Unfettered Capitalism

[georgephillip]

Government should control everything? That seems like a really bad idea.

Government should control rich people and corporations.

Americans are forced into paying huge monopolies for access to phones and internet, and their private data is turned over to for-profit corporations who then spy on citizens (and others) for our government.

Only government is susceptible to popular sovereignty.
Only government can structure society in ways that don't work to the benefit of monopolies.
Only government can reverse the cycle of putting profits over people.

 

[georgephillip]

So where does it say "government authority" began?

Possibly with the rise of agricultural surplus and the ensuing division of labor.

"So long as humans were few, there was hardly any government..."

" The rise of agriculture began to change that state of affairs.

"In the land of Sumer (in what is now Iraq) the invention of irrigation necessitated grander arrangements.

"Control of the flow of water down the Tigris and Euphrates rivers had to be coordinated by a central authority, so that fields could be watered downstream as well as farther up.

"It became necessary also to devise a calendar, so as to know when the spring floods might be expected.

"As those skills evolved, society evolved with them."

government | Definition, History, & Facts

 

[dblack]

The meddling should be minimized. The "greatest good" is in the eye of beholder - the beholder being whoever has the most influence over government.

The greatest good in an economic sense would prioritize the majority of workers over shareholders and owners.

That's your opinion of what constitutes the "greatest good", and it's entirely subjective. Why should government force your opinion on everyone else? I don't think it should.

We're talking about a fundamental difference of opinion on the purpose of government. I don't believe government is there to tell us how to live. It's there to protect our freedom to live the way we want. Government should be the referee, not the coach. It's not there to decide what constitutes the "greatest good" and force everyone to abide. It's there to protect our freedom to decide, for ourselves, what the good life looks like and pursue it in our own way.

 

[dblack]

Government should control everything? That seems like a really bad idea.

Government should control rich people and corporations.

Again, that's your opinion. Other people think it should control pompous douchebags on the internet.

Both are an abuse of government power.

 

[georgephillip]

nope.

Can you provide an example of any civilized society that functioned without government?

 

[dblack]

Nevertheless, dumbasses like you vote for politicians who like to regulate.

I voted for Trump dip shit, but I’m done voting. It clearly means nothing.

Can you see the racket? I suspect not, since you stupidly think D politicians like to regulate. They are no different than your beloved Rs, but you can’t see the truth Dummy.

You don't understand. You're talking to a partisan. If you oppose anything they say, you are a duly appointed member of "the enemy" and must comport to all their stereotypes.

 

[gipper]

Nevertheless, dumbasses like you vote for politicians who like to regulate.

I voted for Trump dip shit, but I’m done voting. It clearly means nothing.

Can you see the racket? I suspect not, since you stupidly think D politicians like to regulate. They are no different than your beloved Rs, but you can’t see the truth Dummy.

You don't understand. You're talking to a partisan. If you oppose anything they say, you are a duly appointed member of "the enemy" and must comport to all their stereotypes.

So true. It’s amazing how much alike to two partisan dummies are. They see numerous faults in the oppositions politician, but none in their own.

 

[bripat9643]

Liberals love this phrase. Maybe I have a limited vocabulary, but I wasn't really sure what "fettered" meant. So I looked it up:

Any questions?

Unfettered means unrestrained or unlimited. Clearly that is not what capitalism is in this country, did you think otherwise?

I just wanted to provide a visual of what liberals want: fettered capitalism. People in chains.

How odd that progressive liberals do not realize the alternatives to capitalism are far more restrictive. Capitalism is all about choice more than anything else, and any other economic model is more about govt's choice rather than your own. In capitalism you get to decide what you will buy among many options and how much you pay for it. Every other system has much fewer options and directly or indirectly the govt decides how much you pay.

We no longer have capitalism in the US. The government determines which corporations will be kept alive with taxpayer bailout money and which corporations will die. See: The Great Recession

Worse, the federal government tilts the playing field through the tax code. To wit, which companies get tax breaks and which ones don't. It all depends on how much the companies donated to their war chests.

Even more sneaky is the creation of regulations which prevent up-and-comers from breaking into the market which would create competition against the sclerotic and zombie companies being protected by the federal government.

And in addition, we now have a Federal Reserve that is as important to the economy as the consumer.

Welcome to Capitalism 2.0, The Self-Inflicted Wound.

And the ignorant Trumpsters wonder why Socialism is becoming so popular. Trumpsters have no respect for the strengths and weaknesses of capitalism. They're like a toddler holding a loaded pistol.

The socialists should be sending them Thank You cards.

You keep listing things where our government has diverged from capitalism, and then you call that capitalism.

That ain't capitalism, moron. It's crony capitalism, which is the kind Dims want.

 

[bripat9643]

Nevertheless, dumbasses like you vote for politicians who like to regulate.

I voted for Trump dip shit, but I’m done voting. It clearly means nothing.

Can you see the racket? I suspect not, since you stupidly think D politicians like to regulate. They are no different than your beloved Rs, but you can’t see the truth Dummy.

You don't understand. You're talking to a partisan. If you oppose anything they say, you are a duly appointed member of "the enemy" and must comport to all their stereotypes.

You do comport with all the stereotypes of a Trump hating anti-capitalist douchebag.

 

[bripat9643]

Nevertheless, dumbasses like you vote for politicians who like to regulate.

I voted for Trump dip shit, but I’m done voting. It clearly means nothing.

Can you see the racket? I suspect not, since you stupidly think D politicians like to regulate. They are no different than your beloved Rs, but you can’t see the truth Dummy.

You don't understand. You're talking to a partisan. If you oppose anything they say, you are a duly appointed member of "the enemy" and must comport to all their stereotypes.

So true. It’s amazing how much alike to two partisan dummies are. They see numerous faults in the oppositions politician, but none in their own.

I see plenty of faults in Trump. However, why should I bother bringing them up when I'm sure some douchebag like you will do it?

 

[Mac1958]

Liberals love this phrase. Maybe I have a limited vocabulary, but I wasn't really sure what "fettered" meant. So I looked it up:

Any questions?

Unfettered means unrestrained or unlimited. Clearly that is not what capitalism is in this country, did you think otherwise?

I just wanted to provide a visual of what liberals want: fettered capitalism. People in chains.

How odd that progressive liberals do not realize the alternatives to capitalism are far more restrictive. Capitalism is all about choice more than anything else, and any other economic model is more about govt's choice rather than your own. In capitalism you get to decide what you will buy among many options and how much you pay for it. Every other system has much fewer options and directly or indirectly the govt decides how much you pay.

We no longer have capitalism in the US. The government determines which corporations will be kept alive with taxpayer bailout money and which corporations will die. See: The Great Recession

Worse, the federal government tilts the playing field through the tax code. To wit, which companies get tax breaks and which ones don't. It all depends on how much the companies donated to their war chests.

Even more sneaky is the creation of regulations which prevent up-and-comers from breaking into the market which would create competition against the sclerotic and zombie companies being protected by the federal government.

And in addition, we now have a Federal Reserve that is as important to the economy as the consumer.

Welcome to Capitalism 2.0, The Self-Inflicted Wound.

And the ignorant Trumpsters wonder why Socialism is becoming so popular. Trumpsters have no respect for the strengths and weaknesses of capitalism. They're like a toddler holding a loaded pistol.

The socialists should be sending them Thank You cards.

You keep listing things where our government has diverged from m capitalism, and then you call that capitalism.

That ain't capitalism, moron. It's crony capitalism, which is the kind Dims want.

Your arrogant ignorance, along with that of the other Trumpsters, is no longer funny. It's dangerous.

This is my profession, and you're just another mindless nutter. You can't intimidate me, try as you might.

 

[georgephillip]

Do you believe people never get evicted in other countries?

Why do you keep trying to blame Trump for COVID?

Because his incompetence has produced this:

The Fed Provides an Unlimited Money Lifeline to Wall Street; 30 Million Americans Facing Eviction Get a No-Money 4-Month Plan

 

[georgephillip]

Water control, maybe, but not agriculture. The later has been around for 12,000 years.

How do you have large scale agriculture without irrigation?

 

[bripat9643]

The meddling should be minimized. The "greatest good" is in the eye of beholder - the beholder being whoever has the most influence over government.

The greatest good in an economic sense would prioritize the majority of workers over shareholders and owners. Markets, money, and corporations are created by government.

No they weren't, dumbass. All three were created privately. You keep saying this because you want to convince the dumbasses that government can do whatever it wants with the economy. If it mandates that everyone makes $50/hr, then they will all make $50/hr.

Capitalism uses government to structure economic activity in specific ways that benefit a small minority of owners, shareholders, and executives over a majority of citizens.

That isn't capitism, dumbass. It's crony capitalism, and the result is a much lower level of productivity.

Unlike corporations, government can be changed democratically in ways to reverse the laws that effectively allow parasites like Elon Musk to grow richer at the expense of those who produce his wealth.

Government can change the laws, but it can't change the laws of economics.

"SEPTEMBER 3, 2020
In the Worst of Times, the Billionaire Elite Plunder Working Class America"

"Car company Tesla forced all workers to take a 10 percent pay cut from mid-April until July. In the same period, Tesla stock skyrocketed, and CEO Elon Musk’s net worth has now quadrupled from $25 billion to over $100 billion.

"Business software company Salesforce announced record sales levels one day and layoffs of 1,000 workers the next. The company’s stock rose 26 percent."

If they don't like the terms offered by Tesla, they were free to go work for Ford. We were in the middle of the shutdown, if you don't recall. I know people who had to take a 25% pay cut or lost their business.

Tesla stock "skyrocketed" months after the pay cut was anounced. There is no way Elon Musk could have known the stock was going to skyrocket. As always, you aren't posting all the relevant information or you just plain lie.

 

[bripat9643]

Do you believe people never get evicted in other countries?

Why do you keep trying to blame Trump for COVID?

Because his incompetence has produced this:

The Fed Provides an Unlimited Money Lifeline to Wall Street; 30 Million Americans Facing Eviction Get a No-Money 4-Month Plan

No it didn't, douchebag. The shutdown produced that.

 

[bripat9643]

Water control, maybe, but not agriculture. The later has been around for 12,000 years.

How do you have large scale agriculture without irrigation?

Define "large scale agriculture." The fact is agriculture has been around for 12,000 years, most of that time without irrigation.

 

[gipper]

Nevertheless, dumbasses like you vote for politicians who like to regulate.

I voted for Trump dip shit, but I’m done voting. It clearly means nothing.

Can you see the racket? I suspect not, since you stupidly think D politicians like to regulate. They are no different than your beloved Rs, but you can’t see the truth Dummy.

You don't understand. You're talking to a partisan. If you oppose anything they say, you are a duly appointed member of "the enemy" and must comport to all their stereotypes.

So true. It’s amazing how much alike to two partisan dummies are. They see numerous faults in the oppositions politician, but none in their own.

I see plenty of faults in Trump. However, why should I bother bringing them up when I'm sure some douchebag like you will do it?

You’ve proven you’re stuck in 1980 and believing Reagan’s rhetoric still applies. This in the face of enormous evidence that proves our government is controlled by big corporations and billionaires.

 

[bripat9643]

Let's accept that government meddling is guaranteed, so is the government making a few citizens filthy rich by meddling. Power being abused is the easiest guarantee to make in the world.

Perhaps the abuse of power is made worse by the existence of private fortunes?

The abuse of power occurs because power exists. The way to reduce the abuse of power is to reduce the power of government.

 

[bripat9643]

Nevertheless, dumbasses like you vote for politicians who like to regulate.

I voted for Trump dip shit, but I’m done voting. It clearly means nothing.

Can you see the racket? I suspect not, since you stupidly think D politicians like to regulate. They are no different than your beloved Rs, but you can’t see the truth Dummy.

You don't understand. You're talking to a partisan. If you oppose anything they say, you are a duly appointed member of "the enemy" and must comport to all their stereotypes.

So true. It’s amazing how much alike to two partisan dummies are. They see numerous faults in the oppositions politician, but none in their own.

I see plenty of faults in Trump. However, why should I bother bringing them up when I'm sure some douchebag like you will do it?

You’ve proven you’re stuck in 1980 and believing Reagan’s rhetoric still applies. This in the face of enormous evidence that proves our government is controlled by big corporations and billionaires.

You've proven that you're an imbecile. The laws of economics are still in force. They haven't changed since 1980.

 

[gipper]

Nevertheless, dumbasses like you vote for politicians who like to regulate.

I voted for Trump dip shit, but I’m done voting. It clearly means nothing.

Can you see the racket? I suspect not, since you stupidly think D politicians like to regulate. They are no different than your beloved Rs, but you can’t see the truth Dummy.

You don't understand. You're talking to a partisan. If you oppose anything they say, you are a duly appointed member of "the enemy" and must comport to all their stereotypes.

So true. It’s amazing how much alike to two partisan dummies are. They see numerous faults in the oppositions politician, but none in their own.

I see plenty of faults in Trump. However, why should I bother bringing them up when I'm sure some douchebag like you will do it?

You’ve proven you’re stuck in 1980 and believing Reagan’s rhetoric still applies. This in the face of enormous evidence that proves our government is controlled by big corporations and billionaires.

You've proven that you're an imbecile. The laws of economics are still in force. They haven't changed since 1980.

Lol. Yes...the laws of economics haven’t changed. Do you know what has changed?