"Freedom" thread or something |
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dtguitarfan
Forum Senior Member Joined: June 24 2011 Location: Chattanooga, TN Status: Offline Points: 1708 |
Posted: July 10 2013 at 14:26 | |||
Now I can get behind the idea that Obama has not done what needs to be done in order to fix this problem. I would argue that part of that is because of the gridlock in government and the fact that Obama is a pragmatist who will try to give people enough of something they want in order to make baby steps towards the goal rather than introduce a bill that will never make it through. But I'm on board with saying that Obama has not done what needs to be done. However, what I simply cannot get behind is the Libertarian idea that there should be no safety net - that programs like Social Security and Medicare (and ultimately a universal healthcare program - something I think would greatly benefit the USA) should not be. I simply cannot abide that kind of reasoning. I find it distasteful and immoral, to be frank. Hard core Libertarians will struggle and struggle to tell me that these programs do not work and if we just had a completely free market everything would be fine, but I simply do not believe that - I am enough of an optimist to believe that we CAN put intelligent programs like these in place and that they will work, and enough of a pessimist to believe that if we had a truly free market, this world would go to hell in a hand-basket because people are just too selfish and greedy, and the powerful would use their power to gain more power and trample over anyone who gets in their way in order to do so. I believe that we need public education because otherwise there will be families who simply can't afford private school (and I'm unwilling to allow such), I believe that there should be aid for the starving, I believe that universal healthcare is the only way to ensure that we don't end up with skyrocketing medical prices (USA provides such great evidence for that, especially when compared with countries that DO have universal healthcare), and I believe we simply need government for publicly used conveniences like roads and electricity as well as protections like Fire Departments and Police. |
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manofmystery
Forum Senior Member Joined: January 26 2008 Location: PA, USA Status: Offline Points: 4335 |
Posted: July 10 2013 at 13:40 | |||
Exactly, Reagan did nothing to stop a cycle that had long existed. His free market credentials are fluff. He was a great speaker who talked a lot about deregulation and the market but in practice he increased government growth. Reagan is a convenient target to rally the economically ignorant against market ideals because he spoke a lot about them while not actually practicing any. This is why, during the campaign, I told everyone here than Romney would be worse for the cause of free market economics than Obama because, while neither supports the market, the media could successfully sell the image of Romney the Capitalist to sheep. |
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Time always wins. |
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thellama73
Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: May 29 2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 8368 |
Posted: July 10 2013 at 13:19 | |||
We saw multple collapses between 1917 when the Fed was established and 1980 when Reagan was elected too. I agree with you if by "the rich" you mean "federal reserve bankers." |
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dtguitarfan
Forum Senior Member Joined: June 24 2011 Location: Chattanooga, TN Status: Offline Points: 1708 |
Posted: July 10 2013 at 13:17 | |||
Au contraire - we've seen multiple collapses since Reagan's era of deregulation started. What I think is happening is that we've put too much power into the hands of the rich, and they are playing Jenga with our economy. They pull all the wealth out from the lower and middle classes and pile it up onto the top and then boom - economic collapse. Then the government says "we can't live without you rich people!" The government throws a bunch of money at them, and then rinse, lather, repeat. |
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manofmystery
Forum Senior Member Joined: January 26 2008 Location: PA, USA Status: Offline Points: 4335 |
Posted: July 10 2013 at 13:13 | |||
We're getting dangerously close to me posting that rap video, again
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Time always wins. |
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manofmystery
Forum Senior Member Joined: January 26 2008 Location: PA, USA Status: Offline Points: 4335 |
Posted: July 10 2013 at 13:08 | |||
Our current era of economic collapse is just part of the boom and bust cycle promoted by the folks like Keynes and Krugman. Build a bubble through economic intervention in the market and then when it bursts and millions suffer, repeat.
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Time always wins. |
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thellama73
Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: May 29 2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 8368 |
Posted: July 10 2013 at 13:08 | |||
I didn't say it was all Carter's fault, and I'm not interested in worshiping at the altar of Reagan. You claimed that the economy was nice and stable after FDR until Reagan, which is demonstrably false.
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manofmystery
Forum Senior Member Joined: January 26 2008 Location: PA, USA Status: Offline Points: 4335 |
Posted: July 10 2013 at 13:06 | |||
You've just posted an article by the economic dunce of our time, Paul Krugman, and then, in a whoopdysh*t moment, quoted a republican in defense of Keynes.
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Time always wins. |
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dtguitarfan
Forum Senior Member Joined: June 24 2011 Location: Chattanooga, TN Status: Offline Points: 1708 |
Posted: July 10 2013 at 13:02 | |||
Check out this article by former Republican Bruce Bartlett. FTA:
By the way, that's a great article as Bartlett gives his story of how he ended up falling out of favor with the Republican party and then eventually abandoning their ideas. Edited by dtguitarfan - July 10 2013 at 13:03 |
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dtguitarfan
Forum Senior Member Joined: June 24 2011 Location: Chattanooga, TN Status: Offline Points: 1708 |
Posted: July 10 2013 at 12:56 | |||
So it's all Carter's fault, eh? Here's a nice read about Reagan and how it led to the current era of economic collapse. |
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manofmystery
Forum Senior Member Joined: January 26 2008 Location: PA, USA Status: Offline Points: 4335 |
Posted: July 10 2013 at 12:51 | |||
Calls Bastiat an idiot then quotes Keynes as great economic thinker. Yeah, this guy is a reasonable person that we should be dialoguing with. Yeesh
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Time always wins. |
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thellama73
Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: May 29 2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 8368 |
Posted: July 10 2013 at 12:30 | |||
I guess Carter's presidency never happened then. Nice job rewriting history. |
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The T
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: October 16 2006 Location: FL, USA Status: Offline Points: 17493 |
Posted: July 10 2013 at 12:23 | |||
Quotes, in either or any side of the spectrum, have never and will never solve sh*t.
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dtguitarfan
Forum Senior Member Joined: June 24 2011 Location: Chattanooga, TN Status: Offline Points: 1708 |
Posted: July 10 2013 at 12:19 | |||
As far as influential economists go, I prefer this guy: "Capitalism is the astounding belief that the most wickedest of men will do the most wickedest of things for the greatest good of everyone." - John Maynard Keynes "The decadent international but individualistic capitalism in the hands of which we found ourselves after the war is not a success. It is not intelligent. It is not beautiful. It is not just. It is not virtuous. And it doesn't deliver the goods." - John Maynard Keynes I think he is more relevant to our time as well, as I believe what we are experiencing is very much similar to what led up to the great depression during FDR. Keynes helped get us out of that, and his ideas kept our economy stable for decades, until Reagan ushered in the culture of anti-government and deregulation, and our economy suddenly became unstable again (surprise, surprise). Another good quote: "The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness." - John Kenneth Galbraith |
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thellama73
Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: May 29 2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 8368 |
Posted: July 10 2013 at 12:09 | |||
I don't see what's wrong with being an ideologue anyway. Aren't we all ideologues when it comes to issues we have thought a great deal about and believe strongly in?
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Equality 7-2521
Forum Senior Member Joined: August 11 2005 Location: Philly Status: Offline Points: 15783 |
Posted: July 10 2013 at 12:04 | |||
This is moronic now. Regardless of your school of thought he's an indispensable thinker in the history of economics. You may as well come in here and call Hipparchus or Leucippus an idiot while you're in here. |
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"One had to be a Newton to notice that the moon is falling, when everyone sees that it doesn't fall. "
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thellama73
Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: May 29 2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 8368 |
Posted: July 10 2013 at 11:27 | |||
We shouldn't adopt extreme solutions that will have a negative economic impact if we don't have a clear plan that we are confident will work, yes. Trial and error is not a good methodology when each trial is costly. You, and people like you, seem to be advocating a random assortment of things with no idea of whether they will solve the (alleged) problem, but which will definitely have harmful short term consequences. I don't think a plan with cost-benefit analysis is too much to ask for. |
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dtguitarfan
Forum Senior Member Joined: June 24 2011 Location: Chattanooga, TN Status: Offline Points: 1708 |
Posted: July 10 2013 at 11:12 | |||
Bastiat is an idealogue and an idiot. His point is that what you're saying shouldn't be done by government will be done by some other undefined entity. I'm saying that entity is going to look an awful lot like a government, and then one of these days someone just like you is going to come along and say "'entity a' is evil, and these things shouldn't be done by 'entity a'." Then we're back at square one. Let's cut the crap and stop arguing about who should be doing this, and just do it. Just get things done.
So...because you haven't heard a good proposal for a solution, that means we shouldn't even try? Is that it? That's sure what it sounds like.... No worthwhile endeavor is ever accomplished by a single, simple solution. It always takes multiple steps, and trial and error. You take a little step, find out where you went wrong, adjust, and take more steps. I'm a computer programmer. One of the things I've learned as a computer programmer: just do it. Sit down and write. Don't spend months arguing over the design - just start writing. Yeah, your first design is going to be crap. You're going to have to make adjustments. But if you spend hours arguing over the perfect design, you just get analysis paralysis. Just do it. |
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Equality 7-2521
Forum Senior Member Joined: August 11 2005 Location: Philly Status: Offline Points: 15783 |
Posted: July 10 2013 at 10:53 | |||
One could point to the amount of research done in support of each of those claims, the scientific consensus in the field, the nascence of analytical techniques in fields outside of chemistry and physics, and just a general failure of static models for long term prediction which somehow wasn't quite realized as a problem at the time. |
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"One had to be a Newton to notice that the moon is falling, when everyone sees that it doesn't fall. "
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manofmystery
Forum Senior Member Joined: January 26 2008 Location: PA, USA Status: Offline Points: 4335 |
Posted: July 10 2013 at 10:46 | |||
"Socialism, like the ancient ideas from which it springs, confuses the distinction between government and society. As a result of this, every time we object to a thing being done by government, the socialists conclude that we object to its being done at all. We disapprove of state education. Then the socialists say that we are opposed to any education. We object to a state religion. Then the socialists say that we want no religion at all. We object to a state-enforced equality. Then they say that we are against equality. And so on, and so on. It is as if the socialists were to accuse us of not wanting persons to eat because we do not want the state to raise grain." - Bastiat
People in glass houses.... |
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Time always wins. |
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