autumnsolace

Originally posted by: duack as long as consumer confidence remains low and Americans keep saving instead of spending, we will get through this through sheer willpower. our economy is 70% consumer-based, it is unsustainable quote> Consumer spending is what drives all economies. This is a time when people should be spending more to stimulate the economy.quote> no, this is not a time for more spending. look at where it has gotten our government - CBO estimates $9 trillion of public debt after Obama's first term. consumer-based economies are unsustainable because you're constantly spending more than you make. this is what caused the mess we're in right now. low interest rates, people buying things they can't afford, ridiculous credit lines - don't you already know this? we hardly produce anything and we gobble up what everyone else makes - this is unsustainable. this is the folly of modern capitalism - every 20 or 30 years we get to this point and our economy has to reset itself while we put ourselves back in financial check. this time around it's going to be especially painful. however, you have to realize the "economic" stimulus money went to banks and wall st, not businesses. all it is doing is propping up toxic debt assets and bad loans. quote> Normally, I would say that stimulus money should go to consumers to increase consumer spending, as it did in Australia. However given the unique circumstances of this reccesion, funds were limited and banks were on the verge of collapse so the aim of bail-outs was to stop things getting worse rather than to try and make things better. There just wasn't enough money for that. Regardless, I stand by my opinion that the worst of the reccession has passed. Unemployment may rise slightly, but the economy has leveled off and growth is climbing out of the negatives.quote> True that unemployment is a lagging indicator, but how can you say the worst of the recession has passed? This is duped pep talk straight out of the White House. Wall St. may be posting positive numbers, but based on the value of our currency it's actually gone pretty much nowhere. The Obama Administration's #1 concern is making Wall St. feel good, so they give them the cash they want to make it look like our economy is fine, while propping up banks that are "too big to fail." The truth of the matter is that the toxic assets are still there, interest rates are still near-zero, and our dollar has lost over 10% of its value this fiscal year. This "jobless recovery" is anything but the end of a recession. if the American government keeps pumping borrowed money into a phony economy, the real recession gets put off until later, but it will be much worse when it comes. quote> What exactly do you mean by 'phony economy'? Also, where do you get the idea of postponing the 'real reccession'?quote> quote>

doesn't CAM also increase transit volume? also, their education & health are always high, the only thing that seems negative usually is traffic noise. it's typically medium

Originally posted by: qwakcookie I am wondering why people just can't quit complaining about the fact MC wants you to login to play their game. - If you have internet, it will login, update the game if necessary, and play. - If you happen to not have internet, then Play Offline becomes available after the failed attempt to login. What difference does it make? Cities XL will only use the Internet resource if it was available. We complain at every method a developer uses to protect their property but I haven't see a single thread of someone proposing something. Removing DRM to stop pirating? That is the funniest thing I've ever heard. I know my fair share of people that pirate more because of is removal.quote> from the thread i am under the impression there is no offline play? and you would be wrong about the DRM removal..surely you know of the backlash from SecuROM release Spore?

a lot of repeating window textures on the towers @ night .. the way the downtowns grow is a little bizarre, too. it doesn't seem to flow very well.

if ya ask me, they need some better artists, too. the human models in-game are hideous. anyway, back on the topic. i only played the demo, and the biggest challenge i found was revenue without trading resources. without oil i'm not sure how i would have made my city substantially profitable. but that's more a matter of balance and not difficulty.

one could speculate a million "good reasons" why Cites XL's single player needs to have constant internet access in order to play, but the bottom line is that it is a bad idea, and it obviously didn't work too well so far.

that's because Free Download Manager opens multiple connections to the same server for a single file, so you are doubling the original speed every time you open a new connection.

Originally posted by: Barbarossa Originally posted by: autumnsolace i can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not, but the $8t debt is proportionate to the value of the dollar, because it's held in dollars. If inflation were to double, our debt would be $16t. and by that time, the compounded interest would probably make it around $20t.quote> No, you have it wrong. The debt is the debt. If we owe $8T, then we owe $8T. Fluctuations in currency do not impact a debt if the affected currency is the foundation of said debt. It all comes down to terms and legal language. If the US had debt in another currency, say the Euro, then it would be a problem for the US. But if the deal was negotiated under the USD, then it is the other party that is losing money. Barbarossa EDIT: But then, of course, I see this. Go figure. quote> sorry ya, you are right. for some reason i was thinking about it the other way around. Originally posted by: duack The reccession isnt going to get worst. The worst has already passed its improving now. And economic stimulus doesn't hold off the inevitable - the point of economic stimulus is to stimulate the economy to start having economic growth again sooner. Without stimulus, the economy ould be in reccession for longer and it would be much worst.quote> thank you, i am aware of the point of economic stimulus. however, you have to realize the "economic" stimulus money went to banks and wall st, not businesses. all it is doing is propping up toxic debt assets and bad loans. and the worst has not already passed. just recently we lost 200,000+ more jobs and unemployment is at 9.8%. a more real-world estimate is probably around 17%. things will not get better for a while. the truth of the matter is that your statement is actually the opposite - if the American government keeps pumping borrowed money into a phony economy, the real recession gets put off until later, but it will be much worse when it comes. as long as consumer confidence remains low and Americans keep saving instead of spending, we will get through this through sheer willpower. our economy is 70% consumer-based, it is unsustainable.

no kidding. half the topics i read here yesterday disappeared. someone got mailed an empty envelope from MC for their pre-order. that is unacceptable and should be kept up as a warning to the public about this botched game launch.

MC really takes internet access for granted.. worst thing they could have possibly done.

Originally posted by: Kusajika YachiruOh and remember how rail lines ended with a little shed? You could have a really... really long train pop out/go into this tiny little shed Bad times, bad... times...quote> lol.. i always was fascinated by that. SECRET DOOR!

Originally posted by: sneakeypete It was either spend or have a significant proportion of the country completely unemployed... i imagine. However, we raised our interest rate by a quarter yesterday. We're doing bloody well.quote> not like unemployment numbers are at 26-year highs or anything... sometimes you gotta swallow the medicine. it tastes bad, but you'll feel better later. economic stimulus through money printing and "jobless recoveries" (thank you robert gibbs) only hold off the inevitable until later. why wait until it's going to be worse?

i can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not, but the $8t debt is proportionate to the value of the dollar, because it's held in dollars. If inflation were to double, our debt would be $16t. and by that time, the compounded interest would probably make it around $20t.

i have two very distinct memories: 1. sneaking sim city 2000 games in a 3rd grade portable. usually during recess. often pondering what "reticulating splines" meant. 2. playing sim city classic on a palm pilot. there was a bug in the game to make a buttload of money. raise the taxes to full right before years' end, and you get revenue as if you had taxes set to those #'s throughout the whole year. come january, put them back to normal. you had a lot of money and virtually no negative effects.

Originally posted by: belfastuniguy I welcome the lower dollar. Means I get my goods for cheaper when I buy online The dollar has been an unstable currency for a long time it's not accurate to blame it solely on Obama and the Fed. Foreigners no longer value the currency as they once did. they don't trust it either.quote> It's untrusted because of the Fed, they control the flow of the money, the interest rates and the foreign lending. It's entirely their fault for anything that happens to the value of the dollar, and they have been destroying it since post-Great Depression times.

Yes, but that's just one small step in the right direction. medicinal and recreational use of hemp for production of cannabis is a tiny scope. the fact we outsource hemp production to canada and buy it back for manufacturing purposes is just stupid.

there's plenty of reasons to be disappointed, and it has nothing to do with our state of living. I have hope that MC will keep their promises of continuing to develop the game, and the core of the game has a lot of potential, but it is not even close to reaching that yet. It's completely reasonable for people to be unsatisfied about paying $100+/year for something they've had for 7 years for a one-time fee.

Originally posted by: Duke87 Originally posted by: piccboi824 But how is the government competing unfairly?quote> Well, for one thing, the government makes the rules. Having the government compete with private companies is like having a team of referees competing against teams of normal athletes. Besides, unlike any private company, the continued existence of the government program is guaranteed regardless of how well it performs. quote> Don't forget that a government-run insurance entity would not have to pay any of the local, state or property taxes that a privately run insurance company would, too.

Originally posted by: your_adress_here One word; can you guess it? -> Legalize <- quote> LOL, it would create a lot of revenue, even the simple growth of hemp for industrial use. would definitely help boost the crippled American manufacturing industry, too.

Originally posted by: trainguy4449 How is that irresponsible? Its not just a matter of the city, its a matter of national pride. If a national leader is not present, it can be construed as a lack of national support. If Im not mistaken, Japan's PM was there for the same reason.quote> I understand they were expected to be there, but Obama wasn't concerned about Olympics for the world, he was concerned about Olympics for Chicago. It's not like he was planning to be there - it was a last minute flight for a quick bid at a boost to his approval numbers at the cost of the American taxpayers.

For those of you that want government-run health care, please keep in mind that it's the government's fault that the cost of healthcare is so high because of federal regulation. Why let the people who caused the problem try to fix it? Case in point: the 2008 subprime loan market crash. The feds and big bankers were the root of the cause...the feds and big bankers tried to come up with a solution. And what was it? Print the difference in dollars and destroy the American currency. Even outside of healthcare it's evident that the government does nothing but inflate costs. The Department of Education started in 1979. Education costs have skyrocketed far beyond the means of salaries of the students, graduates and even their parents, drowning the families in debt. Politicians keep looking for a government run plan that will cut costs. They will never find one. "The bureaucracy is expanding to meet the needs of the expanding bureaucracy."

definitely install NAM! I found CAM to make the game too easy and doesn't offer any customization. NAM brings a whole new dynamic to the game. you should also get road-top mass transit if you don't have it. I think it requires NAM anyway

Originally posted by: Kryptowhite Well thank god Chicago didn't get it...I love the city but i just don't see that running smoothly at all. quote> I agree. It would be difficult to plan, organize and fund. I also don't think it's the right time economically, the cost of the Olympic games is too much for cash-strapped America right now, and they don't pose any long (or short) term economic benefits. I found it a little irresponsible of Obama to fly over there and try to lobby for his home town.

Originally posted by: MattShizzle A lot of Americans buy into the myth that anyone can become succesful by working hard, when really much of success is due to what economic class you were born into (the single greatest determining factor in what economic class you will be as an adult) along with social connections and plain old luck. Fact is the people who work the hardest make next to nothing while a lot of people who do next to nothing make money on other peoples' backs.quote> that's entirely false and subjective. sure you can work hard your whole life and go nowhere, but that leads to suggest you didn't ever strive for something higher.

before i installed the NAM with simulator Z, i could not play this game very far until my entire city went to the dumps because of commute issues. the problem with SC4/SC4RH vanilla is that sims are clearly not patient enough when it comes to commuting. in the real world, we don't see people leaving cities in droves because of a half-hour commute. NAM (and CAM) solve these issues almost entirely, and the best part is you can choose the level of capacity for transit based on the simulator. if you have NAM/CAM installed and this is still happening, well, i don't know what to tell you. they might be complaining about congestion and not commute times itself, in which case it may be time to start thinking about mass transit or upgrading road networks. but if they're walking to work, i would just ignore them. unless the building itself starts to dilapidate.