Sheriff Joe
DA
I thought you couldn't be bigoted towards white people?
Essential Economics for Politicians
- Thread starter Bruddah IZ
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- finance too
Hüsker Dü
DA
Then you are a fool. Hate has been here since day one and always will be. Hate has also been shown to be a product of ignorance and misunderstanding. Your preferred sources of information have lead you to the misunderstanding, the ignorance is all on you.
Bruddah IZ
DA
Now you are being disingenuous.
Bruddah IZ
DA
Know what a derivative is? Financial expert? Hmmmm Fries maybe? lol
Bruddah IZ
DA
So wounded you are.
Sheriff Joe
DA
You ok?
Sheriff Joe
DA
Let me know when you catch husker telling the truth please.
I voted in 2016 and every election before that since I turned 18.
I voted for Trump and never voted for John McCain.
When history looks back, you'll be dead, and hopefully your children wont live in a socialist hell hole.
I'll keep my eyes open, and my head on a swivel.
Bruddah IZ
DA
The Questions Stephen Colbert Should Have Asked Democratic Socialist “Rock Star” Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Stephen Colbert, and millions of Americans leaning toward socialism have no knowledge of the economic problem.
Ocasio-Cortez was an immediate media sensation. The New York Timescalled her “an instant political rock star.” Appearing on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert she was asked to explain her agenda and ideology:
COLBERT: What is your agenda? Because you describe yourself as a democratic socialist, and that’s not an easy term for a lot of Americans. What is the meaning of that for you? What does ‘socialist’ mean to you?
OCASIO-CORTEZ: For me, democratic socialism is about — really, the value for me is that I believe that in a modern, moral and wealthy society, no person in America should be too poor to live.
COLBERT: Seems pretty simple.
OCASIO-CORTEZ: Seems pretty simple. So what that means to me is health care as a human right. [applause] It means that every child, no matter where you are born, should have access to a college or trade-school education, if they so choose it. And I think that no person should be homeless, if we can have public structures and public policy to allow for people to have homes and food and lead a dignified life in the United States. [applause]
What Ocasio-Cortez and millions of Americans who support socialism really believe in is spending more of other people’s money. As they explain the sources of social problems, they falsely conflate government spending with easy solutions. H.L. Menken warned, “Explanations exist; they have existed for all time; there is always a well-known solution to every human problem—neat, plausible, and wrong.”
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Stephen Colbert, and millions of Americans leaning toward socialism have no knowledge of the economic problem.
Ocasio-Cortez was an immediate media sensation. The New York Timescalled her “an instant political rock star.” Appearing on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert she was asked to explain her agenda and ideology:
COLBERT: What is your agenda? Because you describe yourself as a democratic socialist, and that’s not an easy term for a lot of Americans. What is the meaning of that for you? What does ‘socialist’ mean to you?
OCASIO-CORTEZ: For me, democratic socialism is about — really, the value for me is that I believe that in a modern, moral and wealthy society, no person in America should be too poor to live.
COLBERT: Seems pretty simple.
OCASIO-CORTEZ: Seems pretty simple. So what that means to me is health care as a human right. [applause] It means that every child, no matter where you are born, should have access to a college or trade-school education, if they so choose it. And I think that no person should be homeless, if we can have public structures and public policy to allow for people to have homes and food and lead a dignified life in the United States. [applause]
What Ocasio-Cortez and millions of Americans who support socialism really believe in is spending more of other people’s money. As they explain the sources of social problems, they falsely conflate government spending with easy solutions. H.L. Menken warned, “Explanations exist; they have existed for all time; there is always a well-known solution to every human problem—neat, plausible, and wrong.”
Bruddah IZ
DA
Unasked Questions
Colbert’s questions didn’t probe Ocasio-Cortez’s simple statements. He could have pointed, for example, to “progressive” San Francisco. In San Francisco, homelessness is rampant. Some compare conditions in San Francisco to the third-world. The resulting decay of urban living has caused a major medical association convention to cancel.
Put San Francisco’s homeless problem in the context of public policy restrictions on development, imposed by “progressive thinkers”: Government restrictions on development have helped push the median price of a home in San Francisco to more than $1.6 million.
Colbert’s questions didn’t probe Ocasio-Cortez’s simple statements. He could have pointed, for example, to “progressive” San Francisco. In San Francisco, homelessness is rampant. Some compare conditions in San Francisco to the third-world. The resulting decay of urban living has caused a major medical association convention to cancel.
Put San Francisco’s homeless problem in the context of public policy restrictions on development, imposed by “progressive thinkers”: Government restrictions on development have helped push the median price of a home in San Francisco to more than $1.6 million.
Bruddah IZ
DA
In 1977 economist Thomas W. Hazlett interviewed Nobel laurate F.A. Hayek. Hayek responded to Hazlett’s question about whether socialism was logically possible:
I've always doubted that the socialists had a leg to stand on intellectually. They have improved their argument somehow, but once you begin to understand that prices are an instrument of communication and guidance which embody more information than we directly have, the whole idea that you can bring about the same order based on the division of labor by simple direction falls to the ground. Similarly, the idea [that] you can arrange for distributions of incomes which correspond to some conception of merit or need. If you need prices, including the prices of labor, to direct people to go where they are needed, you cannot have another distribution except the one from the market principle. I think that intellectually there is just nothing left of socialism.
I've always doubted that the socialists had a leg to stand on intellectually. They have improved their argument somehow, but once you begin to understand that prices are an instrument of communication and guidance which embody more information than we directly have, the whole idea that you can bring about the same order based on the division of labor by simple direction falls to the ground. Similarly, the idea [that] you can arrange for distributions of incomes which correspond to some conception of merit or need. If you need prices, including the prices of labor, to direct people to go where they are needed, you cannot have another distribution except the one from the market principle. I think that intellectually there is just nothing left of socialism.
Bruddah IZ
DA
Hazlett followed Hayek’s answer with this question: “Could socialist economies exist without the technology, innovations, and price information they can borrow from Western capitalism and domestic black markets?”
Hayek responded: “I think they could exist as some sort of medieval system. They could exist in that form with a great deal of starvation removing excess population.”
Today we see that “sort of medieval system” and starvation in Venezuela and North Korea. Now some want to bring that scourge to America.
Today millions of Americans cheer for trite solutions not understanding that socialist solutions will bring endless misery for themselves and others.
Hayek responded: “I think they could exist as some sort of medieval system. They could exist in that form with a great deal of starvation removing excess population.”
Today we see that “sort of medieval system” and starvation in Venezuela and North Korea. Now some want to bring that scourge to America.
Today millions of Americans cheer for trite solutions not understanding that socialist solutions will bring endless misery for themselves and others.
Bruddah IZ
DA
The Real Economic Problem
Professor of neurobiology Stuart Firestein, in his book Ignorance: How It Drives Science writes, “Questions are bigger than answers. One good question can give rise to several layers of answers, can inspire decades-long searches for solutions, can generate whole new fields of inquiry, and can prompt changes in entrenched thinking. Answers, on the other hand, often end the process.”
Firestein asks us to consider “if we are too enthralled with the answers.” He urges us to embrace the “exhilaration of the unknown.” Those cheering for Ocasio-Cortez were clearly enthralled with her glib answers.
Socialists are full of glib answers—more spending—but they are short on the willingness to ask questions that lead to further inquiry. Ocasio-Cortez and others might consider if the economic problem is merely a problem of redistributing wealth. Their question might lead them to study Hayek.
Professor of neurobiology Stuart Firestein, in his book Ignorance: How It Drives Science writes, “Questions are bigger than answers. One good question can give rise to several layers of answers, can inspire decades-long searches for solutions, can generate whole new fields of inquiry, and can prompt changes in entrenched thinking. Answers, on the other hand, often end the process.”
Firestein asks us to consider “if we are too enthralled with the answers.” He urges us to embrace the “exhilaration of the unknown.” Those cheering for Ocasio-Cortez were clearly enthralled with her glib answers.
Socialists are full of glib answers—more spending—but they are short on the willingness to ask questions that lead to further inquiry. Ocasio-Cortez and others might consider if the economic problem is merely a problem of redistributing wealth. Their question might lead them to study Hayek.
Bruddah IZ
DA
The Magic of Socialism
Bruddah IZ
DA
Ocasio-Cortez, Stephen Colbert, and millions of Americans leaning toward socialism have no knowledge of the economic problem. Invincibly ignorant, they assume the problem away by embracing the idea of redistributing other people’s money.
If you don’t know what the economic problem is, there is no possibility of discovering solutions to the problems you see. With a willingness to explore questions, more knowledge will be discovered. Freedom, not simplistic answers based on coercion, promotes voluntary human cooperation and creates economic progress, raising the well-being of all.
If you don’t know what the economic problem is, there is no possibility of discovering solutions to the problems you see. With a willingness to explore questions, more knowledge will be discovered. Freedom, not simplistic answers based on coercion, promotes voluntary human cooperation and creates economic progress, raising the well-being of all.
Sheriff Joe
DA
Everyone goes to college, healthcare for all, a home for every homeless person, where have I heard this before?
Sheriff Joe
DA
I'm like, they're like, OMG.
She should do well.
Bruddah IZ
DA
Unleash the Potential of Federal Lands
The federal government owns over a quarter of all U.S. territory, and it's blocking huge possibilities.
by Daniel Di Martino
Privatization Can Protect the Environment While Empowering Local Communities
Many “environmentalist” groups argue that privatizing federal lands would destroy the environment. They assert that companies would buy land, deplete it from all its resources, and leave. But the reality is that despite global deforestation and increased domestic wood production, the forest cover of the United States has grown every year the last three decades, in part due to the private forestry industry. This is because ownership is the best incentive for preservation. Owners have an incentive to preserve the resources of their land just as homeowners have an incentive to preserve their homes.
For instance, farmers rotate their crops to keep the nitrogen levels of the soil and avoid desertification.
On the other hand, the federal government is not subject to the incentives of private landowners. If the land deteriorates, agencies do not bear the burden but taxpayers do, and costs are too small when dispersed among all citizens for any of them to give it importance. For example, the government has failed to control the wild horse population, leading to overgrazing, but most Americans are not aware of the problem.
The federal government owns over a quarter of all U.S. territory, and it's blocking huge possibilities.
by Daniel Di Martino
Privatization Can Protect the Environment While Empowering Local Communities
Many “environmentalist” groups argue that privatizing federal lands would destroy the environment. They assert that companies would buy land, deplete it from all its resources, and leave. But the reality is that despite global deforestation and increased domestic wood production, the forest cover of the United States has grown every year the last three decades, in part due to the private forestry industry. This is because ownership is the best incentive for preservation. Owners have an incentive to preserve the resources of their land just as homeowners have an incentive to preserve their homes.
For instance, farmers rotate their crops to keep the nitrogen levels of the soil and avoid desertification.
On the other hand, the federal government is not subject to the incentives of private landowners. If the land deteriorates, agencies do not bear the burden but taxpayers do, and costs are too small when dispersed among all citizens for any of them to give it importance. For example, the government has failed to control the wild horse population, leading to overgrazing, but most Americans are not aware of the problem.
Bruddah IZ
DA
You'd Be Surprised How Many Government Services Could Be Privately Provided
The vast majority of things deemed "public goods" and thus must be provided by government simply, well, aren't.
by Richard M. Ebeling
One of the great controversies in modern society concerns the necessary and required functions of government. There are few who disagree that if government is to exist then it certainly has the duty and responsibility to secure and protect essential rights of every individual, including the right to life, liberty, and honestly acquired property. But there are a wide variety of tasks that the private sector could better provide that many think must be supplied by the government.
Many of these activities have been subsumed under the general notion of “public goods” that are subject to “free rider” problems. Public goods are often defined as a good or service from the use or coverage of which an individual may receive a benefit, but from which he is not easily excluded even though he does not pay a price or fee to help cover some portion of the cost of making it available.