Rigby5
Diamond Member
Government grants utility monopolies, moron.thats not a collective,, thats a society working together for a specific goal,,,I'm not a conservative and have done much research on progressives and their origins that go back to the fabian socialist,,,not progressives or socialist,, they are for a single powerful governmentother than mass transit thats not a left wing liberal,, more like right wing libertarian,It could be a ruse to enable Biden to throw a lot of money at a non-existing problem, and then
Depends.
Some investments have a greater pay off than cost, so are worth it.
Example are Hoover dam, the St. Lawrence Seaway, TVA, etc.
I would love rural broadband myself.
When government does pump priming borrowing and spending, it can enrich consumers and boost the whole economy, making the initial borrowing small in comparison, due to inflation.
So it depends on if well researched and executed.
If you're attempting to address any of my comments, you should know that I left this discussion because it's a portrayal of the same sort of ignorance that is being displayed by Americans on the Covid vaccine.
As a catch-all reply though, I consider your comments to be nuanced enough to serve for further discussion. The reason being, the US is too far behind already for thinking of piecemeal fixes. My opinion is that it's going to take huge spending and the inherent risks attached.
Americans are angry and the attack against government is at least a symbolic effort to bring down bad government. There is risk of it growing into something that is more than just a symbolic joke.
Biden must succeed this time in breaking the country away from the 'American way', which is inequality and the hold the very wealthy has on the ordinary people.
Don't forget, the Jan.6th. riot was against government, not just one side of governemnt.
If Biden doesn't succeed then Trump is going to be back offering his solution to the problems in America. That will be a fascist bid for power.
And then no solution to the problem, because that would be contrary to a fascist agenda.
Have Americans matured enough yet to just leave the Trump experience in the dust, as a horrible experience? I think there are several indications now that would be true!
First I should provide the context that I am extreme left wing, liberal, progressive, socialist, etc.
But I did not mind the congress occupation because I do think our government is way corrupt, even though I do not think the election was rigged more than the usual poor choice of candidates.
What I don't like about our government are illegal legislation like Prohibition, the War on Drugs, federal gun laws, federal health laws, 3 Strikes, asset forfeiture, illegal wars, etc.
But I do like the idea of investing in mass transit, transportation in general, and stimulus.
and the best stimulus happens the same way,, local,, the feds always take a big cut and use it as a political slush fund
as for mas transit,, like everything the government gets involved in it cost more and the waste is usually off the charts,,
best to let that happen on a local level where the needs came be evaluated first hand and waste left to a minimum,,
Leftwing, progressive, liberal, socialists are always for local over federal.
Federal it too far away, costs too much to contact or try to influence, and are always corrupt by corporate interests.
We need large government to counter large corruption, but it always provides its own corruption as well.
Leftwing, progressive, liberals are about individual liberties and rights.
Do words like cooperative, communal, or collective imply centralization?
Not at all.
collective is the very definition of centralization,,, it says all are controlled together with one power and is the polar opposite of individual liberty,,
Wrong.
You just have no idea what a progressive or socialist is.
Look up "Sewer Socialists", progressives like Phillip and Robert La Follette, in the state of WI, for the last century.
Then look up socialist mayors of Milwaukee, WI.
It is always amusing when conservatives try to tell socialists what socialism really is?
- Emil Seidel, Mayor of Milwaukee, 1910-1912
- Daniel Webster Hoan, Mayor of Milwaukee, 1916-1940
- Frank Zeidler, Mayor of Milwaukee, 1948-1960
and I know their ideology was so rejected they had to change their name to liberals,,,
could you explain how individual rights work in a collective society???
I always thought things should be decided for the collective and rejection of the individual,,
Easy.
If lots of people need something collective, they pool resources and do it together.
A common example would be a bond issue for the financing of public schools, library, police, fire department, etc.
In a rural setting, you would expect collective grain elevators, farmer's markets, etc.
It only starts to get more tricky when it is something that could generate more of a profit.
For example, if people need solar power, and no one can afford the over head alone, then why not collectively pool some revenue in order to finance the factory to build the solar panels, inverters, etc.?
The problem with that is a capitalist society considers that illegal.
A public company does not have to make a profit, so private companies consider it cheating.
But it does allow for better service, savings, and more user input.
For example, in Milwaukee, WI, the city buses, school buses, garbage trucks, and snow plows are all collective.
Which means they can shift drivers around as needed.
When it snows, they put plows on the garbage trucks, and it is quickly dealt with.
They already have plenty of drivers and don't have to have any extra overhead.
With a private company, people claim you can choose another brand instead, but the reality is that often is not possible.
Things like insurance, cars, gasoline, health care, etc., pretty much price fix, so you are really facing more of a monopoly.
You get no input at all.
While if you have public companies, then you can go to public meeting and complain, vote, or organize opposition.
You have much more influence.
With private, you have nothing.
The only people who like private over public, are the ones who want to make abusive profits.
theres no such thing as a public company they are owned by individuals and the public has no business telling them how to run their company,, thats authoritarian and against individual rights you say you are for,,
my guess is you lied when you said you were for individual rights cause everything youve said since goes against that,,,
Wrong.
Society working together for a specific goal IS collective.
That is exactly what the word means.
{...
collective
[kəˈlektiv]
ADJECTIVE
NOUN
- done by people acting as a group.
"a collective protest"
...}
- a cooperative enterprise.
synonyms:
cooperative · co-op · community · communal settlement · kibbutz · fellowship
Authoritarian is when you have a private person or company dictate to you.
There are lots of public companies, for example most utilities are public.
Anytime you don't want a private dictator creating a high priced monopoly that your community has no influence over price or quality, you create a public company.
We should have far more public companies, but the reason we don't is that the private capitalists who want that profit, consider public companies that could make a profit, illegal.
Governments have many options, ranging from just letting private utilities compete, granting a utility monopoly, or producing the utility itself. And example of the government doing it would be the TVA, Hoover dam, etc.