by hamilcarr 78 Replies latest social current
You are indoctrinated. You were born and raised in a cult, the cult of the state. You were educated in state schools, watch state run or state censored television, and buy products produced by corporations that are in bed with the state. Like an utterly broken Winston at the end of Orwell's 1984, you love Big Brother.
Who are you talking to? If it's about me, the quality of your arguments has sunk to an all-time low.
Can you provide proof that America has suffered more from these so-called vices than other developed countries where inequality remained the same?
I don't have the time, but I suspect it has in recent decades. But still, I recall the riots in France a couple of years ago. That was pretty incredible. The unique position the Dollar has occupied in the post WWII era has allowed the government to do things that would have collapsed the currency in other countries. Inflationary monetary policy that destroys the currency as as store of wealth for people and surreptitiously robs from them through reduced purchasing power. Unfair trade practices that favor a few at the expense of the many have contributed also, and immigration policies that flood the labor market with cheap labor that have hurt those that work but provide cheap labor for others. But I suspect the Ponzi scheme is nearing its end. What comes after?
As a modern liberal (social-democratic in Europe), I consider the lack of economic opportunity as a threat to liberty.
Indeed, one should be able to enjoy the fruits of ones labor. The middle class pays close to 40% of their income in taxation, a heavy burden. This is approximates submitting two days out of a five day work week to forced labor and exploitation. The large corporations exist in a symbiotic relationship with the state, the one reinforcing the other. This is a form of fascism, and it exists in Europe as well. The wealthy have access, the poor have handouts, and the productive class-the middle class, gets screwed in both ends.
Fortunately, even with all that has happened, with hard work and a modicum of good sense, one can still live well here and provide for one's family.
BTS
Who are you talking to? If it's about me, the quality of your arguments has sunk to an all-time low.
I am talking to you, and as an etatiste you are no different from a member of the Party in that novel. Wake up and be enlightened, Hamilcarr. We are all being used.
BTS
Wake up and be enlightened, Hamilcarr. We are all being used.
If I'm unhappy with my government, I can easily vote them away. I can't say the same about the private corporations that rob my money. History leads to only one conclusion, which is a rather inconvenient fact re your dogmatic ideology: the gradual dismantling of government, i.e. democratic, regulation, has created the massive rise in inequality that can be observed in America since the 1980s.
I don't want my government to take care of me, I want myself taking care of government. That's a core issue of modern liberalism. Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country. I don't need a Big Brother. I don't need being used. I know what I want and what I expect to happen. Equal opportunity is on top of my list.
You are indoctrinated. You were born and raised in a cult, the cult of the state. You were educated in state schools, watch state run or state censored television, and buy products produced by corporations that are in bed with the state. Like an utterly broken Winston at the end of Orwell's 1984, you love Big Brother.
I think this is an interesting post to analyze and store for later use. It shows that you're so heavily traumatized by your cult past that you're seeing cults all around you. You fail to see that a democratically elected government in a modern constitutional democracy like America's can't be a cult. This shows imo your contempt for democracy and its tools to change society. To me, you represent the past.
the gradual dismantling of government, i.e. democratic, regulation, has created the massive rise in inequality that can be observed in America since the 1980s.
That such a thing as a dismantling has occurred is a myth. You are repeating a myth you have heard many times (and doubtless believe because of this) that is baseless. I am now going to explode this myth. Even during the 1980s, regulation increased, albeit at a slightly smaller rate.
Federal Regulation and Aggregate Economic Growth from the Dept of Economics of Appalachian State University.
I draw your attention to page 37 of this paper which presents the growth in regulation in easy to digest graphs. It is eye opening.
http://econ.appstate.edu/RePEc/pdf/wp0902.pdf
A great deal more information is available regarding the falsity of this myth. There has been no dismantling of government. Quite the opposite, by nearly any measure, government has grown a great deal over the last three decades.
I await your response to this particular point.
Equal opportunity is on top of my list.
What you have always seemed to describe is not equality of opportunity, but equality of outcome.
BTS
I can easily vote them away.
Experience shows that no, we cannot. There is a principle of entropy at work I think and the democratic process is being subverted. People are being herded like cattle. Ballot cattle.
I can't say the same about the private corporations that rob my money.
If they operate under the principle of free voluntary exchange and are not in collusion with state power, then they do not rob me.
Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.
Indeed, and the best that we could ever do is to return the government to legal compliance with it's charter, the Constitution. If I could somehow find a way to do that, it would be the greatest thing I could do for my country. Particularly at stake are the IX and X amendments, specifically limiting Federal power and maximizing individual liberty. The majority of Federal activity at this point in time is in direct violation of these amendments.
BTS
To me, you represent the past.
I represent the future. This house of cards won't stand forever.
BTS
Here is an interesting graph:
Social spending on all levels has skyrocketed over the last 40 years, yet inequality has increased.
Obviously, there are other factors at work contributing to the shrinking of the middle class. It may be the case that this social spending itself is a contributor.
BTS
That such a thing as a dismantling has occurred is a myth. You are repeating a myth you have heard many times (and doubtless believe because of this) that is baseless. I am now going to explode this myth. Even during the 1980s, regulation increased, albeit at a slightly smaller rate.
There has been many waves of deregulation since the 1980s. One of the most notorious in light of the current crisis is the 1999 deregulation of US financial systemn which did away with the restrictions imposed by the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933. Ironically, this law was enacted to rescue a collapsed banking system. The warnings uttered by leftists have been proven to be prophetic:
And there is a much more recent experience than 1929 to serve as a cautionary tale. A financial deregulation bill was passed in the early 1980s under the Reagan administration, lifting many restrictions on the activities of savings and loan associations, which had previously been limited primarily to the home-loan market. The result was an orgy of speculation, profiteering and outright plundering of assets, culminating in collapse and the biggest financial bailout in US history, costing the federal government more than $500 billion. The repetition of such events in the much larger banking and securities markets would be beyond the scope of any federal bailout.
