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What’s the Point, Anymore…?
By Doron Tauber
Why do we even pretend to be a Capitalist country anymore? Perhaps we used to be, far back in time, around 1790 or so, but to call today’s America “capitalism” is a laugh. With all the rules, regulations, subsidies, etc. that the government has placed on our trade system, how can we even ask that in High Schools and Colleges across the nation, the books place the USA in the “Free Market Economy” section? Come on, China’s more Capitalist than we are these days. They have seriously deregulated their economy and given more personal freedom to their citizens when it comes to products. They may still live under a tyrannical and fascist government, but at least they have some inkling of freedom. Look at their economy; because of increased involvement in world markets, introduction of a more free market, and a more lax government view of business, their economy has exploded.
This should have been a wake-up call to the rest of the world. Instead of running around chanting that people are evil, money is evil, business is evil, etc. and calling for more regulations to “fix the problem” (that regulation caused in the first place), they should have turned to China and said “well it worked for them, it’s worked for us, let’s give it a shot.” We should have never left our Free Market principles to begin with. No man has the right to one second of another’s life, just as he has no right to the sweat of another’s brow, or the fruits of another’s labor. The idea of “fairness” has snuck into the minds of Americans like a snake in the night. It calls for the immediate redistribution of wealth because “Some people just weren’t lucky enough to succeed. They need a chance.” No man has the right to anything he himself has not gained. This Welfare State has put us in a world where the poor feel entitled to a free meal, free healthcare, anything they “need.”
America is not, and the world is not, built on a foundation where “need” dictates the life of an individual. The culture of necessity has been slowly rotting our society from the inside for hundreds of years. Americans have sat idly by while they country was, inch by inch, dragged into the black pits of Collectivism and Statism. Business must be free to regulate itself, as it has been shown time and time again to be able to do. The government has never been able to manage any large-scale operation at a higher quality than would have been achieved by private industry. This lie of American “capitalism” has been perpetrated at an alarming rate in past years, in reference to President Bush. According to any liberal spinster, Bush spent his 2 terms setting up the perfectly free economy of the early 2000′s, and this freedom caused the recent recession. What actually caused the recession was a disregard for freedom and further regulation of industry. Banks were forced to have lower standards, to allow people to buy homes who wouldn’t have been able to without the regulation. They would not have been given the loans because they were obviously unqualified to be given a loan and would end up in foreclosure. Of course, logic does not matter to a liberal spouting tripe about our duty to help our fellow man. Lower standards caused thousands of sub-prime loans, a major factor in the recent downturn. What was the government’s brilliant solution to our problem? More regulation. This in turn drove us deeper into our hole, and started sealing off the entrance.
Then came Tarp and the Stimulus Bill. They decided the best way to fix the economy, past shooting businesses in the kneecap they hadn’t destroyed yet, was to take money from the American public, then give it back to the American public, in hopes that the highway scam would increase money flow. With this, Obama proclaimed that “unemployment will never rise above 8%”. I’m no mathematician, but I’m pretty sure that 10.2% is a couple decimal places away from 8%. Then what does he do? He takes over the banking industry. When that doesn’t work out, he takes over the auto industry. Now he’s decided to take over the medical and student loan industries. It worked out so well for the banks!
Why do we even bother calling ourselves Capitalist? When the government just shoved massive government control down the throat of America, slicing another 1/6 of the economy off the plate of those who make it profitable, and handing it to those who will squabble over it and end up killing it. Really, this is worst for the rest of the world. Now that we’ve fallen into the trap of socialized medicine, where will all the sick foreigners go for high-quality medical care?
proudamerican
April 18, 2010 at 10:35 pm
IT’S ALL A CONSPIRACY
Doron Tauber
April 20, 2010 at 6:32 am
i’m not a conspiracy theorist. well, except for global warming. that’s a liberal-propogated conspiracy.
Amalia Halikias
April 18, 2010 at 12:28 pm
Just in case you were wondering, there is no such thing as a completely free market; every economy in the world is a mixed economy.
It is also erroneous to assume that the Founding Fathers were proponents of free trade; the first 30 years of American history were characterized by some of the highest tariffs in history.
Justin
April 14, 2010 at 3:10 pm
“The Haze of Government”? What the hell is that supposed to mean? Instead of using facts, how about we all refer to obscure principles and claim anyone who disagrees is a sheep who has fallen for propaganda! Good idea, Doron!!!
Doron Tauber
April 14, 2010 at 7:05 pm
i’m saying you’ve fallen prey to the false conceptions placed in the heads of the masses by government propaganda ^^.
Justin
April 15, 2010 at 3:09 pm
I know that’s what you’re saying and it makes me sick. I was forgetting that the US government has consciously and completely been brainwashing the masses for the past 300 years. Of course.
Or I could mean that you need to have logical, valid support and should quit with the conspiracy theories. Just sayin’
Doron Tauber
April 15, 2010 at 10:57 pm
so you don’t think that the government has actively gotten involved in the learning process of the young people in America *cough cough public schools cough cough* and thus slants history to favor what they want it to favor? must I allude to the 1920′s Progressives throwing out the standard used textbooks and replacing them with, what were basically, communist manifestos? the government has, for the past 300 years, been indoctrinating the students of America, and has tried to force them away from any dissent.
dimitri halikias
April 15, 2010 at 11:50 pm
do you have any evidence to support progressive indoctrination theories? Or are you quoting glenn beck?
Doron Tauber
April 16, 2010 at 5:59 am
we are not taught about how the Depression of 1920 was ended by extreme cuts in the Federal budget, tax reductions, and less regulation. we are not taught that the Great Depression was ended by World War II, but by the massive expansion of government by FDR.
Justin
April 16, 2010 at 8:22 pm
>we are not taught that the Great Depression was ended by World War II
Yes we are.
dimitri halikias
April 16, 2010 at 9:54 pm
The economy in 1919 was much stronger than was the economy in 1929. The two are not comparable. But Doron, we also don’t talk about how the two single largest periods of economic expansion under single administrations in HISTORY were both accompanied by tax rises (Reagan in 1983, and Clinton in 1994). http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/08/opinion/the-great-taxer.html?pagewanted=1
I am not for wasteful government, and you make some valid points about the lapses in our education about the great depression. However, that is not a product of “progressive indoctrination” but rather a symptom of a school system in need of drastic reform.
Doron Tauber
April 16, 2010 at 10:07 pm
who taught you that? I had to write an essay on my exam about how FDR’s policies ended the Depression and how Hoover caused it.
Jackson Fritz
April 18, 2010 at 9:27 am
I remember that essay. It was about FDR’s policies to help reduce the impact of the Depression, not how he fixed the economy. Besides, unemployment did go down during his presidency, from 1934 on.
Amalia Halikias
April 18, 2010 at 12:26 pm
Doron, why do you attend public schools if you truly believe that we are not entitled to things just because we “need” them? According to your argument, shouldn’t only rich families who can afford to pay to education be allowed to go to school?
Why do you support an institution that you consider inherently “evil”? If you really believe that a free market solves all problems, then why not go to private school?
dimitri halikias
April 13, 2010 at 10:37 pm
Doron, do you ever think America has ever been truly capitalistic?
Doron Tauber
April 13, 2010 at 10:43 pm
almost. near the beginning. it started getting polluted fairy early-on
dimitri halikias
April 13, 2010 at 10:45 pm
but even then there were ridiculously high tariffs. We certainly had plenty of freedom domestically, but without free trade unfettered capitalism produces dominant corporations that destroy the free market. (Ayn Rand’s words not mine)
Doron Tauber
April 13, 2010 at 11:15 pm
which is true. hence why I said “almost”. it was close, but there weren’t strict enough rules in the Constitution for free trade
Justin
April 13, 2010 at 10:01 pm
You know who you remind me of? Ayn Rand. Also, GDP increased and unemployment decreased last quarter. Economic cycles are a natural occurrence whether or not an economy is regulated. Economies take time to readjust and the government tried to minimize the time of the downturn. You can offer us no economic certainties that things would be oh-so-much-better had the government not stepped in. The reality, on the other hand, is nowhere near as bad as you make it out to be.
Doron Tauber
April 13, 2010 at 10:18 pm
you only think that because of the Haze of Government
Jackson Fritz
April 18, 2010 at 9:29 am
so the government is faking economic data, and has been for as long as the statistics about unemployment and GDP have been there?
Doron Tauber
April 20, 2010 at 6:34 am
the government justifies all their actions by saying “oh well it would have been worse.” which it wouldn’t have. if we had stuck to free market principles, such as cutting spending and taxes, it would have hurt for a while, but then we would have healed, just like we did in the Depression of 1920.
Justin
April 20, 2010 at 6:25 pm
>Implying the economy is not improving
>Implying fiscal and monetary policy does not speed up the recovery process
dimitri halikias
April 20, 2010 at 7:31 pm
the depression of 1920 was no where near as severe as the great depression. Can you please name one economist who believes that the fundamental economic situation was worst leading up to 1920 than it was leading up to 1929? (and no glenn beck does not count) There was no bubble in 1919, there was no failure in agriculture, there was no collapse in industrial production. All three of those features led up to the great depression beginning in the mid 1920s, none were there during WWI.
Doron Tauber
April 20, 2010 at 8:31 pm
it doesn’t matter how severe it was, it matters that the action taken to solve the depression of 1920 was to cut spending by roughly 50% and by drastically cutting taxes. it doesn’t matter how big the collapse is, it matters that cutting spending and taxes works 100% of the time.
dimitri halikias
April 20, 2010 at 8:43 pm
that is SO not true. Different levels of severity require different levels of response. In a slight recession slashing spending and taxes work, but in a wide-scale collapse of the financial system (which we have seen only twice in history) requires a much more coordinated spending program. You yourself agreed that WWII ended the great depression, and yet taxes and spending skyrocketed. After WWII America emerged stronger than ever before, and economically more sound than it had been for 30 years. That was a product of its Keynesian spending, not its Austrian cuts.
Justin
April 20, 2010 at 9:06 pm
Dimitri is correct. The Government increasing spending helped and continues to help the economy if the government spends in the right way. With a basic understanding of economics, you’ll understand that government spending bolsters demand for goods (the government is buying things) which in turn stimulates the economy to lead the country out of a depression/recession. Massive budget cuts can have the opposite effect, reducing demand (and therefore supply) until massive unemployment occurs and general quality of living goes down.
The nature of society these days is that if demand goes down (and subsequently supply), people will not accept significant wage drops. While real wages would in theory remain the same, the population as a whole does not realize and accept this. The economy will not adjust on its own without a significant period of social and economic realignment which people in general probably aren’t willing to accept.