A life lesson in Capitalism for liberals

[joeclarke]

Rats, can' t think of one...

[juanbenae]

now this is an attempt to nothing but stir the pot. i am in!

[island911]

Originally posted by joeclarke
Rats, can' t think of one...

Read: Best to leave the thinking and imaginative ideas to the conservatives.

[Jeff Higgins]

I thought Al Franken was providing the current life lesson in liberal capitalism.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

one word: G9Girl.

[techweenie]

The best life lesson on capitalism is the just-passed energy bill. What did Alaska get? A billion? Maybe it's just a coincidence that the head of the Transportation Committee was from Alaska...

Meantime, So Cal's 405, the most congested freeway in the U.S., gets about 20% of the cost of necessary expansion. Much more money goes to Bakersfield for a "beltway."

Capitalism buys political power, which redistributes wealth to those who can wield the power to get it.

[RANDY P]

Originally posted by joeclarke
Rats, can' t think of one...

Didn't you commit Hari - Kari here a few mos. ago?

Can't keep a promise. The curse of liberalism.

rjp

[Superman]

Originally posted by techweenie
Capitalism buys political power, which redistributes wealth to those who can wield the power to get it.

Karl Marx was right. The gap between the "haves" and the "have nots" widens. Regulation slows this, but the end result is inevitable. In Marx's world (sans democracy), the end game was revolution. In our world, perhaps the best we can hope for is a continual fight between the classes, with the "haves" maintaining the upper hand. From the perspective of the "have nots," the fight is for dignity and fairness and security. From the perspective of the "haves," the fight is simply for more wealth and power. And again, they'll have the upper hand because of the power imbalance (information, for example).

[DaveE]

Here's your lesson; you're paying $2.80 a gallon for gasoline and all the major oil companies have announced quarterly profits in the $300-$600 billion range.

[BGCarrera32]

Originally posted by Superman
From the perspective of the "have nots," the fight is for dignity and fairness and security. From the perspective of the "haves," the fight is simply for more wealth and power. And again, they'll have the upper hand because of the power imbalance (information, for example).

I consider myself a "have" and I don't even have all that much compared to most; its pretty modest. From my perspective its about keeping what I've worked very hard for. If you wanna whine about fairness you're whole life spend a little less time on the internet and little more time bettering your situation. You talk about fairness and dignity and security it better be in the context of those outside of the United States, because 99.9% of the people here are better off than the rest of the world.

[Jeff Higgins]

Originally posted by Superman
Karl Marx was right. The gap between the "haves" and the "have nots" widens. Regulation slows this, but the end result is inevitable. In Marx's world (sans democracy), the end game was revolution. In our world, perhaps the best we can hope for is a continual fight between the classes, with the "haves" maintaining the upper hand. From the perspective of the "have nots," the fight is for dignity and fairness and security. From the perspective of the "haves," the fight is simply for more wealth and power. And again, they'll have the upper hand because of the power imbalance (information, for example).

And the "haves" have duped the "have nots" into thinking there is a difference between liberal "haves" and conservative "haves". Like either camp at the "have" end of the scale gives a rip about the "have not" end of the scale. The real power/money brokers in our society attend the same cocktail parties, whether they profess to be liberal or conservative. They have the same goals; increased personal wealth and power. They employ the same tactics to achieve those goals. Capitalism at that level operates the same whether run by a liberal or a conservative.

[joeclarke]

Originally posted by RANDY P
Didn't you commit Hari - Kari here a few mos. ago?

Can't keep a promise. The curse of liberalism.

rjp

Yes, you're right. But this is too funny, listen to this...

It seems that I neglected to delete the Pelican icon from my favorites. Another board I visit has the same appearance/format as this one - I thought I was there. I've made the mistake before, but always caught myself before posting.

Hence the a quick edit/correction non-sensical posting once I realized where the heck I was.

No worries - icon now deleted.

Carry on. See ya 'round (well, actually no, you wont).

[on-ramp]

Originally posted by DaveE
Here's your lesson; you're paying $2.80 a gallon for gasoline and all the major oil companies have announced quarterly profits in the $300-$600 billion range.

I have another lesson for you. Half the commercials on television are from the drug pushers, and from that i mean the drug companies that push pills in our face daily.

why are the tallest buildings in big cities owned by banks?
the people work to feed the corporate system.

this country is so f*cked up.

[legion]

Originally posted by on-ramp
I have another lesson for you. Half the commercials on television are from the drug pushers, and from that i mean the drug companies that push pills in our face daily.

why are the tallest buildings in big cities owned by banks?
the people work to feed the corporate system.

this country is so f*cked up.

Isn't 'The Partnership for a Drug-Free America' backed by the pharmaceuticals? (You know, the "this is your brain on drugs" people.) I always interpreted that as they had to demonize the "bad" drugs so that they could push their "good" drugs.

[bryanthompson]

this country is so f*cked up.

then leave.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally posted by bryanthompson
this country is so f*cked up.

then leave.

Hold on a sec, putting some popcorn in the microwave.

[Purrybonker]

Originally posted by DaveE
Here's your lesson; you're paying $2.80 a gallon for gasoline and all the major oil companies have announced quarterly profits in the $300-$600 billion range.

Lots of us smart people plus a number of troglodytes with grade nine educations are pulling down up to seven figures or more this year thanks to having "tenure" and having graduated to middle management with an oil company. Ain't got nothin' to do with hard work and clean livin'.

But there in lies the crunch of capitalism - probably about 5% of the employees (the upper crust) get to enjoy this largess. As to John Q Public who actually owns that oily stuff before it gets to the well head - what does he get for his trouble? Why $3 gas, of course!

The Kens and Bernies and the Enrons and the Worldcoms hit the radar screens of everyone – these are the tiniest of the teeniest tip of a corporate iceberg that does not reward any of the virtues that the principles of capitalism purport it to reward. The real payoff? All you need is good communication and social skills, high IQ and a bit of luck. Pretty much anything else short of being born wealthy means jackcrap anymore.

What‘s capitalism doing for you today that it isn't doing for the richer guy down the road in a much bigger way?

[on-ramp]

Originally posted by Shaun 84 Targa
Hold on a sec, putting some popcorn in the microwave.

me too.

[vash]

joeclark started this thread by mistake? haha. what a dumbarse!

[bryanthompson]

I'm not going to get into it. Just sick of so many whiners with no ideas whatsoever b!tching about how sucky life here is.

If you can find a better place to live, move!