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"The beauty of the free market in this is it self regulates."
See. It’s impossible to hold a rational conversation with you, Craig. You simply haven’t been paying attention to this economic crisis. The notion that the market can regulate itself has been "blown out of the water" – together with the economic system, world-wide. It is now understood that Nobel laureate, Friedman was a half-wit – and a crook, and that Adam Smith has been grossly misrepresented by the far right. .
Bulwark:
You would be welcome to visit my house anytime or my commentary box should you venture to the USA.
The original Department of Homeland Security memo goes out of its way to single out groups of (by and large) law abiding citizens as needing observation by law yet does not even acknowledge the problems of violent gun crime in the USA which I think needs far more observation than a group of people who just happen to speak out against the ideals of the Government.
Obviously there are extremists out there and at the very least law enforcement needs to be aware of them. But I think the brush used to tar innocent citizens in this document is far too broad.
I agree with you entirely that violent gun crime perpetrated by blacks has nothing to do with their skin color. But it does have to do with the fact many black leaders who have been supportive of Obama such as Jackson, Sharpton and Wright attempt to keep their followers where they are on the social scale. As long as they are seen to be a voice, they stay in their positions of power.
Instead of enabling minorities to make their own way and helping them to develop and use the tools of self improvement, Jackson, Sharpton and Wright are interested primarily in a social agenda that reads well but when put into practice doesn’t work. They know it doesn’t work and know they cannot be publicly challenged on it, without the challenger being deemed a racist. Hence, the circle is complete of deception is complete. Add into that a public school system that is very liberal in teaching standards and you have millions of people, (including plenty of blacks and other minorities) totally unprepared for life.
Obama has a chance to break that circle of deception. But he knows if he does, Wright, Jackson and Sharpton will brand him an "Uncle Tom" as they will then see him as a threat to their livelihood and political influence. If Obama does manage it and the people listen to him and he gives them the tools to act, we could be looking at the greatest social reformer for the power of good this country has ever seen.
Craig.
"The beauty of the free market in this is it self regulates."
See. It’s impossible to hold a rational conversation with you, Craig. You simply haven’t been paying attention to this economic crisis. The notion that the market can regulate itself has been "blown out of the water" – together with the economic system, world-wide. It is now understood that Nobel laureate, Friedman was a half-wit – and a crook, and that Adam Smith has been grossly misrepresented by the far right. .
A lot of this mess was caused by the Clinton ideal of everyone having the right to own a home and the Democrat controlled house dictating through new laws mortgage regulations whereby banks had to offer loans to people without the means to pay it back. So, the adjustable rate mortgage came to be. Anyone who signed up for one of those was an idiot. They had to know a day would come when they may no longer afford the rates but it didn’t stop people from buying.
Add into that the cost of a fruitless and faithful war thanks to Bush and of course you will have economic turmoil.
Show me a country though where increased Government regulation and expenditure has helped its people live better lives and have more economic and personal freedom and less tax and I will be happy to reconsider my viewpoint.
Craig.
"Show me a country though where increased Government regulation and expenditure has helped its people live better lives and have more economic and personal freedom and less tax and I will be happy to reconsider my viewpoint."
That is very easy indeed, Craig. in a word, Scandinavia. However, social- democratic (what you would call, "Socialist" in the US!) countries, such as France and Germany, also.
Here is an answer to another of your points, from the article by Dan La Botz in Counterpunch, linked below it:
"Those who for years fought a national public health program for our citizens as socialism, now call for socialism for the financiers. While factories and jobs could not be saved, while homes and health care insurance were lost, the banks must now be saved. When the economy prospered the notion of sharing the abundance was unthinkable, but when the economy fails the idea of sharing the losses and the debt with the people becomes the solution."
"The bankers and financiers, who fought for deregulation arguing that the free market would regulate itself, now call for government intervention to save the market from collapse. The Republicans, who have argued against virtually any social control or social distribution of wealth, have suddenly become advocates of socialization: the socialization of the economic crisis. The American people who have seen their standard of living stagnate and then decline while the banks and corporations enriched themselves are now expected to absorb the cost of the bankers’ failures and losses."
http://www.counterpunch.org/labotz09262008.html
But, you know, that nonsense you’re touting about self-reliance is actually, utterly, utterly perverse. Despite Thatcher’s statement to the contrary, you were born into a society. Even if it had stopped at your front door, it would have been some kind of society, a nuclear family, increasingly under siege though it is. I hope you care for your parents in their old age, as they must cared for you, and that any children you have care for you.
But, as Adam Smith pointed out, there are aspects of our societies (and were even in his day) that require such major investment that the only practicable way to pay for them is from the public purse. But Adam Smith was very special. He believed taxes should be levied on people as closely in relation to their income as possible! That that was only just.
The selfish libertarian view leads to the breakdown of societies that we are now witnessing – where even schools and hospitals have to be policed! Law and order break down more and more, as it becomes increasingly expensive to govern those who are taught no personal principles of behaviour other than economic Darwinism, the mailed fist, the survival of the fittest, from the Government and big business, right down to the street-level criminals! Fittest for what? That’s a whole nother question.
"A lot of this mess was caused by the Clinton ideal of everyone having the right to own a home."
No. As a matter of fact, a relatively very small proportion of it was down to that. Also, most people are not money-oriented, whatever they themselves may think, and consequently they do not understand financial matters that would be quite simple to understand to worldly people, and are an easy prey to their sales spiel.
Here is a fascinating article on Wall Street and the subprime scam. You really should make an effort to read it.
http://www.portfolio.com/news-markets/n … rint=true#
You know, if you really understood the implications of your beliefs, you would richly deserve to live in Argentina with as many guns as you could get hold of:
Posted by Craig Braddick
To paraphrase Jack Regan: "I am totally and abjectly pissed off that people in any political discussion I take part in are so quick to label me as right wing or left wing, or more nasty labels that they do not have the guts to back up with a substantive argument and some evidence backing their assertions."
Craig, I’ll be dead honest with you, I think you’ve made this up….
…. I’ve watched every episode of The Sweeney and Inspector Regan has never said anything of the sort!
Thank you, Seven Towers. I do have some very informative and fascinating articles among my Internet Explorer Favourites. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were the largest companies in the world ever to be nationalised. And it happened in the US, the very hub of Western capitalism, and was a gift from G W Bush – not generally thought to be very left wing in his symathies.
Craig, I don’t know why you persist in this nonsense in denying that you are not an economic right-winger. You will find that all the supporters of your Fair Tax are right-wing Republicans. From Wikipedia:
"With the rebate taken into consideration, the FairTax would be progressive on consumption,[3] but would also be regressive on income at higher income levels (as consumption falls as a percentage of income).[5][6] Opponents argue this would accordingly decrease the tax burden on high income earners and increase it on the middle class.[4][7] Supporters contend that the plan would decrease tax burdens by broadening the tax base, effectively taxing wealth, and increasing purchasing power.[8][9] The plan’s supporters also argue that a consumption tax would have a positive effect on savings and investment, that it would ease tax compliance, and that the tax would result in increased economic growth, incentives for international business to locate in the U.S., and increased U.S. competitiveness in international trade.[10][11][12] Opponents contend that a consumption tax of this size would be extremely difficult to collect, and would lead to pervasive tax evasion.[4][5] They also argue that the proposed sales tax rate would raise less revenue than the current tax system, leading to an increased budget deficit.[4][13]"
The last sentence is the key to why it would be extremely damaging to the fabric, the material and social infrastructure of your country; and the following seems to me to be the key to why those Republicans want it to be introduced, and why you, yourself, favour it.
…. but would also be regressive on income at higher income levels (as consumption falls as a percentage of income).
Opponents argue this would accordingly decrease the tax burden on high income earners and increase it on the middle class*. In the US, the term, "middle class" is a euphemism for being poor or not being exactly "financial", as my late great step-father would have put it.
And here is a link to the rape and risks of rape by their own comrades-in-arms, suffered by young women in your military in the war zones. Look at the face of that child in the photo. That’s all they are. You’re not really grown up until you approach your thirties.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8005198.stm
Not that I approve of women in the military in situations requiring battle-dress and helmets, but in a society where work for a living wage is hard to come by, who can blame them?
Still, all credit to your wife, who may or may not have been an economically-driven recruit, and all service people for doing their bit for their country, according to their lights. I was certainly as ingenuous as any of them in my day.
In fact the biggest eye-opener to me was the brief article on the Net, War Is a Racket, written by your marine general, Smedley-Butler, who, incidentally exposed the plan of some of the leading bankers and industrialists of the day to assassinate FDR in a fascist coup.
http://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/warisaracket.html
However, the cold war was a deliberate, factitious construct of the militarists on both sides – the military-industrial complex, whose cancer-like growth Eisenhower feared so greatly, on our side, and its equivalent on their side.
Here is another interesting article on the economic left (such as it is) and the right in US politics:
http://journals.democraticunderground.c … change/456
Incidentally, Craig, do you have any thoughts on the runners in the Kentucky Derby?
Grimes asked:
Incidentally, Craig, do you have any thoughts on the runners in the Kentucky Derby?Now, come on Grimes, be fair please. Do you honestly think Craig has time to study horse racing in the States when he’s so involved in political dogma? Give the guy a break, he’s not like other professional racing folk who live, sleep and eat matters pertaining to horses. He’s far more rounded than that and if he can change the ways of his Country by voicing his views on radio and in forums then I say good luck to him.
The bottom line is that the USA. is in the mess it’s in because it’s forefathers killed off most of the indigenous population. They should have tried to integrate better with the Sioux, Apache etc. instead of arrogantly thinking they had a right to take over the Country.Grimes asked:
Incidentally, Craig, do you have any thoughts on the runners in the Kentucky Derby?Now, come on Grimes, be fair please. Do you honestly think Craig has time to study horse racing in the States when he’s so involved in political dogma? Give the guy a break, he’s not like other professional racing folk who live, sleep and eat matters pertaining to horses. He’s far more rounded than that and if he can change the ways of his Country by voicing his views on radio and in forums then I say good luck to him.
The bottom line is that the USA. is in the mess it’s in because it’s forefathers killed off most of the indigenous population. They should have tried to integrate better with the Sioux, Apache etc. instead of arrogantly thinking they had a right to take over the Country.I do not expect to change the ways of the country. Whether I am rounded or not, i will leave for those who know me to judge, I love horse racing but do not eat, drink or sleep it. My first priority is my family, then my school and work and then golf and Doctor Who. Work is fortunate enough to include horse racing and broadcasting that I love, therefore to me it isnt really work, just a pleasure.
As for the forefathers, where did a lot of them come from…?
Craig
Hi Grimes:
I have not really followed the build up to the KY Derby this year as I have been busy at school and trying to learn all I can about the Arabians and Quarter Horses I will be calling this summer.
Craig
Posted by Craig Braddick
To paraphrase Jack Regan: "I am totally and abjectly pissed off that people in any political discussion I take part in are so quick to label me as right wing or left wing, or more nasty labels that they do not have the guts to back up with a substantive argument and some evidence backing their assertions."
Craig, I’ll be dead honest with you, I think you’ve made this up….
…. I’ve watched every episode of The Sweeney and Inspector Regan has never said anything of the sort!
I paraphrased the first part from his utterly and abjectly pissed off line in Jack or Knave. I love The Sweeney. One of the reasons I got a multi region DVD player was to watch the box set!
Craig.
Hi Grimes:
I have now read all the links you have posted on this thread and there is no way I can do justice to many of them as a response.
I have saved them and will re-read them and if needed adjust my views accordingly.
Incidentally my wife joined the military to escape the fact her first husband beat her solidly but as he was a man of God and the parents on both sides were also people of God, they told her it was her duty to pleasure her husband and be obedient to his needs.
Yeah, let me tell you, religion is great…
Craig.
Hi Grimes:
I have not really followed the build up to the
"KY Derby"
….
Craig
Bloody good think you havent, sounds like some sort of terrible prison initiation…
Well, Craig, glad you respect the links I provided enough to want to read them, and heed what makes sense to you.
Of course, I’ am sorry to hear the prior unhappiness your poor wife had suffered before joing the military, and am glad she seems finally to have landed on her feet, with a hubby I suspect loves her to bits (for all that he seems as mad as a hatter in his politics!).
As for religion, the Christian church is a kind of microcosm of the world, with good and bad, wheat and tares, to be separated from each other at the end of time. The important point is not what we consciously believe, but our commitment to good or to evil in the attitudes and actions of our daily lives. Here is a wonderful post written by a man who personifies the Gospel teachings of Christ, indeed the Sermon on the Mount, though he claims to be an atheist:
http://www.joebageant.com/joe/2007/01/h … out_m.html
However, it seems clear that, according to Christ’s own description of the Last Judgment, the only one in the whole of scripture and given by God, himself, it won’t necessarily be the ones who call out "Lord! Lord! (we honoured you in this way and that), who will be welcomed into the courts of heaven; rather, it will be the ones who saw him in the least of his brethren, i.e those in need of help and consolation. (Of course, the ultimate spiritual reality is the reverse, "the least of Christ’s brethren" will be the rich and worldly who fail to respond to their needy fellows with compassion.)
However, the importance of the founding of a nation’s life on religious values can really not be overstated, for the reasons I indicated above, relating to the ordering of a stable and contented society. Today, the very fundamentals of our human nature and its design requirements are repudiated by today’s militantly secular leaders in Europe (if its parliament and ours are any guide), and if it goes on much longer, we may soon end up with some poor cloned soul born, in a petri dish and without a mother father or family.
Re the Kentucky Derby, I’m wondering if one of Godolphin’s horse might win this year, and have a little on Regal Ransom – though at the same AP price of 25s, I expect I should have a little on Desert Party, too.
Well Ken, I’m not quite sure how to respond to your post, as Craig comes across as a guy who’s been misled more than anything.
And politics being a blood sport in the US, particularly to the right, if he does modify his views a tad (today’s Republicans are even madder than today’s Tories), he could find he loses a lot of friends in the circles I expect he moves, so he’ll need to keep mum about it.
Well Ken, I’m not quite sure how to respond to your post, as Craig comes across as a guy who’s been misled more than anything.
And politics being a blood sport in the US, particularly to the right, if he does modify his views a tad (today’s Republicans are even madder than today’s Tories), he could find he loses a lot of friends in the circles I expect he moves, so he’ll need to keep mum about it.
Actually it is more true than I can imagine!
Craig.
Well, Craig, glad you respect the links I provided enough to want to read them, and heed what makes sense to you.
Of course, I’ am sorry to hear the prior unhappiness your poor wife had suffered before joing the military, and am glad she seems finally to have landed on her feet, with a hubby I suspect loves her to bits (for all that he seems as mad as a hatter in his politics!).
As for religion, the Christian church is a kind of microcosm of the world, with good and bad, wheat and tares, to be separated from each other at the end of time. The important point is not what we consciously believe, but our commitment to good or to evil in the attitudes and actions of our daily lives. Here is a wonderful post written by a man who personifies the Gospel teachings of Christ, indeed the Sermon on the Mount, though he claims to be an atheist:
http://www.joebageant.com/joe/2007/01/h … out_m.html
However, it seems clear that, according to Christ’s own description of the Last Judgment, the only one in the whole of scripture and given by God, himself, it won’t necessarily be the ones who call out "Lord! Lord! (we honoured you in this way and that), who will be welcomed into the courts of heaven; rather, it will be the ones who saw him in the least of his brethren, i.e those in need of help and consolation. (Of course, the ultimate spiritual reality is the reverse, "the least of Christ’s brethren" will be the rich and worldly who fail to respond to their needy fellows with compassion.)
However, the importance of the founding of a nation’s life on religious values can really not be overstated, for the reasons I indicated above, relating to the ordering of a stable and contented society. Today, the very fundamentals of our human nature and its design requirements are repudiated by today’s militantly secular leaders in Europe (if its parliament and ours are any guide), and if it goes on much longer, we may soon end up with some poor cloned soul born, in a petri dish and without a mother father or family.
Re the Kentucky Derby, I’m wondering if one of Godolphin’s horse might win this year, and have a little on Regal Ransom – though at the same AP price of 25s, I expect I should have a little on Desert Party, too.
Hi Grimes!
Just curious if you have read The God Delusion?
One of my meagre claims to fame is the fact from time to time I get to work and enjoy the company of Richard Dawkins’ wife, Lalla Ward, through my Doctor Who interest. Lalla played Romana II and once was married to Tom Baker….which must have been…an…interesting experience.
Craig
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