Government vs. The Free Market

[sameech]

These products and services are all exorbitantly expensive and almost always of very poor quality. Police protection has to be the the worst. How long does it typical take police to respond to an emergency call? Not long enough to save you from being shot or robbed by a thug.

That probably depends on where they are and what else is going on when you call. If the police is patrolling in your neighborhood at the time you call 911, you will get them a lot faster than if they are at a domestic dispute call three neighborhoods away so someone from ten neighborhoods away has to respond. I know when I called 9/11 when my mom collapsed in my arms, I had fire department first responders in the house within about 4 minutes or so.

 

[bripat9643]

They can. Infrastructure, police, fire, parks, traffic signals, redevelopment.

These products and services are all exorbitantly expensive and almost always of very poor quality. Police protection has to be the the worst. How long does it typical take police to respond to an emergency call? Not long enough to save you from being shot or robbed by a thug.

Expensive? Please post the percentage of your effective tax rate you spend on police and fire services.

ETA's since Bush/Republicans/wall street crashed the economy has gotten longer.

I never realized that we determine whether something is expensive or not by comparing it with our effective tax rate. Do we judge the price of gas that way? Groceries?

All your demand did is prove that you're a moron. Government police and fire protection are expensive by any standard. For one thing, just consider what we pay them. They both earn close to 6 figures, and they have the best benefit package in the entire country. Furthermore, if they have a disability, they are entitled to a 100% pension for the rest of their lives after working 20 years, and they all get a disability pension. A fire fighter can often collect a 100% pension for far longer than he actually worked. No private corporation offers such a generous pension.

Any claim that government police and fire protection is a good deal is obvious hooey. Only an idiot would make such a claim.

 

[regent]

In an earlier era, government officials looked to the Constitution, Article 1, section 8, the enumerated powers, to authorize areas into which government could insert itself.
Of course, since the 32nd President, the Constitution has become what red and green lights are in Rome: merely a suggestion.

[COLOR="Red"[COLOR="red"][/COLOR]]Well the Federalists passed the Alien and Sedition Acts during John Adams administration, and Jefferson bought Louisiana during his, so we started off running.
[/COLOR]



6. Remember, claiming the National Road as a federal post road made it constitutional for government funding. But, bumpy rides, steep grades, mud slides,....US postmaster R.J. Meigs found the road so impassable that the mail was almost indeliverable.
Jordan, Op. Cit., p. 283-285

[
7. Push-back included this, from John Campbell of South Carolina: "Who can suppose that the opening of roads by the government is necessary to attract the farmer to the virgin soil of the West?"

Clearly, there were roads built by the states or by private entrepreneurs that brought immigrants westward. And, they were better built, constitutional, and required no federal funds.
Ibid., p.172.



Sometimes Big Government Progressives have to admit their failure....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4p4-vPrcDBo




By 1850 the National Road was barely used....and largely abandoned. Ibid., p.175

COLOR="red"]Good enough for government work.
[/COLOR]

 

[PoliticalChic]

Think of it like a basketball game. One team is the consumers and the other team is business and government is the referee.

Referee???

You can't be serious.


1. “On March 3, 2007 USA Today ran a piece on then-Senator Obama regarding two stocks in his portfolio. Obama was running for President and his critics were stating that the Senator may have been involved in insider trading, cronyism, using his position for personal gain, etc. Basically the media ran this story for a day, and then kissed it goodbye. Could you imagine the outrage if these same set of circumstances involved a Republican running for President?”
Obama the Investor ? Brian Sussman


2. And, from the original AP story:
WASHINGTON — Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said Wednesday he was not aware he had invested in two companies backed by some of his top donors and said he had done nothing to aid their business with the government. The Illinois senator faced questions about more than $50,000 in investments he made right after taking office in 2005 in two speculative companies, AVI Biopharma and Skyterra Communications.



3. Obama purchased $5,000 in shares for AVI, which was developing a drug to treat avian flu. Two weeks after buying the stock, as the disease was spreading in Asia, Obama pushed for more federal funding to fight the disease, but he said he did not discuss the matter with any company officials.



4. Obama also had more than $50,000 in shares of Skyterra, a company that had just received federal permission to create a nationwide wireless network that combined satellite and land-based communications systems. Among the company’s top investors were donors who raised more than $150,000 for Obama’s political committees, the New York Times reported Wednesday.


5. Obama said he didn’t invest in a qualified blind trust because it wouldn’t enable him to limit which companies he invested in, such as those in the tobacco industry and other areas that he did not want to support.
USATODAY.com - Obama faces questions on his investments


6. Obama with coincidental investment connections. Obama who was an upside down borrower on his condo. Obama who just got a little “boneheaded” advice from convicted felon Tony Rezko when he bought his mansion in Chicago. Obama the Investor ? Brian Sussman





7. Skyterra doesn’t ring a bell? Well, how about under its new name: LightSquared? “Reston-based satellite company SkyTerra Communications Inc. re-emerged July 20 as LightSquared,…” SkyTerra, now LightSquared, enters the national 4G race - Washington Business Journal

8. “The liberal Daily Beast reports on a broadband project backed by a frequent Obama White House visitor and donor that has Pentagon officials concerned over potential military GPS interference. The Obama FCC took the lead in intervening on the donor, billionaire hedge fund manager Philip Falcone’s, behalf and granting his company called “LightSquared” one of those coveted Obama waivers from existing law. Then Obama officials reportedly pressured a general to alter his testimony about the company’s impact on military satellite transmissions.” Michelle Malkin | » LightSquared: The next Obama pay-for-play morass?

9. The liberal Daily Beast reports: “Now the Pentagon has been raising concerns about a new wireless project by a satellite broadband company in Virginia called LightSquared, whose majority owner is an investment fund run by Democratic donor Philip Falcone.

Gen. Shelton was originally scheduled to testify Aug. 3 to a House committee that the project would interfere with the military’s sensitive Global Positioning Satellite capabilities, which control automated driving directions and missile targeting, among other things.”
Michelle Malkin | » LightSquared: The next Obama pay-for-play morass?


10. Referee?

Wise up.

If you have evidence that there was direct trading in the 'insider trading' claim then you may have something. Do some research! You'll find out that the 'insider trading' was part of fund investments. So no 'insider trading.'

I never say anything I can't support.





a. “On March 3, 2007 USA Today ran a piece on then-Senator Obama regarding two stocks in his portfolio. Obama was running for President and his critics were stating that the Senator may have been involved in insider trading, cronyism, using his position for personal gain, etc. Basically the media ran this story for a day, and then kissed it goodbye. Could you imagine the outrage if these same set of circumstances involved a Republican running for President?”
Obama the Investor ? Brian Sussman



Get off your knees....Obama can't run again- you can admit he's guilty.


Insider trading is ubiquitous among politicians.

1. In " Throw Them All Out," Peter Schweizer points out that if you're an elected official and you sit on an important committee, you are allowed to trade on the information that comes to you or even results from your committee-related decisions. It stands to reason that if you're on the banking committee, you probably trade bank stocks, playing it both long and short. If you're a staffer, you may accumulate sensitive information and sell it to hedge funds. A lot of careerists trade on non-public information.

2. Nancy Pelosi, the 60th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives with an estimated net worth of $58 million, bought 5,000 shares of V (Visa) at the privileged IPO price $44. This trade showed a profit immediately and the shares went up to about $88 in a matter of days. However, Pelosi worked on major legislation that if it had not been killed in the body she led, would have had a strong negative affect on the price right at that time. The rest of us can't do it because we're subject to strict conflict of interest rules, unlike lawmakers. Plus, we're not invited to participate in IPOs until after the price is run up.

3. Congressmen are big winners in the stock market. They cultivate companies in their loyalty structure from whom they get insider information often at the committee level. There are many ways they get rich while serving constituents, especially if you know what big deal Warren Buffett will do and when. Many names are given in this book of successful inside information operators within Congress.



4. The Pay-to-Play regime and the flow of insider information can be used by even the most novice traders using an online brokerage account. One big story is how Congressman Spensor Bachus used a private meeting with Fed Chair Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Paulson. Bachus was in the role of Ranking Member on the House Financial Services Committee. He used the dire information presented to him in this meeting to bet heavily that the market would go down, using option trades. Bachus, working with Bernanke and Paulson from July 2008 to November 2008, scalped $50K out of the falling market. The book has lots of war stories like that.


5. …the political class is so intelligent that they compel CEOs to let them buy lucrative shares in IPOs at very low prices in exchange for passing favorable legislation for those CEOs!
This is exactly what you see in the post about Obama.


6. Many members of Congress seem guilty here, including John Kerry, Dick Durbin, and Jim Moran. But Spencer Bachus takes the cake.

According to "Throw Them All Out," by Schweizer, as relayed by Dave Weigel at Slate, Rep. Bachus made more than 40 trades in his personal account in the summer and fall of 2008, in the early months of the financial crisis.

The fact that Bachus personally traded on private information he received as a result of his job is bad enough. The fact that he was the ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee at the time is simply outrageous.

In one case, the day after getting a private briefing on the collapsing economy and financial system from Ben Bernanke and Hank Paulson, Rep. Bachus effectively shorted the market (by buying options that would rise if the market tanked.)
A few days later, after the market tanked, Bachus sold his position and nearly doubled his money.


If a corporate executive or Wall Street trader did this--cashed in personally after getting private, non-public information from his work--Rep. Bachus and every other member of Congress would be screaming from the rooftops about how the financial system is deeply corrupt and how the executive should be charged with insider trading.
And they would be right.

THE CONGRESS INSIDER TRADING SCANDAL IS OUTRAGEOUS: Rep. Spencer Bachus Should Resign In Disgrace - Business Insider


7." Last night, 60 Minutes ran a report on the shocking normalcy of stock trades by members of Congress. The world's greatest deliberative bodies are exempt from insider trading laws, even though its members get quicker access to market-moving information than almost anyone else. If you're one of those 9 percent of Americans who still trust Congress, well, avert your eyes."

Spencer Bachus, Rogue Trader



Of course, you contend that the winner of "Lie of the year, 2013," would never stoop to insider trading.

 

[PoliticalChic]

Why do people keep pointing one of the biggest boondoggles in history as proof that the government can do things right?

Stupidity?

Really? Dial 9-1-1 and see if it works. Oh wait! Your not that bright. Take my word for it, it does work.

I used one word, "stupidity," and look who answered.


Your nickname, huh?

 

[PoliticalChic]

Corporatism= the new feudalism.

Under the regime of the 32nd President, government didn't just insert itself into the market....it used it's powers to assault entrepreneurs who were independent, and rewarded those who were willing to become its vassals.




10. Franklin Roosevelt declared war on businessmen and industrialists.
"It is wholly wrong to call the measures that we have taken Government control of farming, industry, and transportation. It is rather a partnership between Government and farming and industry and transportation, not partnership in profits, for the profits still go to the citizens, but rather a partnership in planning, and a partnership to see that the plans are carried out."
Franklin D. Roosevelt: Second Fireside Chat.



a. "Until FDR's presidency, being successful in business was considered commendable, but something changed during FDR's first two terms. Those who felt a call to succeed in business, to innovate, to be entrepreneurs- their motives were under suspicion. Roosevelt accused them of selfishness,....FDR believed that "experts" could indeed "build that" and run society better than free markets...."
"Uncle Sam Can't Count: A History of Failed Government Investments, from Beaver Pelts to Green Energy" by Burton W., Jr. Folsom Jr. and Anita Folsom, p.11-12.




b. " As an economic system, fascism is SOCIALISM with a capitalist veneer. ... In its day (the 1920s and 1930s), fascism was seen as the happy medium between boom-and-bust-prone liberal capitalism, with its alleged class conflict, wasteful COMPETITION, and profit-oriented egoism, and revolutionary MARXISM, with its violent and socially divisive persecution of the bourgeoisie. Fascism substituted the particularity of nationalism and racialism—“blood and soil”—for the internationalism of both classical liberalism and Marxism.... .... Mussolini praised the New Deal as “boldly . . . interventionist in the field of economics,” and Roosevelt complimented Mussolini for his “honest purpose of restoring Italy” and acknowledged that he kept “in fairly close touch with that admirable Italian gentleman.”
Fascism: The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics | Library of Economics and Liberty

 

[jillian]

May 24, 1844

Samuel F.B. Morse telegraphs: “What hath G-d wrought?” from Washington to Baltimore Anne Ellsworth, the daughter of the commissioner of patents, had chosen the phrase for Morse. The test was a success, and on May 29th news of James K. Polk’s nomination flashed across the 40 miles to Washington.

laissez faire capitalism was shown to be a massive failure, enriching only robber barons and the like.

a combination of free market and governmental intervention (like the sherman anti-trust act, the FLSA, etc) have always been better and have always been successful.

unless, of course, you live in a fantasy world.

 

[bripat9643]

These products and services are all exorbitantly expensive and almost always of very poor quality. Police protection has to be the the worst. How long does it typical take police to respond to an emergency call? Not long enough to save you from being shot or robbed by a thug.

That probably depends on where they are and what else is going on when you call. If the police is patrolling in your neighborhood at the time you call 911, you will get them a lot faster than if they are at a domestic dispute call three neighborhoods away so someone from ten neighborhoods away has to respond. I know when I called 9/11 when my mom collapsed in my arms, I had fire department first responders in the house within about 4 minutes or so.

So if you're lucky, they respond in a reasonable time? Is that your claim?

Average-Police-Response-Time

According to American Police Beat, the average response time for an emergency call is 10 minutes. Atlanta has the worst response time with 11 to 12 minutes and Nashville comes in at a lightning speed of 9 minutes.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

Now here is where things get interesting. Even though the Department of Justice determined that the average police response time to a 911 call is 4 minutes, the average interaction time between a criminal and his victim is 90 seconds.

 

[sameech]

So if you're lucky, they respond in a reasonable time? Is that your claim?

No my claim is that there is no general rule. In my city, you will get a much faster response time to a 911 call then you will in the rural areas around my city in which there are very few deputies working at night and the county is fairly big.

Now here is where things get interesting. Even though the Department of Justice determined that the average police response time to a 911 call is 4 minutes, the average interaction time between a criminal and his victim is 90 seconds.

Not really an interesting statistic at all. If I were holding you at gunpoint, I probably wouldn't let you take a time-out to call 911 on me.

 

[PoliticalChic]

May 24, 1844

Samuel F.B. Morse telegraphs: “What hath G-d wrought?” from Washington to Baltimore Anne Ellsworth, the daughter of the commissioner of patents, had chosen the phrase for Morse. The test was a success, and on May 29th news of James K. Polk’s nomination flashed across the 40 miles to Washington.

laissez faire capitalism was shown to be a massive failure, enriching only robber barons and the like.

a combination of free market and governmental intervention (like the sherman anti-trust act, the FLSA, etc) have always been better and have always been successful.

unless, of course, you live in a fantasy world.

So....you favor corporatism?

It was Mussolini's favorite, too.

 

[regent]

May 24, 1844

Samuel F.B. Morse telegraphs: “What hath G-d wrought?” from Washington to Baltimore Anne Ellsworth, the daughter of the commissioner of patents, had chosen the phrase for Morse. The test was a success, and on May 29th news of James K. Polk’s nomination flashed across the 40 miles to Washington.

laissez faire capitalism was shown to be a massive failure, enriching only robber barons and the like.

a combination of free market and governmental intervention (like the sherman anti-trust act, the FLSA, etc) have always been better and have always been successful.

unless, of course, you live in a fantasy world.

So....you favor corporatism?

It was Mussolini's favorite, too.

That's exactly why we don't even allow pasts in our house.

 

[PoliticalChic]

laissez faire capitalism was shown to be a massive failure, enriching only robber barons and the like.

a combination of free market and governmental intervention (like the sherman anti-trust act, the FLSA, etc) have always been better and have always been successful.

unless, of course, you live in a fantasy world.

So....you favor corporatism?

It was Mussolini's favorite, too.

That's exactly why we don't even allow pasts in our house.

Kinda early to be drinkin'.....

 

[PoliticalChic]

May 24, 1844

Samuel F.B. Morse telegraphs: “What hath G-d wrought?” from Washington to Baltimore Anne Ellsworth, the daughter of the commissioner of patents, had chosen the phrase for Morse. The test was a success, and on May 29th news of James K. Polk’s nomination flashed across the 40 miles to Washington.

laissez faire capitalism was shown to be a massive failure, enriching only robber barons and the like.

a combination of free market and governmental intervention (like the sherman anti-trust act, the FLSA, etc) have always been better and have always been successful.

unless, of course, you live in a fantasy world.

Here's a lesson:


11. Crony capitalism is the result of government dabbling where it doesn't belong, in the free market, picking winners and losers via contracts and legislation.

The imposition of government has always been popular with certain forms of government, e.g., Mussolini's corporatism, and the clone of same, Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal.




a. One of those urban myths is that the Left battles big business on behalf of the ‘little guy’….those greedy ‘robber barons!’ Of course, as is true of so many ‘truths’….it is false.

The truth about the Left’s push for ever-greater regulation of private industry is that, rather than to protect consumers against big business…it is designed to make big business become part of their political machine.




12. Example: The regulatory reforms of the meat packing industry in the early 1900s, inspired by Upton Sinclair’s muckraking book “The Jungle,” were enacted with the enthusiastic cooperation of America’s largest meat packing corporations- because they knew that only the largest could afford to comply with the new regulations. Thus, the smaller ones were driven out of business.


a. Upton Sinclair:
“The federal inspection of meat was historically established at the packer’s request. It is maintained and paid for by the people of the United States for the benefit of the packers.”
William J. Chambliss, “Making Law: The State, the Law, and Structural Contradictions,” p. 5




Corporatism, Government wedded to political entrepreneurs is a recipe for corruption, and for restrictions of innovation.


Private enterprise and the free market is the recipe for prosperity....unless, of course, you live in the Liberal fantasy world.

 

[regent]

May 24, 1844

Samuel F.B. Morse telegraphs: “What hath G-d wrought?” from Washington to Baltimore Anne Ellsworth, the daughter of the commissioner of patents, had chosen the phrase for Morse. The test was a success, and on May 29th news of James K. Polk’s nomination flashed across the 40 miles to Washington.

laissez faire capitalism was shown to be a massive failure, enriching only robber barons and the like.

a combination of free market and governmental intervention (like the sherman anti-trust act, the FLSA, etc) have always been better and have always been successful.

unless, of course, you live in a fantasy world.

Here's a lesson:


11. Crony capitalism is the result of government dabbling where it doesn't belong, in the free market, picking winners and losers via contracts and legislation.

The imposition of government has always been popular with certain forms of government, e.g., Mussolini's corporatism, and the clone of same, Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal.




a. One of those urban myths is that the Left battles big business on behalf of the ‘little guy’….those greedy ‘robber barons!’ Of course, as is true of so many ‘truths’….it is false.

The truth about the Left’s push for ever-greater regulation of private industry is that, rather than to protect consumers against big business…it is designed to make big business become part of their political machine.




12. Example: The regulatory reforms of the meat packing industry in the early 1900s, inspired by Upton Sinclair’s muckraking book “The Jungle,” were enacted with the enthusiastic cooperation of America’s largest meat packing corporations- because they knew that only the largest could afford to comply with the new regulations. Thus, the smaller ones were driven out of business.


a. Upton Sinclair:
“The federal inspection of meat was historically established at the packer’s request. It is maintained and paid for by the people of the United States for the benefit of the packers.”
William J. Chambliss, “Making Law: The State, the Law, and Structural Contradictions,” p. 5




Corporatism, Government wedded to political entrepreneurs is a recipe for corruption, and for restrictions of innovation.


Private enterprise and the free market is the recipe for prosperity....unless, of course, you live in the Liberal fantasy world.

So the big packers cleaned up their plants long before Sinclair's book.?

 

[bripat9643]

So if you're lucky, they respond in a reasonable time? Is that your claim?

No my claim is that there is no general rule. In my city, you will get a much faster response time to a 911 call then you will in the rural areas around my city in which there are very few deputies working at night and the county is fairly big.

Now here is where things get interesting. Even though the Department of Justice determined that the average police response time to a 911 call is 4 minutes, the average interaction time between a criminal and his victim is 90 seconds.

Not really an interesting statistic at all. If I were holding you at gunpoint, I probably wouldn't let you take a time-out to call 911 on me.

The fact is that many people in their homes have called 911 because they were under assault by armed intruders. Many of those people ended up dead. Businesses are subjected to armed robbers all the time. In almost every case the police are notified while the robbery is occurring, and in almost every case the police fail to show up before the thug gets away with his loot.

 

[bripat9643]

laissez faire capitalism was shown to be a massive failure, enriching only robber barons and the like.

a combination of free market and governmental intervention (like the sherman anti-trust act, the FLSA, etc) have always been better and have always been successful.

unless, of course, you live in a fantasy world.

Here's a lesson:


11. Crony capitalism is the result of government dabbling where it doesn't belong, in the free market, picking winners and losers via contracts and legislation.

The imposition of government has always been popular with certain forms of government, e.g., Mussolini's corporatism, and the clone of same, Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal.




a. One of those urban myths is that the Left battles big business on behalf of the ‘little guy’….those greedy ‘robber barons!’ Of course, as is true of so many ‘truths’….it is false.

The truth about the Left’s push for ever-greater regulation of private industry is that, rather than to protect consumers against big business…it is designed to make big business become part of their political machine.




12. Example: The regulatory reforms of the meat packing industry in the early 1900s, inspired by Upton Sinclair’s muckraking book “The Jungle,” were enacted with the enthusiastic cooperation of America’s largest meat packing corporations- because they knew that only the largest could afford to comply with the new regulations. Thus, the smaller ones were driven out of business.


a. Upton Sinclair:
“The federal inspection of meat was historically established at the packer’s request. It is maintained and paid for by the people of the United States for the benefit of the packers.”
William J. Chambliss, “Making Law: The State, the Law, and Structural Contradictions,” p. 5




Corporatism, Government wedded to political entrepreneurs is a recipe for corruption, and for restrictions of innovation.


Private enterprise and the free market is the recipe for prosperity....unless, of course, you live in the Liberal fantasy world.

So the big packers cleaned up their plants long before Sinclair's book.?

The big packers didn't need cleaning up. Sinclair's book was just one massive smear job. If the packers did what Sinclair claimed, thousands of people would have died from Salmonella.

 

[PoliticalChic]

laissez faire capitalism was shown to be a massive failure, enriching only robber barons and the like.

a combination of free market and governmental intervention (like the sherman anti-trust act, the FLSA, etc) have always been better and have always been successful.

unless, of course, you live in a fantasy world.

Here's a lesson:


11. Crony capitalism is the result of government dabbling where it doesn't belong, in the free market, picking winners and losers via contracts and legislation.

The imposition of government has always been popular with certain forms of government, e.g., Mussolini's corporatism, and the clone of same, Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal.




a. One of those urban myths is that the Left battles big business on behalf of the ‘little guy’….those greedy ‘robber barons!’ Of course, as is true of so many ‘truths’….it is false.

The truth about the Left’s push for ever-greater regulation of private industry is that, rather than to protect consumers against big business…it is designed to make big business become part of their political machine.




12. Example: The regulatory reforms of the meat packing industry in the early 1900s, inspired by Upton Sinclair’s muckraking book “The Jungle,” were enacted with the enthusiastic cooperation of America’s largest meat packing corporations- because they knew that only the largest could afford to comply with the new regulations. Thus, the smaller ones were driven out of business.


a. Upton Sinclair:
“The federal inspection of meat was historically established at the packer’s request. It is maintained and paid for by the people of the United States for the benefit of the packers.”
William J. Chambliss, “Making Law: The State, the Law, and Structural Contradictions,” p. 5




Corporatism, Government wedded to political entrepreneurs is a recipe for corruption, and for restrictions of innovation.


Private enterprise and the free market is the recipe for prosperity....unless, of course, you live in the Liberal fantasy world.

So the big packers cleaned up their plants long before Sinclair's book.?

You are drunk...aren't you?


Read it again.

 

[regent]

Here's a lesson:


11. Crony capitalism is the result of government dabbling where it doesn't belong, in the free market, picking winners and losers via contracts and legislation.

The imposition of government has always been popular with certain forms of government, e.g., Mussolini's corporatism, and the clone of same, Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal.




a. One of those urban myths is that the Left battles big business on behalf of the ‘little guy’….those greedy ‘robber barons!’ Of course, as is true of so many ‘truths’….it is false.

The truth about the Left’s push for ever-greater regulation of private industry is that, rather than to protect consumers against big business…it is designed to make big business become part of their political machine.




12. Example: The regulatory reforms of the meat packing industry in the early 1900s, inspired by Upton Sinclair’s muckraking book “The Jungle,” were enacted with the enthusiastic cooperation of America’s largest meat packing corporations- because they knew that only the largest could afford to comply with the new regulations. Thus, the smaller ones were driven out of business.


a. Upton Sinclair:
“The federal inspection of meat was historically established at the packer’s request. It is maintained and paid for by the people of the United States for the benefit of the packers.”
William J. Chambliss, “Making Law: The State, the Law, and Structural Contradictions,” p. 5




Corporatism, Government wedded to political entrepreneurs is a recipe for corruption, and for restrictions of innovation.


Private enterprise and the free market is the recipe for prosperity....unless, of course, you live in the Liberal fantasy world.

So the big packers cleaned up their plants long before Sinclair's book.?

The big packers didn't need cleaning up. Sinclair's book was just one massive smear job. If the packers did what Sinclair claimed, thousands of people would have died from Salmonella.

Lived in the yards area and one of my first real jobs was in one of those famous packing plants, and this was long after the rules and regulations had been passed, still many of us, particularly the older workers would never eat some products. The yards are gone now and so is the smell, but if one went back there I'll bet one could still hear some of the old don't eat sausage stories that I used to hear.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

Referee???

You can't be serious.


1. “On March 3, 2007 USA Today ran a piece on then-Senator Obama regarding two stocks in his portfolio. Obama was running for President and his critics were stating that the Senator may have been involved in insider trading, cronyism, using his position for personal gain, etc. Basically the media ran this story for a day, and then kissed it goodbye. Could you imagine the outrage if these same set of circumstances involved a Republican running for President?”
Obama the Investor ? Brian Sussman


2. And, from the original AP story:
WASHINGTON — Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said Wednesday he was not aware he had invested in two companies backed by some of his top donors and said he had done nothing to aid their business with the government. The Illinois senator faced questions about more than $50,000 in investments he made right after taking office in 2005 in two speculative companies, AVI Biopharma and Skyterra Communications.



3. Obama purchased $5,000 in shares for AVI, which was developing a drug to treat avian flu. Two weeks after buying the stock, as the disease was spreading in Asia, Obama pushed for more federal funding to fight the disease, but he said he did not discuss the matter with any company officials.



4. Obama also had more than $50,000 in shares of Skyterra, a company that had just received federal permission to create a nationwide wireless network that combined satellite and land-based communications systems. Among the company’s top investors were donors who raised more than $150,000 for Obama’s political committees, the New York Times reported Wednesday.


5. Obama said he didn’t invest in a qualified blind trust because it wouldn’t enable him to limit which companies he invested in, such as those in the tobacco industry and other areas that he did not want to support.
USATODAY.com - Obama faces questions on his investments


6. Obama with coincidental investment connections. Obama who was an upside down borrower on his condo. Obama who just got a little “boneheaded” advice from convicted felon Tony Rezko when he bought his mansion in Chicago. Obama the Investor ? Brian Sussman





7. Skyterra doesn’t ring a bell? Well, how about under its new name: LightSquared? “Reston-based satellite company SkyTerra Communications Inc. re-emerged July 20 as LightSquared,…” SkyTerra, now LightSquared, enters the national 4G race - Washington Business Journal

8. “The liberal Daily Beast reports on a broadband project backed by a frequent Obama White House visitor and donor that has Pentagon officials concerned over potential military GPS interference. The Obama FCC took the lead in intervening on the donor, billionaire hedge fund manager Philip Falcone’s, behalf and granting his company called “LightSquared” one of those coveted Obama waivers from existing law. Then Obama officials reportedly pressured a general to alter his testimony about the company’s impact on military satellite transmissions.” Michelle Malkin | » LightSquared: The next Obama pay-for-play morass?

9. The liberal Daily Beast reports: “Now the Pentagon has been raising concerns about a new wireless project by a satellite broadband company in Virginia called LightSquared, whose majority owner is an investment fund run by Democratic donor Philip Falcone.

Gen. Shelton was originally scheduled to testify Aug. 3 to a House committee that the project would interfere with the military’s sensitive Global Positioning Satellite capabilities, which control automated driving directions and missile targeting, among other things.”
Michelle Malkin | » LightSquared: The next Obama pay-for-play morass?


10. Referee?

Wise up.

If you have evidence that there was direct trading in the 'insider trading' claim then you may have something. Do some research! You'll find out that the 'insider trading' was part of fund investments. So no 'insider trading.'

I never say anything I can't support.





a. “On March 3, 2007 USA Today ran a piece on then-Senator Obama regarding two stocks in his portfolio. Obama was running for President and his critics were stating that the Senator may have been involved in insider trading, cronyism, using his position for personal gain, etc. Basically the media ran this story for a day, and then kissed it goodbye. Could you imagine the outrage if these same set of circumstances involved a Republican running for President?”
Obama the Investor ? Brian Sussman



Get off your knees....Obama can't run again- you can admit he's guilty.


Insider trading is ubiquitous among politicians.

1. In " Throw Them All Out," Peter Schweizer points out that if you're an elected official and you sit on an important committee, you are allowed to trade on the information that comes to you or even results from your committee-related decisions. It stands to reason that if you're on the banking committee, you probably trade bank stocks, playing it both long and short. If you're a staffer, you may accumulate sensitive information and sell it to hedge funds. A lot of careerists trade on non-public information.

2. Nancy Pelosi, the 60th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives with an estimated net worth of $58 million, bought 5,000 shares of V (Visa) at the privileged IPO price $44. This trade showed a profit immediately and the shares went up to about $88 in a matter of days. However, Pelosi worked on major legislation that if it had not been killed in the body she led, would have had a strong negative affect on the price right at that time. The rest of us can't do it because we're subject to strict conflict of interest rules, unlike lawmakers. Plus, we're not invited to participate in IPOs until after the price is run up.

3. Congressmen are big winners in the stock market. They cultivate companies in their loyalty structure from whom they get insider information often at the committee level. There are many ways they get rich while serving constituents, especially if you know what big deal Warren Buffett will do and when. Many names are given in this book of successful inside information operators within Congress.



4. The Pay-to-Play regime and the flow of insider information can be used by even the most novice traders using an online brokerage account. One big story is how Congressman Spensor Bachus used a private meeting with Fed Chair Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Paulson. Bachus was in the role of Ranking Member on the House Financial Services Committee. He used the dire information presented to him in this meeting to bet heavily that the market would go down, using option trades. Bachus, working with Bernanke and Paulson from July 2008 to November 2008, scalped $50K out of the falling market. The book has lots of war stories like that.


5. …the political class is so intelligent that they compel CEOs to let them buy lucrative shares in IPOs at very low prices in exchange for passing favorable legislation for those CEOs!
This is exactly what you see in the post about Obama.


6. Many members of Congress seem guilty here, including John Kerry, Dick Durbin, and Jim Moran. But Spencer Bachus takes the cake.

According to "Throw Them All Out," by Schweizer, as relayed by Dave Weigel at Slate, Rep. Bachus made more than 40 trades in his personal account in the summer and fall of 2008, in the early months of the financial crisis.

The fact that Bachus personally traded on private information he received as a result of his job is bad enough. The fact that he was the ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee at the time is simply outrageous.

In one case, the day after getting a private briefing on the collapsing economy and financial system from Ben Bernanke and Hank Paulson, Rep. Bachus effectively shorted the market (by buying options that would rise if the market tanked.)
A few days later, after the market tanked, Bachus sold his position and nearly doubled his money.


If a corporate executive or Wall Street trader did this--cashed in personally after getting private, non-public information from his work--Rep. Bachus and every other member of Congress would be screaming from the rooftops about how the financial system is deeply corrupt and how the executive should be charged with insider trading.
And they would be right.

THE CONGRESS INSIDER TRADING SCANDAL IS OUTRAGEOUS: Rep. Spencer Bachus Should Resign In Disgrace - Business Insider


7." Last night, 60 Minutes ran a report on the shocking normalcy of stock trades by members of Congress. The world's greatest deliberative bodies are exempt from insider trading laws, even though its members get quicker access to market-moving information than almost anyone else. If you're one of those 9 percent of Americans who still trust Congress, well, avert your eyes."

Spencer Bachus, Rogue Trader



Of course, you contend that the winner of "Lie of the year, 2013," would never stoop to insider trading.

Technically, it isn't insider trading because the law was specifically written in a way that politicians could get away with trading that would send anyone else to jail.

Congress Quickly And Quietly Rolls Back Insider Trading Rules For Itself | Techdirt

 

[Quantum Windbag]

Why do people keep pointing one of the biggest boondoggles in history as proof that the government can do things right?

Stupidity?

Really? Dial 9-1-1 and see if it works. Oh wait! Your not that bright. Take my word for it, it does work.

Thanks for the laugh.

8 Cities Where 911 Systems Recently Failed | Mother Jones