What's your walk-away price?

[gram]

If Singapore really is good enough by most standards, then that would mean that the world is a terrible place and the human story is a tragic one on the whole, which would be quite unfortunate but then again, this is only if Singapore really is good enough by most standards.

[An Alien]

If Singapore really is good enough by most standards, then that would mean that the world is a terrible place and the human story is a tragic one on the whole, which would be quite unfortunate but then again, this is only if Singapore really is good enough by most standards.

Of course the human story is a tragic one. What can be more tragic than death that awaits all humans ?

And before the inevitable happens, most humans, wherever they are, are brainwashed into toiling almost daily, to see through their existence called- life. That does sound terrible to me.



 

[judgement]

Helping others, or just making little differences daily to strangers - that's some form of happiness. Or changing the mindset, and trying to find some positives among negatives.

If you have contentment, peace and happiness within yourself ... to me, it matters not where you are.  4 walls of a cosy home (big or small) furnished with love and care is the same 4 walls, the world over regardless.

You can  still feel happy and contented if your inner soul is fed. So yes, the outside world gets to you ... but it's not really perfect Utopia anywhere else, either is it? And honest/transparency + politicians  = oxymoron.

There are working drones that are happy because they're toiling towards their eventual vision of another house to leave their children ....
There are the carefree who while exhilaratingly-skiing, and die in some avalanche leaving nothing behind but heartbreak, or froze on the mountain while trekking ... but they too died happy because they were doing what they enjoyed in their lifetime ...

Who are we to say who's happy, or not?
Different value systems.

[wrongagain]

pp,

I'm from the USA.  Here are some examples of "...lies, misinformation, distortions and denial of the truth.." that we have been told by our own "...media and power elites..." in the past decade:

*Housing prices have never declined Nationwide at the same time, and they never will
*We (the USA) will be welcomed as liberators (in Iraq)
*Free trade is good, lost jobs will be replaced by new industries/retraining
*The Fed is buying USTs to keep interest rates low/encourage investment (via borrowing)

Those in power will do and say anything to keep it.  This concept applies ANYWHERE in the Universe.

Those are all opinions, not lies.

Please come up with examples of lies, not opinions that were later proven to be incorrect or ones that you just happen to disagree with, such as the last one about rates.

[ExampleNumberOne]

I'm going to say this again: I did not have sexual relations with that woman..........

[Vulcanl]

wrongagain,

Those who hold the reins of power do not have the luxury of 'opinions.'

This is what I have been asked to demonstrate examples of:

lies, misinformation, distortions and denial of the truth

Here are more examples:

*Hank Paulson  & Ben Bernanke in 2007: "The subprime crisis has been contained"
*The Fed's use of hedonic pricing to justify their disastrous monetary policy
*Let's go back a little further (to the Declaration of Independence):
[We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness]

About 1/3 of the white men who signed this document were slave owners including 2 out of the three writers

[wrongagain]

wrongagain,

Those who hold the reins of power do not have the luxury of 'opinions.'

This is what I have been asked to demonstrate examples of:

lies, misinformation, distortions and denial of the truth

Here are more examples:

*Hank Paulson  & Ben Bernanke in 2007: "The subprime crisis has been contained"
*The Fed's use of hedonic pricing to justify their disastrous monetary policy
*Let's go back a little further (to the Declaration of Independence):
[We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness]

About 1/3 of the white men who signed this document were slave owners including 2 out of the three writers

You don't seem to understand what an opinion is. In expressing an opinion of what may or may not happen in the future, there is no factually right or wrong answer. Don't you get that?

In the case of saying something is a certain way, at present, where considerable uncertainty exists there is room for error, thus a judgement may be wrong.

Stop mixing up fact and opinion, I know you believe government is a big lying conspiracy, but at least try to come up with sensible evidence to back your claims.

Here is an example of a lie. The last British government official policy was that Britain benefited economically and culturally from their open door immigration policy. Many citizens at the time sought to differ, seeing the impact on jobs, local communities and institutions and crime was often negative. These people were often branded as racist.

But after Labour post power  documentary evidence emerged that showed the government had tried to hide its true motive which was to create what they thought of as cultural diversity solely for ideological reasons and that they hoped their strategy would increase the number of Labour voters. Part of the strategy to defend against critics was to brand them as racist. Minutes of high level meetings indicate a conspiracy of historic proportions. That is an example of true deception, but just misguided opinion.

Your examples are invalid as evidence of dishonesty as opposed to incompetence.

[Vulcanl]

wrongagain,

"....You don't seem to understand what an opinion is. In expressing an opinion of what may or may not happen in the future, there is no factually right or wrong answer..."

Leaders not are elected or otherwise put into power to give their 'opinion'!!!  They are expected to make decisions.  This is what YOU don't understand.  In any event I have already cited examples of distortions and lies.  Here is another:

"...Irag possesses weapons of mass destruction.  They present a clear and present danger, therefore we MUST invade..."

No solid evidence was ever proferred before, during or after this massive mistake on the part of the Bush administration.  The fact of the matter is that the neocons wanted to take down Saddam and were simply waiting for a 'plausible' scenario by which to do it.  Bringing democracy and 'freedom' to the Middle East had nothing to do with this goal

"....in the case of saying something is a certain way, at present, where considerable uncertainty exists there is room for error, thus a judgement may be wrong..."

That's not what I am talking about.  I am making the case that our Western developed countries have their own propaganda machines that are tools of the elite powerful's agenda.  

Before he became Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson was the CEO of Goldman Sachs, the most powerful of the US banks.  Are you going to tell me that when he said "subprime is contained" he didn't really KNOW THE FULL EXTENT OF THE PROBLEM?

When just within the past two weeks Ben Bernanke stated that "...QE2 is not the cause of the current food and other commodity price rises..." he is honestly 'mistaken'?

"...Stop mixing up fact and opinion, I know you believe government is a big lying conspiracy, but at least try to come up with sensible evidence to back your claim..."

You are putting words in my mouth (I have never stated that government is a 'big lying conspiracy").  I am and continue to give you FACTs.  You are simply choosing to ignore them

"...Your examples are invalid as evidence of dishonesty as opposed to incompetence..."

Let me give you another example as evidence.  Ben Bernanke was appointed as Chairman of the Fed by George Bush in Feb 2006.  Do you think that it was any coincidence at all that an expert on the Great Depression was appointed at that juncture in history?  Almost on schedule, the GFC was in full swing a mere year later.  Think about it.