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Thank God for France
Whatever you think about Unions and resetting the retirement age, Mike Whitney zeros in on the larger, more important issue of who's running the country and whose interests are being served, and asks, indirectly, whether there is the will to do anything about it? - Ilene
Thank God for France
By MIKE WHITNEY, originally published at CounterPunch
Thank God for France. While American liberals tremble at the idea of sending an angry email to congress for fear that their name will appear on the State Department's list of terrorists, French workers are on the front lines choking on tear gas and fending off billyclubs in hand-to-hand combat with Sarkozy's Gendarmerie. That's because the French haven't forgotten their class roots. When the government gets too big for its britches, people pour out onto to the streets and Paris becomes a warzone replete with overturned Mercedes Benzs, smashed storefront windows, and stacks of smoldering tires issuing pillars of black smoke. This is what democracy looks like when it hasn't been emasculated by decades of propaganda and consumerism. Here's a blurp from the trenches:
Headline:
"French Energy Sector Crippled by Nationwide Strike... French energy facilities are close to total disruption in the wake of nationwide strike against the raise of the retirement age.....France has been hit by numerous protests across the country against a controversial pension reform that would rise the retirement age to 62 from 60....On October 22 morning 80 protesters blockaded Grandpuits oil refinery outside Paris, key supplier for Charles de Gaulle and Orly international airport." (The Financial)
Shut 'em down.
Take note, Tea Party crybabies who moan about restoring "our freedoms" while stuffing the backyard bunker with seed corn and ammo. Glenn Beck won't save you from the "mean old" gov'mint. Liberty isn't free anymore. If you want it, get out of the barko-lounger and organize. The amount of freedom that any nation enjoys is directly proportionate to the amount of blood its people spilled fighting the state. No more, no less. The man who is willing to accept the blunt force of a cop's truncheon on his back is infinitely more praiseworthy than the leftist/rightist scribe crooning from the bleachers. The state isn't moved by lyrical editorials or prosaic manifestos. It responds to force alone, which is why it takes people who are willing to "throw themselves on the gears" of the apparatus and stop it from moving forward. Unfortunately, most of those people appear to live in France.
The resistance is steadily building in France. The budding rebellion is cropping up everywhere---"secondary schools, train stations, refineries and highways have been blockaded, there have been occupations of public buildings, workplaces, commercial centers, directed cuts of electricity, and ransacking of electoral institutions and town halls..." And the big unions are calling for more strikes, more agitation, more ferment.
For more than a week, transportation has been blocked across the France due to the protests by students and workers. Sarkozy's popularity has plummeted. 65% of people surveyed don't like the way the French president is handling the strikes. 79% of the people would like to see Sarkozy negotiate with the Union on terms and conditions, but he won't budge. Thus, the cauldron continues to boil while the prospect of violence rises.
"STRIKE, BLOCKADE, SABOTAGE"
This is from an anonymous striker:
"In each city, these actions are intensifying the power struggle and demonstrate that many are no longer satisfied with the order imposed by the union leadership. In the Paris region, amongst the blockades of train stations and secondary schools, the strikes in the primary schools, the workers pickets in front of the factories, people create inter-professional meetings and collectives of struggle are founded to destroy categorical isolation and separation. Their starting point: self-organization to meet the need to take ownership over our struggles without the mediation of those who claim to speak for workers.
We decided Saturday to occupy the Opera Bastille. This was to disturb a presentation that was live on radio, to play the trouble makers in a place where the cultural merchandise circulates and to organize an assembly there. So we met with more than a thousand people at the “place de la nation”, with banners stating “the bosses understand only one language: Strike, blockade, sabotage." (end of communique)
The action was met with predictable police violence and mass arrests.
The pension turmoil is not limited to France either. US pension funds are underfunded by nearly $3 trillion. Will US workers be as willing as their French counterparts to face the beatings (to defend "what's theirs") or will they throw up their hands and appeal to Obama for help?
There's no question that Washington elites have joined with Wall Street to offload the massive debts from the financial meltdown onto workers and retirees. Nor is their any doubt that they will invoke (what Slavoj Zizek calls) a "permanent state of economic emergency" to justify their actions. That will allow them to move ahead with so-called "austerity measures" that are designed to impoverish workers and strip popular government programs of their funding. The trend towards "belt-tightening" merely masks the ongoing class war which is aimed at restoring a feudal system of royalty and serfs.
This is from an article by economist Mark Weisbrot:
"If the French want to keep the retirement age as is, there are plenty of ways to finance future pension costs without necessarily raising the retirement age. One of them, which has support among the French left – and which Sarkozy claims to support at the international level -- would be a tax on financial transactions. Such a “speculation tax” could raise billions of dollars of revenue – as it currently does in the U.K. – while simultaneously discouraging speculative trading in financial assets and derivatives. The French unions and protesters are demanding that the government consider some of these more progressive alternatives."
But the retirement age is not really the issue at all. This is about union busting and "putting people in their place." It's about "who will call-the-shots" and in whose interests will society be run.
The French are fighting back against this "oligarchy of racketeers" and the ripoff system they represent, while, namby-pamby Americans are neutralized by signing their umpteenth petition or venting their spleen at a Palin rally.
Vive la France. Vive la Résistance.
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Heh. Damn, you are such a hateful idiot. The absolutely worst kind.
Hear that 'WHOOSHING' sound?
i'm a hateful idiot? what is all this tough talk, GoinFawr?:
is this not a hateful threat? didn't you go here first?
i'll give you one thing, you are consistent in your hypocrisy.
anyway, where i come from they call this a battleship mouth with a rowboat butt to back it up. gutless.
Nope it was, and remains 'fair warning'. Sorry it is so difficult for you.
"Seriously: I bet my dad could beat up your dad...Oh, you don't think so?! That's it: it's on! Meet me by the bike racks at three!"
What, are you ten years old Chops?
This is really getting boring quickly, you're just a weird saddo.
look, bud. if you do not think these ideas result in bloodshed then you are kidding yourself. i believe that your ideas threaten my family. let me repeat: ideas kill people, we need only look as far as keynesian economics.
you want the whole world to get a free lunch paid for by an imaginary force called 'socialism' and you want me to 'grow up'? You're an infant with a fairly good vocabulary.
however, i'm quite convinced that you didn't get enough slaps as a child. I also believe that you are a special kind of coward. genuinely. its not my problem. you can fuck off now.
"you want the whole world to get a free lunch paid for by an imaginary force "
Oh, yes, of course, I forgot: the very essence of socialism...
<face-palm>
<face-palm> is right. you 'get it', and no one else does. you 'get it', but then cannot explain it. you talk about degrees of socialism, yet you cannot define which amount is the perfect balance, other than to point at Norway which ranks higher in suicides than the United States even as we continue our full sprint in the direction of your beloved socialism.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_rate
is there any more clear statement about 'quality of life' than this? you want facts, then you get them, then you dismiss them.
here is another one:
whether you wish to believe it or not, TALENT is attracted to COMPENSATION. Clearly, the talent is in America. So, when I personally need a doctor, I can assure you that I am not going to Norway for healthcare.
lastly, the United States was once the land of opportunity, not the land of handouts. this is what made our country the wealthiest in the world, and this is what allowed Norway to be a beneficiary of our innovations. NOT socialism.
These points are quite clear. If you would like to make equally clear points about the exact amounts of socialism which are necessary to improve our suicides to the level at which we find Norway's, then I'll entertain your dribble. otherwise, your condescention without fact, straight out of the 'elitest' handbook, is getting tiresome.
we can agree to disagree.
Nononnononon, he asked you to tell us shit about Cuba, they don't want any truth, thanks. Haven't you been reading the majority of comments on this thread?
Sheesh.
/sarc
OK, here's an interesting tidbit. If you had been living there around 1958-1959 and spouting off the same shit you're spouting here, you'd very likely have been dragged into the jungle and shot in the head by a bunch of "pansyboy" lefties. Fun fact!
ilene and somebody named Mike Whitney, a couple of fuckwit lefties hoping to bring down the Man. You go girls!
Yes, they may be lefties but they have connections with Tyler
The only way to save the purchasing power of the vested interests (pensioners) is to preserve the value of today's dollar at all costs
Printing money, inflation, is poison to the fixed income militants --- oh but I forget ---they have cost of living increases writen into their worthless contracts
I just kicked you in the balls you right wing ignorant name calling nitwit. Yor are a tributre to the US education system, plus a good dose of talent probably.
Well now- you are calling me out for 'name calling'? And you say 'yor are a tributre to the US education system'?
That's just lol funny, lawrence!
I'm sure they believe Cuba is a workingman's paradise, and that they are quite sincere; which of course, is worth nothing.
I find it hilarious that, in France and Greece, police would attempt to break up a protest against reductions in public employee benefits.
Here, public employee unions are among the most reviled class of workers. The uprising isn't coming from there.
You're wrong about the teabaggers. Here we see them bravely taking up arms against their violent oppressors:
http://www.fox41.com/global/video/flash/popupplayer.asp?ClipID1=5229652&h1=Woman%20stomped%20outside%20Conway-Paul%20debate&vt1=v&at1=News&d1=70100&LaunchPageAdTag=News&activePane=info&rnd=29544849
elitest wannabe.
"Here, public employee unions are among the most reviled class of workers. The uprising isn't coming from there." That is because in the USA u have that priviladged class for a limited amount of time and it is still relatively small, in France I think the government employs about 50% of workers directly and indirectly and that for 50 years or more
"When the government gets too big for its britches.." you got it ALL backwards the French are protesting the schrinking of government
"The French are fighting back against this "oligarchy of racketeers" and the ripoff system they represent.." - are you kidding me they are protesting their 'right' to retire at 60 and their 13th month salaries get a clue
I never knew the unions especially government unions were so far in debt in the USA
But what do we hear is required to bring Gov spending under control --- cut social security.
Pensions with Gov funded health insurance are never mentioned, because those votes have been bought and paid for by --- the politicians
with regards the "13th month salary" - a favourite moan here - just to clarify:
when offered a job, the yearly wage is divided into 13 "months" & december sees you paid two months - not a "bonus" or extra salary, just your same wage negotiated, k?
They are protesting against broken government promises. When a government breaks promises because it must pay for the mistakes financial elites through taxpayer austerity, then it has gotten too big for its britches. You know nothing of liberty or France.
Have the French ever taken out the Rothschilds?
Have you ever heard of Robespierre or Napoleon?
No no no no non....
Les Francaise smoke le Gitaines. Ze pansyboy crossdresser Anglettaire smoke ze Rothschild.
Pfhhhhht!
Stupide Americaine
Two things you can always be certain conservatives will always misunderstand: 1) the French, and 2) left-wing movements.
They don't understand them because they don't know anything about them, but they will always declare they are experts on the subjects. Why? Because they were taught to be experts by right-wing sources, who told them everything they needed to know.
Oh, so all the history books got falsified by certain conservatives or what?
I repeat: Tell me one case where something good came out socialism or communism, in the medium to long term.
look above. Read a book. Do anything other than playing that broken Ronald Reagan record over and over and over again. It won't take long to find plenty of examples, but you will need to keep an open mind... oh wait, now I have gone too far, haven't I?
central planning eventually leads to genocide/starvation/war. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holodomor
wake up and smell the dogshit.
What tripe. 'Stalinism' and 'totalitarianism' aren't the equivalents of Northern European 'socialism'. Drop that Webster's Collegiate and read a real book or two, dupe. Preferably written by someone other than Tom Clancy.
While you're at it: Wake up and taste the dogshit, your mouth is obviously full.
What a rube.
have you ever even tasted tripe, you thick-headed grasshopper? get out of your parent's basement, pussy. I lived in Northern Europe for 7 years, and my wife is European (along with my daughter). I've travelled all over Europe, and have friends all over Europe.
I do not begin to have the energy to give you their testimonies. However, I can assure you that if you ever shared the conversations that I have, you would not feel the way that you do. so, lets just agree to disagree, because you do not have a clue, mate, and its clear i'm not going to change your mind.
you've built your identity on a lie, and whilst you are empowering central planners in order to make yourself feel elite, "enlightened" and important, you are also digging the graves of future generations.
bottomline: eventually, central plannesr make a colossal mistake, and they are forced to choose between one group of people or another. if you ain't in the right group, then you is fucked. if you are too thick to grasp this most basic concept, motherfucker, then you really are a pig-headed fool.
please, kill yourself immediately and spare the world of any more half-baked arguments about the joys of socialism/communism. this isn't debate club; it's real life.
otherwise, i look forward to settling this in the streets with you someday, cunt. i will personally enjoy choking you out for all of your murderous ideas as you deserve no quarter.
until then, go fuck yourself, GoinFawr.
;)
love,
chop-chop
heh, what an arrogant jabroni you are.
I can go to-to-toe your 'testimonies', but that wouldn't prove anything.
Anyone who believes 'Testimonials' make for a good argument buys Q-ray bracelets; yours must be doing wonders for your energy levels, judging by the vehement blather you've managed to muster. Too bad it doesn't seem to generate any reason...
i can reason just fine, GoinFawr.
so capitalism is the culprit? do you ever even care to look around the room and understand all that was invented within capitalist systems in pursuit of profit? Would your examples of modern-day socialism even be possible without these technological advances in medicine and elsewhere introduced by profit-driven systems? ...talk about a selective memory. pathetic.
look, mate, THE DEBATE IS OVER. YOU WON. Now, America and Europe lose.
we would probably have a cure for cancer right now if so much capital was not tied up in American and European socialism. The Dow Jones would be at 100,000. Who knows how much longer we would be living right now if it were not for your viewpoints holding us back?
In the final analysis, SOCIALISM IN AMERICA AND EUROPE IS LARGELY ON THE VERGE OF COLLAPSE. You can debate all you want, but you cannot fight the laws of financial physics. either way, i'll be fine. i've got my guns and i've got my gold. if you ever find yourself starving in america, then please try and break into my house. I promise that I'll put you out of your misery quickly.
are we learning something yet?
'America' isn't the only 'innovator'. Lately they seem to excell mostly in priapism inducing drugs or cosmetic surgery disasters like MJackson.
Tell me, how well do you think your average fructose swilling, sugared lard slurping American diabetic would last if it wasn't for insulin?
Can you tell me which country developed it?
http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Man-Who-Invented-Insulin&id=4327489
thanks for the history lesson. google is a wonderful thing.
GoinFawr, if you wish to tear down the average American then, by all means, be my guest. these days this country makes me sick. I married a European (British daughter of Sri Lankan immigrants) by design. our country has lost its way for the reasons mentioned on my other posts. Mate, I DESPISE the average American who is fat, socialistic, financially overdrawn, weak, and entirely uneducated as it relates to the rest of the world. we've been living off of the legacy of capitalism since WWII and declining interest rates since 1981.
well, America is about to get her character back, because the good times are gone. we'll see how it works out, and in which direction we will move.
Exactly, just as I responded to several to several brilliant experts above, one with an IQ of 145. You know, its time to tell the
ignorant how ignorant they are. But dont bother to support you point of view with them because they prefer their intellectual couch potato status. And kick them in the balls when they start calling names.
You're quite free with the ad hominems yourself, amigo.
But if you think the anti-socialist arguments are wrong, why not debate them?
I think you'll find you'll win more arguments with reason than testicle-kicking.
You´re right, I got carried away today after reading various posts that were no more than name calling of the left. But these were not anti-socialist arguments at all but name calling and assertions without arguments. Offer me an anti-socialist argument and I will discuss it. Socialism covers a lot of territory and, for example, I believe the socialist democracies of Dennmark, Sweeden and Holland
work well.
Don't forget Norway and Finland
So explain to me what detail make Denmark, Sweden, Holland, Norway, or Finland a "socialist" country - but not France, Germany, or even the US which has now almost reached German levels of entitlement mentality (I can compare!):
The more docile people? The lower Gini coefficient? The overall tax rate waaay above 50%? The high dependency of most people on the state?
Putting an euphemism on something, like "socialist democracy", is trying to make some propaganda points from people who prefer an ideal dream over an always somewhat imperfect reality. But actually it's just Orwellian newspeak.
Compare to Gonzola's explanation of a priori (after the fact) "science" and Marx at http://www.zerohedge.com/article/gonzalo-lira-identity-false-religion-be...
right, small populations meet North Sea oil and vast lumber reserves. great examples.
get a clue, fellas. really.
Nice try with that non sequitur. Quit trying to obfuscate: You could fit most of Northern Europe into the US, so the natural resources is a per/capita calculation, choppy.
Northern Europe is an excellent eg. of how to run a democracy, all of your ignorance aside.
Or are you trying to tell me the US, at least at one time, didn't have puh-lenty of lumber, oil, etc.? If so, you're dead wrong, and should know it. Problem is: the US gave it all away to benefit a very small percentage of their population, started running out, and then used empire to rape and pillage any poor country with undeveloped natural resources. Stupid stupid, real dumb.
Are we learning yet, chops?
ha, ha. yeah, yeah, you're coming through loud and clear. ever make it out of your basement? I lived in Europe for almost 7 years, and have a European wife, so tell me all about how its better over there, will you?
mate, YOU are the problem, and you'll never know until its too late. Talk to Eastern Europeans about how great Communism is. you're a spoilt punk, and i look forward to putting a bullet in your head someday when your Welfare State causes America to collapse. sincerely. you're probably just some rich kid sucking off the teet of mummy and daddy. here's some of your coveted central planning at its finest. read up, dipshit.:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holodomor
"are we learning yet?" ha, ha. you'll get yours, bitch. keep talking. I'm dreaming of the day. ;)
Thanks for all the personal info. It might not be relevant to the thread, but...
Anecdotal 'evidence' of yours aside, facts are:
Higher level of education, higher standards of living, lower poverty rates, uh, are you certain you want me to continue?
Well, that puts paid to your vaguely pertinent questions.
As for the rest, what you know about me is, well, akin to as much as you know about the current political environment in Eastern Europe, apparently. IE:
a beka segge allatt
You need to address my arguments if you want some credit, not take inane shots at that which you obviously know absolutely nothing.
Also, we were talking about Northern Europe, not Stalinist Russia, fool.
BIG difference
i can reason just fine, GoinFawr.
so capitalism is the culprit? do you ever even care to look around the room and understand all that was invented within capitalist systems in pursuit of profit? Would your examples of modern-day socialism even be possible without these technological advances in medicine and elsewhere introduced by profit-driven systems? ...talk about a selective memory. pathetic.
look, mate, THE DEBATE IS OVER. YOU WON. Now, America and Europe lose.
we would probably have a cure for cancer right now if so much capital was not tied up in American and European socialism. The Dow Jones would be at 100,000. Who knows how much longer we would be living right now if it were not for your viewpoints holding us back?
In the final analysis, SOCIALISM IN AMERICA AND EUROPE IS LARGELY ON THE VERGE OF COLLAPSE. You can debate all you want, but you cannot fight the laws of financial physics. either way, i'll be fine. i've got my guns and i've got my gold. if you ever find yourself starving in america, then please try and break into my house. I promise that I'll put you out of your misery quickly.
are we learning something yet?
"are we learning something yet? "
Oh yeah Chopster, I'm getting quite the education in just how entrenched your programming lies and how little effort you are willing to make to recognize it, let alone reverse it.
No capitalism isn't the problem, it's the misprepresentation and/or worshipping of its positive characteristics without taking into account and counteracting its pitfalls. Same with socialism for that matter, or even any other democratically based ideology. Extremism is the problem (You sir, are an extremist, of sorts), an unwillingness to bend on principle regardless of the benefits that flexibility might bring.
Northern Europeans employ 'mixed economies', which use ideas and policies taken from both capitalism and socialism. It works because their populations are raised to have a strong work ethic but still encourage empathy, all backed up with an exemplary educational system based on quaecumque vera rather than my country: right or wrong. Societies based on moderate political systems like this are far superior to the unnatural, sociopathic "I'm all right so f all the rest" religion that has been forced upon some western nations misnomed 'capitalist', and obviously better than totalitarian states misnomed 'socialist' (one of your favourite pasttimes, it seems).
What many nations have running them right now is a pure ideology of 'fundamentalist socialism, for the wealthy', IE "Free to those who can afford it, very expensive for those who can't". Such a system is doomed to fail, as I am sure you know, because it concentrates wealth to an ever decreasing demographic by pitting eveyone against everyone else. Darwin may have been right about how competition decided which species evolved and which didn't, but we're humans, a priori we're capable of seeing beyond our own troubles (empathy). Unfortunately it isn't that hard to train us to ignore this because fear, of real or manufactured bogeys, if induced constantly to tweak our 'fight or flight' response will usually result in an immediate, reflexive, violent reaction if we perceive a threat real or imagined. Long and short: fear is used to keep us at each others' throats so we ignore the real culprits. And these are not the dreaded 'socialists' who want to make sure Granny can afford the odd steak now and then with her pension, they are the ones who want grannie to eat dogfood 'til she dies so they can get themselves another narwhal ivory penis enhancer.
So unless you're advocating eugenics or "Logan's Run" to keep the species 'strong', you have to admit that 'I'm all right so f all the rest' isn't much of a philosophy to promulgate, no?
However, conditioning is an incredibly powerful tool for modifying behavior, and you seem to be a prime example of the success of this weapon.
Bonne Chance!
is this a joke? are you referring to yourself? America continues to head down the path of socialism to her own peril. Our country has been on an ever-steeper decline as we move further away from a Constitutional Republic protecting individual liberties.
if you mean "extremely correct" then I'm happy to be reaching you. I'll post it again; here is some extreme capitalism, and you can explain to me why it is bad.
Following for you is an excerpt from Bill Bryson's "At Home"(pages 233 - 235). It highlights the period in America where there was no income tax or other major 'redistribution of wealth', and there was no centralized (communist) policy for money planning. Ideas and wealth were pouring into America with this more favorable business environment. The "gap" between the wealthiest people and the poorest was, of course, boundless, but the additional wealth creation came in from overseas via massive exporting, and, in addition to the entrepreneurial "rich" creating manufacturing jobs, they threw parties and built homes that created jobs, and they funded universities and hospitals to secure their legacies (as the mega-rich very often do). They also brought art and worldly treasures to our shores that sit in our museums today. Importantly at this time, ambitious immigrant workers were certainly no less "exploited" than anywhere else in the world and, unlike the restrictive class barriers and lack of upward mobility in Europe, new and existing Americans were becoming millionaires by the tens of thousands. This growth was not agrarian via slavery (this ended in 1865) or cotton, but rather industrial via steel and ingenuity and, most importantly, via the power of property rights (including virtually no taxes, i.e. "right to your own wealth") and free markets. This unprecedented growth happened decades before "the roaring 20's" of easy credit, and before the Federal Reserve was ever created. Bill Bryson writes:
Is this the kind of capitalist extremism that you condemn? ...I'm so glad we gave up all that individual liberty and wealth for more of your "socialism", GoinFawr.
these are entirely unfair statements and conclusions. I've not said anything is support of these viewpoints and you are characterizing me without listening to me. do not place me in a neat little box of "bad people" in your head because your identity is built upon a lie.
level of education or indoctrination? standards of living? ha, ha! have you ever lived in America versus Europe? or are you just a European talking out of your arse? poverty rates? what about poverty of the spirit? If your 'qaulity of life' is so much better in Europe, then why are you killing yourself at alarming rates the further you move away from capitalism and towards communism?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Suicide_rates_map-en.svg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Suicide_world_map_-_2009_Male.svg
your viewpoints empower central planners, who are commonly known to kill their own people when they inevitably make a mistake and have to ration resources.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holodomor
yes, for now not Stalinist Russia. However, I find it ironic that you can practice 'European socialism' today only because you were saved by Stalinist Russia and Capitalist America from Socialist/Communist/Totalitarian Military Dictator Adolf Hitler. Further, you would likely now be part of Stalinist Russia were it not for Capitalist America financing a Cold War against powers that would have otherwise tilled you under. I know these are inconvenient facts as they relate to your skewed view of the world. However, you have enjoyed the financial benefits of national security financed by the American taxpayer. A simple 'thank you' would suffice.
Finally, explain these stats as they relate to socialized medicine:
http://www.ncpa.org/pub/ba649
here is more:
Again, I'm listening to your case for socialism, but it just does not match THE FACTS.
It is clear that D-E-C-E-N-T-R-A-L-I-Z-A-T-I-O-N of government power is the solution. Let local folks decide what is best for local folks. Further, the practices of fractional reserve counterfeiting, fiat money, and centralized money planning, along with the Welfare State that these enable, are the problem. Because these frauds exist, "rich" people gain access to free money (leverage) to which others do not have access, all under the guise of "helping the poor". Of course, this is "The Greatest Lie Ever Told". If we eliminate these fraudulent practices, then open up regional economies to competing currencies including gold and silver, we will restore liberty in America. If we do this, over time, those WITH merit at the bottom will win, and those WITHOUT merit at the top will lose.
if Trillions of $USDs were not tied up in U.S. Treasury Bonds supporting the Welfare State, this capital would be in the private sector because it would have no other place to go. The Dow Jones Industrial Average would be at 100,000 and everyone would have a helicopter in their back yard. Hurricane Katrina victims, for example, would not need to rely on central planners who currently have a monopoly on both "force" and incompetence. The abundance of wealth would increase the generousity of fellow Americans to unseen levels, and dwarf financial outpourings towards Haiti's hurricane victims and Bali's tsunami victims by comparison.
instead, we are paying ever-expanding interest payments on nearly $15 Trillion with approximately $160 Trillion in unfunded liabilities to the further enrichment of The Federal Reserve and extended members of the International Banking Cartel.
The Welfare State cannot exist without keynesian money printing. keynesian money printing is dependent upon infinite amounts of loans expanding exponentially. obviously, this is not sustainable. this is a sick, twisted system of fraud, with the promise of "free lunches" all around and a "chicken in every pot". Obviously, these promises are on the eve of being broken and leading us ever-closer to economic collapse by the moment.
Consider this: without a Welfare State, for example, unproductive individuals will not procreate because they will not be able to feed their children; and if they do, their children will starve (barring any philanthropic intervention). This fact will discourage unproductive, anti-social behavior, and encourage productive behavior. Productive individuals will be paid in the finite amount of gold/silver and move up the socioeconomic ladder.
conversely, productive individuals will have many children, and their gold/silver will be divided among those children. If the individual children are not productive themselves, then eventually (perhaps over several generations) they will exhaust their inheritence and move down the socioeconomic ladder. The trajectory will continue until they demonstrate productive behaviour again so that they may be rewarded with gold/silver.
Of course, rewards can come in the form of other barter assets and services as well (besides gold/silver), but the outcome is the same.
Importantly, those productive individuals with gold/silver can make individual value judgements as they relate to helping their neighbors in need. Unlike the Welfare State, they can descriminate between the widow/orphan versus the drug addict.
A spirit of neighbors rewarding neighbors for that productive behaviour, which perpetuates mankind, and neighbors punishing neighbors for that bad behaviour, which burdens our progress, is the closet we can come to perfecting the organic efficiency and stability of both peaceful free trade and the advancement of civilization within the boundries of earth and beyond.
Opening up our regional economies to competing currencies, including gold and silver, and eliminating the fraudulent practices aforementioned, will be the greatest step towards restoring liberty in America again where it once flourished.
THE SOLUTION is to MOVE BACK AWAY FROM COMMUNISM/SOCIALISM and BACK TOWARDS CAPITALISM, PROPERTY RIGHTS, AND INDIVIDUAL LIBERTY.
while we are on the topic of America, I'll offer some final thoughts as they relate to our foreign policy so that you know exactly where i stand.:
first, i believe that our military industrial complex largely controls our foreign policy, and that war, in general, is a racket.:
http://www.lexrex.com/enlightened/articles/warisaracket.htm
Our constitution was against a standing army for the exact reason that it could be exploited by industrial forces in foreign wars. Since our army was never disbanded after WWII, this exact scenario has been realized again and again.
Our Constitution allows for a Navy to protect our shores. These days, an Air Force to protect our borders is also in order. Otherwise, State militias and an armed citizenry is more than sufficient to repel/discourage foreign invaders and, more likely these days, to repel/discourage oppressive Federal government tyrants.
As it relates to torture, of course, America is far from the only perpetrator of these types of crimes, which is why I am reticent to self-loathe with everyone here. The phrase "War is hell" may sound cliche, but it is also quite factually true. Our soldiers are young kids who lose buddies virtually every single day. For them, the war IS very, very personal. I can understand how some of them might freely torture their enemies for the purposes of revenge and/or if they felt it could save some of our own soldiers in the future.
Remember, "the enemy" is sawing off the heads of the living. This, too, is torture of the highest order. I can see where war turns each side into the very animals we claim to fight. I do not condone it, but rather understand the complicated psychological effect upon those young men and women who wear our uniforms and fight our State sponsored battles.
ABOVE ALL, this is a WAR OF IDEAS. As such, it will be won in the minds of global inhabitants long before it can ever be won in fields of battle. Importantly, we cannot win this war by engaging in the exact type of brutality that we condemn. This gives "the enemy" rightful ammunition against our way of life. Any "policy of torture" is out of the question, and all other torture should be reprimanded severely as a war crime or otherwise because we have too much at stake. Again, if we do not win the war of ideas, then we have no chance of succeeding long-term. Right now, I do not believe that we are winning the war of ideas, because it has become clear to me that our country has been hijacked by industrial forces.
Muslim folks are like any other folks that simply wish the best for themselves and their children. What makes some Muslim folks "wrong" is that some believe that those of us who do not believe in the full message of Islam should either convert to Islam or be executed as infidels. Of course, this is not liberty, so if any crusading Muslim ever showed up on my doorstep to convert me or my family, then I would be forced to defend myself accordingly.
Obviously, today, this is not what is taking place overseas. We have become the aggressors. Retaliatory efforts from the attacks on September 11th should have been targeted and carried out with targeted intelligence and special forces/air strikes. Nation building has helped nobody but the Wall Street and Military Industrial Complexes. We could defend our country and our borders ten times over with the money we have handed over to the private enterprises, along with the precious lives of our brave young men and women, in order to destroy Iraq and (what exists of) Afghanistan.
bottom line: these wars WOULD NOT EVEN BE POSSIBLE if we did not allow for deficit spending at the Federal level, fiat-based money, centralized money planning, and fractional reserve lending, all of which currently facilitate the enrichment of the banking and military industrial complex at the expense of our freedom.
Great strides would be made towards ending current and future foreign wars if we were to end The Fed, outlaw fractional reserve counterfeiting, and open up our economy to competing currencies including gold and silver.
Achieving this would pull the teeth of both the banking cartel and the military industrial complex who continue to collude against both us and what few liberties we still have in America. Future wars would only be fought by volunteer armies with volunteered private gold and silver in pure defense of our lives and freedoms here. Any war would then be just and I would pity the invaders.
This is a far cry from where we find ourselves today. It is very, very sad, and should enrage us all.
Rest assure, there are far greater terrorists in Washington D.C. and within the Federal Reserve Bank of New York than there are in either Iraq or Afghanistan. These truly "domestic terrorists" will continue to cost many more lives as they relate to foreign wars, in addition to the divorces, murders, and suicides that are caused by artificially prolonged boom/bust cycles that these career politicians and private bankers propagate with their elitist agendas.
One day I look forward to us all defeating them through a velvet revolution OR OTHERWISE.
Oh ghod. <Massive YAWN> I concede: I just can't spam cut and paste bullshit and sham stats the way you do, or type in ALL CAPS as if it adds value to said BS. IE Your sources, what is their country of origin?
Uncle.... SAM!
Heh, Investor's Business Daily as your source, seriously? Yah, those numbers are just bound to be accurate, from a certain perspective anyway; you mentioned something about 'indoctrination'...
You know, I think if you could be bothered to get past your Ronald Reagan induced reflexive indictment of the word 'socialism' you just might be able to realize that we actually share a lot more common ground than you would care to admit. But you are one polarized dupe, utterly hopeless.
I wish you the best of luck, honestly.
likewise. you asked for facts. you got them. now that bothers you, too. i feel sorry for your partner. you cannot be pleased. you'd rather play semantics about the word 'socialism' and combine that with a healthy bit of backpedalling as i've made the case for 'capitalism', which is what you were providing scathing reviews for before.
"uncle" is right. sorrry i took the time. you've failed to find common ground and its not my job to figure out your riddle. the best i can see is that you agree with everything that is factual and it was all your idea. if by 'socialism', you mean 'capitalism', then we agree. otherwise, you're an idiot, and you HAVE NOT STOOD UP TO FACTUAL SCRUTINY.
this is something that you made a big, big deal about. now, you ignore the facts. this, as i've been saying all along, makes you a very special kind of asshole.
i'm sure 'being you' is punishment enough. good luck with that.
" you'd rather play semantics about the word 'socialism' "
Right. Chop, if somebody was to say a single positive thing about that word without you rushing to compose some smarmy comment about the unlucky sod's moustache, 'comrade', you might be entitled to some credit on that score, but as it stands; you've got to be effing kidding me!
And your sources...
<shakes head in disbelief>
please, GoinFawr, tell me the exact balance of 'socialism' which results in a Norwegian utopia where suicide rates are higher than in the United States?
...beautiful country, Norway, but you wouldn't want to live there.
<shakes head in disbelief>
because i do not except the premise that it is a good thing that wealth is confiscated at the tip of a gun, you say i lose credibility with you. i take this as a compliment.
i've been more tolerant of your ideas in the past, and it continues to make life worse, not better. In fact, smarmy do-gooders like you have had your hands in my pockets for years. I'm happy to give tens of thousands of dollars of my money to charity, and you're happy to give tens of thousands more of my dollars to career politicians and their cronies.
you lose all crebibility with me when you do not acknowledge the dangers of vast public coffers in a country with 330 million people.
I also believe that Norwegian Socialism kills the human spirit at the expense of individual liberty. your suicide rates prove this point.
am i lying?
Funny, that. I've always known - as have the founding fathers - that the size of government is inversely proportional to amount of freedom. I've also known that if pensions - or individuals - invest unwisely, they will lose money (and they might lose it anyway). I've also known that any society that desires freedom will understand that suffering happens, and government makes it worse, at least by the end. I've also known that when a government is flat broke, it must stop writing checks, just as it is for the individual. Oh, and the french are pansies - wouldn't want to leave that out.
Now, precisely what part of that has anything to do with politics? Those are just common sense, empirical observations that in many cases are true by definition, which represent the most fundamental of truth propositions. If anything, you are fulfilling the natural destination of every lefty: your displayed ignorance carries with it the seeds of your own destruction, and they have been sowed. All of leftism is a demonstrable failure. I can almost hear the cries of "but this time it's different!" Ah, where haven't we all heard that before?
BTW, I wrote this for the children, so any rejection of it will be deemed uncharitable toward them, and you will be branded a barbaric, unprogressive relic of a bygone era of retardation. Not that anyone who read your post wouldn't come to that conclusion without a reply from you.