dont you people understand that once you go down the road of entitlements you never get it back?

bootstraps, people. use them and shut up.

7/12/2010 5:21:59 PM

I'd say it's just as hard to remove an entitlement as it is to raise taxes.

Bootstraps are just an excuse people who are doing well use to excuse themselves from both helping others and recognizing contributers to their success.

7/12/2010 5:28:31 PM

Quote :

"and downright silly "

Who are you to judge what is downright silly?

Quote :

"a rich person basically has to kick around some of his money in order to open up labor"

You don't have to be rich to engage in the same sort of behavior.

Quote :

"For some reason this is viewed by people as some grand sacrifice, as if moving the capital from point A to point B is what accomplished anything as opposed to labor itself. "

I will agree to the extent that the bankruptcy system is skewed towards those with money rather than those with labor. Take a look at the code, if you produced real labor for the now bankrupted company only the most recent 180 days of wages (likely in the form of PTO) owed to you is considered secured. Any owed wages older than this goes into the unsecured pile and has to get in line behind the secured creditors who loaned money that was produced by someones labor.

Quote :

"Mortgage brokers sure as fuck knew what was up, especially as they artificially inflated their price opinions for kickbacks."

It's funny, you and God both seem to whine about the evil rich people when you should really be whining about the lack of law enforcement and the regulatory capture engaged in by those that want to be rich. And then you argue that the fix for that is...to give the people that are responsible for the failure more capability to be more responsible for the failure but to not actually fix the failure. You can't really blame capitalist for being capitalist. You can blame those that thrive off of power for wanting to be more powerful and more richer to the detriment of the rest of the country.

7/12/2010 9:09:27 PM

Quote :

"I love how, given the way our system is structured, a rich person basically has to kick around some of his money in order to open up labor. For some reason this is viewed by people as some grand sacrifice, as if moving the capital from point A to point B is what accomplished anything as opposed to labor itself."

Hahahaha. Holy fuck. I didn't even see this on the last page. In another thread McDanger is talking about the exploitation of the working class and in this thread he is floating the labor theory of value!?!??!

Did he pick up Marxism for Dummies over the weekend or something????

[Edited on July 12, 2010 at 9:30 PM. Reason : ``]

7/12/2010 9:20:17 PM

I've been wondering if you've been reading Rothbard since the last time I've seen you around.

7/12/2010 10:15:21 PM

don't say that. I have a long-running distaste for Austrians--especially Rothbard.

I have read quite a bit from the public choice literature over the past 2-3 years though (large portions of the Calculus of Consent among others). That was a total mind fuck after the Bush White House. Both have left me with a deep distrust of democracy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_choice#Special_interests

Of course, given my background in environmental economics I also have a deep distrust of corporations.

Basically, I am now suspicious anytime collective decision making is involved. More people should be imo.

[Edited on July 12, 2010 at 10:53 PM. Reason : ``]

7/12/2010 10:43:05 PM

^ No worries, Obama speaks "Austrian"!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tr7zhnctF4c

7/13/2010 4:11:26 AM