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I never take offense to something idiots say on a message board......
unless it's thunder dan who keeps trying to justify his statement that "rich people and black people drive cadillacs"...
I'm not sure, but I think Obama gave the queen a heart of America pendant to go with the Ipod.
I never take offense to something idiots say on a message board......
unless it's thunder dan who keeps trying to justify his statement that "rich people and black people drive cadillacs"...
I think you might have misinterpreted what I said, to an extent, then went on to make a very good point.
Key word: was. Meaning, at the time of its inception to its glory years...and man were they glorious for a nearly a century.The American free market system was obviously the best choice and heaped vast wealth onto most of is citizens and certainly the government.
No one can argue with the system's results. Yes, of course it should be open to criticism and ridicule for its obvious short-comings. But to be an American in the 20th century...Im sorry, we did have it better than the rest of the world (except maybe Canada, all the benefits, none of the responsibility).
But lets not pretend that the European market system is any less prone to abuse. It is...very much so, as evidenced by their economic turmoil now.
This extends beyond the housing market, or real estate values, bad mortgages, CDSs, etc. This is a systemic problem of the ultra-rich getting ultra-richer by ways and means of other's wealth.
To be honest, I despise money at all levels. But its like government, a necessary evil.
Ive said it before, I really hate people who create nothing, manufacture nothing and produce nothing, yet are some of the richest people in the world.
Sure, you can see their services as an asset to their customers because they do indeed increase their wealth. But in order to do that, the investors must assume some amount of risk, some times huge risks depending on aggresiveness.
Thats a fair deal and I understand it. But what risks does this wealth manager deal with? Worst case scenario, he risks his job. None of his wealth, though (unless he is investing right along side his customers, which I am sure 99.9% of them are).
ES said it best, if we were truly as mad as we say we are and if we as a country were worth the land we sit upon, we'd have lynched the entirety of Wall Street the day after as a warning to the furture wealth managers of the risk they assume in their position.
As it stands, these assholes are only benefitting from their larceny. Because thats what it was...larceny. Grand theft of trillions of dollars (did you know the British do not use the term trillion? They use thousand billion...didnt knwo that until recently).
And what is their punishment? What is the ultimate way we as People can say " you for stealing our money!"
We give them our tax dollars because our entire system of money hinges upon their success or failure. We as a People do not want to even entertain any ideas that could possibly prevent any company/bank/ins ution from becoming similarly large enough in the future that its failure sends our way of the life down the crapper.
I am quite sorry, but my sympathy for the average investor/American is about nil at the moment. Ignorance and arrogance got us this far ahead and it will certainly take us further behind as well.
Thats my take on our market system....it ing sucks. Its always sucked, our monetary system sucks and the tipping point at which your money makes money for you with little effort is extremely high (purposely so, I might add).
Now, this thread addresses fascism, which lead to the discussion of different government systems in use throughout the world (Canada, Britain, etc).
First, I want to make clear that in the statement you quoted I was only talking about the market/money system, not the government.
To address the various government systems in place around the world and to what scope they do or do not provide services to their people...
Im sorry, smaller is better. Simple designs are always better than complicated designs. Forever and always.
Systems get complex with purpose, no matter if we're talking government or computer programs. They get complicated because their intended functions get ever larger in scope. Whether your goal is to provide healthcare to every man, woman and child, or make a slinky animate its fall down a stairs using a physics model, it gets complicated.
Since we're talking about government, you must add the human factor. Again, I dont trust my fellow man in any way shape or form. But its necessary for a functioning society so it becomes a balance between of power. How is enough? Where is the line drawn in power of government over its people?
Power to enact law, power to enforce law, power to wage war using its citizens as fodder, power, power, power.
Government being one giant bureaucracy, its inherently slow to change. Might the Europeans have some useful insight on government? Sure, why not. Does it mean we should follow? Of course not. This is the same continent that tried killing itself twice in the past century. This is the same continent responsible for the majority of the world's ills because of their selfish desire and poor, mostly futile attempts to carve borders properly on a global scale.
So yes, they might have insight, but we have ours as well and we should not delve so willingly into their mindset, just as we should not so staunchly object to holding on to some of our core beliefs about government, as well.
There is a reason our system worked better than theirs...that they pretty much adopted wholesale the way we do business and have similar ways of electing leadership (similar, not exact, excluding France post-Emperor Napolean).
My problem boils down to these things:
1) I have no faith in my fellow man to make any decisions that could be looked at objectively as "successful". The world should be run by scientists using the scientific method, even if its a practice in futility, its better than what we're doing.
2) Size and scope of government in our lives is a concern. A terribly, trembling concern. It should be on the minds and hearts of everyone that our government is increasing its size and reach significantly.
3) To incorporate any European-style services, we must first decide what we will cut from our own. Again, all we would be doing is tacking on more products and services the government is responsible for in addition to what it already is committed to. We cant have it all without giving it all away first. I dont trust that approach in the slightest. Actually, I'd disappear before then....right off the grid.
4) Take a sobering look at what government is expected to do by its citizens and consider that the self-indulgent masses might not be the best place to derive ideas about its administration. It is time, IMO, to shut it down in totality and craft an entirely new system of government and finance. I realize this is the pipedream of pipedreams.
I admit that I dont have the answers. I also admit not everyone will like it or even benefit. But its my opinion that the time of big government with big money and big commitments is past, or at least should be (pipedream in today's world, what with all the crying for; More! More! More!) I say this because as government's become more powerful and far-reaching, the more the wealthy covet its control. And control they will... ing inevitably. To pretend that Utopia exists, or that there is even ONE ing government in existence or history that is run by the People, for the People is a delusion and that person's opinion should be disregarded out of hand. The powerful will continue to be powerful, no matter who is in charge at the moment.
Limiting the power that government has will reduce their ability to exert their will over us. Why is it government is always so willing to increase its role? Obviously because the larger the role, the more influence, the more influence, the more power over its money stream.
Make no mistake. Government views us as a revenue stream. Nothing more. Its just some contribute more than others and this determines pecking order. Those at the top craft policy, we at the bottom eat the difference.
Increasing that power is well beyond something I would agree to, and that is certainly what I view European government to be. So unless we re-write the Cons ution, our laws, our taxes and our money system, I have no will to adopt anything European. Not now, not ever.
Not because I am some flag-waving patriot who hates liberals, but because I am a borderline hermit who just wants to be left the alone by greedy politicians and their never-ending thirst for a larger stake in my checkbook.
Holy God, Wall of Text, hallowed be thy name...
Subtle....reeeeeeal subtle.
honest, I really wasn't referring to you........this time.
cmon now, I like you DR, even if you don't believe the Surgeon General when he says that second hand smoke is bad for you.
I just put the total idiots on IGNORE like Clambake. He's to pathetic to laugh at.
cmon now, I like you DR, even if you don't believe the Surgeon General when he says that second hand smoke is bad for you.
where's your with my pot stickers?
it's spelled "too".....dumbassHe's to pathetic to laugh at.
Clambake is hilarious and good people............
I thought this was a nice little nuts :
Nobody cares when you post it because it's bull . Trying to claim you are more American than other Americans is, in fact, un-American.
And pointless.
And belies a decided lack of thought. Palin proved that.
I enjoy your posts DR, but even I couldn't take that diatribe. Maybe I'll go get some coffee and come back for Round 2.
Well I like comedy too. However, sometimes the comedy is so dumb, I cannot stomach it. Then when you add the relentless personal attacks. I have absolutely zero respect for people with such malevolence. The only respect I can find for them is pity.
That's a rather odd equivalence, but maybe it's not quite what you meant to say. Had you said you feel pity instead of respect, that would have made more sense. Or do you really think pity is a kind of respect? Most people -- I think -- find pity condescending.
There is an antique but highly influential notion (Aristotle, Poetics) that tragedy is theraputic and purges us cathartically of ignoble feelings like pity and compassion. (Aristotle was an aristocrat at heart. It's practically his first name.)
I am not saying you are wrong, WC. I just wanted to point out there's a common way to gloss it that runs counter. Admittedly the ranking of the passions in antiquity does not line up too well with our own.
The foregoing is a long preamble for a very simple personal question: do you distinguish respect from pity, or do you conflate them?
The headsnapping way WC careens from the merely personal (clambake) to the completely general and abstract (them), gives a clue to his method IMO.
You're right. When I make morning posts, I'm often tired. I just got off work. I changed jobs last year and I'm now working a graveyard shift. I personally prefer it. I hate day shift and swing shift both. I can pick the part of the day I sleep, have the best part of the day in the summers, etc. It comes at a price however. Sometimes I'm not so coherent.
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