Rotting corpses pile up as Myanmar stalls on aid

[PocketKings]

Our payoff is revolutions in the very countries that piss us off. Instability there prevents threats to us and results in free markets and better economics.

I'm not talking touchy feely stuff; I'm talking subversion of the will of the people towards democratic ends. I'm talking MRE handouts in conjunction with M4 handouts.

That's why I'd use Blackwater; plausible deniability.

However, with a 4 year strategic decision making cycle, this will never happen.

[Silverback]

Our payoff is revolutions in the very countries that piss us off. Instability there prevents threats to us and results in free markets and better economics.

I'm not talking touchy feely stuff; I'm talking subversion of the will of the people towards democratic ends. I'm talking MRE handouts in conjunction with M4 handouts.

That's why I'd use Blackwater; plausible deniability.

However, with a 4 year strategic decision making cycle, this will never happen.

Because recent (last 50-years) revolutions have benefited our nation?

[PocketKings]

Perhaps, perhaps not. But lack of properly supported revolutions haven't done us any good either.

We never properly supported Iraq (post GW1, pre GW2), Iran, Tibet, Vietnam, Cuba, or any other failed democratic revolution in the past 50 years. We 'supported' the revolution in the former USSR and that has yet to play out. Going further back, we certainly did not benefit by sitting idly by and allowing lack of revolutions in Germany.

Democracies are born from revolutions and democracies benefit us.

I will admit that democracies also level the playing field and cause worldwide standards of living to increase. I don't feel it's a zero sum game where one loses for another to gain, I think that all gain, but some gain further (coming from so low). For those of us at the top making smaller gains, this can be perceived as a loss and be met with negativity.

[Ranger Bill]

... I will admit that democracies also level the playing field and cause worldwide standards of living to increase. I don't feel it's a zero sum game where one loses for another to gain, I think that all gain, but some gain further (coming from so low). For those of us at the top making smaller gains, this can be perceived as a loss and be met with negativity.

But what about those are not making gains, but seeing substantial losses? Certainly it is a zero sum game to hundreds of thousands in the U.S. who used to have decent paying jobs in IT, customer support centers, printing, manufactring and many other fields. Their jobs are gone to cheap labor markets elsewhere in the world and they are now either in jobs paying a lot less or unemployed.

[PocketKings]

True. I'm talking society as a whole, not elements of it.

We still have low unemployment and a quality of life that increases (as a whole) generation by generation. In fact, our unemployment is often considered TOO low. 5-6% is low, especially considering a percentage of those folks are unemployable (in jail, disabled, etc.) or are fractionally unemployed (between jobs, literally).

And, it's not zero sum because those people have (theoretically) the option of employment in other fields. Not saying it's that easy, but it is an option.

The worm will turn on offshoring. It already has to some extent. Over 50% of businesses that outsource IT, customer service, etc. have received results worse than what they started with. There are multiple cases of them pulling the call centers, IT centers, etc. back home. The price to hire an Indian developer is starting to make it not worth it. I saw it firsthand last year. A lot of offshoring now is because there are literally NO qualified folks here. Try to find an accountant or architect that doesn't have a job. They're all employed.

Shit, I'm paying a sprinkler fitter $25/hour with a vehicle, gas and unlimited overtime and STILL can't get quality dudes. I have to grow them all from within.