[Black offenders in the U.S. receiving longer sentences than whites]

I remember watching a show Stefan did on this years ago on YouTube, where he went through how black offenders in the U.S. receive longer sentences than whites for the same crime. I cannot find it anymore, not sure if it has been removed.

According to the U.S. Sentencing Commission's report published in 2017, a black man on average receives a 20% longer sentence than a white man for the same crime. Whether or not violence committed in the past year is factored into it doesn't make much difference, accounting for less than 1% difference. 

https://www.ussc.gov/research/research-reports/demographic-differences-sentencing

Is anyone able to debunk this? Or is it true? And if so, what could be the reasons apart from the obvious leftist narrative?

[The Cholesterol Myth]

Based on what I've learned so far there are two types of LDL or "bad" cholesterol. The LDL-a which is a large and fluffy, non-harmful type and the LDL-b which is a small, dense type that can get lodged in arterial walls more easily. The overall amount of cholesterol is not nearly as important as the ratios found within. Someone could have a cholesterol of 300, with a high ratio of LDL-a vs LDL-b and high HDL and be very healthy whereas a person with an overall cholesterol of 150 and a high ratio of LDL-b and low HDL would be unhealthy. 

 

LDL and HDL are not actually cholesterol, they are proteins (LDL: High Density Lipoprotein). They transport the cholesterol to various parts of your body, but there is only one type of cholesterol. LDL takes it to various places in your body, then HDL takes it back home again.

[Libertarian party in Australia!]

I had absolutely no idea that voting was compulsory in Australia for federal elections! How backwards and scary - you are forced to be free to vote. Yikes! 

 

Seeing as you are forced to vote, I do apologize that you are not given a choice, you should cast the vote that seems best to you. I know nothing of Australian politics so if the LDP is the most libertarian or the only libertarian party then you should support it. Anything else you could share about Australian politics that might shock an American? (Though I wouldn't be surprised if one day the American government introduces compulsory voting)

 

Even though the voting is mandatory, 19% of registers voters still do not vote. And out of those that do vote, 5% of the ballots cast are invalid compared to only 1% in New Zealand. Fortunately as a NZ citizen I cannot vote in Australia, which people tell me I'm lucky 

[The real cause of the decline in real wages]

Real wage: A wage adjusted for the change in purchasing power of the dollar.I want to counter the argument that inflation hurts employees by reducing their purchasing power.Since all money is the same, inflation affects all prices equally. This includes the price of labor. If an employee does not get an inflation matching pay rise, it only appears that the reduction in his real wage is caused by inflation, but in reality, other market forces caused it. His employer took advantage (I'm not saying there is anything wrong with it) of the opportunity to reduce his real wage cost. Since it is for all intents any purposes illegal to reduce someones nominal wage, this is the only mechanism that allows real wages to fall in line with market forces. If the market didn't demand the real wage reduction, his wage would have increased in line with inflation.

 

That's an interesting point... Inflation really is the "invisible" tax that many people are not very aware of.  I wonder how much the wages of Walmart employees, for example, would fall if they didn't artificially get increased by the minimum wage?

[The real cause of the decline in real wages]

Well there's a lot of people out there that use phrases like "wage slavery" as if it's not a contradiction in terms. So if you're talking about buying power, it's probably best to say that instead of "real wage" as if there's wages that aren't real.

 

Anyways, my post spoke as if you meant buying power. Was it all useful to you?

 

Yep, thank you very much!

[The real cause of the decline in real wages]

Pause. Define "real wages" please. It's been my experience that when people put qualifiers in front of words, it's because they're not actually talking about that word. So are we talking about wages or not? If so, the reason why average spending power is constantly declining is a combination of debt of/theft by the previous generation as well as coercive control of the currency, including inflation which is also displaced theft.

 

As with most problems in the world, it all comes back to the initiation of the use of force.

 

I didn't say just "wages" because wages have increased in nominal terms -- it's the buying power that has decreased, which is the important bit.

[The real cause of the decline in real wages]

The government has made becoming a capitalist so difficult through their collectivist indoctrination centres, regulations and taxes, that few are willing and able to tread there. The resulting change in the relative quantities of capitalists and workers has caused the increase in inequality we have seen in the last 50 years. Capitalists are in demand, workers are not.Ask them this. How can is possibly come about that we buy heaps of stuff from China, and they don't buy the equivalent amount of stuff from us. Isn't that how trade works? Then tell them about the federal reserve.

 

Ah yes, that makes perfect sense: The capitalists like to take jobs to China and India because the U.S has made it too expensive to hire low-skill workers.

 

Thanks!

[The real cause of the decline in real wages]

Hey everyone,

 

When I claim that America's decline in real wages during the last few decades is attributed to the massive growth in government during that time, people often say that it's because "corporations are moving jobs offshore to China and India, where they're cheaper to hire people.  This drives down wages in America".  What would you guys say to that?