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Rusty Shackleford
Joined: 08 May 2008
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 Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2009 7:44 pm Post subject: |
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[quote="Fox"]
| Rusty Shackleford wrote: |
| Rusty Shackleford wrote: |
| The trouble with what you advocate, and it is a noble if not mis-guided goal, is that we stifle growth to the point that there is none! |
To be fair, history has shown you can have moderate regulation while still having non-zero economic growth. I agree it can be taken too far, but it need not be. |
Even if government could start delivering efficiency regularly, it would still have a lot of catching up to for all it's past mistakes. All of the fastest growing economies have subscribed to free markets eg colonial America, Industrial revolution Britain, modern China etc.
I'm a huge optimist. I fundamentally believe that we can "outgrow" any problem that confronts us. The most effective form of growth being technological innovation. For innovation to flourish, you need an environment that rewards the risks of innovation. Excessive govt regulation is very effective at removing those rewards. |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2009 8:13 pm Post subject: |
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| How would you like it if I made Al Sharpton the poster boy for liberals? I mean two can play at this game. Actually, screw it, I'll just use Pelosi. My bet is, Ya-Ta, even you would squirm if she were to become the monolith of liberalism. |
Thou dost protest too much.
Why is Pelosi such an objectionable figure? I swear, when her name comes up here on the board, I can almost literally see the right-wingers jumping up and down, spittle flying every which way. Is it more than just old-fashioned misogyny?
You're welcome to try to make Al Sharpton the poster boy, but he just doesn't have the gravitas to pull it off. Chances are I'd agree with him more often than not, although I don't know a single one of his positions on any issue. All I know is that he has the reputation of being an ambulance chaser and has a weird hairdo.
I was just teasing you with the comment about RP above. (Note the winking icon). However, I think you have to admit the man is a leading figure in the libertarian movement. It isn't like he's just a self-appointed 'leader' either. He managed to get himself nominated by the capital 'L' Libertarian Party once upon a time, so he does have some support out there, albeit nowhere near tsunami-level.
There are some interesting topics you, Fox and mises raised in the section of my 'Obama is the greatest thing since sliced bread' thread I'd like to discuss, but I've got class. Maybe later. One of them has to do with special interests. |
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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2009 9:35 pm Post subject: |
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Until Ya-Ta gets back to me,
I found this snippet interesting on the subject of regulations. Regulations, of course, stifle innovation by erecting barriers against entry into the market. For established industries, this can be beneficial. For consumers, unless the regulation addresses an urgent problem, it might be more dubious (Note: I support regulation of C02 emissions). |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2009 10:25 pm Post subject: |
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For starters, this part:
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| In America today, the question isn't whether special interests, its which special interests. The libertarian revolts at the framework, and attacks special interests generally. Some libertarians take this farther than others, and some libertarians admit more market failure than others. But at the heart is a healthy suspicion of government and a very American faith in the individual. |
The 'special' in special interest is the same special that anti-gay folks throw around to make it sound like gays want some special right or other when all they want is to not be beaten to a bloody pulp on the way to the grocery store. It's just an all-purpose pejorative word the anti crowd uses to make it sound like the other guy's interests are somehow bad.
Everyone, from individuals to the largest corporation, has a set of interests. This is not a modern phenomenon. Boston ship owners, frontier farmers and Southern tobacco growers had interests in 1789. One of the purposes of government is to balance those interests. It is simply naive to think interests never existed or that they will go away in the future.
One way of looking at political parties is as coalitions of interests. Traditionally, the GOP represented the party of the big banks and big corporations and conversely, FDR's Democrats represented the blue collar unions (to simplify the example). Reagan put together a governing coalition and pushed the idea, in the traditionally Republican way, of representing the interests of the wealthiest. Jay Gould would have been proud.
If you have some other definition of special interest, I'd like to hear it. |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Thu Apr 30, 2009 6:20 am Post subject: |
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Here's another remarkable poll result on the effect of Obama's presidency from the NY Times/CBS News, April 22-26:
RACE RELATIONS IN US: Black Respondents
GOOD: July '08: 29% NOW: 59%
BAD:....July '08: 59% NOW: 30%
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697#30489000
Maddow interviewed Melissa Harris-Lacewell http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#30488583
She says African-Americans are pretty excited that no one has shot Obama in the last 100 days. (Any day now, I expect BoyontheRight to post about how whites are being victimized because no one is giving them credit for not shooting Obama.) |
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