What happened to all of the doom and gloom economic threads?

[RobDownSouth]

If I quoted you I'm sure you'd take responsibility for your post and own up to your failure to know words, right?

Personal Responsibility to a Glibertarian like AJ is akin to sunshine to a vampire: something to be avoided at all costs.

 

[mercury14]

Personal Responsibility to a Glibertarian like AJ is akin to sunshine to a vampire: something to be avoided at all costs.

AJ is currently searching his post history... He's kinda slow at it.

Tell us again AJ how it ain't ad hominem if it's true...

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

Crony Capitalism, Pro-Business and Pro-Markets

http://www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2012/08/quick-study-luigi-zingales-crony-capitalism

Why do you say that America’s political system is degenerating into crony capitalism?

There is not a well-understood distinction between being pro-business and being pro-market. Businessmen like free markets until they get into a market; once they are in it they want to block entry to others. Pro-marketeers want free markets at all times. The more conservative pro-marketeers are fearful of criticising business, because they assume they will be seen as criticising the free market. But we need to stand up and criticise business when business is not helping the cause of free markets.

I've have said this and showed the echoes of DeTocqueville

In what way?

Take lobbying. Lobbying may once have been reactive but now it’s proactive—businessmen use it to shape policy and ask for tax advantages. This is corruptive of democracy.

Examples, please.

Companies with a lot of money abroad sponsored a bill in 2004/5 that allowed them to repatriate their profits at a low tax rate. Thus $1 produced $220 of tax savings. The Bush-approved drug and Medicare act was a huge bonanza for the drug industry. Their market value increased by several billion dollars when this was announced. I could continue.

I've said this and I opposed Part D.

I get the picture.

The last element that worries me is the disaffection of people. They don’t get enough from the game. The ordinary American is making less than his father. Until 1975 the take-home wage of a typical worker was going up in sync with productivity. Since 1975 that wage has stayed flat. Why? Because of the health-care costs. The cost of health care is rising in America and it’s eating up the benefits of increasing productivity for workers.

So, what do we do now?

There should be more competition in areas that are subsidised by, and distorted by, the government. Health care is one of those areas. Tertiary education is another. I work in a sector that is heavily subsidised and in which prices have gone up every year in real terms, to the point where the average American cannot afford to send their kid to college. We see people giving up and not participating in the labour force because they are uneducated—their chance in life is jeopardised in a major way. We need to improve the quality of education. One way, documented by a Stanford professor of education, is to fire the bottom 10% of teachers. This makes the average quality of teaching substantially higher.

I've said this and for that I am continually hounded with ad hominem attacks of anti-education.

And speaking of ad hominem, every time I speak about the dangers of regulation, I am accused of being an anarchist and a dog-eat-dog environment where the strong only get stronger, but the fact of the matter is, they use the regulatory process to achieve what they cannot in open competition...

Okay, so we’ve got competition in health care and education. What else?

We have to change the way economic policy is run. An unregulated market is a jungle, not a level playing field. However, there is a risk that regulation will be designed to protect incumbents. We need control by the people—when a piece of legislation is simple enough to be debated by the public at large it is less likely to be captured by a vested interest. But when you start having regulation that is 2,400 pages long you know it’s designed to help insiders.

Regulation should also be accountable. A colleague of mine tried to study the performance of the banks’ regulator. When he started coming up with conclusions that the Fed didn’t like, his access to the Fed’s data was discontinued.

That’s surprising. One thinks of America as being incredibly transparent.

The image is better than the reality. Take Fannie and Freddie; they could get away with not providing any data because they were government-sponsored, not government agencies, and so not subject to the freedom of information act.

The policy today is intervention with government subsidies in order to promote this or that sector. Why don’t we abolish all intervention in the form of subsidy and use selective taxation instead? I propose a tax on lobbying. It would be a very effective method in terms of economic policy.

And since Freddie and Fannie were campaign contributors, when whistleblowers and an administration past tried to reform them, leaders of a certain party did everything they could do to protect Freddie and Fannie (and the guy one of them was sleeping with).

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

If I quoted you I'm sure you'd take responsibility for your post and own up to your failure to know words, right?

You quoted me but did not show how I misused the term, instead you invented a situation in which you think I would maybe misuse the term, but the fact of the matter is, I did not accuse anyone of an ad hominem attack this morning, nor did anyone make any point, but I did invite U_D to engage in an ad hominem if he wanted to.

Now, I won't ask you to take personal responsibility for this ascription and character assassination on your part because I know, as a known liar, a proud liar, that standards are not your forte...

You don't believe in them.

 

[RobDownSouth]

I've said this and for that I am continually hounded with ad hominem attacks of anti-education.

Poor AJ. It's gotten to the point here lately where he can't yell EDUCATION BAD...IGNORANCE GOOD anymore without someone slingin' ad hominem at him. He's a victim...A VICTIM, DAMMIT!

And speaking of ad hominem, every time I speak about the dangers of regulation, I am accused of being an anarchist and a dog-eat-dog environment where the strong only get stronger, but the fact of the matter is, they use the regulatory process to achieve what they cannot in open competition...

Moar of your "us vs. them" blather. Those of us with real children don't feel we should gamble with their safety and security in order to satisfy your perverse ideological purity dictates.

Derp.

 

[RobDownSouth]

You quoted me but did not show how I misused the term, instead you invented a situation in which you think I would maybe misuse the term, but the fact of the matter is, I did not accuse anyone of an ad hominem attack this morning, nor did anyone make any point, but I did invite U_D to engage in an ad hominem if he wanted to.

Now, I won't ask you to take personal responsibility for this ascription and character assassination on your part because I know, as a known liar, a proud liar, that standards are not your forte...

You don't believe in them.

Shorter AJ: Fuck that personal responsibility shit, I'm not having a thing to do with it. Personal responsibility for thee, not for me! Play defense dammit!

 

[NeverEndingMe]

Personal Responsibility to a Glibertarian like AJ is akin to sunshine to a vampire: something to be avoided at all costs.

then why do you love welfare?

 

[mercury14]

You quoted me but did not show how I misused the term, instead you invented a situation in which you think I would maybe misuse the term, but the fact of the matter is, I did not accuse anyone of an ad hominem attack this morning, nor did anyone make any point, but I did invite U_D to engage in an ad hominem if he wanted to.

Now, I won't ask you to take personal responsibility for this ascription and character assassination on your part because I know, as a known liar, a proud liar, that standards are not your forte...

You don't believe in them.

You think I can't quote you misusing the term? Because your bumbling over "it ain't ad hominem if it's true" is documented in your post history. Why not find it yourself since you probably remember when you said it. Or perhaps this is another case where you plead not guilty by reason of selective amnesia?

 

[koalabear]

Stocks struggle in light trading

 

[Busybody]

HOW’S THAT HOPEY-CHANGEY STUFF WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA? (CONT’D): Consumer Confidence Tumbles to 9-Month Low. Unexpectedly!

 

[koalabear]

HOW’S THAT HOPEY-CHANGEY STUFF WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA? (CONT’D): Consumer Confidence Tumbles to 9-Month Low. Unexpectedly!

I'll wait for the mercMoron edit.

 

[Beco]

Stocks struggle in light trading

and Obama goes golfing....

 

[koalabear]

Lexmark to cut 1,700 jobs

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

You think I can't quote you misusing the term? Because your bumbling over "it ain't ad hominem if it's true" is documented in your post history. Why not find it yourself since you probably remember when you said it. Or perhaps this is another case where you plead not guilty by reason of selective amnesia?

That has nothing to do with today's exchange other then to show that I was correct in my summation of your thought process.

The only thing I am guilty of is not conforming my posts to match your internal dialog.

 

[Beco]

Lexmark to cut 1,700 jobs

As Obama plays his fiddle.....

 

[mercury14]

That has nothing to do with today's exchange other then to show that I was correct in my summation of your thought process.

The only thing I am guilty of is not conforming my posts to match your internal dialog.

So you did or did not post that "it's not ad hominem if it's true"?

 

[Beco]

Report: 1 in 4 displaced U.S. workers found a job at same pay
About 25% of experienced U.S. workers who lost a job over the past three years found a job that pays as well as their old one, the Labor Department said in a report. The remaining displaced workers in the survey, which focused on people who had been employed for three years or longer and lost their jobs when a plant closed or a position was cut, took a job at lower pay or just gave up looking for work. The Washington Post (8/24)

 

[Beco]

It's also a place where a certain group of people fuck over other groups of people in getting over because they think and look different from them, then lobby for legislation to cement that fucking over into a legal process so they can keep getting over. Then, when more sensible heads prevail and overturn those legalities in order to make living more fair for all Americans, that former certain group of people bitch and moan and lie and bullshit their way into stymieing progress because they think their bullshit entitlements are being taken away from them. Or in better words, that their "freedom" is being infringed upon. Then they say shit like "we gotta water the tree of liberty" or "we gotta take back America." Cry me a river some more, Obsoleto. Oh, and fuck you three.

always the victim....Waaaaaaaaaa

 

[mercury14]

As Obama plays his fiddle.....

Obama should do something when a mid-range printer company lays off workers?

 

[Beco]

Obama should do something when a mid-range printer company lays off workers?

He is watching Rome burn, brother....

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

So you did or did not post that "it's not ad hominem if it's true"?

Does that, or does that not have one fucking thing to do with what I said to U_D this morning when I said you may go ahead and ad hominem without my participation?

This is one reason why no one will talk to you.

U_D got into something I said to busybody.

You got into something I said to U_D.

You saw an opportunity to grind an axe and actually ignored anything going on today...

You really need to seek some mental health expertise.

 

[mercury14]

He is watching Rome burn, brother....

Lol, no. The conservative line is that Obama has tried to do too much. Stimulus, highway bills, employee-side payroll tax cuts, etc.

You really need to get your story straight.

 

[mercury14]

Does that, or does that not have one fucking thing to do with what I said to U_D this morning when I said you may go ahead and ad hominem without my participation?

This is one reason why no one will talk to you.

U_D got into something I said to busybody.

You got into something I said to U_D.

You saw an opportunity to grind an axe and actually ignored anything going on today...

You really need to seek some mental health expertise.

Translation: You want to pretend like you didn't demand a quote from me because you think I have it. Coward.

 

[Sean Renaud]

He is watching Rome burn, brother....

What else is he supposed to do? Rome isn't burning by accident, this has been the plan for more than a century.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

Translation: You want to pretend like you didn't demand a quote from me because you think I have it. Coward.

?????????????

Seek help.