Look for a group of guys for a think tank.

[El Luchador]

We'll get together and plan the course of all humanity and basically structure society as we see fit. 

Our agenda: 

Population control

Control all food production

Control the weather 

Distribution of resources left after our group enjoys total gluttony.

 

Who's in? 

[El Luchador]

12 hours ago, El Luchador said:

We'll get together and plan the course of all humanity and basically structure society as we see fit. 

Our agenda: 

Population control

Control all food production

Control the weather 

Distribution of resources left after our group enjoys total gluttony.

 

Who's in? 

Nobody wants to team up with me to plane the future of humanity?  Why should Klaus and Bill have all the fun? Find your inter narcissist and be arrogant enough to think you know what's best for everyone. We all know this job should be performed by wrestlers.

[jross]

With this guy?  No way.
     

The guy below might have success influencing a group to prevent the top guy from doing it.

     

[mspart]

My son wants to be the benevolent dictator of the world.   So I understand the idea!!

mspart

[El Luchador]

18 minutes ago, mspart said:

My son wants to be the benevolent dictator of the world.   So I understand the idea!!

mspart

The only thing stopping him is 100 billion dollars. 

[mspart]

He's working on it!!

mspart

[BerniePragle]

You forgot one thing.

 

[mspart]

Jake!!!!!

mspart

[psikeyhackr]

How do you plan the future without bringing up planned obsolescence?

Then there is the depreciation of all of the consumer trash. How much have American consumers lost on the depreciation of automobiles each year since Sputnik?

But the NDP equation is:

NDP = GDP - Dcap

Dcap is Depreciation of Capital Goods

The equation should be:

Dcap = GDP - (Dcap + Dcon)

Dcon is Depreciation of Durable Consumer Goods

In 1958 the world population was less than 3 billion. Can the world afford planned obsolescence with 8 billion people while economists do not tell us about their defective algebra? I emailed 500 economists about it in 2005. Someone from the London School of Economics sent back, "What are we supposed to do about it?"

Can economists tell a banana from an air conditioner with respect to depreciation?

Edited February 8, 2023 by psikeyhackr
add a sentence

[psikeyhackr]

Error, Error!

Dcap = GDP - (Dcap + Dcon)

That was supposed to be:

NDP = GDP - (Dcap + Dcon)

Sorry, I don't know how I didn't see that before now.

[Plasmodium]

16 hours ago, psikeyhackr said:

How do you plan the future without bringing up planned obsolescence?

Then there is the depreciation of all of the consumer trash. How much have American consumers lost on the depreciation of automobiles each year since Sputnik?

But the NDP equation is:

NDP = GDP - Dcap

Dcap is Depreciation of Capital Goods

The equation should be:

Dcap = GDP - (Dcap + Dcon)

Dcon is Depreciation of Durable Consumer Goods

In 1958 the world population was less than 3 billion. Can the world afford planned obsolescence with 8 billion people while economists do not tell us about their defective algebra? I emailed 500 economists about it in 2005. Someone from the London School of Economics sent back, "What are we supposed to do about it?"

Can economists tell a banana from an air conditioner with respect to depreciation?

Yes, an air conditioner is in a category called durable goods which is to say that it provides utility or value for an extended period of time. Depreciation is a measure of the loss of its value.    A banana is not in that category at all.

[El Luchador]

5 hours ago, Plasmodium said:

Yes, an air conditioner is in a category called durable goods which is to say that it provides utility or value for an extended period of time. Depreciation is a measure of the loss of its value.    A banana is not in that category at all.

What is so significant about this? Forgive my ignorance. 

[Plasmodium]

58 minutes ago, El Luchador said:

What is so significant about this? Forgive my ignorance. 

I don't think it is all that significant

If you asking why depreciation is significant, it is because the worth of durable goods goes down over time and thus the worth of a company or other entity goes down with it.

Why did I post that? An answer to  a question from @psikeyhackr

Edited February 8, 2023 by Plasmodium
Completeness

[El Luchador]

17 minutes ago, Plasmodium said:

I don't think it is all that significant

If you asking why depreciation is significant, it is because the worth of durable goods goes down over time and thus the worth of a company or other entity goes down with it.

Why did I post that? An answer to  a question from @psikeyhackr

I understand depreciation but not how it's relevant in the way @psikeyhackr is implying. 

[Plasmodium]

Just now, El Luchador said:

I understand depreciation but not how it's relevant in the way @psikeyhackr is implying. 

Yeah, I was unsure of your question, my fault.  I was merely answering the question.

[El Luchador]

21 minutes ago, El Luchador said:

I understand depreciation but not how it's relevant in the way @psikeyhackr is implying. 

Im not following him, but he seems passionate about it. 

Edited February 8, 2023 by El Luchador

[psikeyhackr]

1 hour ago, El Luchador said:

What is so significant about this? Forgive my ignorance. 

How the world functioned changed in the 20th century. What complex machines did consumers buy before 1900? There were peddle operated Singer sewing machines but there were about 6000 cars in the US in 1900. Ford introduced the Model-T in 1908.  There were more than 100,000 horses in New York City in 1900. By 1912 50% of the vehicles were motorized. Of course electrification was happening at the same time.

But eventually the US had The Depression and WWII.  The concept of GNP/GDP was developed around 1937. When do you ever hear economists talk about Net National Product or Net Domestic Product? World War II seemed to be good for the American economy with the Germans and Japanese causing rapid depreciation by blowing shit up.  So we have had 70 years of planned obsolescence replacing the war but our economists say nothing about the depreciation on the consumer side. So we don't know how much it has amounted to.

[El Luchador]

How is that information useful? 

[BerniePragle]

42 minutes ago, psikeyhackr said:

How the world functioned changed in the 20th century. What complex machines did consumers buy before 1900? There were peddle operated Singer sewing machines but there were about 6000 cars in the US in 1900. Ford introduced the Model-T in 1908.  There were more than 100,000 horses in New York City in 1900. By 1912 50% of the vehicles were motorized. Of course electrification was happening at the same time.

But eventually the US had The Depression and WWII.  The concept of GNP/GDP was developed around 1937. When do you ever hear economists talk about Net National Product or Net Domestic Product? World War II seemed to be good for the American economy with the Germans and Japanese causing rapid depreciation by blowing shit up.  So we have had 70 years of planned obsolescence replacing the war but our economists say nothing about the depreciation on the consumer side. So we don't know how much it has amounted to.

Economics is far from an exact science. Much of what I see from Economics is an explanation of what happened after it has happened.

Have you seen the movie Wall-E?  A great commentary on planned obsolescence and out of control consumerism.  It looks like a kids movie, but is a great comment on our modern society.