potential for growth. He has invited me to move with him to Las Vegas due to cheaper living costs and lower taxes and pay for my rent and living expenses and a good wage for doing nothing really. The only reason I haven't jumped on the wagon is that my mother is going through a division of joint assets with my cold and aloof father. Once the whole thing is settled and ends with a happy ending, then I will most likely move over there to be more independent and self-sufficient rather than living on disability and supplementing my income from a guy who does the same thing and makes 400k a month. So, there is hope and I don't feel depressed these days by a wide margin. — Posty McPostface

Very true. I think the internet is the future - many internet entrepreneurs will be driving Ferraris in 20 years, while lawyers, bankers, doctors, etc. will be driving horses! :lol:

People do not realise it, but at the rate things are moving now, pretty much the entire world will become digital, especially in regards to commerce. All commerce will be moving online.

Poland was a Communist nation actually during much of the 20th century and yet Christianity thrived just as much as ever in that nation. — René Descartes

Are you Polish? I very much doubt this. In most of the Eastern bloc religion thrived but only nominally. Like if you ask people on the street they will tell you they're religious, buuuuut - if you watch how they behave :lol: :rofl:

No worries.

I keep flagging posts when I mean to press the "Share" button — Michael

You're old school bro. Just left-click the timestamp, copy the URL link and there's your shared post. Or right click timestamp, copy link address.

@Wayfarer thinks the Russians have kompromat on Trump :confused: :lol:

Would it be too much to ask that he follow up by kicking his sons' butts for this? — Baden

That would be good, but I think if Trump heard about it, he'd instead be like: "So they just killed a tiger in a shithole, right?" :rofl:

Now you see that Trump is a real man! :strong:

I grew up with the image of a hard-working person who suffered arrhythmia from his job and cared for us. Then you move to another part of the world, where he was from, and you see (or in my case didn't see, as he was in the "library" all the time) a completely different type of behaviour. I'm befuddled.

To put it more plainly, he was an excellent actor hiding something from everyone to see. — Posty McPostface

Hmm yeah, but pretty much any Eastern European man would try to hide something like this (going to prostitutes), from his family, no? I mean everyone is sort of divided on this issue - I mean obviously he did want to care about you and the family, but he also wanted to go to the "library".

Yes, @Thorongil is the number 1 socialist of TPF. :rofl:

By the way, you see a different face of Trump in the video above. He's a lot calmer, a lot more accepting of other points of views, more polite. Which shows exactly that his public persona is just that - a public persona. He can control his speech and actions when he needs to.

A bona fide case of coming from rags to riches. — Posty McPostface

Basically, my father figure self-destructed when he was no longer under any pressure. — Posty McPostface

Prostitution... — Posty McPostface

Well, sounds like your father had a very hard life and worked very hard. So who can really blame such a man - you know, at some point you get tired of all the days working from morning to night - I'm speculating but maybe he just wanted to enjoy the prostitutes and these things that he didn't have access to when he was young, no? I mean when you work super hard like that, at some point the stress certainly gets to you. I imagine that at some point the desire to enjoy those things that you foregone when you were young certainly comes up.

Very good management by Trump here :up: .

Just like Uriah Heap. :roll: — unenlightened

I did not say just like Uriah lol :lol: But it was a funny remark.

who has chosen — unenlightened

Who has chosen and could afford to make that choice too, no? What was your reason for choosing that? Was it something that came to you instinctually so to speak, or was it consciously planned?

I don't know how or why (given that Eastern European countries produce some of the best doctors and medical professionals, the education there is really up there, as I tried studying medicine myself during my stay there) — Posty McPostface

Hmmm - I wouldn't put it like that, because even our doctors look down upon the mentally ill. It's a cultural attitude, and I think the cultural attitude prevails over the science. The "science" of mental illness is also a bit of a large word - I don't think we really have a science.

But, to be honest, once you accept to be humiliated, and once you stop caring about the appearances - it doesn't matter to you anymore what others think. What others think can neither hurt you nor benefit you. That old grandfather who buys second-hand shirts and travels economy class dressed like a hobo may just happen to be the billionaire owner of Ikea :rofl:

Your ability to read people alone already puts you in top 1%. Combine that with your ability & handle over language, and your ability to reframe situations so that they appear in your favor, and you certainly have a potentially very capable person. And again, this isn't an ad hom, because it's not an insult. It's praise, I admire you. That doesn't mean I agree with you though.

I am not remotely humble. I put my life where my ideology is. I am the downwardly mobile son of an architect, and exile from the middle classes. But feel free to resort to ad homs in your attempt to sustain the unsustainable. It's about all you've got. — unenlightened

Yeah, but you're too intelligent for what you let on. I'm not using this to attack you in any way, contrary to what you seem to think. I'm just stating what I think. Your intelligence makes me think that either (1) you are a very capable person yourself (much more capable than you let on), and/or (2) you come from a relatively well to do family which gave you access and time to become so educated (not necessarily rich, but you know, at least upper middle class let's say). Granted that you say your father was an architect back in the day (or your grandmother! worked in the bank), I don't think that's far off.