Sunday, February 28, 2010

Jim/Capitalism/Socialism/Fascism

Capitalism is alive and well, Jim. I'm impressed with how resilient retail sales have been. Also, a savings rate of less than 5% is the not the behavior pattern of a panicked population. Consumer Q&A surveys aside; the consumer continues to spend.

It is very hard to follow the logic of your Capitalism/Socialism rhetoric. It is unintelligible for couple of reasons:

1) GW Bush was hardly the iconic champion of laissez faire capitalism.

2) The Obama administration has not taken the country in another direction. There has been very little change. In fact, that is the most common criticism -- where is the change?

Just in case you missed that class; we live in representative democracy. Our system of exchange is a heavily regulated interpretation of capitalism. That has been the case for our entire lives.

The biggest structural threat our government is facing right now is from non-politicians. Sixty thousand lobbyists sitting on 900 federal agency advisory panels have effectively taken over your government; and they do not have your best interests at heart.

Ten financials institutions now control over 75% of banking assets. The robber barrons have taken over; they own the congress. Ron Paul knows it. Paul Volcker knows it. Alan Greenspan knows it. Barack Obama knows it. Milton Freidman would have said -- get the money back and let them fail.

The big banks are not only too big to fail, they are now beyond the reach of meaningful regulatory reform. They are above the law.

Forget about Greece -- your country is in real trouble; and it has very little to do with Barack Obama's health care proposal.

Why isn't a sincere conservative like yourself outraged by a banking oligopoly? Tolerating oligopoly flies in the face of bedrock republican principles.

Please don't reply by cutting and pasting something from a publication owned by Rupert Murdoch. He makes William Randolph Hearst look like a piker wearing pajamas.

3 comments:

Jim G. said...

Now Eric...with the Unintelligible, the grammar and the "missing classes" I could get a complex, but, dude, I know I was in class a lot more than Baxter! He was busy getting ----ed

Rich, do they need to roll in with the tanks to declare Communism?

Are there not stages?

You complain about banks and lobbyists which is like faulting sharks for being sharks.



We have a representative democracy within the limits of the constitution.

No change? GM, health care, bailouts, deficits?

We are probably arguing the same thing and just differ on a definition. The government is too big, its power too big (and becoming bigger under "o") and my point is that we don't need fewer lobbyists, we need less for them to lobby about. My party, at essence, is about smaller government (anti-Socialism). Entitlement wrapped in a bow is remains Socialism.

Lastly, banks, a convenient target throughout history. There are no monopolies outside of government interference. Again, too big to fail is enabled by government.

Jim G. said...

Sorry, could not resist:),

Chairmanship After Ethics Violation

FOXNews.com

Rep. Charlie Rangel's admonishment by the House ethics panel does not disqualify him from leading the chamber's influential tax-writing committee, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Sunday, even as she acknowledged the conflict doesn't pass the smell test.


Talk about too big to fail!

Baxter said...

I have always liked Charlie Rangel. It is time for him to take one for the team - he needs to hand off the baton and let someone else represent Harlem.

These guys at the top can't merely give up their powerful posts - it is too humiliating. Just ask Trent Lott. Charlie just needs to wrap up a great career, sooner rather than later.