If failing government institutions are privatized, shouldn’t
any failing private institution be seized by the state?
If a law is made so complicated that the average citizen
cannot understand it, it is likely made deliberately so.
The difference between politicians and crime bosses is that
politicians don’t own crime bosses.
You would think that the one thing a capitalist society
would be able to teach people would be the value of thrift, the idea that in a
world where nobody owes you anything that you shouldn’t spend what you don’t
have. But in fact it teaches you the exact opposite. Billions of dollars are
spent in advertising in order to entice you to buy what you do not need and
cannot afford. The message is driven into your head that “you’re worth it”,
“you deserve a break today”. You are repeatedly told not only on television and
radio advertisement that your value as a human being is reflected in the kind
of car you drive, the kind of clothes you wear, and the size of your television
set. Your lawn cannot look adequate unless you spend on the proper tools and
chemicals, your skin is repulsive if you do not use the proper acne cream and
moisturizers, your gym membership means nothing if you aren’t dressed in Under
Armor. Furthermore, you do not adequately care for your child if you do not
dress him in the stylish clothes, nor do you love your dog if you do not buy the
stuffed toys in the form of the latest licensed television or movie characters.
And yet there are those who blame the government for society’s sense of
entitlement.
The difference between the market crash of 1929 and 2008 was
that in one you had rich investors jumping out of windows and in the other you
had them going to the government for bailouts.
We’ve gone from a nation of bakers, grocers, farmers, etc.
to a nation of temp workers.
No politician pushes a law without a general clamor for such
a law. And if he does, he’s up to no good. The one thing conservatives and
liberals can probably agree upon is that we have enough laws. Laws should only
be passed when politicians are responding to voters’ concerns.
Capitalism favors the rat that deserts a sinking ship over
the captain who goes down with it.
Debt is good…for bankers, for the IMF, for employers who
hold their workers by their economic short and curlies.
The two political parties are like Coke and Pepsi, and they
are not against each other so much as they are against a plentiful supply of
clean drinking water.
The media is socially liberal, economically conservative,
and always pro-war.
The Luddites sought to destroy the machines the developed
during the industrial revolution because they resulted in even greater misery
for those who did the work, rather than take ownership of them. Today the
Tea Party seeks to do the same thing with the government. Rather than take
ownership of it, they seek to destroy it. It did not work in the time of the Luddites, nor will it work now.
Politics these days are all about looks, the right smile and
the perfect hairstyle. Why it is unlikely today that anyone would vote for a candidate who had wooden teeth.
The invention of money was the creation of a system that
decides who has enough food to throw away and who starves. And those with
enough of it laugh and say the only alternative to the system we have is for all of
us to starve. They see astutely enough that everyone can be guilty of being greedy,
but then assume society should be based upon greed since there can be no other
human motivation as powerful.
If auto companies are willing to install software to cheat
emission standards, what makes you think they don’t spend money to promote junk
science?
If you don’t think people should live off the work of
others, you should support a 100% inheritance tax.
Politics that appeal to your emotions rather than your
intellect are always dangerous. If you feel your pulse start to pound and the
anger rise within you, step away.
We are all living in a third world nation now. No country is
safe from having its natural resources stripped bare by foreign corporations
and sold overseas.
Libertarianism: The mystical belief that corporations care
about fairness and the free market.
If patriotism is a scoundrel’s last refuge, then the concept
of freedom is his first sales pitch.
Our job creators need to be held accountable. If they
are unwilling to create jobs unless the entire country bows down to them as though
they were gods to be worshipped, perhaps it is time to take their job creating
power away from them and place it into the hands of those who are less selfish
and self-serving
How did immigrants assimilate into American culture in the
past? It happened when they moved into a neighborhood and the neighbors stopped
by to introduce themselves, bringing with them a dish to share. In this way
bridges were crossed, and whatever cultural divides that existed were broken
down by simple human kindness. We've lost that ability, lost the idea of
community based on proximity, and that is a pity.
The problem with capitalism is the problem with anything
else: the belief that if some is good then more is better.
