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Yep... Boutons is a good soul-mate for you.
That's why we have to vote the idiots out that sponsor, cosponer, and vote for such things.
Yep... Boutons is a good soul-mate for you.
Are you jerks still saying less govt regulations are the answer to everything?
I guess you were asleep when all the financial deregulation and its disasters happened in the last 25 years, and continues to screw up the US economy for years to come.
Airline deregulation has made airlines wonderful profit machines and air travel such a joy. I just heard the ex-AA chairman said he would never buy airline stocks.
And energy deregulation has kept electricity prices very low, ask Houston and Dallas.
WTF you talking about? They have regulations up the ass still.Airline deregulation has made airlines wonderful profit machines and air travel such a joy. I just heard the ex-AA chairman said he would never buy airline stocks.
Sorry, but there is a free market thing called supply and demand. More places would love to build more plants, especially nuclear, but regulations just keep getting in the way now, don't they?
Last edited by Wild Cobra; 08-15-2010 at 08:30 PM.
I'm no prophet, but this is just a taste.
When the sh@# hits the fan, enter the anti-christ and enter Fascism to the extreme.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism
Unity through fear of persecution. You know, the whole star wars thing, with the Emperor and the death star that would destroy any who acted up. Same same.
I've already signed up for the Rebellion. Have you?
Patriot Act much? I'm convinced there's nothing the govt won't up when incentives are plentiful.
WC
what regulations are keeping the airlines continuously near bankruptcy and keeping the passengers in such cattle-car discomfort? Which ones would you remove? FAA safety inspections? flight-worthy certificates?
btw, if airlines killed (300 people on a headline grabbing crash) and maimed as many people annually as BigPharma (killed one by one, no headlines), people wouldn't go to the airport.
"Using the Austin rate of 10 cents per kilowatt as a benchmark of still-regulated pricing, Texans in deregulated markets pay a premium of 29% above the regulated rate. Some have regarded the unmet expectation of lower rates promised by deregulation as a failure.[4] Many states are now putting their plan to deregulate on hold because lower rates have yet to be achieved in any of the deregulated states."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deregul...tricity_market
There were strictly financial ("free market") shenanigans in Houston electricy market, capitalists buying and selling among themselves "freely", that really screwed up the electricity prices way above SA's monopoly supplier.
And remember "free market" Enron screwing over CA and other states by artificially restricting electricity supply to push up prices and cause brownouts in 2000-2001. dubya's FERC absolutely refused in intervene and investigate KennyBoy's screw job that made Enron's traders $Bs.
"deregulation" is, in many cases, a euphemism for "free to screw the consumer". The conservative/libertarian advocates of destroying govt's countervailing power against corporations understand perfectly that they are lying to the sheeple.
The very nature of commerce is to sell the tiest product for the highest price. It's an adversarial relationship where mega-corps' and local monopolies' power and sophistication vastly outguns (gunning people is The Great American Way) the consumer.
Last edited by boutons_deux; 08-15-2010 at 09:26 AM.
Well, that's what everyone thought for a while, until Gonzales v. Raich, where the Supreme Court endorsed laws banning homegrown marijuana under the Commerce Clause. From where I sit, distinguishing that from homegrown food as far as aggregate effects on the economy would be pretty difficult. But it would present an opportunity for the court to try and limit Wickard's reach, and Justice Roberts can be crafty about things like this. Who knows.
I'm telling you guys, truth is stranger than fiction, you just remember that.
This country as is, is going down the toilet and we all know it.
There will eventually be a breaking point. Someone will then rise up and say enough of the bickering and grandstanding from opposing sides of the aisles. There will be a unification for the supposed good of the country. Mussolini was praised by many when he was in power.
Individualism will be thought of as a thing of the past. You will comply or you will be eliminated. Are you ready for that? Hope so.
Beware the unifier that does so without God. Those with ears to hear, hear.
"without God"
give some example where God-loving revolutions installed benign, democratic democracies (or theocracies).
American Christian leaders remained complicitly silent as dubya and the Repugs lied their way into Iraq. They certainly didn't want to appear unAmerican-ly non-imperialistic, or, above all, risk losing contributions from their scammed flocks.
Well I'm an American Christian leader and I'll step forward and say that the fact that the only reason we were over there was due to our interests in protecting Israel and Oil is pretty disgusting.
But I am very proud of the result of removing Saddam from power as he was a terror that needed to meet his maker. The people of Iraq still have a long way to go towards stability in the region, but I believe they are better off without Saddam in power and we owe credit to our Military forces for that.
Now Afghanistan is a whole nuther ballgame. There is no head of the snake. This is a virtual snake called Islam. You cannot win that war. You can only diffuse it through education of the children, and let the ignorant die off of old age and self-sacrifice.
What our armed forces should be doing is going into the regions where military warlords are persecuting their people and committing genocide. Our military should be freeing those people and helping them to get on their feet in a peaceful civilization. But there is no oil there. And I am disgusted.
"removing Saddam"
there's lots a bad guys running countries, Myanmar, Zimbabwe, East Africa but US can't find justification there.
Iraq would have been much better off under Saddam, 100s of 1000s of fewer deaths, millions fewer internal/external refugees, and working water, sewer, electricity.
Perhaps the Department of Defense should concentrate on...the national defense and stop going on offense to free the world and spread this transcendentalist American democracy claptrap. As for Israel, let's cut to the chase. The Jews can take care of themselves now if that's your concern.
I think we agree that it's disturbing that the US cannot find the justification to help the people in those aforementioned countries boutons.
As for Iraq being much better off under Saddam, well...I was lucky enough to have never lived under him and I thank God for that. It is unquestionably tragic that so many died in the Iraq War. Whether it was worth it or not, well, I'll have to defer to the opinions of the Iraqis themselves as I am in no position to make an accurate assessment.
I am glad that the federal government cannot find a way to justify additional military excursions.
I see your points Marcus, but I feel that the best defense is a good offense against the enemies.
Now what cons utes a good offense is up for debate. I say give more food, medicine, and education to the oppressed children of these nations is the best offense to end the ignorance and the hatred.
But the bad guys have to be eliminated for these countries to be free enough to reap those benefits.
That is the problem with the Islam fanatics...they cannot be eliminated with guns. That just gives them fodder for recruitment. They must be eliminated at the source. The children must be set free and allowed to grow up in an environment free of these evil men that will kill in the name of their supposed god.
As for Israel, yes, they can take care of themselves to a point.
What happens when the nuke goes off in the holy land?
What's the next move for the world powers and where does the finger pointing start and stop? That's the key question.
To head off a potential problem let's start one (or two, or three)?
The purpose of the United States government and its armed forces is not to evangelize at the point of a gun throughout the world.
Or maybe it is. TBD.
This is it, in a nuts . It would be better to send supplies, food, medicine, but warlords will just take these supplies and become even more powerful.
The solution, then, is to either send an entire unit over there to keep the peace indefinitely (while possibly irritating and endangering locals), or to realize the limits of our capabilities. I choose the second. The United States can not and should not try to "police" the world.
75 years x $200B/year = $15T to occupy a country that wasn't a threat to USA, was tied down by US troops in the neighboring (oil-rich) countries and flyovers, but was excluding US/UK oilcos from oil contracts given to France, Russia, China.
We don't set backfires to well, do we?
"backfires"
dubya's/Repugs' bull wars have killed more Americans than the terrorists could ever dream of, to say nothing of the 100s of $Bs wasted on "intelligence" and employer-of-last-resort TSA, radiating pregnant women, babies, and children at airports, etc, etc.
America is its own worst enemy.
America is the World's superpower. I feel it is our obligation to police the world, but only to the point where we are eliminating ruthless dictatorships where the people are suffering and oppressed.
We should not let our own personal and national interests be our guide for which battles should be fought. The world is not blind. They see us Americans only going to fight for 'freedom' where ever there is oil. That's why it's hard to anyone in the world to take America seriously when we speak of fighting the good fight. If/when the US decides that we should work with other nations, an alliance, to fight the good fight and free oppressed people and provide for oppressed people all over the world, then and only then, will we have any solid ground to stand on.
As for the opinion that we should just mind our own business. Well, you can play that head in the sand game for only so long. The bad guys will not go away on their own. They will only grow stronger if the problem is ignored. You might feel that these wars are not at your doorstep, but you are wrong. I don't expect a taliban jihadist to show up at your door with a bomb around his chest, but I do expect them to target our economy and also to target our dependence on the oil of the middle east.
The American economy is a joke as it is. There is nothing backing it other than consumer greed. It is doomed to failure soon enough, but a nuke here...a nuke there...and this war is on your doorstep whether you like it or not. When the money you have in your wallet and in your accounts is just worthless paper. When the gas stops flowing at the corner store. When you no longer get electricity at your houses. When the water stops running...or stops being trusted as good enough to drink.
Then we will feel the suffering that all these oppressed people in all these other countries are feeling right now. You don't want to care for them because you feel you are better then them or something? Just because you were blessed to be born in the USA? What a spoiled brat we have become. Wake up. We should be leading the way to peace and prosperity for the whole world.
The technology and resources are there to accomplish this. We only lack the will.
The time is now.
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