Conservatives don't know what insurance is or what insurance companies do.

[EdwardBaiamonte]

capitalism is multiple buyers not one who can extort money with monopoly power

That is not what capitalism is.

to a fool marxist tool capitalism is a bunch of greedy guys right??
here are first 3 of 4 million sites saying you are an idiot!
See why we say liberalism is based in pure ignorance?


Conceptualizing Capitalism: Institutions, Evolution, Future - Google Books Result
May 26, 2014 ... “The new theory pictures a more business-like relationship among multiplebuyers and sellers connected in a network,” Franklin said in a press ..

Geoffrey M. Hodgson - ‎2015 - Business & Economics
The term market is then reserved for forms of exchange activity with many similar exchanges involving multiple buyers or sellers

Symbiosis or capitalism? A new view of forest fungi - Phys.org
https://phys.org/.../2014-05-symbiosis-capitalism-view-forest-fungi.html
‎
May 22, 2014 ... "The new theory pictures a more business-like relationship among multiplebuyers and sellers connected in a network. Having multiple

 

[EdwardBaiamonte]

so you want libNazi govt to step in, in a free country, and force people to by a Rolls when they only want a Chevy to keep demand at a level the libNazis like for some unknown reason???

No one is even suggesting that, but I do note you're trying to do so in order to spike a debate that you know you cannot win.

then why so afraid to tell us what you are suggesting, if not crippling welfare to stimulate demand because we all know demand drives an economy!!

 

[EdwardBaiamonte]

you always know so little. Hoover was a liberal

No. Hoover was a laissez-faire capitalist and former investment banker..

see why we say liberalism is based in pure ignorance?


Hoover's Economic Policies: The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics | Library of Economics and Liberty


Hoover extended the size and scope of the federal government in six major areas: (1) federal spending, (2) agriculture, (3) wage policy, (4) immigration, (5) international trade, and (6) tax policy.

Consider federal government spending. (See Fiscal Policy.) Federal spending in the 1929 budget that Hoover inherited was $3.1 billion. He increased spending to $3.3 billion in 1930, $3.6 billion in 1931, and $4.7 billion and $4.6 billion in 1932 and 1933, respectively, a 48% increase over his four years. Because this was a period of deflation, the real increase in government spending was even larger: The real size of government spending in 1933 was almost double that of 1929.5 The budget deficits of 1931 and 1932 were 52.5% and 43.3% of total federal expenditures. No year between 1933 and 1941 under Roosevelt had a deficit that large.6 In short, Hoover was no defender of “austerity” and “budget cutting.”

Shortly after the stock market crash in October 1929, Hoover extended federal control over agriculture by expanding the reach of the Federal Farm Board (FFB), which had been created a few months earlier.7 The idea behind the FFB was to make government-funded loans to farm cooperatives and create “stabilization corporations” to keep farm prices up and deal with surpluses. In other words, it was a cartel plan. That fall, Hoover pushed the FFB into full action, lending to farmers all over the country and otherwise subsidizing farming in an attempt to keep prices up. The plan failed miserably, as subsidies encouraged farmers to grow more, exacerbating surpluses and eventually driving prices way down. As more farms faced dire circumstances, Hoover proposed the further anti-market step of paying farmers not to grow.

On wages, Hoover revived the business-government conferences of his time at the Department of Commerce by summoning major business leaders to the White House several times that fall. He asked them to pledge not to reduce wages in the face of rising unemployment. Hoover believed, as did a number of intellectuals at the time, that high wages caused prosperity, even though the true causation is from capital accumulation to increased labor productivity to higher wages. He argued that if major firms cut wages, workers would not have the purchasing power they needed to buy the goods being produced. As most depressions involve falling prices, cutting wages to match falling prices would have kept purchasing power constant. What Hoover wanted amounted to an increase in real wages, as constant nominal wages would be able to purchase more goods at falling prices. Presumably out of fear of the White House or, perhaps, because it would keep the unions quiet, industrial leaders agreed to this proposal. The result was rapidly escalating unemployment, as firms quickly realized that they could not continue to employ as many workers when their output prices were falling and labor costs were constant.8

Of all of the government failures of the Hoover presidency—excluding the actions of the Federal Reserve between 1929 and 1932, over which he had little to no influence—his attempt to maintain wages was the most damaging. Had he truly believed in laissez-faire, Hoover would not have intervened in the private sector that way. Hoover’s high-wage policy was a clear example of his lack of confidence in the corrective forces of the market and his willingness to use governmental power to fight the depression.

Later in his presidency, Hoover did more than just jawbone to keep wages up. He signed two pieces of labor legislation that dramatically increased the role of government in propping up wages and giving monopoly protection to unions. In 1931, he signed the Davis-Bacon Act, which mandated that all federally funded or assisted construction projects pay the “prevailing wage” (i.e., the above market-clearing union wage). The result of this move was to close out non-union labor, especially immigrants and non-whites, and drive up costs to taxpayers. A year later, he signed the Norris-LaGuardia Act, whose five major provisions each enshrined special provisions for unions in the law, such as prohibiting judges from using injunctions to stop strikes and making union-free contracts unenforceable in federal courts.9Hoover’s interventions into the labor market are further evidence of his rejection of laissez-faire.

Two other areas that Hoover intervened in aggressively wereimmigration and international trade. One of the lesser-known policy changes during his presidency was his near halt to immigration through an Executive Order in September 1930. His argument was that blocking immigration would preserve the jobs and wages of American citizens against competition from low-wage immigrants. Immigration fell to a mere 10 to 15% of the allowable quota of visas for the five-month period ending February 28, 1931. Once again, Hoover was unafraid to intervene in the economic decisions of the private sector by preventing the competitive forces of the global labor market from setting wages.10

Even those with only a casual knowledge of the Great Depression will be familiar with one of Hoover's major policy mistakes—his promotion and signing of the Smoot-Hawley tariff in 1930. This law increased tariffs significantly on a wide variety of imported goods, creating the highest tariff rates in U.S. history. While economist Douglas Irwin has found that Smoot-Hawley’s effects were not as large as often thought, they still helped cause a decline in international trade, a decline that contributed to the worsening worldwide depression.

Most of these policies continued and many expanded throughout 1931, with the economy worsening each month. By the end of the year, Hoover decided that more drastic action was necessary, and on December 8, he addressed Congress and offered proposals that historian David Kennedy refers to as “Hoover’s second program, ” and that has also been called “The Hoover New Deal.”11 His proposals included:

•

The Reconstruction Finance Corporation to lend tax dollars to banks, firms and others institutions in need.

•

A Home Loan Bank to provide government help to the construction sector.

•

Congressional legalization of Hoover’s executive order that had blocked immigration.

•

Direct loans to state governments for spending on relief for the unemployed.

•

More aid to Federal Land Banks.

•

Creating a Public Works Administration that would both better coordinate Federal public works and expand them.

•

More vigorous enforcement of antitrust laws to end “destructive competition” in a variety of industries, as well as supporting work-sharing programs that would supposedly reduce unemployment.

On top of these spending proposals, most of which were approved in one form or another, Hoover proposed, and Congress approved, the largest peacetime tax increase in U.S. history. The Revenue Act of 1932 increased personal income taxes dramatically, but also brought back a variety of excise taxes that had been used during World War I. The higher income taxes involved an increase of the standard rate from a range of 1.5 to 5% to a range of 4 to 8%. On top of that increase, the Act placed a large surtax on higher-income earners, leading to a total tax rate of anywhere from 25 to 63%. The Act also raised the corporate income tax along with several taxes on other forms of income and wealth.

Whether or not Hoover's prescriptions were the right medicine—and the evidence suggests that they were not—his programs were a fairly aggressive use of government to address the problems of the depression.12 These programs were hardly what one would expect from a man devoted to “laissez-faire” and accused of doing nothing while the depression worsened.




In a message dated 7/27/2015 6:27:43 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, [email protected] writes:
... the Hoover interventions include: expanded public works( ever heard of Hoover dam), greater government control over agriculture, the Smoot-Hawley tariff, a virtual end to immigration, government loans for construction and other businesses ... Most important was Hoover’s pressuring businesses to not cut wages even as the prices of their output fell. The result was higher real wages, which were responsible for the unemployment rate topping out at 25 percent, causing the greatest human toll of the Great Depression. [1]
Hoover, much like FDR, was skeptical about free markets. [2]

 

[EdwardBaiamonte]

Whoa...so now you are admitting you don't really have an idea of that which you speak. I see.

what are you talking about?????

 

[EdwardBaiamonte]

So now you are saying health care is a necessity. .

[/QUOTE]

if I ever didn't I'll pay you $10,000. Bet? Do you know what a strawman is?

 

[EdwardBaiamonte]

So why are you opposed to single payer, or even insurance mandates? ?

Conservatives and libertarians are for capitalism because it would cut the price by about 80% and add 10-20 years to our life expectancies.
China just switched to Republican capitalism and all of the sudden the people can afford everything. in fact they eliminated 40% of all the poverty on earth. That's a good thing do you understand?

 

[EdwardBaiamonte]

Hoover and Bush the Dumber both caused the worst economic collapses in 100 years.

why do you say that and ignore that massive liberal interference in the economy caused both?? You are a typical liberal illiterate so how could you know???
Did you know liberal govt let the money supply shrink 34% to cause the Great Depression?

Did you know that by 2008 Fan/Freddie owned or guaranteed 75% of the Alt A and subPrime mortgages in the country??

See why we say liberalism is based in pure ignorance?

 

[EdwardBaiamonte]

Efficiency in health care? Insurance companies run as much as 20% overhead, whereas Medicare runs less than 3% overhead. So which is more efficient?

OMG always total ignorance!! Liberals made capitalist competition in insurance illegal in 1946 with Mc Curran Furguson so of course they are not efficient.

Now do you see why we say liberalism is based in pure ignorance? Ask yourself ,do you want to be a liberal all your life?

 

[EdwardBaiamonte]

FDR didn't cause either the Great Depression (that was caused by Conservatives who controlled both Houses of Congress and the White House) or World War II.

Well Milton Friedman said and Ben Bernanke agreed that it was caused when liberal control of the money supply let money shrink 34%
.What does the illiterate liberal think caused the Depression?