Josh's B-links: "There's One More Verse! But We Can't Remember."

[the_sinistral]

Major Oil Companies Spend Most of Huge Profits on Shareholders and Executives, Not R&D or CapitalThe article speaks for itself. Major oil companies spend an overall majority of their profits on stock buybacks and dividends. Only a minor fraction of these profits are spent on capital investments, exploration, research into alternative energies, etc

Comments

[raccaldin36]

Only one of the 38 four-star generals or admirals serving as of May was black

I hate statistics like these. They always give me the impression that the only proper ratio is 100% [insert minority group] or 50% white 50% [ibid]. While it clearly wouldn't do to give target percentages (because then you'd have people like me complaining about how meaningless they are), it still annoys me to no end that their only apparent metric for a successful direction is percentage growth.

[the_sinistral]

I think you are misreading the purpose of these statistics. They do not imply a desire for quotas. They point out disparities. Coupled with population distribution statistics, they are a powerful indicator of social injustices, racial prejudices, or cultural isolation. You see: Unless blacks are genetically disposed to be inferior generals or admirals--and they are, to my knowledge, not disposed to any such thing--then their massive underrepresentation in the highest ranks of the military, relative to their makeup of not only the lower ranks but also the U.S. population generally, guarantees the presence of at least one of the three aforementioned phenomena

[raccaldin36]

And the ideal is a quota. If there are X% blacks in the "higher ranks", where X is roughly the same as the percentage of blacks in America, then the ideal is reached.

I'm not disagreeing with you; we see the same thing. But I'm looking at the point, whereas you're looking at the vector.

I'm always irked that things aren't already perfect and need to be fixed.

[the_sinistral]

If you insist on using the word "quota," then I shall have to go on disagreeing with you, because that word inappropriately implies the concept of pursuing a number for an arbitrary reason. The goal that I have been describing is to rectify known social ills, for the non-arbitrary and very sound reason that these ills are themselves detrimental and invalid. One potential consequence of this strategy would be the normalization of representation throughout the working world. That is what I am talking about. I am explicitly not advocating quotas--a system of actively making hiring and promotion decisions based on irrelevant criteria such as race.