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How long can you get away with beating your wife? We should be able to calculate this. And would that rhetorical question be more convinving if I also posted a picture of a beaten woman? Or would that insult the intelligence of my readers?

So your purchasing power is all that matters? Such a fine life you're leading.

Words arise in your mind, and you think they mean something about the world. Yet you can not explain what it is exactly they mean in the world. They're merely conceptual triggers. Can you for instance tell me why it is some people used to argue that the Fed buying bills isn't "printing" while buying bonds is printing even though it works exactly the same way? Do you enjoy destruction for its own sake or is it hatred of all living things that animates you?

As you might have surmised, I've had a few heated discussions about such matters to the point that words like "printing" are triggering... While I do apologize for reflexively biting your head off, I also recommend more care when it comes to reposting dis/misinformation.

Same, but I don't want to experience it again because I was fucked up when I came back. The staff seemed to be worried about my vitals (though that may have been a tactic to get me to remain conscious). I was a bit high on the drug for a day or so after that. Nothing like a trip but simply closing my eyes would get me flying every which way and stuff. I don't know if it was the drug or the dose but I do remember passing out so that drug musn't affect memory much, unless I made up the whole thing with the anesthesia specialist making me count and so forth. That was for serious surgery. I've also had a short pass-out anesthesia with a different drug a non-specialist was authorized to use and that had few if any side effects (though they told me I wasn't supposed to drive afterwards). I don't remember passing out from that one so maybe it does affect memory.

My point was that there is no similar circumstance. I have no crystal ball, and I very much doubt anyone else has one. I can't even understand what you are thinking about when you write such vague questions. Still, I can offer a few musings in the hope that they might be relevant: -start by learning from the present which is a hell of a lot easier than learning from history... the Fed has in fact allowed the yield curve to steepen and you can see the effects (no need to speculate) -then learn from recent history: it's fairly easy to understand last year's data and remember last year's sentiment when the curve was flattened -going down as well as up is the whole point the bond market and it only dies when people stop trading (that is, when people have no idea what prices to offer, not when people agree prices must fall because that's government policy) -what matters isn't the deficit but outstanding debt, and if it wasn't for foreign creditors all a large debt stock would mean is that interest rates would have to remain "lower for longer" -the real issue therefore is people's willingness to "carry" (both domestically and abroad), reflected in rate differentials and hedging costs... which is another way to say that people will have confidence as long as they are confident, with the subtelty that it's easy to inspire confidence when much of the indebted world is such a mess (what happend to the dollar at the end of last week illustrates this point) You obviously hold plenty of beliefs and you were being rhetorical. Even that dip is rhetorical (that chart is so misleading it might as well be a lie). People are usually the main target of their own rhetoric.

Right on. That is avoiding the paradox, not living in it. Intellectual god-bothers are often merely clinging to bad logic.

And what is a rhetorical question? It takes a brazen essentialist to appeal to history. In the contingency of the world, all manner of oracles may be found. Check out the Japanese deficit for instance: the yen has been about to collapse for quite some time. Of course that's a different matter than the US deficit, precisely because it's all contingent.

This is typically illogical. Most people commenting on such issues can't think straight, and unwillingness to understand macro is the most typical failing of the brainwashed. The first rule of macro is: transactions have both buyers and sellers. When someone sells a bond, they'll have cash in an account. The bank is then likely to either deposit the cash at the Fed or buy bonds with it. The more banks want to deposit money at the Fed instead of buying bonds, the more the Fed will have to buy bonds if it doesn't want the yield curve to steepen. You can call this "printing" if you like but this has nothing to do with the value of the dollar.

The only place where you can talk other people is in your mind. That's the cause. Now the reason: you are talking to other people because you're trying to understand them, and your interactions with them.

That right-wingers post drivel about Europe on this forum already, so it's not like the yanks here are unaware of Europe. Or do you mean what is reactionary propaganda? That would be nonsense about "the West", fearmongering about people nutters figure must be Muslims, antisemitic conspiracy theories and the like.

Frontex is more like an ICE/border guard/coast guard combo. It doesn't matter if an Eastern European is in charge or not. There's no shortage of Western Europeans who figure murdering black people is part of the job description. The problem is that the average European voter has been a racist authoritarian for about 20 to 25 years depending on how you're counting. Some of the smaller European countries have healthier politics and sometimes a responsible authority figure can mellow the populace a bit but generally, these are dark times. European reactionary propaganda is well-represented on this forum by the way.

Hello, I'm a nihilist. Maybe you're one too. It doesn't mean you've adopted the fanciful ideology of some dead nihilist. Being an absurdist isn't so bad either by the way. The fundamental error of most philosophers is as far as I can tell basically the same as Leo's, so I wouldn't expect Leo to teach it to you.

Yes, language is a barrier. You can not possibly understand what Leo or anyone else says about feelings by considering their words. That still sounds like judging. Pleasure and pain are not to be confused with feelings. And what feels good or bad isn't a reliable guide in life. Be careful not to allow words to confuse you. I'm not saying pleasure/pain conditioning can't work in some circumstances but I understand that was how people typically tried to control slaves. Do you want to be a slave? I on the contrary try to refrain from seeking pleasure or avoiding pain. Accomplishment can feel good for instance but are you going to feel that ahead of time? And trying to accomplish something sometimes feels bad, right? So you can't use such feelings as guides. It's not clear what "positive feeling" means to you but you've spoken of "drive, gratitude, enthusiasm, happiness, joy, love". I'm not sure what "drive" is. Gratitude is not a guide. Enthusiasm is a poor guide. Happiness and joy are not guides. That leaves us with one feeling which could conceivably be used as a guide: love. But it's not a feeling you can follow like a dog follows a smell. The feeling alone neither tells you what to from moment to moment nor what goals are worth pursuing. You have to build on it. Sure, there are things I do simply because they feel right in the moment and others I avoid doing simply because they feel wrong in moment. But while the moment is very important, planning is important as well (in a different way). And more importantly perhaps, feeling right isn't the same as feeling good. I know you're not going to understand what I mean. That's fine because these words are only here as an antidote to other words. There's more than one way to live. You don't need to understand them, only to understand you are free.

Like I said on the first page, getting prosperous places to accept refugees is a thing that can be done.

It's certainly possible as long as you're not a perfectionist but what would it achieve? For purposes other than feeling righteous, you need an organization that can put out a strong message. And such a campaign could easily make matters worse. It's not like the PRC can be pressured into giving up One China.

You're conflating different things. Maybe you have a freak neural condition and maybe you're depressed or simply in denial (I couldn't possibly tell)... but you also have an entierly different problem: you clearly are judging your feelings. You have these normative notions about feelings and your actual feelings come short. The 1-10 scale is probably the most obvious manifestation: 10/10 is the max, yet you somehow figure your max is 5/10 even though this is your own scale... what's the use of 6 to 10, except to make yourself feel inadequate? I don't think I lack feelings and still, I could say just like you that "the whole pleasure and pain idea for making changes doesn't evoke a single feeling". Why should an idea evoke feelings? Sure, it can but it's certainly not something you should aim for. Likewise food and video games are typically quick and shallow... you can make something more out of such pursuits if you're passionate about them but not being passionate about food and video games doesn't make you weird. Indeed there are arguably saner things to be passionate about. It sounds like you're hoping having the right feelings would fix you somehow. But feelings don't make me change, feelings make me just the way I am and change with me. If doctors aren't helping and you're out of ideas, maybe try to appreciate your feelings for what they are instead. Maybe they'll develop if you let them.

The voice in my head tells me to tell you that it doesn't matter whether your relationship with the voice in your head is normal, that it doesn't have to be that way and that you can help the voice in your head to move on from this understandable but unhealthy obsession. The opinion of the voice in my head is that that the voice in yours is simply trying to be useful and that you should be more understanding of how limited the voice in your head is. Did you ever sit down and tell your voice that it doesn't have to be useful to be loved or that play is not a waste of time for instance?

No. What's next? Blood libel?

Too much? What it is: embarassing. Isn't this forum supposed to be about awareness? Surely you understand that reasoning is often harmful and that we can't let our minds get the better of us! Credulously posting propaganda while claiming to be a skeptic is bad enough but the line of resoning I just quoted is far into Poe's law territory. If you don't know that that is: I'm hoping you're playing some game of pretend.

War isn't racism so it must be a good explanation.

Then maybe you should try to make your inspiration unconscious, just like my visions. Consciousness is overrated.

I don't feel like I need any kind of vision to cook pasta. I get that this might be a metaphor... but for what? You can plan to cook pasta for instance, but you obviously don't need a plan to do it. Are you sure this need isn't a belief?

Evidently you believe in visions and so forth. I don't know exactly what "willpower" means by the way. So much we don't know...

Sorry but I'm not a believer and so my only solution is to stop trying. Just do the right thing whenever you can.