How do the left and right differ?

trueblue

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Jun 17, 2009
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From Harvard economist Greg Mankiw:

-The right sees large deadweight losses associated with taxation and, therefore, is worried about the growth of government as a share in the economy. The left sees smaller elasticities of supply and demand and, therefore, is less worried about the distortionary effect of taxes.

-The right sees externalities as an occasional market failure that calls for government intervention, but sees this as relatively rare exception to the general rule that markets lead to efficient allocations. The left sees externalities as more pervasive.

-The right sees competition as a pervasive feature of the economy and market power as typically limited both in magnitude and duration. The left sees large corporations with substantial degrees of monopoly power that need to be checked by active antitrust policy.

-The right sees people as largely rational, doing the best the can given the constraints they face. The left sees people making systematic errors and believe that it is the government role’s to protect people from their own mistakes.

-The right sees government as a terribly inefficient mechanism for allocating resources, subject to special-interest politics at best and rampant corruption at worst. The left sees government as the main institution that can counterbalance the effects of the all-too-powerful marketplace.

-There is one last issue that divides the right and the left—perhaps the most important one. That concerns the issue of income distribution. Is the market-based distribution of income fair or unfair, and if unfair, what should the government do about it? That is such a big topic that I will devote the entire next lecture to it.
 
He forgot about how the right wants to manipulate gullible people by getting them to hate the left.

So, why did you not mention the fact the left does exactly the same thing?
A. Forgot(senile)
B. Didn't know(willful ignorance)
C. Pure blind partisanship (delusional).
D. All the above
 
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E. Because the amount of money the left spends on it is ridiculously tiny compared to what the right spends.
 
what a limp dick explanation from the professor, how many people come home from work at night concerned about "deadweight losses"?

Republicans are borrow-and-spend big government, Democrats are tax-and-spend big government. Only way to limit government is to let the two of them fight it out.
 
what a limp dick explanation from the professor, how many people come home from work at night concerned about "deadweight losses"?

Republicans are borrow-and-spend big government, Democrats are tax-and-spend big government. Only way to limit government is to let the two of them fight it out.

Just about everybody involved in any business or the production or sale of any product from middle management up?
 
The difference? Republicans are willing to work for what they want. Democrats expect a handout.

From 1770, Alexander Tyler:

“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship."
 
I think the divide of right and left is very simple and more social than economic:

The Right: the definition of "us" is inclusive - the stranger ("not us")without is to be protected against - new is regarded with suspician - until it has stood the test of time and become the status quo. Right is the guardian of tradition because tradition works (in its view).

The Left: the definition of "us" is exclusive - the left is constantly seeking to push the envelope in redefining what is "us" and "not us" - even at the cost of stability in society. The left seeks to change "tradition" in order to right what it views as wrong or injustice (in it's view).

The right seeks to define the limits of humanity and protect it while the left desires to expand the limits to be more inclusive.
 
I think the best summary from Dr. Mankiw is this explanation:

"The right sees people as largely rational, doing the best the can given the constraints they face. The left sees people making systematic errors and believe that it is the government's role to protect people from their own mistakes."

Free markets vs. regulation. Pure capitalism vs. socialism. Anarchy vs. communism. Neither side, if it truly got its way, is very efficient/effective in its extremes. Balance is necessary.

The debate is where "balanced" is, or whether balance includes leaning more to one side than the other. And for the pigheaded, the preference is to ignore national well-being and push for an extreme on one side or the other.

That said, I like to believe that people are generally rational and, though we need regulation to protect us from the dangers of imperfect information, individual liberties are best delivered through small governments.
 
Whenever I read this sort of argument and you hear it often, I wonder what world the author lives in? I think we Americans can live in such a fantasy world that we fail to see that life isn't as we think it is for many Ameircans. I am thinking of the author, does the 'right' really think this? Sure, I hear Limbaugh say this all the time, and Hannity mentions it often, oh and Sarah even adds to it. Sure they do. What horseshit, this is written by a corporate stooge who lives in a glass house and need government and liberals to live because without them he would fail as all the past right wing politicians have.


'If Conservatism is the Ideology of Freedom ....Then I'm the Queen of England'

"I wish I had a nickel for every time a conservative told a lie in order to sell an ideology that would otherwise be hopelessly unappealing."

David Michael Green: If Conservatism is the Ideology of Freedom ....
 
E. Because the amount of money the left spends on it is ridiculously tiny compared to what the right spends.

AAAAAANNNNNNNN......Wrong answer.
Either C or D were the correct answers. Go to the back of the class.

So the right doesn't spend millions a day on FauxNews and "Talk" radio? :cuckoo:

I never said that. Besides, prove it......... Of course you have to provide what is considered the right, and not by your standards/definition but by actual definition.
Make sure you put your name at the top of the paper so you can receive proper credit, this will represent 50% of your class grade. Good luck!
 
So the right doesn't spend millions a day on FauxNews and "Talk" radio? :cuckoo:

I never said that. Besides, prove it......... Of course you have to provide what is considered the right, and not by your standards/definition but by actual definition.
Make sure you put your name at the top of the paper so you can receive proper credit, this will represent 50% of your class grade. Good luck!

Nobody died and made you teacher. Besides, my definition is always the actual definition - of anything. So, by definition, you have failed.
 
From Harvard economist Greg Mankiw:

-The right sees large deadweight losses associated with taxation and, therefore, is worried about the growth of government as a share in the economy. The left sees smaller elasticities of supply and demand and, therefore, is less worried about the distortionary effect of taxes.

-The right sees externalities as an occasional market failure that calls for government intervention, but sees this as relatively rare exception to the general rule that markets lead to efficient allocations. The left sees externalities as more pervasive.

-The right sees competition as a pervasive feature of the economy and market power as typically limited both in magnitude and duration. The left sees large corporations with substantial degrees of monopoly power that need to be checked by active antitrust policy.

-The right sees people as largely rational, doing the best the can given the constraints they face. The left sees people making systematic errors and believe that it is the government role’s to protect people from their own mistakes.

-The right sees government as a terribly inefficient mechanism for allocating resources, subject to special-interest politics at best and rampant corruption at worst. The left sees government as the main institution that can counterbalance the effects of the all-too-powerful marketplace.

-There is one last issue that divides the right and the left—perhaps the most important one. That concerns the issue of income distribution. Is the market-based distribution of income fair or unfair, and if unfair, what should the government do about it? That is such a big topic that I will devote the entire next lecture to it.

It's really very easy:

While liberals concentrate on how to distribute the eggs that the Golden Goose lays--conservatives concentrate on the health of the Golden Goose.

Right now with this administration--the Golden Goose's feathers have been plucked clean & they are getting ready to throw it in the pot for some poor persons dinner.--:lol:

$Earmarks-Signing-Statement.jpg
 
It's really very easy:

While liberals concentrate on how to distribute the eggs that the Golden Goose lays--conservatives concentrate on the health of the Golden Goose.

And both tasks have to be done, lest some greedy sack of manure steal all the golden eggs for himself. How easily conservatives tend to forget that.
 
So the right doesn't spend millions a day on FauxNews and "Talk" radio? :cuckoo:

I never said that. Besides, prove it......... Of course you have to provide what is considered the right, and not by your standards/definition but by actual definition.
Make sure you put your name at the top of the paper so you can receive proper credit, this will represent 50% of your class grade. Good luck!

Nobody died and made you teacher. Besides, my definition is always the actual definition - of anything. So, by definition, you have failed.

Are you positive, sure it is (omnipotence must be wonderful) and of course I did........riiiiigggghhhhht..........
You still didn't back up you statement. Deflection?
 
How the right and left are different?

How about how they are the same??

Picture a small group of individuals that think they have government planned out. What it should do and should not do. How it should be funded and so forth, trying to gain power but believes that their ideas are to complicated for the common man. Thus they set out to hire propagandists to sensationalize their ideas until a new type of citizen is created--the wing nut.

From here, the wing nut takes over and crashes the nation! The actual right/left theorists realizes the wing nut is a nut, yet become too chicken shit to do anything about it because they need wing nuts to gain power. Thus the wing nuts have all the power, the right/left theorists becomes their groupies, and the nation burns to hell.


Am I wrong?
 

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