Hawaii already gives the most welfare dollars per recipient of all the United States. But I believe we agree UBI is a quantum leap to another level of absurdity.

Doc, you should work for the State Department, apparently they have a hard time figuring the obvious out...

People should be very worried that China's house of cards has a strong possibility of collapsing. With a 4 million man army and an increasingly restive rural population, the possibility of violent internal conflict is increasing. With recent admonitions to Hong Kong that any statements opposing the politburo will be regarded as criminal, the flare up could start in that former British colony, where the residents were born in a free society.

There are signs that the Communist party might be considering instigating external conflict in an effort to deflect internal struggle and build a sense of unity. Recent out of the blue clashes between Chinese and Indian border guards could be a sign of testing the waters for a larger engagement there. Vietnam is another likely target, but may be seen as too small to be an existential threat that would inspire patriotism. A conflict with Russia or The United States is seen as suicide, and so less likely.

A destructive internal conflict in China will not be positive for anyone, since a global consumer market has become dependent on a vast array of Chinese goods. Switching to new suppliers will take time, and could cause the collapse of some major tech companies.

Indeed there is not, and when stupid starts becoming common, it just gets worse. Anyone who cannot look at history and see that the USSR was just a facade for your average under educated dictatorship (along with every other example of the "c" gang), is doomed to repeat said history. China is the one exception and it is a very weird exception "capitalism plastered over a dictatorship" that looks pretty and is rotten within.

Agree 100% with you. One reason both parties need to go and never darken our door again.

Change, alright -- for the worse.

Obama destroyed my retirement plans, ruined my ability to get health insurance increasing the cost by a factor of 10, fiat currency erodes my ability to purchase necessities and the government threatens me if I choose food over unaffordable health care premiums. Is this a promise to give it all back? The ideas that are given life by people who have no desire to work are amazing. The only thing more amazing are the number of people who then actually talk about them as though the idea were viable!

You still find apologists for Communism who fervently believe that it is the most "fair" form of government. They explain away the enormous failures of the USSR, and Cuba as victims of sabotage by the greedy capitalist societies. There's no fixing stupid.

Or, work in a line of work that does NOT have robots. Robots are only for repetitive tasks that are simple in nature. You can have more complex robots, but the costs skyrocket. I have some simple ones in factory tools that when they break, cost between 50K and 100K to get a rebuilt. Be the guy fixing the robot, designing the product, or overseeing them (you do need to have some people around for when they decide to do crazy stuff, which happens quite often). It goes back to education and owning your own future. Also, what happens when all the skills fade out because robots do the basics an you do manage to go to another planet? Basic farming, mechanical, and electrical skills will be needed again.

I guess the answer is to tax every robot as if it was a person, and then give that money to real people...

All that happens is the same thing you see in San Francisco and Seattle, raise the minimum wage and you raise everything else to compensate and/or take advantage of it and you get 300 sq ft apartments for 2000 a month. Happens every time.

And then want to elect some moron like Obama who promises "change" and it gets worse yet...ugh

I was there 25 years ago and the experience was the same. We would take the submarine there every 3 or 4 patrols, and each time it was the same expensive thing. They have these "ABC" stores every 5 feet, with water bottles at 5.00 each...it was a mess.. Probably nice at one time, but I would do the Oregon coast first.

You left Welfare out of the list. Maybe we ought to start a thread for just a list of all the freebies in the US and see how big it gets...each state has their own collection...

Kalifornia had their House leader nix free healthcare because it would cost 400 billion the first year, in a state with a 180 billion budget. This would be a lot worse. But the first real step to communism, as the state would then own your butt, if you don't do what they want, they cut you off.

Ragnar will intercept the relief supply ship;^)

Right out of atlas shrugged playbook

If they want to pass a law helping people do away with the minimum wage, eliminate 80% of regulations, no state income tax, slash government by 80% and impose the Fair Tax for growth. This would put people's income on steroids.

The leftists really target the most beautiful places the most, don't they? We often talk about that here in California. One could argue that this is a redistribution of natural beauty.

No, just minimum income.

you mean you did not know that socialism was attempted before? where have you been?

The intent is to provide enough income to take some of the pressure off of low income and part time employees. The idea is also intended to replace a number of income supplement and food stamp programs to reduce duplication and cost. Unfortunately, like all other well intended, misguided social engineering efforts, it will be abused, and progressives will demand that the program offer a "living wage."

Personally I just burn and peel. Rarely tan.
Actually, it kinda frightens me how easily people enslave themselves and then look around and wonder how things got so bad.

It won't be long before it becomes a "victim" to the looters in the Dark Center. They will use a mild typhoon as an excuse to bail out the peoples state of Hawaii from their irrational philosophical experiment.