Microsoft Antitrust suit killed thousands

[sourmìlk]

Well I mostly agree with that, but I don't see how it contradicts the goodness of the statement "let them eat cake."

[Ghostbear]

It's due to the context of the statement, it wasn't made with the intention of providing any of those cakes to the people. It was under the hoping of causing massive deflation to increase the relative value of her own cake supplies. It was a statement of greed, not compassion.

[Zamfir]

Easily perishable goods shouldn't be 'distributed'. Cakes are best when fresh, they should be produced locally. It's just sad what supermarkets dare to call "cake". Rapeseed oil, glucose syrup, glycerol, and ten kinds of emulsifier to prevent the 'cake' from breaking down from pure melancholic despair over its own existence.

[Ghostbear]

That's a good point, we should ensure there is enough local cake production to keep everyone supplied with fresh cakes, not just any cake! I am going to propose a constitutional amendment to authorize congress to establish local cake offices, supplied with necessary ingredients by a network of cake roads.

[Zamfir]

They don't want you to know, but:

Spoiler:

You can bake your own cake.
Cory Doctorow will be proud of you, and even prouder if you run Linux on your mixer.

Further secrets: cake mix is a scam, it's just flour with egg powder and other crap. Pizza mix is an even bigger scam, that's flour with yeast powder.

[Ghostbear]

Yes, but this will be for those of us not fortunate or talented enough to write (or modify existing) our own cake recipes. Even those with no capacity to bake their own cakes should be ensured of their own cakes. Even the youth (and especially young males, who have long been discouraged from the lucrative kitchen jobs by society's oppression) should be able to have some cakes, not just the grandparents amongst us with decades of baking talent available to them.

Spoiler:

I particularly liked that one.

[Zamfir]

Don't tell me you've never baked a cake.

[Ghostbear]

I have baked a cake... once. It was, well..., it was OK, as far as cakes go. It was also a time consuming and not-fun process, with only a mediocre quality cake as a reward.

I'm talking about everyone though! What about the citizens of the world who have no ability to bake their own cake? What of the low skill bakers like myself? Should we be forced to consume only the gruel of cakes, or no cake at all? NO! Those who wish to make better cakes for themselves should have the right and the power to do so, but those who can not- or will not- should still be entitled to some measure of cake of their own. Should only grandmothers and those of the aristocratic bankers-guild have access to quality cakes, or should everyone? I say everyone should!

Cakes should be for everyone, even the kitchenless!

[Diemo]

Don't tell me you've never baked a cake.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHUQv7cCeZI

[Zamfir]

I say kitchens and skills for everybody.

[Ghostbear]

So you want education reforms, to create a new generation of first class cake bakers, cake designers, and batter innovators? I'd support that.

[yurell]

What about the start-up cost? Ovens don't necessarily come standard, so they need to be purchased and installed. Should those who began off disadvantaged be left further behind, so only the well-off can enjoy cake?

[Dauric]

So you want education reforms, to create a new generation of first class cake bakers, cake designers, and batter innovators? I'd support that.

The problem is the opportunity cost of training everyone to be a first-class cake-baker. The time and money will invariably lead to reductions in pie and candy-making industries as people are spending increasing time and effort only baking cakes.

Now while comparative advantage says that this isn't necessarily a bad thing, we just import pies and candied sprinles from overseas where they've specialized in their respective products, the problem is if all your chefs are making cakes and some disaster happens to the cake batter supply then the entire cakeonomy collapses and the nation struggles through high unemployment as pie and candy infrastructure is rebuilt and cake-bakers have to be re-trained to make pies and candy in the hopes that some of them will see their cake-bakery jobs return.


Also...
This thread has been brought to you by the Cupcake Lobby

[Ghostbear]

The problem is the opportunity cost of training everyone to be a first-class cake-baker. The time and money will invariably lead to reductions in pie and candy-making industries as people are spending increasing time and effort only baking cakes.

Now while comparative advantage says that this isn't necessarily a bad thing, we just import pies and candied sprinles from overseas where they've specialized in their respective products, the problem is if all your chefs are making cakes and some disaster happens to the cake batter supply then the entire cakeonomy collapses and the nation struggles through high unemployment as pie and candy infrastructure is rebuilt and cake-bakers have to be re-trained to make pies and candy in the hopes that some of them will see their cake-bakery jobs return.


Also...
This thread has been brought to you by the Cupcake Lobby

<narrows eyes> Just how much are they paying you to shill for them? All of this threads wise inhabitants know to respect and support king cake. The cake industry rules over all- I won't let the Chinese or the Russians take over that market, just because we were lazy and decided to stick with our subsidized pie and candy industries. They've grown fat (yes, I like this pun) on their profits. Cake is the new rising industry- why should we help pies, when we've been helping them for 100s of years? It's high time we subsidized cakes, directly and indirectly.

Besides, many of the skills needed to bake a cake and bake a pie have a high level of crossover, even in the event of such a disaster, the transferability of those skills is large.

[thc]

I say kitchens and skills for everybody.

I say specialization and proper division of labor! You bake ME a cake while I lay back on my recliner and have commercial free TV streamed directly to my eyeballs.

[folkhero]

Spoiler:

Further secrets: cake mix is a scam, it's just flour with egg powder and other crap. Pizza mix is an even bigger scam, that's flour with yeast powder.

But it's like $1 per box if you get it on sale, so it's barely more than getting the ingredients individually.