AustinDav (3474) 20 SFW Posts | 406 Space Comments | Favorites | RSS Feed Registered 2008-05-05 14:27:18 Comment Karma: 335 Featured Comments: 0 Member of :

Recent Comments from AustinDav

Comment on Why you should immunizie your children (2014-03-25 21:06:27)
I always pause when a layperson says they know better than scientists based on "basic common sense." Chlorine is poisonous, but sodium chloride is necessary for sustaining life. Nothing in quantum physics works by "basic common sense." Even Newtonian physics wasn't "common sense" when it was first established. All perceived realities must be questioned, studied, and proven true before they are accepted scientifically. If "common sense" (which is, at best, nebulous, variable and untrustworthy) trumped empiricism, scientific inquiry would have ended with Aristotle. And no, doctors are not scientists, so anonymous internet brothers have no authority.
Comment on spartan soldier (2014-03-13 04:42:22)
No, if he was wearing a bullshirt, he'd probably be Minoan.
Comment on spartan soldier (2014-03-12 18:14:18)
Yeah, with all those accessories and accoutrements, I definitely wouldn't call him spartan.
Comment on Filming the Sandpeople (2014-03-02 20:26:25)
Have you ever noticed how this shot was played through and then played backward in the final edit of the film?
Comment on anti America coca cola commercial (2014-02-07 16:27:20)
That commercial is so Anti-'Murican! There is only one 'Murican language in that commercial! The little girl singing in Keres is the only true 'Murican! All the rest of us who don't speak native languages should go back to where we came from. I need to go back to Spain, France, England, Teutonic lands, the Roman Empire, Mesopotamia, and Africa! The Choctaw and Meso-'Murican parts of me can stay, though.
Comment on pissing your life savings away (2014-02-02 22:14:04)
I don't know where Ben and Jerry's placed their limit, and I didn't say the ratio limit had to be low, nor that the federal minimum wage should be abolished. I would probably set the limit higher than the current average. It would mostly be a mechanism to curb the outrageously high salaries and slow down the growing income disparity. It's not written like a law, it would have to include so many more stipulations for all the ways that CEOs earn money from their companies besides their contractual salaries. I said nothing of cutting CEO's salary in half, but thanks for throwing some numbers into the discussion. Looking at those numbers, I would say that my proposal wouldn't have much impact on the company you describe. It has more to do with making sure that company success and growth benefit all the workers, not just those at the top. I suspect that nobody would take Ben and Jerry's because it was one company trying to do the right thing while competing in the market for CEOs. Everyone has to play by the same rules. When regulations change, everyone adjusts and competes under the new rules. I also said nothing about picking winners and losers. I'm not a socialist or a capitalist -- I'm a human and a pragmatist. I'm just throwing out a possible solution that tries to play to the strengths of the capitalist system (rewarding success and ingenuity, growth through competition, etc.) while still protecting the vulnerable. Thank you for constructively contributing to the discussion. My solution isn't watertight, it was really meant just to prompt response and get feedback.
Comment on pissing your life savings away (2014-02-02 21:13:07)
The law can't force someone's heart to be charitable, but the law can (and does, and should) force people to show a minimum amount of respect to each other. There's no need to require a CEO to "give up his money", but there seems to be a need to keep them from exploiting their company's most powerless workers. Of course he is entitled to a percentage of the contribution to the company made by each of his workers. However, we should be careful not to frame this discussion to appear like the workers are taking money from the CEO personally rather than merely taking home what they earn doing their jobs. Workers contribute, are entitled to a wage, and have recourse in the law. Their situation is not equivalent to a starving child in Africa, to whom we should show charity if we feel charity, and where we are entitled to give what we can give without coercion.
Comment on pissing your life savings away (2014-02-02 20:11:35)
Solution: Set a maximum limit on the ratio between the CEO's pay and the median pay of the lowest 10% of workers in his company. That way, he's still rewarded for his work and can still be extremely rich, but if he wants a higher salary, he has to raise his own workers' minimum wage. There's no penalty for his success, but he has to acknowledge the contribution to that success of his labor force.
Comment on Living Lawn Decorations (2014-01-07 16:44:08)
These hoodlums, loitering about with their ears pierced.
Comment on are the storm troopers bad guys (2013-12-04 21:07:11)
[youtube]http://youtu.be/JEle_DLDg9Y[/youtube]
Comment on weirdo model with rapesaurus (2013-11-14 16:32:51)
CALIFOOORNIA!
Comment on One to Ninety (2013-10-18 19:37:15)
10 min 40 sec. It's about as productive as any other 10 minutes I spend on the internet.
Comment on Camper (2013-10-17 20:34:56)
I am impressed by the number of ways Pipe-Man is disregarding shop safety.
Comment on Galaxy Car (2013-10-02 05:57:35)
I'd rather see it on fire.
Comment on Expensive Fire (2013-09-30 21:08:59)
Dangit! That's the second one this week.