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Guest Post: How Big Government Kills The American Dream

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Authored by U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler of Camas, Clark County, originally posted at The Seattle Times,

Last week, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and New York Mayor Bill de Blasio published their prescription for reviving the American dream. They are right to focus on the dream. They are wrong in their understanding of American history and the role government can play in restoring and fostering the dream.

In an 872-word argument titled “How to revive the American dream,” the words “free” or “freedom” never appear. That’s a clue.

They open with a chilling refrain: Opportunity for success for most Americans is hopeless. All but the rich are falling behind because the “game is rigged.” Their diagnosis: You can’t improve your situation by your own talents or effort. Their prescription: Don’t leave freedom in the hands of citizens. Only a massively larger central government, run by people like them, can help you.

Respectfully, this has been the claim of every person in history who has ever sought to gain enormous power through government control over the daily lives of their fellow citizens.

They say the American dream is nearly dead because the game is rigged. If so, your talent, hard work and dedication can’t help you, and your freedom to choose your own path in life isn’t worth much, is it?

And if the situation is hopeless, the change has to be dramatic. “Bold” is their word. They aren’t trying to sell common-sense reforms. They are selling an entirely new American system that fundamentally changes the relationship between central government leaders and you. Thomas Jefferson wrote that the purpose of the government is to secure freedom. Warren and de Blasio’s government would take your freedom in order to protect you from freedom’s harmful effects.

Their misreading of American history is frightening. The American system of free people and free markets created more opportunity and prosperity for more citizens than any economic system in human history. Most countries have tried to copy our economic model.

Take China. Thirty years ago, the Chinese government abused and controlled every aspect of the lives of its impoverished people. The Chinese middle class did not exist. In the last two decades, the Chinese have moved from a totally government-controlled economy toward freer markets, and more than 300 million Chinese citizens now comfortably belong in the world’s middle class. Unfortunately, the Chinese government still allows egregious abuses of law and its people, but the old model was a complete disaster.

The Warren and de Blasio answer for strengthening the American middle class would move us toward the old Chinese economic model. They propose having the government dictate wages, overtime, vacation and leave policies, child-care requirements, and how much men and women are paid. They would dictate tuition levels for colleges. While decrying cronyism, they want a central government empowered to decide which companies are “fair,” and only those would receive funding for research and development. According to them, rather than allowing a business to succeed — or fail — on its own merits, government should pick the winners and bail them out with the public’s money when they fail.

They oppose free markets. Instead, they’d create “fair rules” in the marketplace. Let’s cut through the code words here. They don’t want you to be free to make economic decisions. Instead, they want the power to decide what is “fair” for you. Nowhere in their list of new government services and controls is any mention of a cost to us. We’re to believe only Bill Gates and a few of his friends would pay.

Except we know that isn’t true. The cost of their policies would be paid in more debt, taxes and fewer jobs. Have they learned nothing from watching Greece?

Warren and de Blasio aim their argument for a massive expansion of federal power at the goal of helping the middle class. The great American middle class was not created by government policies. Their prescription would crush working families and small business — the engine of the American dream.

The debate here isn’t between a more powerful central government versus no government and a dog-eat-dog world where the strong eat the weak. A fair read of American history shows that wise government policies nurture an environment where the dream can grow through actions, such as funding of public infrastructure, scientific and technological research, and public education. And government regulation plays a necessary role in keeping America safe.

To build their case that America today is in need of radical change, Warren and de Blasio make the incredible claim that America used to invest in our kids and in policies to build a strong middle class, but “we don’t anymore.” What are those government policies? Social Security, Medicare, free public education. We don’t invest in these policies anymore? Spending for these programs has risen from $195 billion in 1980 to just under $2 trillion today.

If Warren and de Blasio limited their argument to the need for government assistance to help the poorest and weakest in our society, there wouldn’t be a debate. I would agree with that. But that is not their claim. They claim that a massive expansion of federal power would help the families in the middle. Their prescription requires middle America to surrender freedom. In exchange, they say government control would improve our situation in life more than exercising our own freedom will.

Warren and de Blasio’s prescription is for killing the American dream rather than reviving it.

 

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Fri, 05/15/2015 - 22:18 | 6099500 falconflight
falconflight's picture

Someday authors like this will reap the whirlwind for their anti-social(ist) agitation.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 22:20 | 6099503 90's Child
90's Child's picture

Government?

Last I checked the Fed and their QE did a good job of ruining the American dream.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 22:58 | 6099571 green sheen
green sheen's picture

Thank you. The Fed is 100% owned and 100% does the bidding of the banks. NEVER FORGET
http://youtu.be/6KEMYeGZ604

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 23:18 | 6099601 Oh regional Indian
Oh regional Indian's picture

I see it as simpler than the discussion.

The American dream never was. You cannot live in peace and harmony if the land you are on was cleared by genocide and slaughter.

And it continues.

What and who ever "formed" America, made sure that it needed large amounts of blood sacrifice to keep the nightmare alive.

So, this kind of political nonsense is exactly that. Nonsense.

The exit routes are beig barred. 

Live by the sword and die by the sword. Not in my name, eh?

READ THIS: And pass it on.....

https://aadivaahan.wordpress.com/2011/02/16/truth-about-america-truth-ab...

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 23:49 | 6099664 gwiss
gwiss's picture

Don't throw out the baby with the bath water.  Sure, the colonials didn't do a thorough enough job of implementing their conception.  But, that is the flaw of the implementation -- not the conception.  You want to junk the conception too, which is a big mistake.  The conception is the only hope for a peaceful society.   Volunatary cooperation and individual freedom is the only base that a healthy society can be built on.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 23:50 | 6099669 CH1
CH1's picture

How goverments can restore the American dream:

GO AWAY!!

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 01:00 | 6099788 Billy the Poet
Billy the Poet's picture

And to think that some folks vilified you as being "liberal" in the "Daffy Duck is a Nigger" thread.

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 02:33 | 6099855 James_Cole
James_Cole's picture

The American system of free people and free markets created more opportunity and prosperity for more citizens than any economic system in human history. 

rotfl how do these guys keep a straight face

The Chinese middle class did not exist. In the last two decades, the Chinese have moved from a totally government-controlled economy toward freer markets, and more than 300 million Chinese citizens now comfortably belong in the world’s middle class. 

'freer markets' lol

 

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 04:03 | 6099879 Oh regional Indian
Oh regional Indian's picture

Exactly JC....

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 11:10 | 6100309 max2205
max2205's picture

Balitmore spends 21k per student.  High on the list.

 

How's that working?

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 13:01 | 6100489 Creepy A. Cracker
Creepy A. Cracker's picture

The fake Indian, Squaw Warren, who became wealthy by lying, playing the "rigged" game by: 1) becoming a leach/lawyer and 2) lying about her ethnicity in order to beat out other qualified human beings for jobs reserved (inappropriately) for people with certain shades of skin.  Get wealthy from the system, claim that the system is rigged, then demand a LOT MORE of the same system (big, corrupt, government).  A$$hole Warren.  Just like Hillary(!) but not as fat and shrill (yet).

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 05:59 | 6099931 Ayreos
Ayreos's picture

The common libertarian belief is still as convenient as the liberal one. They desperately want to believe the free market works and it indeed does, in concept, that is. In real life it is just too easy to create monopolies, arrangements, plots and subterfuge of various kinds. There will always be the suckers in the system. Libertarians believe it won't be them when they're wise, and actually believe a perfectly fair system will be in place when they're not so wise.

In 95' i travelled to the currently very media-popular Ukraine, having relatives in the place. I ended up staying three years, after discovering two facts about it:

1) The women were of astounding beauty and fierce demeanor, yet extremely traditionalist in their views;

2) The black market in the country was the most relaxed of any non-asian culture. You could buy anything, anywhere, and with a trivial fee to the authorities be the king of any domain you owned. Even if it was a tenth of the country.

While appearing a paradise to me in 95', it became clear to me it was hell in '98. I will avoid subjective details, but it turns out that in a "free market" "collaboration" is in fact pure, ruthless "competition". It's a dog-eat-dog world of scams and routine betrayal and it's ludicrous to imagine it can be otherwise. When my blonde sweetheart found out i was in business it was over. I couldn't figure out why, until i realized the entire country was and probably still is organized like a Mafia, which is the type of organization that makes the most out of a free market. She and her peers knew what risks she'd be running just being in such a "free market".

When the market was more free in America it was more ruthless as well. The "middle class" was created by the competitive overproduction of luxury goods, not by the coming of the economic Christ of jolly collaboration. What's the difference between the middle and the poor classes when both spend their days working in some filthy factory or dusty office? One of the two has access to non-essential goods that inhebriate it with a feeling of superiority, while the other believes it can achieve the same futile standing!

Debt makes the economy rigged, it makes it weaker, less healthy and less exploitable by the majority. Instead of a Dog-eat-dog world it becomes a farmer-eat-sheep world. It's not any worse. With all the sheep it's a far safer world if you're a dog. Some people caution to buy gold and be ready to bug out. I have a cabin in the woods where i can hunt and fish, but more importantly, i know HOW to hunt and how to fish. How to raise plants and animals. And i know how to make friends. Gold is useless to me, the free market economy is useless to me. The american obsession with selling and purchasing was always destined to be its downfall. There is no reason for you to buy or sell anything that is not with your neighbor, and in that case, barter still works best.

The american dream is not a dream, it's a curse. The idea that your life can be superior, better, higher is empty hubris. Humans evolved to have one kind of life. The simple kind. Why be a sheep and why be a dog, when you were born a wolf? 

When you're born a wolf anything other than a forest is dystopia and captivity. Even if you're told you're free.

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 06:36 | 6099946 cnmcdee
cnmcdee's picture

Animals running around in the bush eating each other can be inferred as the penultimate free market system - but wtf does that accomplish?

Without values animalism is acceptable and eventual and inevitable, and clearly on the future menu of America. With the moral bankruptcy in America it will not take long

So which value system is the most productive? The reality is any value system with a floating standard will of self-interest end in animalism. That includes statism, atheism, communism, and most ism's.

When society learns the value systems that bring true cooperation instead of parasitatio n we will reach the stars. Yet it seems we have to accomondate and endure another round of psycopaths who severe self-aggrandizement will only result it a scientific dictatership and animalistic self-ruin.

When Socialism (forced will) replaces charity (good will) we then entertain sociopathic engineers who steer us into blatant fascist-communist restrainsts who figure this time it will be better or different and they have it all figured out how to prevent animalism.

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 10:04 | 6100110 Billy the Poet
Billy the Poet's picture

Government is the law of the jungle, the law that might makes right. Free markets are an invention of civilized men who know that voluntary cooperation always leads to better outcomes for those involved than does compulsory adherence to the demands of an elite class.

Don't get confused by political rhetoric. A free market is simply one in which the participants interact voluntarily. Freedom of speech, freedom of the press and freedom of religion hold little value if the practitioner of those freedoms is not also free to labor at his chosen profession and to administer the wealth obtained through his own effort as he sees fit.

It is far more sensible for individuals to voluntarily organize themselves in order to protect their natural rights rather than to be conned into the fantasy that individual rights can be protected by giving them up entirely and following the orders of an elite class which rules through violence and threats of violence against the very individuals which it claims to protect.

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 12:07 | 6100397 Slomotrainwreck
Slomotrainwreck's picture

No worries - The Bush-Clinton Duopolists will save us all from worrying about freedom. Two parties is just too many. "It's just a god damed piece of paper", you know.

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 14:51 | 6100809 Billy the Poet
Billy the Poet's picture

For the love of God I am not ready for Hillary's Bush.

(Beer).

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 06:44 | 6099953 Tom G
Tom G's picture

Amazing. 1995. Ukraine. A nation that had just recently emerged from an extended run of militant communism had some struggles with black market operations, where you admit government bureaucrats were being paid off, and you see the failings of a free market. I can't imagine bias creeping in on that thought process.

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 07:04 | 6099969 TrafficNotHere
TrafficNotHere's picture

Where to start - very few people espouse a true libertarian belief. Straw man

Free market works more then just concept - it works in reality

Monopolies exist more easily where there are barrier to entry comprising corruption and regulations. Our current mess is not a free market in anyway – buy the laws you want and create regulations.

In any system, there will be suckers be it the person who get taken advantage of or the whole population under tyranny.

Your Straw Man “libertarian” does not believe in your liberal idea “perfectly fair system”. The whole concept of “fair” is a socialist, libertarian, childish notion that mommy and daddy (government) are going to take control and make everything right for the Me.

But I guess you failed to read the article when it said “the debate isn’t [about] no government and a dog-eat-dog world where the strong eat the weak.”

Also, from your post (altho its hard to say) your viewpoint of the american dream is a twisted one. Its not about being superior, better, higher, etc. This is the liberal viewpoint that has been sold as a false dream to enslave. It is “can I provide for a slightly better life for my children than my parents” Given the current breakdown of our society, it is not easy.

Freedom was never meant to be safe; tyranny is always dangerous and deadly.

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 10:28 | 6100252 Billy the Poet
Billy the Poet's picture

Government imposes a monetary monopoly upon the people by sanctioning a privately owned banking cartel which creates fiat money from thin air while requiring that everyone else work for it.

Because money is half of every transaction this means that government demands that all individuals be subjected to the will of the banking monopoly in every single endeavor they undertake. One hundred percent subservience to the world's most powerful monopoly is not a particularly good score for a government which claims to bust the trusts. In fact, it's the opposite of what the government claims just like everything else (like bombing people for their freedom, taking away their rights in the name of patriotism, and driving medical and educational costs through the roof in the name of fair play and affordability).

Those who wish to avoid the power of monopolies should put their money where their mouth is, no pun intend.

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 12:22 | 6100446 LibertarianMenace
LibertarianMenace's picture

Bingo. Economic and monetary systems are bijective pairs. Free markets exist if and only if competitive money exists. Since we no longer have competitive money, the marxist whine about "free" markets is yet again, complete bullshit.

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 09:43 | 6100180 CH1
CH1's picture

And to think that some folks vilified you as being "liberal" in the "Daffy Duck is a Nigger" thread.

Yeah... hate does crazy things to a brain.

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 10:32 | 6100266 Billy the Poet
Billy the Poet's picture

Like government intervention, stupidity has its own unintended consequences. Those who talk a good game about freedom but then fall for the collectivist shell game of divide and conquer will find themselves without the support of truly free individuals when it matters most.

See you in the trenches.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 23:49 | 6099665 knukles
knukles's picture

Government ruined the American Dream.
And it's kinda tough to fuck up a wet dream.

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 00:06 | 6099695 Oh regional Indian
Oh regional Indian's picture

"Fuck" up a wet dream knuckles ? ;-) yeah. 

The ox is a moron!

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 00:58 | 6099784 nmewn
nmewn's picture

"You cannot live in peace and harmony if the land you are on was cleared by genocide and slaughter."

Now, lets not bring the Sikhs, Muslims & Hindus into this ;-)

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 01:14 | 6099796 Billy the Poet
Billy the Poet's picture

 

 

1. "Thou shalt not kill."

2. "But Ted Bundy and Jeff Dahmer killed people!"

3. Do you see how such a response does nothing but obfuscate a valid concern?

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 01:32 | 6099818 Oh regional Indian
Oh regional Indian's picture

@nm...seriously dude? What do you know if Indian history? 

More importantly, what do you know of the western hand in Indian history?

Perhaps because you don't or don't want to know your own, you are going to re-live it.

@Billy the poet: exactly....even though his blurt is based on no knowledge of India anyways.

 

Oh and nm, I know you know it ALL, but read this if called and tell me how you "rationalize" such things in your mind?

https://aadivaahan.wordpress.com/2012/03/23/un-holy-smoke-and-biblical-f...

 

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 07:55 | 6100017 nmewn
nmewn's picture

I know enough of yours to have formed the opinion that its not that much different from mine ORI, so don't get your panties in a wad.

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 12:41 | 6100488 Oh regional Indian
Oh regional Indian's picture

What does that statement you just made even mean?

Hmmm? 

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 08:40 | 6100075 usednabused
usednabused's picture

Nm may not know shit about Indians but he certainly knows how to spout the zio line. He is a most worthless fuck...

 

 

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 09:05 | 6100109 nmewn
nmewn's picture

Very well asshole, lets talk about the Hindu's and their battles against the Mughal emperors, maybe starting with the Sisodia clan from Rajasthan, which has jackshit to do with a certain gathering in Philadelphia as it occured centuries earlier but makes for wonderful bedtime stories among the upper caste of India.

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 12:47 | 6100502 Oh regional Indian
Oh regional Indian's picture

Whaaaat? You are making no sense nm. You are rambling, throwing out random Indian names and states....what does a sisodia battle with the mughals, if it ever happened, have to do with the context of this thread and my comment that sparked yours?

You clearly do NOT knwo anything of Indian history. I'll bet you have never been here. 

So either boot up and hop across and feel and learn what is up here or hold your peace on the topic.

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 13:39 | 6100602 nmewn
nmewn's picture

I don't think anything was lost in translation, you're being purposely obtuse.

To your comment of: "You cannot live in peace and harmony if the land you are on was cleared by genocide and slaughter."

I jokingly said: Now, lets not bring the Sikhs, Muslims & Hindus into this ;-)

Now, ORI, you will apparently deny the historical FACT of your own past (before "whitey" ever showed up with this mind numbing drivel: "what does a sisodia battle with the mughals, if it ever happened, have to do with the context of this thread and my comment that sparked yours?"...by saying the bloody contests of Babur, Lodi or Rana Sanga never happened?

Whats good for the American goose is good for the Indian gander ORI, not all of us are indoctrinated fools like you and no, I have zero desire to visit a shit hole like one of the nearly 1,000 ghettos in Bangalore alone.

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 15:34 | 6100946 Oh regional Indian
Oh regional Indian's picture

That there is some serious butt-hurt and more meaning-less prattle about battles in INdia? Of course there have been wars in India.

But we did not (as a nation, especially as it exists today and has for millenia, including having the world's longest continuously inhabited city) clear out a land of it's people and it's animals (almost to real or figurative extinction, imprisoned them in their own land).

All good, but man, if you doubt for a moment, knowing full well American givernment duplicity, especially in the last 140 years or so, that as a collective you have some bad Karma (just the wars AFTER WWII will do) you are one deluded butt-hurt person.

Iindia has not invaded any nation or sparked any war in known history.

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 19:46 | 6101627 nmewn
nmewn's picture

"Of course there have been wars in India."

lol...so, your first instinct was to cloud the issue (by your may or may not have comment). Well at least you didn't outright lie or deny it.

"But we did not (as a nation, especially as it exists today and has for millenia, including having the world's longest continuously inhabited city) clear out a land of it's people and it's animals (almost to real or figurative extinction, imprisoned them in their own land)."

I have no idea what the hell you're talking about now, what extinctions? And by "imprisoned" you mean like the dasa (slaves) or is that another example of "may or may not have happened" you will modify at some later time...again? Then you conflate one nation (presumably since gaining independence from Britain in 47) with many "kingdoms" when you offer up the word millenia. I will still hold that your caste system dates back at least a millinia as well so don't ever speak to me about "human rights" and individual liberty again until you drag your culture out of the damned Iron Age.

So butt hurt, deluded and don't know jack about your beloved India am I? I know more than you want me to know or you will ever admit ;-)

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 02:04 | 6099836 Simplifiedfrisbee
Simplifiedfrisbee's picture

Caste system twist your brain 360 degrees and convoluted your morality Tiger Indian? Snap into it for 8 headed Goddes sake! No engagement of intelligence is ever worthy if one feels the need to teach without being a student first. 

Now, the dream.... or nightmare. Depends right? Degenerate egomaniacs of America listen up. The American dream was built on the back of hard working people. Sounds great until the reality sets in. The hard working people of race....

A truth must equal order. A truth must pierce as to question the very nature of existence. So if you want to believe in deception continue eating the devils pie known as the American Dream.

The imperalist and wicked nature of the Minoan, Hellenic and Roman empire came to power today as the model had been laid similarly before by the egyptic cvilization. After the power structure gained hold in the 20th century, then followed the Sinics and the Osmanlis. This goes very deep but the corrupt nature of men of all civilizations is reaching a culmination point. What I refer to as "power dead."

So this American dream led an inherently oppresive culture stemming from an imperialist civilization to invade other countries and utilize men, women and children for economic gains. It worked. But life, my fellow men and women, is a place of order. In time, what is not built on a solid foundation must fall. Get ready, but it will not arrive when you want it.

Now, these articles are aimed at the hearts of pride and minds of deceit. All to enforce a putrid outlook on those who have freedom of truth within hearts of Love. Well then. What an idea this American dream is. Be so not the cursed who is dying buderned by the belief of what never was.

Nothing has been stripped from you more than what the ancestors who built this disgusting system stripped from civilizations. Define wealth as you must. Do not define American Dream other than the illusion of grandeur that it has been.

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 02:23 | 6099849 Oh regional Indian
Oh regional Indian's picture

A 360 degree turn usually brings you right back to where you started + for someone who says "No engagement of intelligence is ever worthy if one feels the need to teach without being a student first." you sound pretty darned pedantic yourself...

Wot? I've spent 6 years and countless hours getting my point across to the world at large.

Yu? Hot American Air?

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 03:12 | 6099864 Simplifiedfrisbee
Simplifiedfrisbee's picture

Oh regional Indian, running in circles you are. I am not suprised you posses the astute nature of a restless man. Very few abandon the system of their parents to claim a foregin path. It is a slippery slope that will lead you eventually to where you began. Hence, 360. 

The world is not a circus but the crowd. The ringmaster is not a performer but rather directs the performance. Are you a ringmaster? Indeed you are not. The performer, it seems, is your calling. Know that the performance becomes an act once repeated. And the crowd? Well, they just came to see a show. And your know the saying, the show must go on.

Hot American Air has indeed been scorching through out my life. Burns the skin, dries the nostirls, and parches the mouth. But understand that this (what should I term it?) ah yes, bull shit, is but a mere deception. Something the confused will fail short to grow and understand. 

And yes, I do nit pick at the details. All perfectionsists do. And be not so naive to think I view myself as perfection. 

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 03:43 | 6099875 Oh regional Indian
Oh regional Indian's picture

;-)

Luckily for me and all concerned, I was born an UNPERFORMER...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XijsnujcFg

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 08:53 | 6100092 shovelhead
shovelhead's picture

Oh, yeah.

Those happy pastoral injuns living in perfect harmony with the land and each other.

No genocidal wars to wipe out neighboring tribes, no human sacrifices by the thousands, no ecological disasters by overpopulating central areas. The very first treaty between Gov. Carver of the Massachusetts Bay colony and Massasoit of the Wampanogs had the colonists join forces with the local indians to war against the neighboring Narragansetts.

Stone age meets steel age. Stone age loses. Advance your culture or die. Why should the New World be exempt from resource competition that the rest of the world endures?

Don't whine to me. I didn't make the rules.

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 11:43 | 6100361 Billy the Poet
Billy the Poet's picture

There are numerous examples of the Indians making deals with whites where the whites got land and the Indians were promised help in living a more European lifestyle. The Indians requested instruction in carpentry, masonry, farming and religion. But of course the white folks just took the land and then killed them.

The idea that Indians were backward nomads who absolutely refused the benefits of technology is a liberal lie. The Indians used all the parts of the buffalo, for example, because they lived on the plains and buffalo, grass and buffalo chips were their only resources. They couldn't waste anything and still survive. It's simple practicality whether there are some spiritual trappings imposed upon it or not.

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 10:18 | 6100240 Boondocker
Boondocker's picture

Ori, you think human nature changes?   the Indians should have learned to smelt metals. ...to the Victor goes the spoils.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 22:20 | 6099504 Billy the Poet
Billy the Poet's picture

When is John Galt?

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 22:32 | 6099524 nmewn
nmewn's picture

It happens right after the politicos (de Blasio & Warren) annoint Galt king for life, so he has ultimate power to control the people who enrich only themselves by govenment actions.

Of course, there is the untidy, uncomfortable feeling of owing those a favor who gave Galt all that power.

A quandary to be sure ;-)

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 23:29 | 6099616 Billy the Poet
Billy the Poet's picture

Didn't you read the book? Galt was offered such a position and refused.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 23:47 | 6099660 LetThemEatRand
LetThemEatRand's picture

I just blew a load seeing you guys arguing about whether the other one read the Zionist scripture.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 23:51 | 6099671 gwiss
gwiss's picture

Pretty loose definition of "Zionism" there bud.

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 00:01 | 6099691 LetThemEatRand
LetThemEatRand's picture

Are you saying Ayn Rand was not a Zionist?

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 00:11 | 6099702 gwiss
gwiss's picture

What's your defintion of Zionist?

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 00:22 | 6099723 Billy the Poet
Billy the Poet's picture

This article isn't about Zionism. It's about whether our current economic and social problems flow from too little government or too much government.

Ayn Rand said that the problem is too much government. You believe the opposite but rather than admitting your support for Warren's position you try to derail the thread with your Zionist red-herrings.

Straight out of George Washington's How to Spot a Troll handbook.

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 00:30 | 6099730 LetThemEatRand
LetThemEatRand's picture

This article was written by a former soldier who is now a Congresswoman from industrial powerhouse Hawaii, and who supports the Patriot Act, and who never made a dollar in her life that wasn't raised by taxpayers.   I suppose if you give money to Palestine that will make it all okay.

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 00:36 | 6099740 Billy the Poet
Billy the Poet's picture

If Michael Moore said "It's a nice day," and the sun was shining and the birds were singing I would agree with him.

If George W. Bush said "It's a nice day," and the sun was shining and the birds were singing I would agree with him.

If Ayn Rand said, "It's a nice day," and the sun was shining and the birds were singing would you agree with her?

 

Do you interact with other individuals as individuals and in a way that is appropriate to the situation in which you find yourself or do you simply have one screed that you yell at the top of your lungs day and night, night and day?

As if we don't know the answer to that one already...

 

 

 

 

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 00:41 | 6099750 LetThemEatRand
LetThemEatRand's picture

It will be a nice day when we don't have asshole ideologues and fucking Zionists and radical Muslims and hard core Christians telling us which country we need to bomb next for their ideology.

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 00:50 | 6099762 Billy the Poet
Billy the Poet's picture

"Men who are free to produce, have no incentive to loot; they have nothing to gain from war and a great deal to lose. Ideologi­cally, the principle of individual rights does not permit a man to seek his own livelihood at the point of a gun, inside or outside his country. Economically, wars cost money; in a free economy, where wealth is privately owned, the costs of war come out of the income of private citizens — there is no overblown public treasury to hide that fact — and a citizen can­not hope to recoup his own finan­cial losses (such as taxes or busi­ness dislocations or property de­struction) by winning the war. Thus his own economic interests are on the side of peace." -- Ayn Rand's The Roots of War, 1966.

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 08:57 | 6100101 shovelhead
shovelhead's picture

That Zionist bitch!

Lol.

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 00:59 | 6099785 gwiss
gwiss's picture

Ah, rules for radicals #13.

 

You are following the playbook to the letter.  What a good little troll you are.  So dedicated, so habituated, so indoctrinated and so predictable.

 

Pick the target, isolate it, personalize it, and freeze it.

 

Rand writes a book about how human nature functions in groups.  Honestly, it is sort of a plodding novel, and Rand sucks at being a philosopher, her inspiration was to have seen in person how self interest manifests itself as fake concern for the group in social systems that have decided to value group identity and welfare above indvidual identity and welfare, and her genius was to be able to replicate this in a novel.  She went a bridge to far when she let this go to her head and thought it made her a philosopher.

 

But, notice you don't deal with the content of the novel, do you?  If you had read Atlas Shrugged, which is the book of the several she wrote that I am presuming you are referring to, you would know that it has nothing to do with the Arab/Israeli conflict in any way. Not even in the most general,philosophical way. And, you never bother to explain how believing in individual freedom and a free society in any way relates to the Arab/Israel question either.  Those two are completely unconnected.  As they are to the idea of an employment society rather than a self sufficient society, and to the idea of free and honest money and banking versus centralized control of money and therefore the institutionalization of fraudulent weights and measures through the artifice of central control over the price of money.  All good topics.  So, did you engage in such a discussion?

 

Nope.  You just take a snippet of video in which Rand is spouting her mouth off about things she doesn't have any business opining on, and that isolates the question to the video thus neatly bypassing any need to actually explain your argument, which you can't do because your tactic is not based on argument and thus you would be empty handed if you actually had to produce something, and because the video is harsh, it freezes the question and derails the discussion into the dead end of discussing the person Rand rather than the topic, and thus disarms the line of inquiry.

 

Cheap tactic from a cheap intellect.  Go play somewhere else.

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 01:10 | 6099801 Billy the Poet
Billy the Poet's picture

A good, nuanced approach both on Rand and on our resident one-trick-pony progressive shill.

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 09:12 | 6100120 shovelhead
shovelhead's picture

I like his RED / BLUE schtick where he vehemently tries to convince you he's not fully loaded up on the blue plate special.

"Nah, I never read the books, but she's as ugly as shit on the tubes."

He's a sweetheart, but he demands the State to take your money to satisfy his nobel and altruistic self-serving do-goodism.

If it wasn't for those 1,296 regulations, your donut shop guy would try to kill you with depleted uranium donuts and malathion laced coffee.

Cuz that's how Statists roll.

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 11:57 | 6100385 New_Meat
New_Meat's picture

"I like his RED / BLUE schtick where he vehemently tries to convince you he's not fully loaded up on the blue plate special."

It strikes me that the MSM swapped the assignment of Red := Demz and Blue := Repubz some time ago.  Anyone know?  Any mention of it?  Or was it just kinda' slipped in?

- Ned

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 10:11 | 6100230 A Nanny Moose
A Nanny Moose's picture

Throw the baby out with the bathwater much?

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 23:53 | 6099675 Billy the Poet
Billy the Poet's picture

When you blurted out "Fuck the Palestinians" you blew your cover. Liquor can do that. You wasted again?

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 00:18 | 6099715 LetThemEatRand
LetThemEatRand's picture

I didn't so much blurt it out as say that I'm no fan of either the Isrealis or Palestinians.  I didn't realize I had to pick sides.  So you've thrown in with Rand on philosophy, and the Muzzies with your wallet?  Good luck with that.  You know what they say about a fool and his money.

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 00:31 | 6099731 Billy the Poet
Billy the Poet's picture

The idea that one can interact with others such as Ayn Rand or a Palestinian soap distributor as individuals who bring value in specific areas eludes you, doesn't it?

Let's try another example. I like the Beatles. You probably take that to mean that I love every song they ever performed and live my life in accordance with their lyrics and that I hate the Rolling Stones. But when I say that I like the Beatles it means that I like much of their work, am ambivelenat about some of it and you couldn't pay me to listen to some of the crap. And I do llisten the Stones too.

Why do you insist that when a person sees value in one specific aspect of an artsist's work that they devote their life to that artist and can't possibly consider that anything else ever produced has any value?

Do you live your life that way or do you just think of other individuals as cartoons rather than as people?

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 00:34 | 6099737 LetThemEatRand
LetThemEatRand's picture

If you want to know why I think you are a cartoon, look yourself in the mirror and don't blame everyone else.

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 00:44 | 6099753 Billy the Poet
Billy the Poet's picture

Typical "progressive" response. Why not come right out and tell us why you support the call for more government regulation?

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 22:38 | 6099533 LetThemEatRand
LetThemEatRand's picture

"When is John Galt?"

When, where or who?  He moved to China, where "In the last two decades, the Chinese have moved from a totally government-controlled economy toward freer markets, and more than 300 million Chinese citizens now comfortably belong in the world’s middle class."  You know, the new version of the middle class envisioned by Rand, where you work 14 hour days for a multi-national corporation so you can eat and so some Zionist somewhere can have a bigger yacht than his competitor.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 22:50 | 6099559 Fahque Imuhnutjahb
Fahque Imuhnutjahb's picture

Luckily this ascending working class in China have the freedom to breathe and wallow in the industrial filth that their progress has wrought.  Despoiling their farmland and water; let the fracking/fucking commence!  Oh well, as long as it's NIMBY.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 23:20 | 6099605 Billy the Poet
Billy the Poet's picture

"You know, the new version of the middle class envisioned by Rand, where you work 14 hour days for a multi-national corporation so you can eat and so some Zionist somewhere can have a bigger yacht than his competitor."

 

You didn't provide any documentation to support your position. But of course you can't because she never said anything like that. 

Jobs went to China due to legislation like NAFTA which was forced upon the American people by the government which you still insist is our only hope. 

 

"Statism survives by looting; a free country survives by production." -- Ayn Rand

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 23:34 | 6099617 LetThemEatRand
LetThemEatRand's picture

I realize this is not a well thought out response to your post, but you are a fucking idiot.  A free trade agreement was forced on us by our government?!  Which trade does the government do other than being bought and sold by the  private corporations who (and I say "who" instead of "that," because corporations are "people" now), wanted the free trade agreement?  Ideology.  It's what's for breakfast for people who have small minds.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 23:38 | 6099637 Billy the Poet
Billy the Poet's picture

So the guy who admits that he doesn't think about what he says but says it anyway says I''m an idiot? OK.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 23:39 | 6099638 LetThemEatRand
LetThemEatRand's picture

I'm glad we're on the same page.  Idiot.  Now go back and read your Zionist articles of indoctrination written by Rand.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 23:43 | 6099642 Billy the Poet
Billy the Poet's picture

You're the guy who drunkenly screamed "Fuck the Palestinians" at me when I suggested that you should support them economically as I try to do.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 23:43 | 6099655 LetThemEatRand
LetThemEatRand's picture

Not that I would put it past me to say fuck you to anyone, but I don't recall that.  Please post the link, and also let me know when you stopped beating your wife.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 23:50 | 6099661 Billy the Poet
Billy the Poet's picture

 

LetThemEatRand LetThemEatRand's picture Fuck the Palestinians too.

 

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-11-22/forget-orwell-and-rand-we%E2%80...

 

 Please post the link, and also let me know when you stopped beating your wife.

 

That's hilarious coming from the guy who calls me a Zionist despite the fact that I donate to Palestinian charities and buy Palestinian goods while you do nothing but accuse others of possessing your own worst characteristics.

 

 

 

 

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 23:58 | 6099678 LetThemEatRand
LetThemEatRand's picture

Man, I was having fun that night.  Sentiment still stands.  I'll quote myself since you want to take it out of context: 

"Fuck the Palestinians too.  And the Christian crazies.  And mostly fuck the Zionists.  But fuck all of you fucking religitards.  You divide us, and lead us to war over competing dieties, while you eat from a golden spoon and and do everything you claim you are against.

Explain Greenspan."

And I will add --  explain Greenspan's wife, Andrea Mitchell.  What the fuck?  How do real human beings not see that the media is controlled by these assholes when Alan Greenspan's wife is in the front row of the White House press conferences as if she were some kind of fucking investigative journalist and not just an insiders insider?

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 00:02 | 6099687 Billy the Poet
Billy the Poet's picture

The context was your accusation that I am a Zionist, my response that I support Palestine by buying Palestinian goods (backed up by an amazon review in my own name) and my suggestion that you do the same.

But for some reason the suggestion that you actually might support the Palestinian people with a couple of bucks drove you over the edge and you screamed "Fuck the Palestinians."

So have you gotten off your wallet yet and bought any Palestinian goods yet or do you remain content to simply attack those who do for being "Zionists?"

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 00:07 | 6099696 LetThemEatRand
LetThemEatRand's picture

I've never been to Palestine or Isreal.  Never been to Somalia, Ethopia, North Korea, or Kenya.  I live in Florida.  If I'm going to open my wallet, it will be to someone who needs help locally.  If you want to send your money to Palestine to make up for your devotion to Ayn Rand, that's your business.

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 01:13 | 6099713 Billy the Poet
Billy the Poet's picture

When I buy Palestinian goods I trade value for value just as Ayn Rand said one should.

But putting aside your miserly lack of social conscience for the moment, do you see the stupidity inherent in your accusation that I am a Zionist considering the fact that I support Palestinians economically while you straight out refuse to do so?

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 23:54 | 6099682 gwiss
gwiss's picture

Ah, I get it now.  You actually don't know what you are talking about, which is why you are all over the map.  Somehow in your mind, Rand not only stands for bankers controlling the world, but also for a heirarchical materialistic soulless world.

 

Admit it -- you didn't actually read the book.  It's ok.  We all understand.  Hard to front cohesive arguments when they eminate from a vacuum.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 22:39 | 6099539 calltoaccount
calltoaccount's picture

Warren and de Blasio’s government would take your freedom in order to protect you from freedom’s harmful effects."

 

this article is total bs.    bad guys trolls on duty. 

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 23:05 | 6099557 LetThemEatRand
LetThemEatRand's picture

The author is a Hawaiin Congresswoman who was also part of the MIC in the form of a soldier turned politician.  Her state sells pineapples to rich tourists, making her part of the productive class.  It is unimportant that she spent her entire adult life making a living working for tax payers.  She knows that everyone else needs to make their own living.  After all, someone has to work in order to support her lifestyle.  That's why she likes the Chinese model.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 23:12 | 6099595 chunga
chunga's picture

If she was really going do something to nurture an environment for the american dream she'd get fired.

For example Brooksley Born.

 

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 23:25 | 6099612 Handful of Dust
Handful of Dust's picture

I thought DiBasio resigned?

 

Too bad.

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 10:28 | 6100260 A Nanny Moose
A Nanny Moose's picture

 Her state sells pineapples to rich tourists, making her part of the productive class.

Because her State (a collective) sells something, she (the individual who happens to work for The Bigger State) is part of the productive class? WTF??

 It is unimportant that she spent her entire adult life making a living working for tax payers.

I embrace this 100%. You should to. People like her are the best friends of individual freedom, for when the wheels come of this short bus, at least Liberalism, Anarcho-Capitalism, Free Markets, and Liberty will not be to blame. I fully embrace the Statists now. Let them have their way. Either way it gets bloody.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 23:38 | 6099632 glenlloyd
glenlloyd's picture

So Warren and de Blasio don't seem to recognize the rise of big .gov (welfare / warfare) being a reason for the decline of the middle class?

Somehow it doesn't surprise me one bit. Every sector of the economy where .gov has gotten involved is where the middle class has taken a beating.

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 08:56 | 6100097 usednabused
usednabused's picture

And which sector hasn't .gov become involved in? I can not think of any at all.

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 00:52 | 6099769 luckylongshot
luckylongshot's picture

When I read about anyone planning more government as the solution the BS detector goes off. Government is the problem. Case in point Belgium, which recently went two years without a functioning government. So how did that work out? Belgium experienced the strongest economic performance of any country in the EU over the period as well as the best economic performance in Belgium's history. If politicians want to help restore the American dream then they should make themselves redundant and close down the government.

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 06:42 | 6099951 doctor10
doctor10's picture

Why can't these adolescent control freaks shut up and go away?

Warren, fer chrissake, oversaw Congressional implementation of TARP!!

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 22:21 | 6099505 MonetaryApostate
MonetaryApostate's picture

How about we just change it to "How Taxes & Policing for Profit Are Raping The American Way of Life", mmm k?

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 22:26 | 6099515 orez65
orez65's picture

Elizabeth Warren is a Comanche/Sioux/ApacheAmerican, so she must be correct!!

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 22:34 | 6099527 nmewn
nmewn's picture

With blue eyes, so shes "exceptional" ;-)

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 22:42 | 6099542 LetThemEatRand
LetThemEatRand's picture

The author of this article who is against big government:  "“I believe we need to continue to hunt down and bring to justice those who would commit acts of terror against Americans.  For that reason, I supported a short-term Patriot Act extension earlier this year in order to allow time for a robust debate on this important and controversial bill,” said Herrera Beutler.

So we have a faux Indian and a faux Libertarian.  Knife or banana?  Which do you choose?

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 22:46 | 6099548 the not so migh...
the not so mighty maximiza's picture

i choose the bagel and hot dog

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 23:27 | 6099613 Handful of Dust
Handful of Dust's picture

I would choose the jalapeño bagel but I'm afraid it would offend both Mexicans and the Jews.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 23:36 | 6099628 LetThemEatRand
LetThemEatRand's picture

Not to mention that the banana would be pretty sore in the morning.

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 07:17 | 6099982 Farmer Joe in B...
Farmer Joe in Brooklyn's picture

George Bush Jr is in Texas.

Solved it for her.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 22:44 | 6099546 thetruthhurts
thetruthhurts's picture

Warren is a hoe.....not sure which tribe though Arapahoe, Navahoe, Tahoe, Walapaihoe.....one of those.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 23:03 | 6099578 Kprime
Kprime's picture

she a DC ho

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 01:55 | 6099835 GOLDTRADERRR
GOLDTRADERRR's picture

A Republican whore

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 10:58 | 6100294 rejected
rejected's picture

With the name 'Herrera' ??

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 06:48 | 6099956 monad
monad's picture

Don't insult the warriors. She's Rockefeller. Pure trash.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 22:32 | 6099525 Usurious
Usurious's picture

 

 

.......................end JEW Confetti..........and change the world........

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 22:36 | 6099531 the not so migh...
the not so mighty maximiza's picture

the goverment is not american, it is a control system for the international bankers.  they own all parties and candiates.   Purge is required

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 10:54 | 6100290 rejected
rejected's picture

And after the purge?... read the comments! No commonality whatsoever. It'll be a hilarious three stooges. 

Not advocating this present occupying disaster in Washington DC but, you have to have something to move to.The old constitution?

Trying to implement the old constitution in this society would result in riots. Once domesticated always domesticated plus 300 million individual versions of what freedom is. lol.

And that includes the supposed hardcore freedumb lovers once they figure out no one has their back.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 22:38 | 6099536 Fahque Imuhnutjahb
Fahque Imuhnutjahb's picture

"Warren and de Blasio need to get with the program and stop agitating for change.  As long as the corporate lobbyists via the revolving door in D.C. have our backs all is good."  He said as he blew Cohiba smoke into his cognac snifter.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 22:40 | 6099541 nmewn
nmewn's picture

lol

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 23:19 | 6099602 duo
duo's picture

When the middle class was built in the first half of the 20th century, there were actually quite high tariffs on manufactured goods from overseas.  The destruction of WWII helped our middle class even more.  Men like Henry Ford, who had to fight his board of directors to pay the $5/day wage to his workers (enabling them to buy the product they built) would simply be sacked today.

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 00:10 | 6099699 gwiss
gwiss's picture

Tariffs and freedom within a country are not mutually exclusive, are they.  Most don't understand that.

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 00:59 | 6099786 Government need...
Government needs you to pay taxes's picture

IMPORT tariffs . . . let's be real clear about the type of tariff that is not mutually exclusive with American individual liberty.    

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 01:08 | 6099798 gwiss
gwiss's picture

If we are stupid enough to enact export tariffs on ourselves, we deserve whatever misery follows.

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 12:48 | 6099950 Fahque Imuhnutjahb
Fahque Imuhnutjahb's picture

The so-called "free market" Chinese actually do impose export tariffis of a sort on their indusries, who in turn are very creative in circumventing them.  See the shipping of semi-finished aluminum as an example.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 22:47 | 6099549 Cabreado
Cabreado's picture

Any soul on this planet who pretends to know about "the american dream" and pretends to know how to "fix it" without a complete and total exposure of the corrupt controlling forces in play, which includes the collective congress of the united states, is a liar and a farce, and should be denounced with vigor and urgency.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 22:47 | 6099551 Earl Slaughter-...
Earl Slaughter-- Truck Driver.'s picture

BS so-called "Free Market" propaganda: break-up TBTF, sinplify tbe tax-code, quit rewarding companies that export jobs, and screw this author's horseshit.

 

The USA is still mostly a consumer-based economy: productivity has never been higher, but wages are shit-- the worker/consumer has too much month left at the end of their paycheck to afford to make discretionary purchases (on which our economy relies)-- why don't these clowns get that?

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 23:34 | 6099624 Oldwood
Oldwood's picture

Productivity is only high in those industries where OWNERS have invested in technology. The consumer has only invested in tech toys and done nothing to increase THEIR productivity. This is why fewer are employed.

And when speaking of productivity, are we speaking of actual production, because we do very little compared to our past. I do not believe that paper pushers and casino managers are "productive". They simply redistribute the wealth....they are overhead and their costs must be subtracted from any real quotient that would considered " production". 

Productivity has never been higher? That there is downright funny!!!!

When is the last time most people have seen anyone produce anything in this country???

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 01:13 | 6099738 gwiss
gwiss's picture

It's been a long time, because we have so completely forgotten how freedom and individualism works that we can't find our asses even if we use both hands.

 

So here's the analogy.  Rancher Ben learns that cows grow best and are healthiest when allowed to eat what they were designed to eat, but applies this wisdom too broadly, and thinks that what he has learned is that he ought to let his cows roam free because "nature" is their natural environment.  Wolves eat all the cows and Rancher Ben starves.

 

The economic system in our country is an artificial ecology, just like a farm or ranch.  Within the confines of its legal system and carefully nurtured social milieu, economic freedom works great, because people follow the rules because following the rules is the easier and more reliable path to rewards.  But, it's only the easier path because society continually beats down those who don't follow the rules, and allowing society the freedom to police itself through voluntary association and voluntary cooperation is the feedback loop that punishes those who don't follow the rules, and it does so in a way that strengthens the fiber of the social milieu rather than weakening it by steering power to a third party who absorbs more power and responsibility the more it is used to solve problems (triangulation.) 

 

High tariffs are completely compatible with economic freedom inside a country, just like killing hawks and coyotes are completely compatible with raising free range chickens and eggs that are extremely good for you.  

 

If you try to generalize your lessons to much and conflate letting one variable alone to hunt its own best equilibirum with throwing up your hands and exerting no control over the system at all, if you throw open the gates to your artificial ecology, then either your artificial ecology will take over nature, or nature will take over your artificial ecology, and nature wins every time.

 

Fucking fools, always learning the wrong goddamn lesson.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 23:29 | 6099615 Handful of Dust
Handful of Dust's picture

As long as Warren promises to grant an executive pardon and free Corzine, she has my vote.

 

 

... wait a sec....

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 23:41 | 6099645 Oldwood
Oldwood's picture

They are only looking for solutions that DO NOT require actual work. After all, those with money were just lucky with the lottery. Anyone who would actually work to get ahead, much less wealthy, is sick and likely dangerous. We should tax them viciously in hopes of reforming them and if they do not, then they should have their wealth removed and constrained to prevent them from corrupting anyone else.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 23:43 | 6099654 silentboom
silentboom's picture

The article started out well and then went on to credit public education and the other various forms of waste that empower the unions and leave us wiith the shithole economy we have now.  Fuck that and the horse it rode in on.

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 10:42 | 6100277 mastersnark
mastersnark's picture

Your avatar tells me you should not be surprised a government employee took that position.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 23:48 | 6099663 MedicalQuack
MedicalQuack's picture

DeBlasio and Warren are not going to fix things as I have said for the last 3 years, we are under the Attack of the Killer Algorithms.  Think about it,everything runs automated and it's the algos, not just limited to markets running it.  The other day I listened to a video on philosophy by Haim Bodek which goes beyond what he is doing in the way of whistle blowing to cover cheating computer code and algorithms that are everywhere, basically what I have been screaming about for years.

http://www.ducknet.net/attack-of-the-killer-algorithms/

There's no changing anything until we get rid of the scoring in the US for profit, mining and selling our personal data.  Three years ago I wrote a post about this set to become the biggest attack on consumers and sadly it's here.  It's the flipping algos on the machines folks and if the Avon incident didn't prove it to you this week, I don't know what will. You are "scored" into a corner where you can't get out and no amount of legal verbiage will do much of anything as people code right around it, bottom line.  Remember it's still people who write code that can cheat and move money or pay people to do it for them.  Here's the direct correlation to the Secret Scoring of America (a report) to inequality.  You can't budge without a million algorithms biting your butt all day long as you have to strive to quality for everything, almost short of going to the bathroom at times, I swear.  This is why all the Presidential candidates are a joke, they don't touch the problem.

http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/06/data-selling-and-direct-correlation-to.html

All algorithms are not bad but we have way too many that have crossed the line from being a utility to being a menace and all the "scoring" algorithms that are bought and sold about us are right in there.  We need to index and license all data sellers, so we know who in the hell they are.  My campaign page will give you quite a few links that you've never heard of to include the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau buying up all your credit card transactions too.  Government is either too stupid or they hide behind being stupid and plan this.  Truly though I think stupid wins.  

To put this thing into a simple nutshell, people cheat, lie and steal with computer code, bottom line and those who think that "hope" will do anything to fix this are flat out of their minds as algorithms and code execute like they are told to do, the code.  Hope is useless against code that cheats. 

 

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 00:00 | 6099688 Mini-Me
Mini-Me's picture

"...wise government policies nurture an environment where the dream can grow through actions, such as funding of public infrastructure, scientific and technological research, and public education."

Repeat the phrase "wise government" out loud and tell me if you can keep a straight face. 

Public infrastructure - Amtrak?  The interstate highways?  Or maybe he's thinking about the rat-infested subways in NYC.

Scientific and technological research - NASA?  Or maybe he's referring to the NSA's innovative ways of spying on us without warrants or probable cause.  That dream is growing like a tumor.

Public education - Anyone citing government schools as a reason for supporting the bureaucracy in Washington needs to have his head examined.

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 00:00 | 6099689 kchrisc
kchrisc's picture

Government is nothing more than a criminal syndicate of theft and violence backed by a lie.

The banksters are nothing more than grifters backed by a lie.

Guillotine the lies.

Liberty is a demand. Tyranny is submission.

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 00:19 | 6099709 monad
monad's picture

What I had difficulty understanding was why my second generation immigrant friends were so quick to sell out to the same Statist dogma that drove their home countries into tyranny.

having studied it. I find that 800+ years of social conditioning becomes programming. As in DNA. Permanent.

I looked at finance. The coders said that genetic algorithms subsumed into themselves. They are clumsy children. Thats up for grabs. Claim your own life through action, or become extinct.

I AM THE BEST AT RIDDLES

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 00:46 | 6099755 TeethVillage88s
TeethVillage88s's picture

Socialism was enacted for reasons of lack of power of workers or citizens against the money trust, robber barons, or unfair business practices... except for protection of kids and mandatory public education.

- Clayton Antitrust Act 1914
- Railway Labor Act 1926
- Social Security 1935
- Labor Management Relations Act of 1947
- Contract Work Hours Standards Act 1962
- Equal Pay Act of 1963
- Civil Rights Act of 1964
- Economic Opportunity Act of 1964
- Food Stamp Act of 1964
- Medicare passed 1965
- Medicaid passed 1965
- Voting Rights Act of 1965
- Higher Education Act of 1965
- Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965
- Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966
- Child Safety Act of 1966
- Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) of 1967
- Truth-in-Lending Act of 1968
- Land Sales Disclosure Act of 1968
- Bilingual Education Act of 1968
- Think Medicaid expanded in 1968?
- Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970
- Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (MSPA), passed in 1983,
- FLSA amendment increased the minimum wage to $5.15 an hour 1996
- Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007

Much of Social Legislation is not passed in big bills (seems well hidden) and some of it is at state or city level.

"Then in the early 1980s, a new theory swept the country. Its disciples claimed that if government policies took care of the rich and powerful, wealth would trickle down for everyone else. Trickle-down believers cut taxes sharply for those at the top and pushed for “deregulation” that hobbled the cops on Wall Street and let the most powerful corporations far too often do as they pleased."

Well Anglophiles were always out to destroy the USA, to destroy the US Constitution, after they passed the Federal Reserve Act and took us into 2 world wars it was only a matter of time till they destroyed our Legal System, our Business System, our culture, and their propensity for war, spying, control, and intrigue... has simply destroyed us with debt & corruption.

In the end Wall Street is the destination of choice for Mafia and Russian Crime Bosses.

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 07:57 | 6100022 Oldwood
Oldwood's picture

The greatest acts of destruction have always been justified as for the greatest good.

Just imagine how much "good" will come from the complete destruction of all freedoms.

Utopia at last!

We have seen this before.

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 15:35 | 6100947 TeethVillage88s
TeethVillage88s's picture

The problem with Socialism is the same as having a Rich Government Budget.

- Someone will target your riches no matter who you are
- Government Trust Funds or any Fund is a Target
- When was the Coup or how many Coups have we had on the Federal Government, 1913 was one, 1981 was one, 1992 Bill Clinton's Election was one, 2000 G.W. Bush Election was one, 2008 Obama Elections was one too since how you take a Socialist and turn him into a Warmonger I just don't know...

- Persistence of Large Organizations and Large Budgets is always Ripe for both Plunder and "Capture" by Evil Actors

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 09:55 | 6100204 Winston of Oceania
Winston of Oceania's picture

Socialism is just another means of subjugation of the many by the few. Oh look another oligarchy...

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 01:33 | 6099819 Vidar
Vidar's picture

The author tries hard but he betrays his claimed principles and exposes himself as a fool.

"The debate here isn’t between a more powerful central government versus no government and a dog-eat-dog world where the strong eat the weak. A fair read of American history shows that wise government policies nurture an environment where the dream can grow through actions, such as funding of public infrastructure, scientific and technological research, and public education. And government regulation plays a necessary role in keeping America safe."

Bullshit like this is what empowers the very people the author is attacking. Once you concede that violating property rights is ok "sometimes" you have conceded all principles. The state will not stay inside any limits you think you can set for it. Power corrupts, and any system that allows some to have the power to initiate force must either move toward freedom and the recognition of absolute property rights, or toward socialism. The state and all justifications for its existence must be burned out of society, root and branch and without mercy or compromise.

No government does not mean "dog eat dog" or the strong dominating the weak. The state is the vampire that sucks the blood of the productive. Free markets have made it possible for the "weak" to live more comfortably than any statist regime or system of control tried throughout history. Freedom allows everyone to do the best they can to benefit themselves and others.

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 09:30 | 6100159 shovelhead
shovelhead's picture

What if my freedom is the one to kick down your door, rape your wife and steal your shit?

I suppose you might want to pay someone to hunt me down, right?

Just a thought.

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 09:52 | 6100198 Winston of Oceania
Winston of Oceania's picture

Go ahead and try, we are well armed.

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 18:42 | 6101468 Marco
Marco's picture

Question about absolute property rights ... how long do you have to occupy someone else's land before it becomes your absolute property? (Don't assume I'm making some bleeding heart argument about indians, not that it being associated with bleeding heart liberals inherently would make the argument invalid, this question needs to be answered just as much for land which at one point was seized by eminent domain for instance.)

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 01:53 | 6099833 GOLDTRADERRR
GOLDTRADERRR's picture

JAIME BEUTLER REPUBLICAN

TOTAL BULLSHIT AND WHORE FOR THE RETHUGS

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 02:12 | 6099846 Gusher
Gusher's picture

If you think Warren, Obummer and Blasio-stupid are the solution, you are part of the problem.  We have to work our way out of our mess.  And soon.

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 03:02 | 6099862 besnook
besnook's picture

the simplest thing .gov could do is let cash flow instead of making it contraband. cash has a way of making money credit can't. it is the fuel of street economics and all sorts of underground businesses that funnel money to the real economy. you are not going to pay for hookers and blow or your maid with a credit card.

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 05:59 | 6099881 Batman11
Batman11's picture

If you want an example of Piketty in action look at land ownership.

No one is making anymore ......

In the US, no current American owned any of it a few centuries ago, it has now concentrated in the hands of a few families.

Is this situation ever going to improve naturally?

Vast swathes of the UK are still owned by the old money Aristocracy in estates they have held for centuries.

Wealth accumulates to those that inherit land and capital.

It's the way it works and is probably why it is called Capitalism.

You don't need to earn it, inheriting it seems to be the true path to the top, the wealth accumulated over generations.

The UK rich list is topped by the Duke of Westminster that inherited the lot.

Inheritance, not hard work is the key.

 

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 06:11 | 6099932 Batman11
Batman11's picture

The symbols of  Communism are the hammer and sickle, indicating hard work.

The best symbol of Capitalism would be a fat old cunt sitting at his desk allocating his Capital and getting others to do all the hard work for him, e.g Charlie Munger.

 

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 06:52 | 6099958 Oldwood
Oldwood's picture

Yes, hammer and sickle, the "workers paradise".

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 06:54 | 6099960 negative rates
negative rates's picture

There is a guy who went to a higher education school and got a degree to take your "inheritance", call it a trust and then make certain you spend it the way he wants you to spend it, and that's after he gets his 75% cut, go ahead and try to "inherent", see how much you get verses how much he wants you get a "job" to work for it. 

Mon, 05/18/2015 - 01:50 | 6104816 monad
Sat, 05/16/2015 - 05:07 | 6099905 Batman11
Batman11's picture

We de-regulated banks and trusted bankers and they rigged every market they could.

We removed the 1930s legislation designed to prevent another 1929 and they did it again in 2008.

We can thank the bankers for reminding us of the necessity of legislation and why it was enacted in the first place.

There is lots of financial regulation because bankers are incompetent, unscrupulous and entirely without morals.

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 09:35 | 6100168 shovelhead
shovelhead's picture

Lol,

Yup, those regulation will sure slow em down...If they ignore regs then the solution is MOAR.

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 05:09 | 6099906 Batman11
Batman11's picture

Businessmen discovered slavery and child labour were good for profits.

It took Central Governments to stop these things.

 

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 06:58 | 6099967 Oldwood
Oldwood's picture

Read a little history. There has always been child labor, in many cases hard brutal labor. It hasn't been until the last hundred years that it has become prohibited. At the time of the first Great Depression, 80% of Americans were farmers who relied heavily on their children's labor to simply survive. You can live in your idyllic world of communist paradise but those fucks not only relied on child labor but deliberately murdered and starved millions for the only purpose of enforcing THEIR ideals.

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 09:46 | 6100187 Winston of Oceania
Winston of Oceania's picture

There is still slavery in America, sex slaves of all ages, kidnappings in Arizona you never even hear about! Laws only keep the lawful in compliance, for old wood you sure have some naive notions.

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 07:13 | 6099977 Farmer Joe in B...
Farmer Joe in Brooklyn's picture

Eliminating the competition. 

Now, back to work, debt donkeys..!!

Sat, 05/16/2015 - 06:55 | 6099961 deerhunter
deerhunter's picture

America is but a blip on the road map of history.  Freedom is unusual.  It is unique.  It has left us.  If you look back five or six thousand years mankind has been ruled by tyrants.  War lords.  Emperors.  Feudal lords.  Kings.  Life was brutal and short.  Life expectancies were short.  Tribal wars.  Ghengas Khan.  Crusades.  See America was a dream.  A dream built on the proposition that all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator etc.

Without private property and the right of individuals to own said property there is no purpose in working and bettering yourself and your family and their future.  All government money spent comes from someone elses pocket.  The government at all levels,  federal, state, county and city or township have growin into all consuming beasts.  the rules and regulations and licensing requirments just for busineess have become  untenable.  I know whereof I speak.  I often must aquire building permits as I am in the home remodeling business. Dont pay your property taxes and see how long you continue to own your property.

Case in point.  Recently I was required to pay 600 dollars and undergo 2 inspections to install a 2200 patio door.  About 5 years ago this particular suburb was hit by a wave of "Travelers" after a severe hail storm.  They dissappeared with multiple thousands of dollars of homeowners deposits for roofing work that was never delivered or installed.  The municipality reaction was to enact severe contractor requirements including bondiing, criminal background checks,  vehicle make model and license plate numbers for company and all private vehicles that may be on the job site etc.  I went back to the homeowner and told her if she wanted her patio door installed she could split the 6oo dollars with me.

We have become a nation of tax mules.  Many companies refuse to do work now in this suburb for this very reason.  That is all well and good but what catches on in one suburb eventually spreads to others.  We had a revolution in this country once for taxaton without representation.  I have had women in the permit deppartment of local suburbs sit at their desks eating their lunch from 1240 to 100 watching me wait to do 3 minutes of paperwork to have them print me a permit.  Oh and that last minute freshen up their lipstick.  See,  with government employees time is not money.  Their money comes from our time.  I did ask one woman who upon finishing her lunch if she understood that her paycheck comes in part from my permit fees to do work in her suburb.  She kind of cocked her head and looked at me funny like my Beagle Samson does when I talk to him at the end of a too long business day.

America is consuming itself like a snake eating its own tail.  Sad.  We hardly knew ya.  If not us,  who?  If not now,  when?  Good day all.

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