02-10-2021, 06:05 AM
(02-10-2021, 04:13 AM)random3 Wrote: Americans used to fight Commies and Nazis, but now have become Commies and Nazis.
We no longer have Commies and Nazis to fight.
Quote:Americans scream that trade wars are good and then are stunned when prices rise and exports fall.
The American people is no monolith.
Quote:Americans are so batshit insane now that they demand regulations and then are shocked when prices rise and the economy dies.
Some regulation keeps us from doing destructive things or formally precludes people from doing what they do not do and think wrong. For example, the Civil Rights Act prohibits trade unions from discriminating against people on grounds of race. Labor unions of the time endorsed that prohibition.
Quote:When the regulations and trade wars kill the economy, Americans demand welfare and bailouts, but do not have the mental capacity to understand why taxes increase.
What really messes up the economy for most people? Trickle-down economics fashionable on the Right for about forty years whose purpose is to further concentrate wealth, income, and power among the super-rich in America at the expense of everyone else. When workers prosper, that implies real prosperity; when workers suffer, we all do. The strength of our economy depends upon people being able to get away with silly things. When choosing between food and fuel while working at a dollar store is a mandatory choice, people have problems. When people have a choice between buying a new Buick or a new Chrysler if one is an assembly-line worker, we have prosperity.
Quote:Americans insist there must be wars, but then Americans are surprised that wars lead to debt, refugees, tyranny, and terrorism.
Does anyone see war as anything other than a budget-buster? Take a survey course in economics, dammit!
Quote:Americans say Obama was an evil asshole for supporting wars, debt, and tyranny, but then turn around and say Trump is a holy god for embracing wars, debt, and the police state.
It's usually the other way around. A fellow wrote a book named "A$$holes", and mentioned Donald Trump frequently as an example and discussed Obama largely for not being one.
Quote:Americans want everything to be illegal, but are dumbfounded that crime increases and prisons become overcrowded.
Some things must be illegal if we are to have social decency and a vibrant economy, some things must be encouraged, and some things must be deprecated. So we criminalize theft, deprecate adultery, and encourage work. Does that make sense?
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.