Search results

Yep. No system based on "experts" can do any better than the market price system already does, so what's the point of switching over when the only direction to go is backwards? Plus, I'd love to know what role the typical supporter of "socialism" in the West thinks he will play in that...

One problem you will face in any responses to this thread is that people believe that you can keep a modern economy running even after a transition to socialism. So, the US will stay rich forever, even if we went to a socialism or social democracy style economy. Nonsense. At first, there...

I'm finding that more than half of my "signals" are actually getting filtered for one reason or another. I was curious if others have percentages this high. The filters continue to work as desired because the trades I'm filtering have negative expectancy and the ones I am taking have positive...

And then send a bill to your family for the bullet.

Too bad you lived to tell the tale.

You know, if I didn't have to live in the same country as whatever one people with your specific kind of delusion want, I would say go for it and "replace" capitalism with whatever it is you want. Want to live like North Koreans, picking corn out of your turds for "reuse"? Fine, no skin off my...

OK, got it. Yes, those who are net taxpayers are definitely more intelligent and discerning than those who are not, so we can see that we aren't getting "value for money", too. So, we have to subsidize others AND we get to overpay for the government we do consume. What a deal!

As Denis Leary used to say "Life's rough. Wear a helmet." You want a regulator to go to your house and tuck you in at night, too? It's a very childish view of the world that would consider all regulations as beneficial above and beyond the costs they impose. Let's stipulate that total...

If the spending cuts come from cutting the number of regulators, the cost of hiring in the industries with reduced regulation will go down due to lower compliance costs, thus making more of it possible. That would, of course, be offset by some companies being able to reduce the number of...

I read a study once that tested the effects of injuries to certain parts of the brain and trading. Apparently, some types of brain injuries to the parts of the brain which control emotion, can actually be beneficial to trading. Mild forms of autism also can be helpful, for the same reason...

Not sure how you got that from what I wrote, but the point is that people at the lower end of the income spectrum get more in government benefits than they pay in taxes, so, all things being equal, it is fine with me that those people start paying more in taxes and upper-income earners pay less...

According to the Tax Foundation, any household making less than about $80K is already getting more in government benefits (on an allocated basis) than they are paying in taxes, so those households SHOULD have their taxes increased. The only way to get people to vote against the expansion of...

Christ on a cracker, what are you talking about? You think I came to my position by waking up one day and saying "I oppose Social Security"? In this thread alone I've quoted Nietzsche, David Hume, Jared Diamond, Ben Franklin, the Roman system of dual executives wielding veto powers, the Greek...

It's "self-righteous" to want the rule of law, not the rule of the whims of the crowd? In what universe? Since homo sapiens emerged from the primal forest, he has striven to escape from the passions of the moment and the crowd. You idiots want to jump right on in and embrace them for momentary...

In "Guns, Germs and Steel", the author argues that every government is a kleptocracy, to one degree or another. David Hume said that the strangest thing in human affairs was the ease with which the many were ruled by the few. History is full of "states" which were originally simply areas...

Sometimes I think to myself that proof positive that there is a God is that only God would have the sublime sense of humor to have me be born in this day and age. Nietzsche thought he had it bad living amongst the Germans of his day. 19th century Germany was an intellectual utopia compared to...

Those are not "socialism", they are "public goods". It is an entirely different class of good. Going from "the government provides policing" to "the government should provide a basic retirement income, even if it means taking from some and redistributing to others" is a logical leap across...

Well, certainly the people who would take office to administer to the public good shouldn't tempt the people by pandering to their narrow interests over the public good. Otherwise, we may as well be governed by random selection, which I actually am in favor of, as well as having co-Presidents...

I'm arguing on behalf of options. I'm not asking for anyone to "dictate". Quite the opposite, I'm asking to decide for myself. In a republic, property rights take precedence over voting outcomes. We are a republic. This shouldn't be a matter of "my guy vs. your guy". Both our guys need to...

All of your points boil down to "I decree that the Federal government shall take from some to give to others". It's mob rule. Can't you just admit that rather than resort to ludicrous rationalizations? What you are also enabing is for young low wage (and now you're bringing the middle wage...