New Book: The Obama Nation

[MikeC]

Wow, twice in one day...you aren't going all..."Maple Leafy" on us are you Buddy?
S

Out of Season

[shawnsegler]

Yeah, you aren't going all...."out of season" on us are ya.

S- Goes and gets Mike C a pabst from the trailer

[Mike Strong]

Well yeah, - no form of government is flawless; which is why Libertarians agree with Thomas Jefferson when he said , "The government that governs best, governs least".

Smaller government means less government fuck-ups, less government corruption, and less government interference with our freedom, ...

... capitalism doesn't make things unfair, - government interference in capitalism, like: regulations, corporate welfare, and the unholy alliance withThe Fedreal Reserve Bank is what makes things unfair.

"Jackson's picture on the $20 dollar bill is the very definition of irony".


Just for shits and giggles you could take The Libertarian Purity test by Byran Caplan http://www.bcaplan.com/cgi-bin/purity.cgi


When I was 17 years old, I scored as a PURE LIBERTARIAN ...

... as I have aged, I have mellowed, I just took the test, and scored as a mere HARD-CORE LIBERTARIAN.

Half of you would, I suspect, score as Statists, - but many might be surprised to find that you are Soft-Core Libertarians.

[DeusTrismegistus]

Well yeah, - no form of government is flawless; which is why Libertarians agree with Thomas Jefferson when he said , "The government that governs best, governs least".

Smaller government means less government fuck-ups, less government corruption, and less government interference with our freedom, ...

... capitalism doesn't make things unfair, - government interference in capitalism, like: regulations, corporate welfare, and the unholy alliance withThe Fedreal Reserve Bank is what makes things unfair.

"Jackson's picture on the $20 dollar bill is the very definition of irony".


Just for shits and giggles you could take The Libertarian Purity test by Byran Caplan http://www.bcaplan.com/cgi-bin/purity.cgi


When I was 17 years old, I scored as a PURE LIBERTARIAN ...

... as I have aged, I have mellowed, I just took the test, and scored as a mere HARD-CORE LIBERTARIAN.

Half of you would, I suspect, score as Stateists, - but many might be surprised to find that you are Soft-Core Libertarians.

Well I got 50, borderline medium core. I think the biggest difference in my views and the standard libertarian approach is that the standard seems to be uncontrolled economic freedom. Which I am not for. Part of the problem we have now is because of enormous corporations with monopoly power having the funds and push to be able to control policy. Capitalism is based on Perfect Competition. That is defined as a many buyers and many sellers. Any situation which by its nature cannot have many buyers or many sellers is a potential cesspool of corruption and economic burden on the individual. Look at Electric for example. Since it has been privitized the prices have increased dramatically, taxes have not gone down either. A electric company has what I call a localized monopoly. Within the region they control their is no competition. The only way to change suppliers is to move, into another localized monopoly. Then economies of scale can prevent perfect competition from arising in a situation where one company gets a head start on the rest or makes a breakthrough that significantly increases their size beyond their competitors.

The problem with monopolies arises from the fallacy that the best economic choice for the individual will also be the best choice for the group. This is most easily demonstrated with farmers. A farmer grows corn, so do lots of other farmers. So he wants to make more money, so he plants more corn. So do all the other farmers. They then get less per bushel because supply increased but demand did not. The only choice a farmer can make is to plant more corn to increase income or to switch crops. But planting more corn ends up making the situation worse and driving prices even lower. The correct solution would be for everyone to plant less, but no one would do that. In a business the goal is to make money. You make the most money when there is no competition. So a business will always seek to eliminate competition and make more money. Walmart making more money may be in Walmart's best interests, but the local businesses it destroys and the subsequent decrease in income in the area is not economically worth the cheaper goods.

So part of the reason the US economy is in the state it is in, is because of large corporation doing what is in their own best interests to make more money. The oil companies are raping the consumer, the ethanol craze coupled with major droughts is driving up food prices, and the utility companies are projected to raise prices significantly within the next year. The lenders were handing out bad loans like candy and the housing market has suffered from too much building and too much lending. The student loan situation is out of control with more than $200 billion owed in the US and almost all the debt is in control of Sally Mae which thanks to Bush is practically beyond the law and does many things which should be illegal.

Combining all these factors the nation is in extreme debt, the prices of necessities have increased which decreasing the spending income of families, which must now go to pay out of control debt. The prevalence of monopolies and the "service economy" has created many low paying jobs to replace higher paying jobs, further decreasing the spending income. Now we are a time bomb waiting to go off. The capitalist economy relies on spending. As spending drops, then production drops, as production drops jobs are lost and wages are decreased, which further decreases the income available to be spent, which decreases spending more, etc.

Government regulation should check the processes that evolve to the detriment of the people but keep as hands off an approach as possible.

My 2 cents.

[MikeC]

91

[qiphlow]

Your Libertarian Purity Score

Your score is...

47

31-50 points: Your libertarian credentials are obvious. Doubtlessly you will become more extreme as time goes on.

[JustinCobb]

14.

The stupid thing actually asks if you feel taxation should be abolished four times.

[Mike Strong]

14 ! You have Libertarian leanings Justin, explore them, ...


... come over to The Dark Side !









m. strong 102

[edededed]

20 points. Ah, well.

[Buddy]

Or stay over there Justin. I need to bathe now.

To add:

You're Brian's bitch, stay with him.