This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
Guest Post: Obama's 'Socialism' Experiment Brought Home
Submitted by Martin Armstrong via Armstrong Economics,
An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before, but had recently failed an entire class. That class had insisted that Obama’s socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.
The professor then said, “OK, we will have an experiment in this class on Obama’s plan”.. All grades will be averaged and everyone will receive the same grade so no one will fail and no one will receive an A…. (substituting grades for dollars – something closer to home and more readily understood by all).
After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy. As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little.
The second test average was a D! No one was happy. When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F.
As the tests proceeded, the scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else.
To their great surprise, ALL FAILED and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great, but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed. Could not be any simpler than that.
Here are possibly the 5 key points about such an experiment:
1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity.
2. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.
3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.
4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it!
5. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that is the beginning of the end of any nation.
Or in graphical format...
»
- 53799 reads
- Printer-friendly version
- Send to friend
- advertisements -
"WTF", poster.... who here is touting the Walmart model?
Walmart is brilliant at just in time inventory management and logisitics (and exploiting the initial wage differential that existed between West/USA and opening PRChina that was deathly dirt poor at the time). But, over time, labor cost, even globally now, will reach an approximate equilibrium subject to transport or other relevant cost inputs. So the 'no-brainer' advantage Walmart had in exploiting this differential is now gone. PRChina is itself facing the issue from Vietnam, Bangladesh, etc.
And capital will go to where it is wanted &/or treated fairly ...... open or black market. No one can legislate economic rigidities ....ain't gonna work for anyone, soviets, PRChina, EU, or good old USofA
I don't think it's a ridiculous story but it's definitely been around for a VERY long time.
query: why do state this is a 'ridiculous' story? I agree with you, I vaguely recall seeing this before ...and my guess is a while ago .......
We can agree with the premise of the image or the story ....or not. But to say 'ridiculous' ....well then that is disagreement combined with disparagement.
the story is obviously fake because no concrete information is mentioned - not the name of college, nor professor, nor what class he was teaching - nothing. any real article would have included all of that information. the tone of the article was also that of a typical chain letter - the "education for dummies" tone. instead of discussing the "information" presented it guided you as if on a leash to the conclusion in a way that only a drooling, chain-letter-reading moron would accept. is zerohedge turning into businessinsider ?
"is zerohedge turning into businessinsider ?'
Push something hard enough, it flips into its opposite.
Why should ZH be any different?
proteus - of course theyre likely fake stories . . . but theyre fun. We wonder how we might game the system. While most of the students are playing by the rules . . . we're thinking outside the box. "Hmmm . . . how would we get to 'the rich guy', or his two new 'playmates', or the prof ? Pay the playmates to seduce the prof ? "
Yep, since at Least Plymouth Rock when the Pilgrims tried the same thing at it fails.
I am sure that the actual story with the classroom never happened- but it doesn't need to , because this has played itself out over and over in real life, in every Communist/Socialist "Paradise" and the left tries again because this time, THIS TIME, it will work because the "right people" are in charge. now THAT'S ridiculous.
History is like abstract art, one must step away quite a distance to appreciate the big picture. In this s case you must step back from your myopic limited prospective to 1913. The creation of the FED and the institution of the income tax by the democrates led by Wilson. This enabled both excessive warmongering (see Wilson's fake WWI and FDRs fake WWII, and LBJs vietnam) and the social welfare state (see FDR's Soc Security, LBJs "great society", and most recently Obamacare). Without debt based money (i.e. the 1913 events) none of these events would be possible since we would be forced to live within our means. The recent events you mention are only an attempt to patch the boat that began sinking in 1913!
Now do you get the big historical picture? And keep in mind human psychology never changes. Humans will always be greedy, envious, and fearful-so don't try to change that. Its only the contraint of sound money, competition and the profit motive which ensures the necessity of real work to survive that favors honesty and human progress. And the debt fueled welfare state does neither.
The Fed holds the gun. All the political and economic breakdown issues lead to the Fed.
The owners of the Fed are sitting there picking the winners and losers and they are filthy rich with the money they’ve stolen and you can now identify who they are and what they are doing. They are running the government for Heaven’s sake. They are private Jewish families, known since Eustace Mullins from records in the Congressional library had in his possession “the original organization certificates of the twelve Federal Reserve Banks, giving the ownership of shares by the national banks in each district."
And with each increasing problem created by extrapolation of America's wealth by the Fed owners and their political operatives in Washington, America’s getting closer and closer to the brink of the cliff.
That an "economics professor" calls Obama's policies "socialism" shows just how far the economics profession has fallen. Or the imagination of the writer of this article.
Indeed. Most socialists are at least a little nationalistic. Obama is using the Alinsky playbook on the regular socialists -the teaming diverse hoard of useful idiots of the Democratic Party- to pull a Cloward-Piven on the entire developed world, with particular vengeance aimed at the West, and its last remaining stongish horse, the USA. It is working like a charm, and it isn't any sort of regular economics, which usually posits a positive outcome for those embracing the plan. This is luciferian, anarchist economics, intended to destroy, to set the world afire so he and Valerie can watch it burn.
I voted you up, but............
"teaming diverse hoard"
uh, try "teeming diverse horde" for more credibility.
"it is hard to say exactly who is holding the gun" - think Blazing Saddles.
I am glad to see that you got in that correct point in the first comment, LawsofPhysics:
Given the perpetual propaganda wars always rage on and on ... I will repeat some of my previous comment made here:
http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/2013-11-06/course-obamacare-exchanges-will-be-manipulated
OF COURSE Obamacare Exchanges Will Be Manipulated
I repeat this link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQtxcKT-u_Y
ObamaCare: What You're Not Being Told
Obamacare is more fascist plutocracy, than socialism, because it is about the insurance companies being the MIDDLEMEN, that make everything more expensive, while their services are forced upon people by the government. Obamacare is corporatist, NOT socialist! That is like the government turning over the power of the monetary system to private banks, except this time it is turning over the power over health care to insurance companies. The thing they both have in common is that the IRS is the enforcement arm of the privatization of powers of governments, which were transferred to private corporations. As LawsofPhysics correctly pointed out, that started back in 1913, and blasted off into unrestricted exponential growth since 1971.
LOOK AT THE DEFINITIONS:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialism
"Socialism is an economic system characterised by social ownership of the means of production and co-operative management of the economy."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporatism
"Corporatism is the socio-political organization of a society by major interest groups, or corporate groups, such as agricultural, business, ethnic, labour, military, patronage, or scientific affiliations, on the basis of common interests."
Corporatism, or fascist plutocracy, is a system whereby corporations control the government, for the benefit of the corporations. Its most important form is the existence of the Federal Reserve Board. However, the emergence of Obamacare is a huge step to advance corporatism, by having the government force everyone to go through the MIDDLEMEN, the private insurance companies.
There is NO social ownership of the medical care system, nor the medical means of production, and no other cooperation than to have the IRS be able to force everyone to participate in the private health care insurance systems. There IS that major interest group, which has successfully lobbied to have Obamacare become law.
However, as I explained in my reply above, as well as I repeat was explained in that video I linked above, people who believe Obamacare is "socialism" are political idiots that were tricked to believe in lies. Those who still believe that, after looking more closely, must be particularly adamant political idiots.
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/power-principle/
The Power Principle
Part 1: Empire
Part 2: Propaganda
Part 3: Apocalypse
In Part 1, the segment that impressed me the most was
starts about 1:24, where historian Michael Parenti says
that "fascism" was another tool used by the plutocracy.
Much of politics is the rational use of irrational symbols.
The real history is that the same groups of plutocrats funded most of
the fascism, socialism, and communism that has been promoted
to become significant during the history of the 20th Century.
Indeed, the problem returns us to greater paradoxes:
like paradoxes of how and why we ended up with the
actual human ecology and political economy, which
exists now, as the "triumphs" of runaway deceits
that were driving us all to become too insane!
Of course, Part 2: Propaganda, reviews the increasing
ownership and/or control of the mass media, especially
after World War II, when many of those people, who
had been directly involved in propaganda for WWII,
moved directly into domestic mass media industry.
There was a continuous development of both
more concentrated ownership of mass media,
AND more covert infiltration of them as well.
Nothing new ... just more overwhelming proof
that North Americans became the victims of
the best brainwashing that money could buy.
All North Americans were sold war and everything else
by those who had perfected doing that professionally!
The degree to which the ownership, or control,
of the mass media by the plutocracy, and the
"secret police" they covertly controlled too,
dominated North Americans neared total!
The degree of "success" by staging events
on 9/11/2001, to then start greater wars,
demonstrated problems driving insanity.
Too bad, so sad... that was too successful,
since it relentlessly achieves driving people
to be more & more insane, to believe lies!
Astronomically amplified triumphant bullshit,
promoted by bullies, DOES control society.
OBVIOUSLY, THE DEATH CONTROLS ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT FEATURES IN ANY SOCIAL SYSTEM. THOSE TEND TO GET DONE THROUGH THE MAXIMUM POSSIBLE DECEITS AND DECEPTIONS. INDEED, DENYING THAT CONSCIOUSLY OPERATED MURDER SYSTEMS MUST EXIST IS ONE OF THE DEEPEST OF THOSE DECEITS. Socialism, like all the other mostly bullshit "isms" is based on false fundamental dichotomies, and their related impossible ideals. However, "capitalism" also turned out to be bullshit too, since what actually happened in the real world is that murder and fraud ARE added to "capitalism," to produce what actually exists, namely the current runaway fascist plutocracy juggernaut.
Basically, there are no genuine alternatives possible, other that what would take a practically impossible series of political miracles, for enough people to face the essential social facts that political economy is, and must be, inside of human ecology, and therefore, the death controls, or the murder systems, are ALWAYS the most important central real features to any possible social system. The paradox that successful militarism depended upon operating the murder systems through being the best at deceits is the apparently irreducible reason why all the "isms" end up being bullshit. Militarism is the supreme ideology, because it was the oldest and best developed social science, whereby it was already recognized in the oldest book on the Art of War that successful warfare depended upon backing up deceits with destruction. The most important thing is the murder system, but those most successful at actually doing that were the best at lying about what they were really doing. Upon that basis was built the REAL systems that actually operate in the REAL world, which are organized systems of lies, operating organized robberies. It is NOT possible for any other systems to actually exist than some form of organized crime. Therefore, our REAL problems are actually trillions of times worse than anyone who is successful within the established systems will admit.
vallerie jarret is one nasty cunt!
I'm inclined to take your word on it
Welcome to France.
France has better food.
Simple French Food, by Richard Olney, $19.95
hedgeless, you are starting to grow on me. (in a strictly plutonic way, of course).
I don't see what this post has to do with either Twitter or that scandalous Justin Bieber video.
.... or my weekly Lady Gaga update need
But did they all still get a participation trophy?
He who has the gun wins?
Can't believe Tyler is re-circulating this urban legend again...
http://www.snopes.com/college/exam/socialism.asp
And when the class got up to leave, hanging on the door handle of the classroom, was a bloody hook.
Re: Can't believe Tyler is re-circulating this urban legend again...
It generates lots of wack-a-dumbass hits. The Red Team true-believing dumbasses (mostly) chime in at how bad "socialism" is then the Libertarians (the real ones, without quotes) have to bash them over the head about the Big-Gov the Red Team loves: Big-Ag, Big-MIC, Big-Road, Big-Water, Big-Airport, Big-Energy, Big-House, Big-Fin, Big-OldFart, Big-OldFartHealthcare, Big-AntiDrug, & Big-PoliceState.
and then the blue team true believing dumbasses chime in about how the poor are being helped by the altruistic motives of our beloved central planners. then the libertarians have to bash them over the head about how both big government only uses entitlements to placate the proles, while the real socialism involves the govt assisting the 1 percenters in draining all of the wealth away from the rest of society.
Re: and then the blue team
And then we have an election, and Red and Blue Team true-believing dumbasses throw chairs at each other for 6 months and vote for the same sociopaths they voted for last time.
The sociopaths laugh all the way to the bank.
Ok. I give you a C+ for this one
Problem is that it is true ... but wait! ...
"This Time is Different."
http://press.princeton.edu/titles/8973.html
Snopes is a Soros funded website run by lefties to spin the truth.
http://piratearian.wordpress.com/2013/09/15/snopes-is-not-an-authority-snopes-is-funded-by-george-soros/
I looked this up on Snopes, and it said it was false.
Touche
How did Snopes become an authority in the first place?
It went from a place where you checked the truth behind urban legends, to someone having political clout. It was (and is) ridiculous.
I remember the Mikkelsons (the couple behind snopes.com) from the pre-internet days when they controlled alt.folklore.urban on UseNet. It was a good place for put-downs and flame wars and all in ASCII text.
Actually it said it was legend. I'm sure if someone really tried to do this they would lose their job or be overridden no matter what type of school they were teaching in.
I think you might have missed my joke.
I'm amazed anyone would believe this story to begin with.
The problem with socialism, as any Austrian economy student knows isn't the morality of equalizing outcomes it's the inability to run a modern division of labour economy without the information provided by a system of prices.
A group of, say 30 students could easily make an agreement amonst themselves to work hard and have an overall positive result just as they could run their own small economy. The few slackers would be hated, but wouldnt be enough to starve the entire group. ITs when you try this on a large scale that things get sketchy.
They posted it because it helps to fulfill the fictional argument of capitalism vs. socialism in America.
Remember: Nobody ever went broke by underestimating the intelligence of the American public.
"Can't believe Tyler is re-circulating this urban legend again..."
Yeah, and note the number of down votes you collected. I got the same reaction when I debunked the kidney theft story on a mailing list I managed over 15 years ago. Some things never change.
Socialism's benefits to the people are table scraps anyway. There's always an oligarchy that benefits the most from the structure. At least with fascism they're more honest about the structure.
+1000.
One of the reasons I think the Red Team has so much support actually. A large percentage of the dumbasses actually like being kicked in the ass by their betters.
Top headline at Yahoo Finance:
"United States of Underemployment: Dead-End Jobs Prop Up Employment Growth"
Looks like ZH needs a new format...
Part of the problem is that young folks look at Warren Buffett, Jamie Dimon, Jon Corzine and their ilk and see incredible wealth. That makes sharing their wealth seem like a good idea, but ignores the fact that so much of the money acquired by the really wealthy comes from gaming the system and profiting from working hand in hand with the government. They can't recognize fascism when it hits them in the face.
One person's socialism is just another person's crony-capitalist scam. But, EVERYBODY loves free money.
I think the young people noticed all the OldFarts who got rich off of Big-Ag, Big-MIC, Big-Road, Big-Water, Big-Airport, Big-Energy, Big-Ed, Big-House, Big-Fin, Big-OldFart, Big-OldFartHealthcare, Big-AntiDrug, & Big-PoliceState and simply want their own shot at the scams.
"They pretend to pay us whilst we pretend to work."
Old Soviet Proverb
They also had one that rhymes..but sounds sort of like " And there have been times when sheep ate wolves"
Curious to watch...
Today me, tomorrow, you. (from A. Solzhenitsyn)
The healthcare.gov motto
/sarc
Git yer goddamn libertarian commie hands off my government Medicare, I'm ENTITLED to that free motor scooter!
Don't despair, this is self-correcting.
After an economic collapse, food riots, race riots, pension riots, several million deaths, it'll be wrinkle free again!
The colors of the armed man and man holding cash are backwards - the red man (working conservative) should hold the cash while the blue man (non working liberal) should be holding the gun.
Notice I did not state republican/democrat because both political parties are nothing but lying parasites sucking the life out of society.
Snoopy you ignorant slut, liberals don't believe in guns.
Tell that to Lanza, Dorner and the rest of the SSID infected progressives.
Agent: So you would classify the muggers in the ever-increasing crime statistics to be conservatives? The welfare sluts are conservatives? The black men who leave untold millions of unfathered children to our care are conservatives? (No racism intended but statistics speak for themselves)
No dog, it was just meant to be a funny/sarc comment aimed at the left's anti-gun agenda.
FWIW, your original comment got an up vote from me
Oh - sometimes it's hard to tell sarcasm without the tag. It's all good dog.
Liberals don't believe in citizens having guns. Liberals think the government should have a monopoly on force.
Agreed. You cannot disprove the hypothetical existence of a good Democrat, despite the long sordid history of that party from Trail of Tears Jackson straight through to Ozero/Jarrett.
I could easliy see the "red" guy is a banker and the "blue" guy is a taxpayer. That could be the description of your "Capalism vs Socialism" graph, correct?
Isn't that what Paulson did to Congress and the White House in 2008?
Re: Isn't that what Paulson did to Congress and the White House in 2008?
That was "job creators", they deserved it. Totally different.
1. Capitalism Works! Question is for whom, and if it even exists anymore. Used to be if you made bad business decisions the Invisable Hand crushed you. Now it gives you handouts (see 3. in the article).
2. Canada managed to have Universal Health Care. Why not the US? (And please, please, please don't trot out that BS story about the woman with a brain tumor that couldn't get treatment in Canada but was saved by the US system. The tumor was benign, the equivalent of a brain wart, and would have eventually been taken care of).
"all men are created equal"
let's tax inheritance at 100% and ban other types of intergenerational wealth transfer and see how true competitive capitalism works out for everyone.
You would also have to get rid of trust funds and all forms of derivative wealth preservation. My preference is just to get rid of all central banks and all monopolies on money creation.
Why do that? you have loser relatives that won't leave you anything? so you don't want anybody with responsible relatives to get something?
My grandfather never made more than what my dad paid in income taxes. He was an electrician self employed, lost his faher as a young boy. he still managed to take care of his wife and kids. he passed away and my grandmother passed away years later, she left my dad and my aunt over 250k to split between them. it was quite unexpected but very appreciated.
do bad you have loser relatives eh?
He was an orphan.
His mom was berated for buying cake on SNAP for his dying father.
Then she died in the mines trying to lift herself up by her bootstraps.
So, you're suggesting "stealing" 100% of a person's wealth (taxation is theft) and dividing among the deadbeats. That's a good disincentive to create the wealth in the first place, isn't it you moron! If you choose to donate 100% of your wealth to a cause nothing is stopping you.
The problem with socialism is that pretty soon you run out of other people's money (Thatcher)
As for all man being created equal, perhaps you've never seen the Gaussian shaped IQ curve. You need a log scale to plot the entire range of human ability and talent.
Yes, but we ALSO have a society where elitists receive without working. Those who can create money and levy a tax on all of the money they create via interest are not working. They are parasites. Worse than that they have the power to control prices by subverting the free markets with the money they create ... and thus benefit more.
So, how does one get rid of both the money power parasites and the welfare parasites? There is no benefit for the welfare parasites to work if the banking paraites just steal from them and put them at a disadvanatge.
Re: There is no benefit for the welfare parasites to work if the banking paraites just steal from them and put them at a disadvanatge.
No, you have it backwards. "Those people" corrupted the "worthy people". They couldn't help themselves. The "worthy people" would never have done this if they didn't see those welfare queens driving around in Cadillacs.
Reckon I might fall into your categorisation. Can't be bothered no more, there is no point to busting a gut when you know you will be robbed.
Extend it, all those that care do the minimum then you have less to be robbed. Self inflicted austerity and the thing about debt is in a contracting economy unless you pay the debt down fast you lose control.
NOW THINK OF JAPAN AND LIKELY THE MINDSET THAT SET IN OVER THERE OVER A DECADE AGO and engrained on the Japanese subconcious. Why bother when Abe economics will make any meaningful effort pointless.
Minimum income you can earn before paying tax is what, $12,000? Starve 'em.
The Keynes mechanism baby and why it was implemented as the option to run an economy.
Those with excess buying assets as an nvestment when the system inflates means you cannot lose unless the whole edifice collapses. PERIOD. Now go explain that to the 31% who have no assets in Japan and Abe's grand experiment of attempting to inflate the economy.
It is also why the QE could never work!
Actually the central banks overlooked the previous not realising that QE could NEVER WORK UNLESS EVERY INDIVIDUAL IS SUBJECTED TO THE SAME PROCESS. If everybody had an asset think they could have pulled it off. That too many people everywhere have no asset to benefit from this process you find the open-end future liabilities for incomes for people to support themselves is ballooning.
Then add this doozy, as the economy inflates the % share of the economy by the majority is shrinking at 80+ billion a month. Push comes to shove the population without the financial clout to turn the economy can do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to turn it around.
LEAVE OTHERS TO SPECULATE WHAT HAPPENS NEXT there are 2 options.
An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before, but had recently failed an entire class. That class had insisted that Obama’s socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.
The real answer is everbody is poor if everybody has the same and humanity loses the most prescious of all things "that by hard work, effort and innovation" by individuals for a better reward we advance technologically and socially.
Like my politicians who have this "concealed unrecognised entitlement"! They legislate their own rewards for minimal effort is also part of the problem and similarly with many elected offices. THAT IS SOCIALISM IS IT NOT??
SO TRY THIS ...
MAKE ALL STIPULATE THE MAXIMUM RENUMERATION WHILST IN AN ELECTED POSITION and see if somebody more able will do the job for less. Chances are you will find better and more able people doing the job for far less and if you do not think they offer value for money vote for the cheapest. If in doubt then pick the average renumeration because the greedy / rip-off one just got deselected.
Could be fun :-)
Before the government got involved to "help" us pay for it, medicine was good and very inexpensive compared to what we have today. Big Government is the problem, the same problem as in every country.
Re: medicine was good and very inexpensive compared to what we have today.
How many OldFarts would be alive today if they didn't have the best socialist medical scam in the world keeping them alive? Who do you think paid for the microscopic hip-replacement surgery advances?
and little government, too. when the states decided to get in there and mandate that insurance companies, to do business in their states, must cover procedures and treatments with little to no efficacy (naturopaths, chiropractors, TMJ treatments, mental health treatments, etc) that was the camel's nose under the tent. Or, when they mandated, as they did in New York for example, that hospitals had to charge patients with insurance a surcharge to cover those without insurance...small 'laws' with good intentions...the road to hell...
Insurance companies pay 60 percent of the cost of a procedure . Uninsured pay 100 percent. Deadbeats pay nothing and that has nothing to do with insurance.
Close.
doctors double the minimum acceptable charges so insurance can feel they got a good deal by demanding a 50 percent discount.
The uninsured who have any money pay the full rate, but only if they are stupid enough not to shop around and ask for a discount.
Everyone I know gives some discount for cash. So you will likely only pay 150 percent of the minimum we would accept.
Of course those on medicaid and those who will never have assets dont have to pay, but the services they receive are often sporadic, begrudging, and inferior.
I
Yeah. And LBJ sure got the rolling ball turbocharged, the egomaniacal prick.
Lyndon B. Johnson — 'I'll have those niggers voting Democratic for the next 200 years.
And the corollary...
"If on Monday you redistributed all the wealth to everyone equally, by the end of the week there would be rich people and there would be paupers."
armstrong callls for gold to top in 2015, and for armageddon to rear its head right about then. not much more time to prepare ladies and gents
Re: armstrong callls for gold to top in 2015
If he just added some numbers to his incorrect prediction last year, who cares. But if this "Armstrong" guy never made a prediction before he might be right.
You know, Armstrong lost his ass trading, hid the losses, and then pled guilty to fraud for lying to investors about them. He may know things. But the stupid AI he keeps bragging on is worthless shit. His articles contain factual references which he then turns on their head and twists in his own commentary. I like gold. The selling in the West is a gift from the stupid to market gods. But I lthink little of Martin Armstrong's predictive ability or motives.
Yeah what a stupid little turd.
Princeton Economics.
So they implemented a system where a priviledged 1% did no work and the other 99% did all the work for them. The 1% were given A's and the 99% always got F's.
Come on Marty, not going bash gold today? WTF? It's friday after all...
If that really happened, those kids should have been expelled and set on fire along with those who think what the banks got away with was capitalism.
Too far fetched. Not a believable article.
"4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it!" Not so sure about that one, the legislatures and their rich buddies are always more prosperous by dividing my paycheck into smaller and smaller portions for me.
fractional reserve banking with fiat paper, right? Works great for those at the top of the pyramid Ponzi scheme! Not so good for the other 99.99% though :-(
Hey, did you all see this one yesterday though!!??? I think 'ol Iran is definitely on to something...now why didn't WE think of this?
Iran Hangs 4 Bankers For Fraudhttp://beforeitsnews.com/iran/2012/08/iran-hangs-4-bankers-for-fraud-2435502.html
Cool picture in the link too! I'm surprised the Tylers haven't posted this one yet...unless they vetted it and it wasn't true. But we can dream, can't we??? :-)
Sometimes I just wish the "Great Reset" or whatever it will be would just happen already. We're doomed anyway...let's just get the collapse overwith before the real bad guys gain anymore power than they already have so that we can beat the shit out of them and control the next phase of humanity/society in a better way than a total prison planet of chaos, poverty and death for the 99.99%.
The "Great Reset" will be bloody and violent. No way will the FSA react calmly when their "benefits" are taken away. And similarly, TPTB will NOT give up their ill-gotten gold so easily.
If you watched "The American Blackout", suffice to say, given our culture, the death estimates in that movie were VERY optimistic.
I read this when he posted it.. outright brilliant!
Iran Hangs 4 Bankers For Fraud
http://beforeitsnews.com/iran/2012/08/iran-hangs-4-bankers-for-fraud-2435502.html
Cool picture in the link too!
Love the block and tackle.
Coming to Merika?
From that link:
Damn straight!
"Hang 'em High"! It's a start!
The parrot of this propaganda piece is a anti-government nutcase. Although I think that Martin Armstrong is one the greatest market cycle analysts with a proven record of making outstanding market calls, on many economic issues his thinking is on par with other Wall Street bankers.
He is an abashed champion of wealth accumulation, using East Germany as a model of economic equality that he holds up for ridicule, he is no different than Lloyd Blankfein.
But, it's his own greed that got him jailed, ie his refusal to disclose to the judge where he stashed his gold coins which he claimed he did not posses. To this day he refuses to take any responsibility for stealing his investors' money, he blames government conspiracy for his incarceration.
In the above example one could easily envision a more likely result where the professor gives everyone an "A."
If Socialism is a failure, why is that the societies that practice it achieved highest living standard for all: this is a FACT that is not lost on the many who are voting with their feet and not "fake bloggoshpere and MSM PROPAGANDA" as they migrate to N. America, Europe, NZ and Austrailia. Who wants to move to China, India, Russia?
Is this a joke? Socialism has FAILED in every country it has been implemented. It has FAILED to create higher standards of living for the countries as a whole. It has FAILED to foster innovation. It has FAILED to bring happiness to its citizens. It has FAILED to make people in the country richer and has SUCCEEDED in every instance in making them poorer. In every single historical example it has either begun or ended with massacres and bloodshed. Free market policies when implemented have overwhelmingly done the opposite.
So what this article is all about is that we need to arm the TSA and have them force these kids to study every night.
Contrary to popular belief, you can't vote yourself rich!
What I've learned from ZeroHedge:
Democracy is: two butchers and a cow, voting on what's for dinner...
And liberty is a cow with a bad ass assault rifle.
read the article. Pretty straight-forward. Makes a good point.
Read the comments. 3/4's of "genius" zero headers don't even get it in the slightest.
More evidence we are fucked...
Look at the one right below you from alien. Does that help you?
Just what i'm talkin about
The key sentence was in BOLD, perhaps that's why they missed it...
I find it ironic that ZH spends much ink on rants and raves about "Socialism" and "Capitalism", two systems that actually do not exist in America, yet virtually no time talking about "Fascism"...the only system that actually exist in America. Fuck, if all I wanted to hear about is this mythical Socialist vs. Capitalism meme, I'd watch CNBC.
You see, that's what happens when you run an advertising revenue based business. To believe that you can run a business based on revenue from advertisement and still be fully accurate and honest is not unlike believing that one can derive nutrition by connecting a tube from your ass to your mouth. Not unlike Google.
Socialism is fascism is socialism. Fascism is national. Like Hitler's Germany.
Re: Fascism is national
Country FIRST! (What team had that slogan a few years ago?)
This is why I prefer the term collectivism to cover the may flavors of of the "-isms" where the government takes or controls your stuff on behalf of others and itself, while generally dehumanizing and dis-incentivizing you in the process.
The headline of this post is waaaay offbase. Obama has no relation to "socialism". Case in point the disparity between rich & poor in the US has only widened during Obama's "reign". Obama is no "socialist". I would more accurately describe his politics as "fascist".
Obama socialist? Who can be so fucking dumb to believe that?
Re: Who can be so fucking dumb to believe that?
A Red Team dumbasses (aka "Conservative", with the quotes) will call any girly Big-Gov scam "socialism" if he suspects "those people" are getting any of the loot. But, manly Big-Gov scams that primarily benefit the top 10% or the OldFarts is not "socialism". Hope this helps.
This story is bullshit. I heard this story in my Economics class... In 1998.
The experiment is also bullshit. A more accurate experiment on true socialism is to give everyone the lowest mark in the class. This incentivises the better students to help the poorer ones and for all students to work together understanding the content. This "experiment" was designed to fail.
Your second 'more accurate' experiment is interesting also. The better students are still being forced to help the poorer students. The poorer students still don't have an incentive to study any harder. And the first example is about the willingness to work and study, not the ability or desire to work or not.
Winner of dumbest comment of the day award!
Perhaps he skipped reading comprehension to study economics.
Why don't you elaborate... or am I too dumb?
Nice ad hominem, it makes you look really tough and smart... What part of "bullshit" didn't you understand? Just because something massages your ego and reinforces your world view doen't preclude it from being bullshit.
All of these experiments, thought experiments, etc. always forget one very important point: socialism, centralization, collectivism, fascism, etc. is NEVER for those it is said to be for. It is for the benefit of the pols, crats and connected. It is about money and power for them.
Put another way, it ALWAYS works the way they want it to, and that is to enrich themselves.
"Government always accomplishes the opposite of the stated goal, ALWAYS. That is because the stated goal is really an excuse for theft and murder."
Yep - that about sums it up.
One missing element - the "black market".
Once the systems settles on socialist tactic, those still willing to perform evade taxes in any way possible.
Whatever can be paid for in cash is paid for in cash. Whatever revenue can go unreported will go unreported.
So the wealth distribution/entitlement system gets cash squeezed thereby driving taxes up, thereby driving more into the black market.
Ah socialism. You'd figure that Barry would know better after what Hitler did with it (the national socialist party), unless Barry is Hitler.
You almost make it sound like this has not already happened in the US. Aren't well over 50% on the dole at least partially? the producers just haven't figgered it out yet.
Yes, if we all win, everybody loses, right? Looking for volunteers to be the losers.
I'm guessing this leads to why it's important to bludgeon the population that they are losers and don't deserve Gov benefits (much less employment by the Gov). When our mentality changes on that, we'll be shocked to find that the deficit doesn't matter.
The only poor decision Margret made pertained to the Falkland Islands. She was a very brilliant woman. Have a glance at your past. Ask yourself, has the progression of socialism benefited you? If so, what was the cost associated with your dependency to receive parliament assistance? This currently has massive over-spill in the United States of America.
PMQs: Thatcher vs. Skinner
Margaret Thatcher on Socialism
The only urban legend is the lack of education in the schools of United States.
Margaret Thatcher was a brilliant woman who understood socialism. I mean the socialism that inevitably destroys everything in its path but is carefully hidden from public view by its very many British advocates through a fabricated façade of "fairness" "social justice" "equality" and the rest of it, who successfully portray it as a viable alternative to free maket capitalism.
But she was far too easy going regarding the Left-dominated Establishment IMO. If she'd taken a chain saw to it and rolled back its grotesque powers, we would be a lot better off today.
Here in Italy the teacher would have been bribed.
ZH, Tyler, whoever approves these "Guest Posts", you continue to stoop lower each week in the dumbed down trash Capitalisam vs Socialism meme...I swear you'be somehow been secretly purchased by CNBC and Fox Business.
The real title to this should be "The debate between Capitalism and Socialsm as told in 1950 to Appalachian dwelling inbreds with a 3rd grade education"
You're almost becoming like Business Insider in the headline baiting and nonsense reporting department. Hope this kind of crap increases your click rates (damn, you got me to click on it) because it's otherwise a waste of space.
Re: because it's otherwise a waste of space
Those of us with Economic OCD love it tho. Besides, there's nothing ELSE for the doomer community to do but wait another few years for the "great reset" which establishes "justice" and "reality" to the "markets" again. We really can't look at another chart showing why all the previous charts are wrong. All we've got to do is play wack-the-dumbass (inbreds with a 3rd grade education).
It's fun.
If you bothered to actually go to Armstrong's site and read, you might have a different opinion. Unless you are a gold bug. lol.
I have been following his work for years. I thought he was nuts a long time ago. Until crap started to play out like he called it.
I listen a little more closely now.
I agree with you that Martin Armstrong is worth reading. He is brilliant and one of the most interesting people I've ever come across. This "Socialism" story example doesn't really show the depth of his intellect. Zerohedge has so many comments spouting off non-sense but Martin Armstrong is like a strong anchor in reality.
As a sometime resident Appalachia I can assure you that you are NOWHERE NEAR as smart as the inbreds with only a 3rd grade education.
You shouldn't be so distracted by the bright shiny pictures, but rather should have focused more on the 130 words/700 characters (per LibreOffice) of relevant original text.
Neither system works. There is only one that can work.
Greed cap. You cannot make or possess more than 10 times the average persons wealth.
Lots of room to improve and live well, but not enough to buy power. If you want more you have to find ways to improve the average. Wink wink.
say average is 20k, then your limited to 200k. More than reasonable. Thirsting after money and power is a sickness. The worst one.
When you have actually worked your ass off for 20 years, and have some assets greater in value than the cost of an iphone, let us know how much of those earnings YOU want to give away.
You do not have the right to take the fruits of others labor and give it to those who don't.
It has been done in the past, its called slavery.
1a. In Capitalism, strong individuals steal from weak individuals. The Organized Strong steal from everybody, often with the help/use of the Government they put in power. The strong start off being productive, but quickly learn to shift productivity to others. They are no longer motivated to be so, if they can stay live very nicely off the Capital System. They have "power" names like The Job Creators, The Successful. The weak give them names like The Aristocracy, Elite, Oligarchs, Rulers, TPTB.
1b. In Socialism, weak individuals are propped up by strong individuals. The Organized Weak are propped up by everybody, often with the help/use of the Government they elected. The weak were never as motivated or productive as the strong. They accept their Station in life and live to 'get by' in the Socialist System. The strong give them "social-leper" names like Gov_workers, Socialists, Unionists.
2a. To prevent the poor stealing too much from the rich, the rich tolerate a certain level of Socialism -- lest they get bloody revolutions and communism.
2b. To prevent the poor killing the rich, the rich invented Organized Religion. When that is not enough, they use wars.
p.s.
/ God is a Capitalist, but his Son is a Socialist. The poor are still waiting for them to sort things out and get back to us, to install Eternal Patriarchial Communism. What we're supposed to do for the next 100 Billion years under this regime, God only knows. Maybe He'll get bored with us eventually, and start over. /sarc
Of course, those of us who've shed the (mental) shackles of Organized Religion, like to sing the Monty Python Galaxy Song every now and then, when we get a bit 'down', small or insecure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buqtdpuZxvk
And don't forget that "Every* sperm is sacred": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8fheDIG_RA
* In spite of the hundreds of billions of healthy sperm that never make it in a man's life, even if you have quintuplets every 11 months. Oops!
["Bad, bad Kirk, for enjoying to point out the BS in all ideologies, instead of just THEIR ideology!"]
Pure free market capitalism with pareto efficiency enforced as much as possible would be a great idea. Too bad qe have not ever tried it yet.
This is true... I wonder why we have never tried it?
Awesome.
More stupid shit encouraging you to take your eye off the people who are really looting you and get all huffy about some bum with the ass out of his pants.
*Yawn*
This is the same article that my idiot republican friends have been posting on Facebook for the last 5 years. This describes communism, not socialism, and is nothing like what we have in this country (cronyism/corporate fascism). Posts like these only obfuscate the real problems and divide "we the people" further apart, much to the delight of TPTB.
Wrong. The one that does the redistribution is the state. In this case, it's the professor. In communism, there is no state. It has "withered away". At least in communism, there is the added benefit of having no state to throw you in a cage should you disagree with the (non existent) state.
But the shysters told the masses that to get there, the state needed to nationalize everything first. We can all see how well that worked out.
Communism is like the Nigerian scam. It requires you forego some liberties, to get more later. But being a scam, well, it's a scam end you get stuck with plain old socialism with the same clique living it up on the backs of the ones not controlling the state.
As far as the existence of the state is concerned in communism, you are absolutely correct. But I was referring to incentive structure.
When debating friends and acquaintances who are ultra left on these topics they tend to refer to "democratic socialism" (their utopian society) as their definition of socialism, under which every one is supposedly made to be more or less equal but there are still (limited) individual incentives in place to encourage productivity, so maybe that's my bad for being unspecific.
All that being said, my point was more that this post is causing more problems than it solves. If we are going to "wake people up" from the fraud that is being perpetrated on this country, it helps to approach them without using dumbass emails forwarded by simpletons spreading misinformation about the true nature of the problems we are facing.
Hehe
"limited" incentives means limited work and limited productivity.
Just wait until Norway runs out of free shit, er, barrels of oil. Free Shit Army can last only as long as there is free shit.
Yes, perhaps trying to bind socialism to Obama is a bit hamfisted even though there are some ressemblances, I think bashing socialism and communism as well can never do harm.
You see, it's only socialism when it results in milk and honey flowing down the streets. Otherwise, it's something that came somewhere from these "right wing" ideologies.
"You see, it's only socialism when it results in milk and honey flowing down the streets."
You have spoken an imperial court. I've actually had commies tell me that *real* communism has not yet been tried, or that Lenin, Stalin, Mao, etc., didn't do it right. Their heads-I-win-tails-you-lose position is, If it had been really tried, of course it would have worked.
They are partly right, but by accident. Look at my post above.
The folly of man, the ego making one believe that if only I could do it, it would be done perfectly. Fact is we're all human and all tempted by power, greed and of the flesh thus rendering us incapable of producing a perfect system.
An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before, but had recently failed an entire class.
All grades will be averaged and everyone will receive the same grade so no one will fail and no one will receive an A
The class arose in unison and asked why their parents lost 40% of the value of their homes, their savings, and why meaningful job prospects have disappeared for all Americans except for being a stooge for big banking interests.
The professor gave all the students a B and the students started thinking their professor was pretty cool and then a drone dropped a laser guided bunker buster directly on the school room wiping out everyone inside. ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC, the New York Times, and Bloomberg all ran the same headline, proclaiming that the dangerous terrorists were discovered and eliminated all in less than an hour using new precrime software developed in a collaborated effort of the Pentagon, NSA, CIA, and industry groups.
Moral of the story? Don't fuck with the man.
As long as socialism has the voice of a pipe orgen, a Trojan horse smile, blames my laziness on rich people and is "historic", I'll take the F. Yes, I'm that stupid. BTW, was this professor fired for being such a hater?
Please, could we look at this:
1. How many African-American groups are there to send money to Africa? Who go their to missionary or care for Africans? Hmmm...
2. Tyler Durden, Could you do an article on what all those newly-hired IRS fascist storm troopers are doing since Obomacare (also known as the "Deathtrap for anyone over 50") are doing with all this free time they have? Sounds like an opportunity to cut back on government workers! OR, they will just be ferreting through tax returns making mischief for Americans!
3. Has anyone considered this...once the government controls healthcare, do they not then also dictate the cost of every bandaid paid for, and whether you get one?
4. When we had the right to our own healthcare, we could walk in and see if that person looked and sounded like someone we would reveal our health information to, and we knew we could hold the doctor accountable...with government health care you are talking to some government worker who has no training in the ethics of healthcare. Very scary stuff.