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How does the World view America these days?

Rubin Farr

By Rubin Farr
in General Banter

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Hey just gonna drop in here because it’s getting tense and I know we all know capitalist whizz-boy Bill Gates is getting a divorce.   I wanted to let everyone know I am going to continue to get

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LimpyLoo Grand Master

LimpyLoo

Posted
Posted (edited)

Was that OSU shooting out of a political disagreement tho? I'm only seeing speculation so far. I've yet to read any official reports on the actual motive.

It doesn't really matter what the particular motivation is, I don't think.

Whether's it's sexual rejection (e.g. Elliot Rogers), racial scapegoating (e.g. The kid who shot up the black church because of course black people are the reason I'm so miserable), or some abstract ideological concern, the distorted maps that lead to evil are all the same:

 

You are *here*

The thing you want is *there*

And 'other people' are the obstacles standing in your way

And of course I am perfect (and therefor don't need to change)

so *they* are the problem

Edited by LimpyLoo
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goDel Grand Master

goDel

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Posted

 

Was that OSU shooting out of a political disagreement tho? I'm only seeing speculation so far. I've yet to read any official reports on the actual motive.

It doesn't really matter what the particular motivation is, I don't think.

Whether's it's sexual rejection (e.g. Elliot Rogers), racial scapegoating (e.g. The kid who shot up the black church because of course black people are the reason I'm so miserable), or some abstract ideological concern, the distorted maps that lead to evil are all the same:

 

You are *here*

The thing you want is *there*

And 'other people' are the obstacles standing in your way

And of course I am perfect (and therefor don't need to change)

so *they* are the problem

 

 

The conditions for those "maps" to develop are relevant though. (parents etc..)

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LimpyLoo Grand Master

LimpyLoo

Posted
Posted (edited)

 

 

Was that OSU shooting out of a political disagreement tho? I'm only seeing speculation so far. I've yet to read any official reports on the actual motive.

It doesn't really matter what the particular motivation is, I don't think.

Whether's it's sexual rejection (e.g. Elliot Rogers), racial scapegoating (e.g. The kid who shot up the black church because of course black people are the reason I'm so miserable), or some abstract ideological concern, the distorted maps that lead to evil are all the same:

 

You are *here*

The thing you want is *there*

And 'other people' are the obstacles standing in your way

And of course I am perfect (and therefor don't need to change)

so *they* are the problem

The conditions for those "maps" to develop are relevant though. (parents etc..)
Yeah...I think the basic precondition for evil is "I acted towards a desired outcome, and the world punished me for it"

 

So maybe you go up to talk to a girl you like in the hallway, and you ask her out, and she starts laughing and so does everyone else within earshot...and maybe everybody teases you about it for the rest of the school year...

 

That would generate anger and resentment, and so now we have the basic starting conditions for evil

 

Now, you can plug any possible goal/motivation into that algorithm and the results will always be the the same (save for the surface details)...and so the ideal, healthy person is one that troubleshoots himself first (instead of instantly assuming that he's right and the world is wrong)

Edited by LimpyLoo
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AJW Veteran

AJW

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Posted

 

Was that OSU shooting out of a political disagreement tho? I'm only seeing speculation so far. I've yet to read any official reports on the actual motive.

It doesn't really matter what the particular motivation is, I don't think.

Whether's it's sexual rejection (e.g. Elliot Rogers), racial scapegoating (e.g. The kid who shot up the black church because of course black people are the reason I'm so miserable), or some abstract ideological concern, the distorted maps that lead to evil are all the same:

 

You are *here*

The thing you want is *there*

And 'other people' are the obstacles standing in your way

And of course I am perfect (and therefor don't need to change)

so *they* are the problem

 

 

Yeah, standing in line stinks. 

 

 

 

 

Was that OSU shooting out of a political disagreement tho? I'm only seeing speculation so far. I've yet to read any official reports on the actual motive.

It doesn't really matter what the particular motivation is, I don't think.

Whether's it's sexual rejection (e.g. Elliot Rogers), racial scapegoating (e.g. The kid who shot up the black church because of course black people are the reason I'm so miserable), or some abstract ideological concern, the distorted maps that lead to evil are all the same:

 

You are *here*

The thing you want is *there*

And 'other people' are the obstacles standing in your way

And of course I am perfect (and therefor don't need to change)

so *they* are the problem

The conditions for those "maps" to develop are relevant though. (parents etc..)
Yeah...I think the basic precondition for evil is "I acted towards a desired outcome, and the world punished me for it"

 

So maybe you go up to talk to a girl you like in the hallway, and you ask her out, and she starts laughing and so does everyone else within earshot...and maybe everybody teases you about it for the rest of the school year...

 

That would generate anger and resentment, and so now we have the basic starting conditions for evil

 

Now, you can plug any possible goal/motivation into that algorithm and the results will always be the the same (save for the surface details)...and so the ideal, healthy person is one that troubleshoots himself first (instead of instantly assuming that he's right and the world is wrong)

 

 

We've all been there man, too bad they made fun of you. I think some degree of resentment towards such behaviour is a normal even healthy reaction. As long as it doesn't spread to "the rest of the world"

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olo Grand Master

olo

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Heartwarming...

 

Man shoots nephew because his nephew got a better plate of food on thanksgiving.

 

http://www.fox2detroit.com/news/local-news/220310176-story

 

Man murders nephew.

 

 

I stand corrected. Make sure not to take a better plate of food then that guy...So many things wrong with that story besides the murder. I wouldn't invite a family member over for thanksgiving that just got out of prison for setting his ex-girl on fire. Hindsight is 20/20 though.

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usagi Grand Master

usagi

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Posted

well, this seems to be a move in the right direction.

 

full copy-paste for people who can't get past the WSJ paywall:

 

 

 

WASHINGTON—The federal government is on track to forgive at least $108 billion in student debt in coming years, as more and more borrowers seek help in paying down their loans, leading to lower revenues for the country’s wider program to finance higher education.

 

The Government Accountability Office disclosed that sum on Wednesday in a report to Congress that for the first time projected the full costs of plans that set borrowers’ monthly payments as a share of their earnings and which eventually forgive portions of their debt.

 

The GAO report also sharply criticized the government’s accounting methods for its $1.26 trillion student-loan portfolio, pointing to flaws that have led it to alter projected revenues widely over the years. The government says it still expects the program to generate a profit over the long term, but it has repeatedly trimmed expectations for revenues.

 

President Barack Obama has promoted income-driven repayment plans—passed by Congress in the 1990s and 2000s—to stem a sharp rise in borrowers defaulting on their loans since the recession.

 

A new federal report shows that the government is expected to forgive at least $108 billion in student debt in the coming years. The relief is part of an Obama administration plan to help borrowers, but is proving costly. WSJ's Lee Hawkins explains.

 

The most generous version of income-driven repayments caps a borrower’s monthly payment at 10% of discretionary income, which is defined as adjusted gross income above 150% of the poverty level.

 

That formula typically reduces monthly payments of borrowers by hundreds of dollars. Public-service workers—those employed for a government agency or at most nonprofits—have balances forgiven after 10 years, tax-free. Private-sector workers have balances forgiven in 20 or 25 years, with the forgiven amount taxed as ordinary income.

 

President-elect Donald Trump said during his campaign that he supported the idea of helping student-loan borrowers. He has proposed setting payments at 12.5% of income and forgiving balances after 15 years. He has also suggested winding down the federal student loan program and shifting lending to the private sector.

 

Growing evidence, however, suggests many of the most hard-pressed borrowers—college dropouts who owe less than $10,000—aren’t taking advantage of the programs and instead workers with graduate degrees, including some doctors and lawyers who don’t necessarily need the help, are.

 

GAO figures suggest the average balance of borrowers in income-driven repayment plans stands at $67,000. That sum suggests a disproportionate share of those benefiting from the plans are graduate-degree holders, since the government caps lifetime borrowing for undergraduates at $57,500. It doesn’t limit how much grad students can borrow. And graduate-degree holders typically have high incomes and have low rates of unemployment, Labor Department data show.

 

There are still about 8 million Americans in default on their student loans, and the number of defaults among borrowers who recently left school has come down only slowly.

 

Meanwhile, Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi (R., Wyo.), who ordered the GAO study, has criticized the Obama administration’s use of executive authority to sweeten terms of the repayment plans, which he said would add to the national debt.

 

“This Administration has been manipulating the terms of the student loan program without the consent of Congress, while shirking its statutory duty to carefully assess the cost impact of those changes,” Mr. Enzi said in a written statement, adding that he was considering legislation to force changes in the government’s accounting methods.

 

Some outside academics say it is becoming increasingly likely that the projected surpluses of the federal student loan portfolio—which has more than doubled over the past decade—won’t materialize. “I’m not at all confident that the federal government will end up making money on student loans,” said Robert Kelchen, an assistant professor of higher education at Seton Hall University.

 

Ted Mitchell, undersecretary at the Education Department, however, said such programs “are helping millions of borrowers successfully manage loan repayment, particularly those for whom standard repayment may prove challenging.” And Mr. Mitchell added that the administration has proposed changes to reduce costs. President Obama, for example, has called for capping how much debt public-service workers can have forgiven.

 

In addition to debt forgiveness under income-driven repayment programs, the administration is also moving to forgive loans for borrowers who can show they were lured to enroll at schools—mostly for-profit colleges—that used deceptive advertising.

 

Income-driven repayment plans are also generating concern that as more students become aware of the benefits, they will become less sensitive to tuition increases, enabling universities continually to raise tuition ultimately at taxpayer expense. Higher education costs have increased an average of 5.2% a year over the past decade, far faster than inflation, which has been running at under 2%.

 

And some borrowers with graduate-school loans are refinancing their debt at lower interest rates with private lenders such as SoFi. Congress, through legislation, has set higher interest rates for grad students than undergrads to ensure the programs don’t lose money. When private lenders pick off those borrowers, the surpluses dwindle.

 

The GAO estimates that $137 billion of the roughly $355 billion owed under income-driven repayments won’t be repaid. Most of it—the $108 billion disclosed on Wednesday—would be forgiven because of borrowers fulfilling their obligations under the plans. The other $29 billion will be written off because of disability or death, the GAO projects, the only other circumstances under which the government takes a loan off its books. The government can garnish wages and Social Security checks for those in default.

 

And that $108 billion only covers loans made through the current school year. The overall sum could continue to grow alongside enrollment increases. The GAO said it could take 40 years to know full costs of the programs.

 

Still, supporters say the plans offer a lifeline to borrowers who are unemployed or earning little, while the Obama administration has credited the programs for leading to a reduction in the number of new graduates defaulting on their loans.

 

Supporters also point out that under current law, any amount forgiven would be taxed as ordinary income for private-sector workers, limiting the benefits for individuals.

 

The GAO report also criticizes how the Education Department has produced budget estimates for the loan program. For example, it said the department has failed to account for inflation when estimating borrowers’ future earnings. And it said the agency failed to account for further increases in enrollment in income-driven repayment plans.

 

 

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ambermonk Grand Master

ambermonk

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It sounded like the rule was still under the restriction that they cannot hack citizens' computers and other devices indiscriminately though - rather, that it applied primarily to perps and victims of crimes for investigative purposes.

Edited by ambermonk
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