• Volconvo: Ideas Worth Debating RSS Feed

    Published on 18th June 2013 07:37 AM



    Thanatos
    writes, "Sometimes you have to speak a language your opponent understands, by which I mean sometimes you basically have to violate social conventions to make a point, by which I really mean sometimes you have to knowingly act like an asshole.

    "The Volconvo rules try to reign in direct personal attacks, but there are several different reasons the rules do not try to make niceness mandatory. I would recommend people keep the rudeness to a safe level both here and abroad, but I don't think a society where you never gave or took offense could ever evolve."

    Being discussed at Society & Rights in The intolerance of the "Tolerant" started by Apeman81.
    Published on 17th June 2013 07:28 AM



    Brendand writes, "Wal-Mart clearly does not pay its workers enough to cover the minimum cost of living in a number of the regions in which they choose to do business. I think, as a rule, the regional minimum cost of living should define what it would cost to do business there (a national minimum wage is a good place to start, but there should be some way to enforce regional differences). I think we'd see fewer Wal-Marts being built in certain areas as "livable wages" varies from place to place.

    "That would leave us with two choices: endless variability among Wal-Mart store prices to reflect local costs of doing business (in which case, why even have Wal-Mart as opposed to small, independent shops?), or a consistency in price and labout costs based on the lowest bottom line (which is actually simplified by defining it with a national minimum wage).

    "Yes. I would rather have small, independent shops, but that is just not reality right now. For whatever reason, we've decided that bigger is better no matter what the cost."

    Being discussed at Economics, Business & Labor in Walmart Protest Movement Grows started by grandpa.
    Published on 16th June 2013 07:29 AM



    Controllah writes, " I believe legalizing drugs (or at least marijuana, to narrow the scope of the problem) will decrease the demand for guns over time. I see your point with suicide (and without looking, I would bet that the military suicides even further confirm your point, considering their gun possession rate), but I feel that even suicide by gun rates would eventually decline with drug legalization, simply because there would be less guns over time available to commit suicide with. I believe that once we get rid of a big chunk of the criminal market demand for guns (there will always be some demand by criminals), the overall level of guns will reduce."

    Being debated at Society & Rights in Weapons, self defense and society started by BlackSheep.
    Published on 15th June 2013 07:11 AM



    Zeebadee writes, "Like Leno said, 'We wanted a president that would listen to the people. Well, we got one'."

    Being debated at Politics & Government in National Security Agency and Tech giants have been spying on you started by Dan74.
    Published on 14th June 2013 07:20 AM



    Ken Carmen writes, "And non-profit is a matter of how you cook the books. I can start a "non-profit" and those whom I start it with can all get millions of dollars as "pay" for what little we actually do. I do think the IDEA of non-profit noble, and I assume many do it for the good they are attempting to do, but it can be no more than a cover for not being taxed, just like off-shoring a company can be. That kind of thing needs to stop. If you want to be compassionate, giving, and help others, I admire that. But tax free just encourages those who want to use the status to scam."

    Being debated at Politics & Government in So how does everyone feel about big brother and the IRS now? started by Trojan_Ripper.
    Published on 13th June 2013 07:13 AM



    RickSp writes, "The system right now is simply stupid. The NRA has helped make it easy for the mentally unstable as well as the criminal and the dangerous to buy deadly weapons. Of course, improved background checks is not the answer to all problems, but it will help, which is why the International Association of Chiefs of Police strongly supports background checks.

    "Just because we will never find the perfect solution doesn't mean we need to continue to be stupid."

    Being debated at Politics & Government in Sandy Hook Shooting started by finder.