The New Era of Prosperity

[KirbyKrieger]

I find it ironic that every city in those dire economic straits have been controlled by Democrats.       

You must not look far for your irony vitamins.

Do you find it ironic that "Red States" are net teat-suckers and that "Blue States" are net milk providers?

Do you find it ironic that almost 70% of the current US debt was accumulated under Republican presidents?  (Presidents Reagan (13%), George H. W. Bush (11%), George W. Bush (43%), and 7% from all presidents before Reagan.)

Do you find it ironic that 9 of the 10 top states ranked by average income are "blue"?

Do you find it ironic that the only "red" state in the top 10 is Alaska, and is there only because of its socialist distribution of oil drilling taxes?

Do you find it ironic that 9 of the bottom 10 states ranked by average income are "red"?

We live in ironic times.  Why just the other day Republican politicians were arguing that the best way to reduce gun violence was to provide more people with more guns.

 

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

... Any clues as to where I find electronic keyboards hidden?

Rob,

I abandoned Windows years ago, as most sane people have done. Well, at least those who think that computers should serve them, not the other way around. The same with cars and cameras, by the way. Getting rid of Windows is like taking off shoes two size smaller after a long day standing on your feet. (Note to the outraged: this is a blatant trolling, however true it otherwise is, so do not bother responding with hate mail .

However, I kept a virtual machine for a few programs that only run on Windows. I am still on Windows XP, by the way, so what I am going to show you may or may not be easy to replicate in Windows 8, but it should give you an idea what I am talking about.

1. In Control Panel, locate "Regional and Language Options"
2. Press the "Languages" tab
3. Press "Details" button - it will display your current combination of language and keyboard
4. Press "Add" button
5. It will open "Add Input Language" - there you select the combination of language you want (I presume English UK) and appropriate keyboard (I presume UK)

Voilà!

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

Slobodan,

I presume you are referring to the closure of Dominicks in Chicago. That closing has more to do with the store's business model than the economy. As explained here, Dominicks was a middle of the road grocery that was being squeezed both from the low and high ends...

Bill,

Indeed, I was talking about Dominick's. However, I would dispute the notion that it is their model, rather than the economy, that contributed to their demise. Their model worked just fine in our affluent middle-class suburb for 40 years, and almost 100 years elsewhere. Interesting you used the term "middle" above, as that is exactly the reason. However, they are crushed not because they were in the middle, but because their target market, the middle class, has been crushed in the meantime. And that is indeed, economy. Not in the sense of quarter-to-querter statistics, but in the broader sense of the seismic shifts and redistribution of wealth toward the 1%, 0.1% and 0.01%

In the last ten years, 90% of the population lost 10% of their income.

As you slice and dice the remaining 10%, into smaller and smaller chunks, it is clear that the income growth rises with geometric progression, so much so that the top 0.01% enjoyed a 76% growth.

And before our Republicon friends jump in blaming Mother Jones or Huffington Post for the leftist propaganda, note that the source for the attached chart is none other than the Wall Street Journal.

[Rob C]

Rob,

I abandoned Windows years ago, as most sane people have done. Well, at least those who think that computers should serve them, not the other way around. The same with cars and cameras, by the way. Getting rid of Windows is like taking off shoes two size smaller after a long day standing on your feet. (Note to the outraged: this is a blatant trolling, however true it otherwise is, so do not bother responding with hate mail .

However, I kept a virtual machine for a few programs that only run on Windows. I am still on Windows XP, by the way, so what I am going to show you may or may not be easy to replicate in Windows 8, but it should give you an idea what I am talking about.

1. In Control Panel, locate "Regional and Language Options"
2. Press the "Languages" tab
3. Press "Details" button - it will display your current combination of language and keyboard
4. Press "Add" button
5. It will open "Add Input Language" - there you select the combination of language you want (I presume English UK) and appropriate keyboard (I presume UK)

Voilà!

As ever, thanks for your help! However, the red lines still persist...

checking for colons : yes
checking for semi-colons; yes
checking for open brackets ( yes
checking for closing brackets ) yes
checking for exclamation ! yes

Seems to work okay, except for the red line ( a wavey one)

I had managed to arrive at the same situation yesterday, but it lost me the various symbols. Today, they are here.

I've managed to load in my Nikon Capture NX2 so far, but when I try to load the SanDisk card reader, the Sandisk CD doesn't show up on the screen at all, and when I try to download a NEF from the camera to the computer, the image goes into the Windows Pictures file as a NEF but won't open in Capture, and when I try, a notice comes up saying Capture has to close...

What a mess!

Rob C


P.S. I have managed to load my dictionary just now - can't manage without that!

That's the red line problem - just like Olde Berlinski must have looked.

[Rob C]

Bill,

Indeed, I was talking about Dominick's. However, I would dispute the notion that it is their model, rather than the economy, that contributed to their demise. Their model worked just fine in our affluent middle-class suburb for 40 years, and almost 100 years elsewhere. Interesting you used the term "middle" above, as that is exactly the reason. However, they are crushed not because they were in the middle, but because their target market, the middle class, has been crushed in the meantime. And that is indeed, economy. Not in the sense of quarter-to-querter statistics, but in the broader sense of the seismic shifts and redistribution of wealth toward the 1%, 0.1% and 0.01%

In the last ten years, 90% of the population lost 10% of their income.

As you slice and dice the remaining 10%, into smaller and smaller chunks, it is clear that the income growth rises with geometric progression, so much so that the top 0.01% enjoyed a 76% growth.

And before our Republicon friends jump in blaming Mother Jones or Huffington Post for the leftist propaganda, note that the source for the attached chart is none other than the Wall Street Journal.

What I think it comes down to, is that there is a limit to mechanisation, and we have passed that limit and crossed into a situation where not enough people are actually working at good enough incomes to make use of the increased mechanisation of production. We need fewer robots and more blue and white collars on the job.

It seems so obvious, but it gets missed. What can it profit a very, very few mega-rich if nothing around them works anymore? Surely, they didn't get to that rich way if they are blind to reality?

Rob C

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

... What can it profit a very, very few mega-rich if nothing around them works anymore?...

You are on the right track, Rob. That was the origin of the Great Depression in 1920s-30s. But before I elaborate, a little joke about the guy who was teaching his horse not to eat. Just when he thought he succeeded, the poor animal died. Pursuing profit increase through cost cutting (mostly labor), they succeeded back then so well, that... well, their horse (middle and working class) died as well.

The reach need both the poor (to provide cheap labor) and the middle class (as consumers). But you see, the rich are not that stupid either. They learned their lesson back in the 1920s. So, they are now very careful to nurture both the working class and to develop the middle class. Except, you see, nobody said it all has to be in the same country. So, the US rich are definitely helping the poor, the working class and the budding middle class. In China.

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

... That's the red line problem...

Rob, that looks like "check spelling as you type" problem. As you can see, I can replicate it on my Mac as well. All I did is I specified in System Preferences that my spell checker should use Russian, for instance, as its basis. In which case, almost every word I type is thought by the spell checker as misspelled.

Try this web site for more on Win 8 and spell checking options:

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/13128-spell-checking-turn-off-windows-8-a.html

[bjanes]

Bill,

Indeed, I was talking about Dominick's. However, I would dispute the notion that it is their model, rather than the economy, that contributed to their demise. Their model worked just fine in our affluent middle-class suburb for 40 years, and almost 100 years elsewhere. Interesting you used the term "middle" above, as that is exactly the reason. However, they are crushed not because they were in the middle, but because their target market, the middle class, has been crushed in the meantime. And that is indeed, economy. Not in the sense of quarter-to-querter statistics, but in the broader sense of the seismic shifts and redistribution of wealth toward the 1%, 0.1% and 0.01%

In the last ten years, 90% of the population lost 10% of their income.

As you slice and dice the remaining 10%, into smaller and smaller chunks, it is clear that the income growth rises with geometric progression, so much so that the top 0.01% enjoyed a 76% growth.

And before our Republicon friends jump in blaming Mother Jones or Huffington Post for the leftist propaganda, note that the source for the attached chart is none other than the Wall Street Journal.

A headline story in today's Chicago Tribune gives additional information on the demise of Dominick's. A west coast hedge fund gained controlling interest in Dominick's and they stand to get a tax credit of $300M by letting Dominick's go under. Another mainstream grocer in Chicago is Jewel and they are doing well, which argues against the local economy having a dominant effect on Dominick's demise. Furthermore, Whole Foods and other upscale outlets need to capture more than the patronage of upper 1% families.

Regards,

Bill

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

Bill,

I think we continue to read the same facts a bit differently. I tend to go for a bigger picture. Others tend to obsess over technicalities and the immediate (and I do not mean you necessarily). It is true that the hedge fund had ulterior motives in shutting down Dominick's, but the reason they (i.e., activist investors) were able to do so is that Dominick's was not doing well in the Chicago market in the recent years. So, the real question is why. The continuing existence of Jewel is not the proof that "all is well in the state of... Illinois" either, and that somehow only Dominick's screwed up. For decades, the same market was able to sustain those two chains. It is the demise of the middle class that shrank the market to the point that only one can survive. Jewel had a stronger presence anyway and is also local, not subject to the whims of corporate headquarters from across the continent.

For years I had the two just across from each other in my neighborhood, and I always preferred Dominic's to Jewel for its cleanness, good lighting, specious and well-organized shelves, freshness of fruits and vegetables, lack of crowds and generally "upscale" atmosphere. Funny, but in my suburb (again, an affluent, middle-class one), Dominick's was for years perceived as the upscale choice (only recently we got the Whole Foods). And I was willing and happy to pay a premium for that experience. Me and many others. It is the demise of my own purchasing power, as well as the general demise of the middle class in my community, that sealed their fate. They were different (better, for me) than Jewel, they charged a premium, and I was willing to pay it. Until I couldn't.

[Rob C]

Rob, that looks like "check spelling as you type" problem. As you can see, I can replicate it on my Mac as well. All I did is I specified in System Preferences that my spell checker should use Russian, for instance, as its basis. In which case, almost every word I type is thought by the spell checker as misspelled.

Try this web site for more on Win 8 and spell checking options:

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/13128-spell-checking-turn-off-windows-8-a.html

Thanks for the link: I have now lost my red, wavey mist - at least when I'm writing!

Why do you know so many things?

;-)

Rob C

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

... Why do you know so many things?

Too much time on my hands? Or is it because "idle hands are..."?😉

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

Why do you know so many things?

Obviously he doesn't spend time doing photography. When he isn't answering question on LuLa he goes back to working at refining the post-processing of his very first digital image. He'll only post it when it's absolutely flawless.   

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

Ah, Eric, you know me too well!😄