Putting TGS issues aside, this is one reason why many of us do not see today’s macroeconomic problems as exclusively cyclical:
Stephen Brodie posted a video
Dallas the Phallus replied to Dallas the Phallus's discussion The New Words Thread: Things you ran across, remembered, or had to look up in the group A World of Words
Jess M commented on National Atheist Party's blog post War Veteran and Atheist Tosses Hat into Mayoral RaceWe are a worldwide social network of freethinkers, atheists, agnostics and secular humanists.
Someone forwarded this email to me. Its full title is "66 Years Later and an analysis of community mindset?." It is (as far as I can tell from the message data) from Sherry Lynn Craig.
It is the kind of web propaganda that irks me to the max. It is a by-the-book exploitation of logical fallacies to drive the point that welfare systems are bad for you. Very wicked stuff on the unprepared.
It begins with a flamboyant red-herring by asking "66 years later! What happened to the radiation that lasts thousands of years?" In huge fonts and horrendous colors as these things often are.
The message goes on with plenty of black and white pictures of the devastation right after the bomb was dropped. Here are just a few, I'll spare you the overkill:
h1 |
h2 |
Then follow more images, this time showing modern-day Hiroshima, presumably from some tourism agency, clearly intended to highlight the city's bustling prosperity. Again, just to give you a taste:
h5 |
h6 |
h7 |
Right after, under the title "Detroit - 65 years after Hiroshima" an even longer series of pictures this time of dilapidated buildings in modern-day Detroit.
d1 |
d2 |
d3 |
And finally, the central argument behind this piece of work. I've made a screen grab so you could partake of the gaudiness.
The message concludes in a firework of fallacies:
These are possibly the 5 best sentences you'll ever read and all applicable to this experiment:
1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity.
2. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.
3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.
4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it!
5. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that is the beginning of the end of any nation.
Can you think of a reason for not sharing this? .........Neither could I.
----------------------------
I can think of a few reasons for sharing this, in this context here. One being those five... biblical closing statements. Do you have a favorite?
And what was the point with those thousands of years of radiation?
Tags: Conservative, Detroit, Hiroshima, Propaganda:

Permalink Reply by doone on June 16, 2012 at 8:39pm Here is the reason for the small amount of radioactivity
| Are Hiroshima and Nagasaki still radioactive? |
| The practical answer is, "No." There are two ways residual radioactivity is produced from an atomic blast. The first is due to fallout of the fission products or the nuclear material itself--uranium or plutonium (uranium was used for the Hiroshima bomb whereas plutonium was used for the Nagasaki bomb)--that contaminate the ground. Similar ground contamination occurred as a consequence of the Chernobyl accident, but on a much larger scale (click here for more-detailed explanation). The second way residual radioactivity is produced is by neutron irradiation of soil or buildings (neutron activation), causing non-radioactive materials to become radioactive. Fallout. The Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs exploded at altitudes of 600 meters and 503 meters, respectively, then formed huge fireballs that rose with the ascending air currents. About 10% of the nuclear material in the bombs underwent fission; the remaining 90% rose in the stratosphere with the fireball. Subsequently, the material cooled down and some of it started to fall with rain (black rain) in the Hiroshima and Nagasaki areas, but probably most of the remaining uranium or plutonium was dispersed widely in the atmosphere. Because of the wind, the rain did not fall directly on the hypocenters but rather in the northwest region (Koi, Takasu area) of Hiroshima and the eastern region (Nishiyama area) of Nagasaki. The maximum estimates of dose due to fallout are 0.01-0.03 Gy in Hiroshima and 0.2-0.4 Gy in Nagasaki. The corresponding doses at the hypocenters are believed to be only about 1/10 of these values. Nowadays, the radioactivity is so miniscule that it is difficult to distinguish from trace amounts (including plutonium) of radioactivity caused by worldwide fallout from atmospheric (as opposed to underground) atomic-bomb tests that were conducted around the world in past decades, particularly in the 1950s and 1960s. Neutron activation. Neutrons comprised 10% or less of the A-bomb radiation, whereas gamma rays comprised the majority of A-bomb radiation. Neutrons cause ordinary, non-radioactive materials to become radioactive, but gamma rays do not. The bombs were detonated far above ground, so neutron induction of radioactivity on the ground did not produce the degree of contamination people associate with nuclear test sites (Nevada test site in Southwest U.S., Maralinga test site in South Australia, Bikini and Mururoa Atolls, etc.). Past investigations suggested that the maximum cumulative dose at the hypocenter from immediately after the bombing until today is 0.8 Gy in Hiroshima and 0.3-0.4 Gy in Nagasaki. When the distance is 0.5 km or 1.0 km from the hypocenter, the estimates are about 1/10 and 1/100 of the value at the hypocenter, respectively. The induced radioactivity decayed very quickly with time. In fact, nearly 80% of the above-mentioned doses were released within a day, about 10% between days 2 and 5, and the remaining 10% from day 6 afterward. Considering the extensive fires near the hypocenters that prevented people from entering until the following day, it seems unlikely that any person received over 20% of the above-mentioned dose, i.e., 0.16 Gy in Hiroshima and 0.06-0.08 Gy in Nagasaki. |

Permalink Reply by doone on June 16, 2012 at 8:41pm 
| Rank | Prefectures | Households Living on Welfare | Standard Score |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amount | per 100 Household | |||
| Sort | Desc Asc | Desc Asc | Desc Asc | Desc Asc |
| 1 | Osaka | 166,413 households | 4.35 households | 77.91 |
| 2 | Kochi | 13,016 households | 3.75 households | 71.07 |
| 3 | Hokkaido | 96,932 households | 3.70 households | 70.53 |
| 4 | Aomori | 18,989 households | 3.36 households | 66.64 |
| 5 | Fukuoka | 68,889 households | 3.23 households | 65.24 |
| 6 | Kyoto | 34,661 households | 3.16 households | 64.41 |
| 7 | Okinawa | 16,644 households | 3.07 households | 63.42 |
| 8 | Tokushima | 8,971 households | 2.83 households | 60.70 |
| 9 | Nagasaki | 17,037 households | 2.81 households | 60.41 |
| 10 | Tokyo | 158,077 households | 2.57 households | 57.66 |
| 11 | Oita | 12,433 households | 2.48 households | 56.73 |
| 12 | Kagoshima | 19,310 households | 2.48 households | 56.69 |
| 13 | Akita | 9,572 households | 2.30 households | 54.61 |
| 14 | Wakayama | 9,448 households | 2.23 households | 53.89 |
| 15 | Kanagawa | 79,644 households | 2.08 households | 52.14 |
| 16 | Ehime | 12,911 households | 2.07 households | 52.10 |
| 17 | Hiroshima | 25,043 households | 2.07 households | 52.06 |
| 18 | Nara | 11,200 households | 2.05 households | 51.86 |
| 19 | Miyazaki | 10,075 households | 2.04 households | 51.74 |
| 20 | Kumamoto | 13,095 households | 1.82 households | 49.25 |
| 21 | Okayama | 13,806 households | 1.80 households | 48.99 |
| 22 | Yamaguchi | 11,209 households | 1.76 households | 48.53 |
| 23 | Tottori | 3,842 households | 1.71 households | 48.03 |
| 24 | Iwate | 8,407 households | 1.68 households | 47.67 |
| 25 | Kagawa | 6,754 households | 1.67 households | 47.51 |
| 26 | Miyagi | 14,846 households | 1.67 households | 47.47 |
| 27 | Saga | 4,769 households | 1.56 households | 46.30 |
| 28 | Fukushima | 11,371 households | 1.53 households | 45.99 |
| 29 | Chiba | 37,431 households | 1.50 households | 45.57 |
| 30 | Tochigi | 10,558 households | 1.43 households | 44.76 |
| 31 | Saitama | 39,885 households | 1.41 households | 44.58 |
| 32 | Mie | 9,873 households | 1.39 households | 44.34 |
| 33 | Hyogo | 29,464 households | 1.28 households | 43.16 |
| 34 | Shimane | 3,512 households | 1.28 households | 43.15 |
| 35 | Niigata | 10,593 households | 1.26 households | 42.93 |
| 36 | Aichi | 34,978 households | 1.24 households | 42.64 |
| 37 | Ibaraki | 13,032 households | 1.19 households | 42.11 |
| 38 | Shiga | 5,611 households | 1.13 households | 41.41 |
| 39 | Yamagata | 4,214 households | 1.07 households | 40.68 |
| 40 | Ishikawa | 4,559 households | 1.05 households | 40.45 |
| 41 | Shizuoka | 13,682 households | 0.97 households | 39.57 |
| 42 | Gunma | 7,072 households | 0.94 households | 39.25 |
| 43 | Yamanashi | 3,049 households | 0.92 households | 39.05 |
| 44 | Gifu | 5,685 households | 0.78 households | 37.40 |
| 45 | Nagano | 6,011 households | 0.75 households | 37.07 |
| 46 | Fukui | 1,980 households | 0.74 households | 36.94 |
| 47 | Toyama | 2,276 households | 0.59 households | 35.35 |
| Average | 1,120,829 households | 2.14 households | ||

Permalink Reply by Michel on June 16, 2012 at 10:26pm The message also forgets to mention that Japan has virtually no defense budget and has had none for the past 65 years - it does help any recovery effort not to spend 4% of your GDP on your military ambitions.
Comparison of U.S. spending with other countries
Military spending as a percentage of GDPThe 2009 U.S. military budget accounts for approximately 40% of global arms spending. The 2012 budget is 6-7 times larger than the $106 billions of the military budget of China, and is more than the next twenty largest military spenders combined. The United States and its close allies are responsible for two-thirds to three-quarters of the world's military spending (of which, in turn, the U.S. is responsible for the majority).[36][37][38]
In 2005, the United States spent 4.06% of its GDP on its military (considering only basic Department of Defense budget spending), more than France's 2.6% and less than Saudi Arabia's 10%.[39]information 2006 This is historically low for the United States since it peaked in 1944 at 37.8% of GDP (it reached the lowest point of 3.0% in 1999–2001). Even during the peak of the Vietnam War the percentage reached a high of 9.4% in 1968.[40] Countries like Canada and Germany spend only 1.4% of GDP on their military.

Permalink Reply by Chris on July 19, 2012 at 2:13am Thanks for posting this information about the nuclear bombs doone. I've wondered about this for some time.

Permalink Reply by Michel on June 16, 2012 at 10:12pm 1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity.
If the very rich share, they are not legislated out of prosperity. When you have a hundred times what you can spend, you're already on the verge of obscene prosperity. Giving away 25% of their excess would still leave them with a comfortable 75% excess.
2. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.
Another false dichotomy that is cheaply gold-plated! Try this instead: "... another person must work receiving a little less."
3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.
Yep. It's called taxes.
4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it!
Why would the ultra-wealthy want to multiply their wealth? Addition is not enough? It would seem that the richer they get the more afraid of subtraction they become. Hence the division scare.
5. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them.
Now half the people think they don't need to work? Which leads to the other half deciding to stop working? I wonder where she got those numbers.

Permalink Reply by doone on June 16, 2012 at 10:20pm Meanwhile in the world we live in most of the people in the world are becoming poorer due to circumstances beyond their control
by Tyler Cowen on June 16, 2012 at 3:37 pm in Data Source, Economics | Permalink

Permalink Reply by doone on June 16, 2012 at 10:26pm by Tyler Cowen on June 12, 2012 at 12:49 am in Data Source, Economics | Permalink
The Census Bureau has released new data on wealth:
The recent financial crisis left the median American family in 2010 with no more wealth than in the early 1990s, erasing almost two decades of accumulated prosperity, the Federal Reserve said on Monday.
The median family, richer than half of the nation’s families and poorer than the other half, had a net worth of $77,300 in 2010, down from $126,400 in 2007, the Fed said. The crash of housing prices explained three-quarters of the loss.
This vast loss of wealth was compounded by a loss of income, as the earnings of the median family fell by 7.7 percent over the same period.
The story is here. Matt adds comment and posts a good chart.

Permalink Reply by Davy on June 17, 2012 at 2:54pm Yeah! Number 5 because the writer has no real idea of how people on welfare feel or think. (Yes! there are welfare cheats but they are in the minority as the Australian dept. of social security found out when they went and started to ferret out the cheats at expense of the Australian tax payer as the amount recovered was far less the amount spent ferreting them out)
The majority of welfare percipients would rather work than receive welfare, they accept welfare only because that is the only way they can survive. Been there done that got the "T" shirt as they say.
As for Hiroshima and Nagasaki- My father when he was in the airforce he was sent to Japan as part of the British Occupational Force and he visited the cities. He lived till 1987 when he died aged 62 of cancer that was more induced by booze than radiation.
Like you Michel, crap like this bugs me to the utmost.

Permalink Reply by Michel on June 17, 2012 at 3:16pm Re: Detroit - Like it's welfare that deleted all the jobs?
That's willful lopsidedness!

Permalink Reply by Adriana on June 17, 2012 at 6:09pm Unbelievable. What a load of excrement.
Japan actually does have a welfare system, mostly for the elderly (check Wikipedia). The society is very different than American society. Single parents (or unwed parents) are basically unheard of, and the number of drug addicted people in Japan is much lower than in the US. Family ties are stronger. It's a totally different society.
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