you are sounding like a dye in wool communist!

Captain James T. Kirk isn't no commie.

22 hours ago, Enrico_sw said:

 

Economics! I love to talk about economics. Industrial organization was my jam a couple of years ago. I love books on this topic.

 

The modern world is full of oligopolies and very fat companies. Last time, I was chatting with a friend and we enumerated several big industry sectors; nearly all of them have a limited number of competitors (very often they can be counted on the fingers of one hand). This has been getting worse for the past decades, an issue that isn't debated much.  I like the history of anti-trust laws, but they aren't enforced as much as they used to be (because it's not a sexy topic for politicians).

 

 

22 hours ago, Enrico_sw said:

Competition laws: a very important subject. The best politicians take it very serioulsy (unfortunately, it's not sexy for them to talk about it). The worst politicians are like rabbits caught in car headlamps on these issues....

 

Certain industries lean towards oligopolies as a "right size" form but good food isn't one of them................

 

It is a typical of an advanced economy that multinational corporations form the greater half of the economy.

 

Anti-trust is often very random, (eg. fashionable) and declined in the US political landscape since around the 1980s.  Now they do bailouts..

1 hour ago, Cult Icon said:

Certain industries lean towards oligopolies as a "right size" form but good food isn't one of them................ 

 

It is a typical of an advanced economy that multinational corporations form the greater half of the economy.

 

That's the argument companies expose to the authorities when they want to realise a merger: "we will have the natural size" (that's the nice argument; the nasty one is to threaten to shutdown plants and relocate overseas).

For the authorities, it's a real headache, because 1) it's tough to understand a sector you don't work in (or you need very very good and impartial analysts, a rare species )  and 2) they intervene at their small level (country or EU), while markets are often global.

 

Sometimes, it can be true. But in many cases, I honestly think you don't need the fat oligopolies that dominate entire sectors these days. They claim to make economics of scale? These stop rapidly when they become big and inefficient. And then, of course, when they dominate entire markets, the delicacies come gradually

 

When it's a big merger, our politicians try to interfere. There will be typically two sides: "nationalization" vs. the worshippers of "big is beautiful". Left/right. But there are often a lot of other ways, if people would really get interested. 

 

Media are useless on these subjects. They don't understand sh**.

 

1 hour ago, Cult Icon said:

Anti-trust is often very random, (eg. fashionable) and declined in the US political landscape since around the 1980s.  Now they do bailouts..

 

Maybe in the US. In Europe, being "anti public sector" is fashionnable. But, I've changed my mind over time on this: now I prefer a national company (even if it's ineffficient) than a private monopoly. EU doesn't have this prudence.

 

 

9 hours ago, Stromboli1 said:

Captain James T. Kirk isn't no commie.

 

Kirk is luckier than the poor Luke: he hasn't been bought out by the little mouse that my two panthers are still waiting to devour.

Spoiler

 

Capitalism has a lot of flaws, but the 20th century showed that it's the least-worst option  

On 7/30/2018 at 6:41 PM, Enrico_sw said:

 

It's not the package that I'm worried about. I just eat food that is the least "transformed" and that has the least additives (like complex sugars). It's not that complex to find. I just go to my regular supermarket, where there are vegetables, fruits, fresh products. It doesn't take that much time to cook.

 

Yes, that's why I like to vary my food (which is probably the best strategy to stay healthy). So, I like to buy different meat/fish: pork, beef, salmon, cod, smoked herring, anchovies... It's not that expensive in our supermarkets when one really looks at the price. The food is packaged, but often it's freshly cut from the butcher/fishmonger's shop that's within the supermarket. 

 

There's convience food, but I don't think it works that much, because people distrust industrial food a lot (not even for environmental reasons, just because we know it's not good for our health).

 

When I'm in a hurry, I just eat stuffs like these: small carrots (they are sold packaged and ready to eat), red cabbage (packaged as well and already cut), salad (to which I just add oil and vinegar), to which I can add ham, salmon, a piece of cheese, a yoghurt or a fruit. I also like to dip stuff in eggplant caviar. It's as quick as convenience food, better tasting and it doesn't screw up my bowels.

 

The english term is "processed food" and "whole foods".  I think Kiki also stated a high aversion to it. 

 

For me, convenience is a major factor.  I do not like to spend time shopping or in the kitchen outside of making deliberate meals.  I like spending 15 minutes to dice my 4 x broccoli chicken meals and insert them into containers.  I eat out at restaurants a lot and I don't bring more than 1 meal with me at a time.  What I usually do is to bring 1 meal and bread for the rest of the day as a backup.

 

Mcdonald's in May 2018 finally announced that they are using "fresh beef"😁.  Given how bad their meat is, I am curious enough to try it once.  Maybe I'll do it sometime this week.

 

 

I think it's possible to make pork, seafood, duck, steak, and other items fast food- but American's aren't picky enough to ruin fast food as it currently is.   

1 hour ago, Enrico_sw said:

Sometimes, it can be true. But in many cases, I honestly think you don't need the fat oligopolies that dominate entire sectors these days. They claim to make economics of scale? These stop rapidly when they become big and inefficient. And then, of course, when they dominate entire markets, the delicacies come gradually

 

The oligopolies that tend to be important to have a large size are those that produce complex products and derive much of their income from export, such as auto/airplane manufacturers.  Asian countries literally use their mega corporations as trade weapons.  

 

1 hour ago, Enrico_sw said:

 

 

Capitalism has a lot of flaws, but the 20th century showed that it's the least-worst option  

 

Of interest is that in the US the consensus (scientific and anecdotal) is that measures of "happiness" has either stayed flat or declined since around the 1960s despite tripling of material living standards.  A large portion of taxpayers work over 50 hours a week and women are heavily in the workforce unlike pre 1960s.  This doesn't even include illegals that work for chump change and used liked slaves.  Total lifespans are not making much growth (and even decreasing) due mainly to stress and obesity.  Of course, the reasons of flat and declined happiness are clear when one understands the granularity of what happiness really is and how to obtain it.  

3 hours ago, Cult Icon said:

The english term is "processed food" and "whole foods".  I think Kiki also stated a high aversion to it. 

 

For me, convenience is a major factor.  I do not like to spend time shopping or in the kitchen outside of making deliberate meals.  I like spending 15 minutes to dice my 4 x broccoli chicken meals and insert them into containers.  I eat out at restaurants a lot and I don't bring more than 1 meal with me at a time.  What I usually do is to bring 1 meal and bread for the rest of the day as a backup.

 

Mcdonald's in May 2018 finally announced that they are using "fresh beef"😁.  Given how bad their meat is, I am curious enough to try it once.  Maybe I'll do it sometime this week.

 

I think it's possible to make pork, seafood, duck, steak, and other items fast food- but American's aren't picky enough to ruin fast food as it currently is.   

 

Overall it's a cultural issue. The average American only gets 30 minutes to an hour for lunch. Can't really go anywhere too far due to wasting your time getting there & back to work while leaving no time to eat. That's the reason fast food exists. Americans don't have time to enjoy their food anyway because they have to be working again right away. Dinner is another issue with time constraints as well.

 

Basically Americans are slaves to the grind that lost their way enjoying life.

8 hours ago, Stromboli1 said:

 

Overall it's a cultural issue. The average American only gets 30 minutes to an hour for lunch. Can't really go anywhere too far due to wasting your time getting there & back to work while leaving no time to eat. That's the reason fast food exists. Americans don't have time to enjoy their food anyway because they have to be working again right away. Dinner is another issue with time constraints as well.

 

Basically Americans are slaves to the grind that lost their way enjoying life.

 

Also, add up TV, internet, cell phones, status hunting, mom as wage labor, being a sedentary office/service drone, globalization/death of unions, and the post-industrial society has the so called "family values" go out the window.

 

I prefer the latin habit of taking an afternoon nap....😁

 

The 40 hour work week has been outdated for at least 40 years.

IIRC the average workweek in the USA is 48 hours- so effectively a 50 hour workweek 

 

Also the US has 1 month less vacation time than in France and Germany

On 7/30/2018 at 12:54 AM, Cult Icon said:

 

Have you ever preferred the movie over the novel? 

 

 

i can't think of one right now.

 

Quote

IMHO the films can complement the novels with their imagery.  Words have their limitations.

 

i felt several times that after reading something, the movie disappointed me because i imagined things in a different way.

23 hours ago, Cult Icon said:

IIRC the average workweek in the USA is 48 hours- so effectively a 50 hour workweek 

 

Also the US has 1 month less vacation time than in France and Germany

The average work week in France is 35 hours and we have 5 weeks vacation.

In USA you live for your work and in France we work to have a life (which mean spare time fun & VACATIONS!!) 

And i love eating at McDonald. it's good in France.

On 8/1/2018 at 1:39 PM, Cult Icon said:

 

I prefer the latin habit of taking an afternoon nap....😁

 

It's just amazing. I am always having one during my lunch break.

22 minutes ago, frenchkiki said:

The average work week in France is 35 hours and we have 5 weeks vacation.

In USA you live for your work and in France we work to have a life (which mean spare time fun & VACATIONS!!)

 

That's essentially what I was telling Cult and Enrico...... slaves to the grind and everything else suffers that matters in life.

 

Who's going to post Skid Row now?

 

22 minutes ago, frenchkiki said:

 And I love eating at McDonald. it's good in France.

 

I know people who travel abroad a lot and they eat at McDonalds and similar places, I find it funny. Food is part of eexperiencing the culture.

I find it  in the US

On 8/1/2018 at 2:16 PM, 17 Moments of Spring said:

 

i felt several times that after reading something, the movie disappointed me because i imagined things in a different way.

 

This happens to me all the time with WW2 films and shows- I see the errors everywhere.  

29 minutes ago, frenchkiki said:

I find it  in the US

 

 

In NYC McDonald's value menu is essentially the soup kitchen for the homeless.  Homeless people find it more efficient to just beg for change outside of them and then go in to buy something.  Afterwards, they turn the bathrooms into a disaster.  I ate there 2 days ago and I found that their pricing got very weird- They have a larger value menu and at the same time, they doubled the prices of their crappy meals, which have had virtually no innovation for decades.

 

Oh wow this is what it looks like.  Looks more like a bakery:

 

23 hours ago, frenchkiki said:

The average work week in France is 35 hours and we have 5 weeks vacation.

In USA you live for your work and in France we work to have a life (which mean spare time fun & VACATIONS!!) 

And i love eating at McDonald. it's good in France.

 

Our labor policies are considerably more pro-entrepreneur and employer while being anti-employee.  The only positive is that it's linked with our long-term unemployment rate being half of Europe and our GDP per capita being up to around 50% greater (only for southern Europe, around the same for Northern).  I am curious about how France has that high of GDP and has such generous labor policies at the same time though.

 

But ironically the US doesn't hold a candle to East Asia (or Chinatown for that matter) in terms of ruthless hypercapitalism- most of it producing pointless goods and services.  The Chinese "communist" party is essentially a union-buster for corporations and they have 5-3 times the long term economic growth rate.  

I rarely eat in McDonalds type restaurants. The rare times I indulge in fast food, it's in Belgian style "frietkoten".

In general I am very mindful of what I eat. I try to limit red meat to once or twice a week maximum. The rest of the week I eat chicken or fish.

It's not even just about staying in shape, since I switched to that diet, I feel generally a lot better and more energetic.

In general we eat far too much meat in the West.