Pass Labs

Wow. Three cheers for compassion and an open heart! I usually get chased off of male dominated forums for standing up for the oppressed, let alone seeing others take that stance. This hasn't been a politically minded forum, so it makes me happy to see that you aren't all lacking in basic human qualities.

Stfoth - I agree completely. I think it's crazy that there are things that cost as much as they do, but I tend to notice it, remark on its insanity, then go about my day.. I think the responses about compassion and the plight of the less fortunate were in response to the post suggesting that those of us calling attention to such expensive gear are simply jealous that we haven't been given super expensive gear. That we are entitled. But I think for most of us it's the cognitive dissonance that comes with knowing this world has people paying $90k for stereo equipment at the same time there are people living off less than $2/day.

I'm not jealous, nor do I carry around hatred for those who own such things. But it's hard not to notice such outrageous price tags when they do pop up.

Bigkidz - give it up. Coal is dead. Those people need jobs, not environmental destruction they won’t even benefit from. You want a winning industry? Wind power. Solar. Those industries are booming. They need workers..

Until the industry dies because air pollution is ok again. Otherwise, most of your facts were factual while looking at the argument from a completely different perspective and in the process glossing over the main point of rising income inequality. That is a proven fact. Yes, the rich take risks. But they are now taking greater and greater shares of the reward.

That said, expensive amps are hardly our most pressing issue as a society. Not worth freaking out over, at least.

Coal is dead. Have you seen what mountaintop mining does? And scrubbers in coal plants do not remove the CO2. That is a huge problem with coal. Natural gas is immensely more environmentally friendly than coal. 

Also, the natural gas boom will kill coal. It really won't be the green sector. The green sector and natural gas extraction will and do provide way more jobs than coal ever will. Coal extraction is so mechanized, the need for workers will never be what it was.

I'm for making economic decisions based on data, not emotion. The data does not support coal.

Tubegroover and Charles - both well put.

I don't disagree with a lot of what you say, but this back pedaling on environmental and sustainability progress is my major bone of contention with what bigkidz elaborated in his post. We can ignore the problems we know of at our peril. Not to mention the economic advantage of being a leader in these fields.. As we step back, China stands to gain in terms of global leadership and economic clout with regards to sustainable tech. The rest of the world is still moving ahead in these areas, whether we do or not.

Or fundamentalists