# Hey, Starving Artist! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 30, 2010, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-starving-artist/537906 "2010-04-30T21:49:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![emacknight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3ec8ea/32.png) [@emacknight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emacknight)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2010, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-starving-artist/537906/81 "2010-05-02T19:05:44Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > If I were to post “I sure do like ice cream” I would get five responses within an hour calling me a racist, assuming that I hate cookies and those who eat them, and saying that I am a bastard for not wanting the government to buy everyone ice cream. It gets tiring after a while. Yup, typical conservative victim mentality. If you posted “I sure do like ice cream” you would get 8 people agreeing with you, and 2 people that threadshit because that’s what they do. If you posted “Sarah Palin proven right, cookies suck” you will get a lot of people shitting on you for being an asshole, because that is an asshole thing to do. See the difference? There is a reasonable way to discuss the merits of icecream vs cookies that don’t involve shitting on the government, pretending the free market cures all, or acting like countries that eat a lot of cookies are some how inferior. It’s also important to note that both cookies and icecream have a lot of sugar in them. So try to avoid saying stupid shit like, “icecream is better because cookies have sugar.” ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2010, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-starving-artist/537906/82 "2010-05-02T19:19:40Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > You know what, never mind. If you have an actual question for me, I will attempt to answer it. No you won’t. I asked a a straightforward question, and you shit out a smart-assed answer. You got nothin’. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2010, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-starving-artist/537906/83 "2010-05-02T21:37:16Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > I agree you are a fucking idiot who I don’t wish to converse any further with. You don’t converse with anyone on this board; you harangue them. Incessantly. Feel free to keep on haranguing us, however. It’s often hilarious, and it’s hard to find cheaper entertainment. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2010, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-starving-artist/537906/84 "2010-05-02T21:56:10Z")
> [@descamisado](#): > > I thought it was health care outcomes, not health care quality. [Health system attainment and performance in all Member States](http://www.photius.com/rankings/world_health_systems.html) Several measurements . We are no. 1 in cost per person though. So we don’t suck in every metric. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2010, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-starving-artist/537906/85 "2010-05-02T23:04:03Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > Not that I am aware of. Sadly, the liberal douches have one in all the countries that typically come to mind here, and they are paying the price. What price is this? The many many people from other countries who’ve tried to argue with you certainly don’t think they’re paying any huge price. Would they not know best about their reaction to their own system? ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2010, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-starving-artist/537906/86 "2010-05-02T23:32:43Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > it’s hard to find cheaper entertainment. That’s what your mom said, but now the co-pays for my herpes treatments are really adding up. ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2010, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-starving-artist/537906/87 "2010-05-02T23:35:12Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > What price is this? The many many people from other countries who’ve tried to argue with you certainly don’t think they’re paying any huge price. Would they not know best about their reaction to their own system? More social programs mean higher taxes, which means higher unemployment, less innovation, brain drain, and slower growth. I’ve provided statistics and cites on each of these points in other threads and was soundly ignored, so I’m not spending the time again. And the point is blindingly obvious anyway. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2010, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-starving-artist/537906/88 "2010-05-02T23:35:59Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > That’s what your mom said, but now the co-pays for my herpes treatments are really adding up. See? That’s what I’m talking about! Comedy gold! Anyway, maybe next time you’ll think twice about fucking a woman who’s two years dead. Cheers. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-starving-artist/537906/89 "2010-05-03T00:45:37Z")
Huh, Rand Rover is a necrophiliac? That explains a lot. He doesn’t want people to get health care so they’ll die, and he can fuck and get strange diseases from them. Ewww. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-starving-artist/537906/90 "2010-05-03T15:09:55Z")
No indication of how pretty the victim was, but I think [this article](http://www.goupstate.com/article/20100420/ARTICLES/4201016/1083/ARTICLES?Title=Fatal-crash-backs-up-interstate-near-Greer) shows why we need to privatize all interstate highways. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-starving-artist/537906/91 "2010-05-03T15:34:52Z")
So what’s the price, Rover? ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-starving-artist/537906/92 "2010-05-03T16:50:49Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > More social programs mean higher taxes, which means higher unemployment, less innovation, brain drain, and slower growth. I’ve provided statistics and cites on each of these points in other threads and was soundly ignored, so I’m not spending the time again. And the point is blindingly obvious anyway. Ha ha ha! No, you were soundly rebutted. You handwaved away the rebuttals though, so here are some of them again: Canada has a current unemployment rate of 8.2%. The US rate is 10.2%. The last time I pointed this out, you put on your backwards time glasses, and tried to claim that because unemployment in Canada **used to be** higher, that proved something. “brain drain”? I provided proof that it has reversed, and was never much of a problem. Canada “gains as much as it drains” according to an actual [statistical report](http://www.straightgoods.com/Analyze/0018.shtml) Canada’s currency is now at par, indicating that more investment money is flowing into this country. Canadian consumers are now [more confident than those in the US.](http://www.montrealgazette.com/business/fp/Canadian+consumers+more+confident+than+European+counterparts/2979913/story.html) The Canadian economy grew [at an annualized pace of 5.6%](http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/canadas-economy-grows-03-per-cent/article1552074/) in the last 6 months, “leaving talk of a subdued recovery in the dust.” As the strong recovery takes hold, the projected deficit [is going to be **smaller** than expected](http://www.montrealgazette.com/business/fp/Canada+deficit+smaller+than+expected/2971254/story.html). And even though we’ll be running a deficit for the next few years, our right wing National Post calls the deficit "a model of fiscal probity, compared with [Our spendthrift neighbours.](http://www.financialpost.com/story.html?id=2702940) Canada did not suffer the housing bubble and crash that the US did. Canada’s banks were well regulated, so they did not have problems. They are now [buying bank assets in the US with their profits.](http://ca.news.finance.yahoo.com/s/17042010/6/finance-td-bank-buys-assets-liabilities-3-banks-fdic.html) And we’ve done all this with our Universal Health Care model, which we’ve had for many, many years. You’d think we’d be certainly going down the economic toilet by now, if your crackpot theory was correct. The FACT that Canada is doing very well indeed economically makes your theory a crock of shit. ETA: Maybe you can hop in your wayback machine and go to the '70s or '80s and show how Canada’s economy sucks. That should prove that our social programs will be the ruin of us in the future. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-starving-artist/537906/93 "2010-05-03T17:01:04Z")
Now, now… let’s not gloat at the self-inflicted misfortunes of our neighbours. It’s not polite. [sub]suckers…[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-starving-artist/537906/94 "2010-05-03T17:05:52Z")
Nice little country you’ve got there. Be a shame if anything were to…_happen_ to it. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-starving-artist/537906/95 "2010-05-03T17:23:50Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Nice little country you’ve got there. Be a shame if anything were to…_happen_ to it. Ya, you just try messing with our [awesome navy](http://www.flickr.com/photos/antoniovi/390487231/) Or our [fully equipped army](http://www.flickr.com/photos/mattbibbey/3318127871/) ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-starving-artist/537906/96 "2010-05-03T17:33:47Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Nice little country you’ve got there. Be a shame if anything were to…_happen_ to it. Like having a thriving, booming economy and having some neighbours to the south jamming a crowbar in our spokes? Oh, wait, that already happened. What else you got? ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-starving-artist/537906/97 "2010-05-03T19:25:16Z")
[Canadian Economy leads G-7 in growth for 2010 and 2011](http://www.migrationexpert.com/canada/visa/canadian_immigration_news/2010/may/0/672/canadian_economy_leads_g-7_in_growth_for_2010_and_2011) > [@](#): > > Earlier this month the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reported that Canada is predicted to grow the fastest among the Group of Seven countries in 2010 and 2011. But… how can this be possible, when our friend **Rand Rover** has told us that the terrible cost of our social programs up here will lead to economic problems? It must be an illusion of some sort. Or it’s an anomoly. Or an exception to the rule. Or those guys at the IMF are a bunch of liberal douches. Ya, that’s it. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-starving-artist/537906/98 "2010-05-03T21:59:49Z")
> [@Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](#): > > But taking individual stories as typical is misleading. Really? You couldn’t prove it by the number of comments on the SDMB picking out the actions of one or a few people at a Tea Party rally and identifying the whole Tea Party from that. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-starving-artist/537906/99 "2010-05-03T22:14:38Z")
Well, what else do we have? Do they offer an agenda? Specific programs to implement, other than taking back America? Is it our fault they serve as a magnet for every wet-brain nutcase running around out there? No, because they foster that, its all they got! If they start excluding people on the basis of distance in light-years from the “mainstream”, they will rapidly decline. Only by avoiding any specificity do they maintain any numbers. ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-starving-artist/537906/100 "2010-05-04T02:23:44Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > [Canadian Economy leads G-7 in growth for 2010 and 2011](http://www.migrationexpert.com/canada/visa/canadian_immigration_news/2010/may/0/672/canadian_economy_leads_g-7_in_growth_for_2010_and_2011) > > But… how can this be possible, when our friend **Rand Rover** has told us that the terrible cost of our social programs up here will lead to economic problems? > > It must be an illusion of some sort. Or it’s an anomoly. Or an exception to the rule. Or those guys at the IMF are a bunch of liberal douches. Ya, that’s it. Yea! You picked one number and declared victory! Good for your dumb ass! Now look at historical unemployment rates. It took the largest recession since the Depression for the US’s unemployment rate to match where Canada has been for YEARS. You still so excited about Canada? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-starving-artist/537906.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-starving-artist/537906.md?page=6)