Quote from risktaker:
Hey, if that's the case, the US as "usual", is waaaaay ahead of everybody else. :eek:
Quote from nutmeg:
It would have been nice if the retailer could have deducted accountable losses directly off the tax bill, this would have leveled the playing field.
Quote from nutmeg:
It's either apathy, or this ship is too big a ship to steer.
I'm inclined to believe the ship is too big to steer. Too many pilots.
Quote from nutmeg:
Interesting, perhaps delayed gratificatiion has been bred out with advertising everything "instant" and "buy now, pay later".
Quote from ipatent:
The system has been gamed so that decisions to delay gratification are no longer rewarded. The end gratification of spending saved money or passing it to heirs is forfeited through inflation, taxes, Wall Street fraud and moral hazard bailouts of those who didn't plan for the future.
This penalizes the average American who works like a dog for 50 years in the hope of a comfortable retirement and something to pass on to descendants. Take that hope away and the worker bees will be much less productive. This is what they are risking.
Short term thinking has led to this problem.
Quote from ipatent:
What society can achieve has always been limited by the behavioral tendencies of its participants. One of the most important behavioral characteristics needed to maintain an advanced society is the willingness to defer gratification- to work and save for the future as opposed to stealing something now without regard for the consequences.
There is growing evidence that possession of this tendency is rooted in heritable brain structure, and it was evolutionarily favored in parts of the world where it was necessary to plan ahead to survive harsh winters.