But can you trust a guy that never blinks?

I’m still investing….

Biden was pretty bold about his statements yesterday in my hometown when he said that this economic downturn is because of the problem with trickle down economics. seriously…they are destroying our nation. They really want to destroy capitalism. It is frightening to think about.

WHY ARE THEY GETTING AWAY WITH ANYTHING??????????????????????????????? [...]
Mommypundit on October 24, 2008 at 9:10 AM

If anyone existed to oppose the left’s doctrines on the basis of Classical Liberalism, i.e. individual rights, economic science, and a pro-reason, pro-human philosophy, then the fascists on the left would be as ostracized and rare as their racially-motivated goose-stepping ideological cousins. As it is, however, the only opponents to national socialism these days are conservatives. On the rare instances when they do oppose socialist policies (as opposed to “Socialism” proper, which they define as “anything a Democrat wants”), they do so on grounds of religion, tradition, and Reaganomics (an oversimplified version of a parody of a misunderstanding of actual economics). Neither side’s arguments are grounded in facts or logic, but the left does a better job of pretending to be rational.

So long as John McCain, Mike Huckabee, and Sarah Palin are forging Republican economic policy, the free market (and by direct consequence, freedom itself) is doomed. The Republican Party will have to start caring more about the already-born and the yet-to-be-born than the un-born before things turn around.

Sarah’s Treasury Secretary in the future?

coldwarrior on October 24, 2008 at 10:56 AM

On the money. And welcome back.

This is incentive. One fails. Or, one triumphs. It is all on the individual. Greed itself is not a bad thing. Greed unchecked, or protected by government fiat is a bad thing. Take away that fear of losing, and the market is skewed toward non-performance.

Ask just about anyone if they’d prefer living in a two room fifth floor walk-up in a former industrial part of town or a nice 3k square foot house in the suburbs. If they prefer the house in the suburbs does that make them greedy? Sure. But is this a bad thing? Not at all. Getting from the fifth-floor walk-up to the house in the suburbs through individual effort is based on incentive. Incentive works well in a capitalist economy. But one must work/perform to achieve this goal. Incentive meets the marketplace. Performance engenders achievement. Pretty simple.

If all were promised that same house with little or no effort the market would crumble. Gee…seems it has…since we allowed government to promise that nice house to anyone who could sign a mortgage without the means to pay.

In a socialist economy, there is no incentive for the average worker, only for the leadership and those around them. Greed at work, as well. But good greed or bad greed? One would think that after 75 years of field experience on socialist societies in the former USSR and Eastern Europe it would be easy to see that the less government interference in the market the better the market works. One would also think that following the mortgage/sub-prime market collapse we could at least admit that the basis for that collapse was not greedy Wall Street investors, but greedy politicians and citizens who demanded something for nothing, and convinced a government to give them the means to achieve something for nothing.

Capitalism works best when Fear and Greed balance each other out.

Will we and other countries pursue policies that hinder growth and retard or abort a full-blown recovery, e.g., regulations that stifle innovation and taxes that harm the creation and deployment of capital?

Taxes on creation and deployment on capital have zero appeal…its my biggest difference with obama. However, all regulation is not burdensome…and in many cases regulation can be used to ENSURE innovation and freedom, not stifle it (patent reform, net neutrality).

I agree that in the broad sense capitalism trumps socialism…but there is a gigantic grey area that we happen to live in…where ALL regulation is NOT bad regulation and the occasional tax (like removing subsidies for domestic corn production) can be helpful to the economy.

The government can and does have a responsability to see that the will of the people is exercised within its borders. The bulk of that work should be done with regulatory reform and small, directed taxes to provide incentives to do things the way we want them done.

Forbes is screaming into the maelstrom. He’s right, and I’m glad he’s sounding the warning, but it won’t make a bit of difference. We’re gonna do this the hard way again.

angelat0763 on October 24, 2008 at 9:37 AM

Any Capitalist that would not sell his left nut to improve even short term gains should be fired. The point is that you can’t run a Government like a business and business should not be involved in government anymore than religion. And no less. Socialism should be taken out back and shot. So to speak…

Obamabots and the Left have been dreaming about just such a crisis so that they can worsen it and exploit it for political gain.

Liberal Democracy, Democratic Republicanism are systems you can build a society upon.

They didn’t set up a democracy. They set up a Republic.

I disagree with your theory about capitalists that would sell you their mother to profit, in that there are socialists that would sell out their own mother to advance. The former is illegal, but the latter is encouraged.

Forbes insists that capitalism and free-market principles will save us from disaster, if we’d only let them work properly:

Fat chance the country is going to swing libertarian though.

If the federal government was just dismantled and these things were regulated by the states then these problems would at least be contained.

But like I said – fat chance. The socialists have won. Let it burn then we can start over.

IS ANYONE COUNTERING THIS????????????????????????????????????????????? This is an obscenity. Seriously. It is a 3rd world nightmare. Dear Leader doesn’t even begin to describe this level of audacity, hubris and tyranny.

When you need a new couch, you will then go to your local Federal Department of Distribution, wait in line, fill out the necessary applications (the need for new couch will be your burden to prove), then wait six months for an answer in the mail.

Saltysam on October 24, 2008 at 9:00 AM

You’ll be able to pick up a couch on eBay. There should be a lot of people an business liquidating during 2009.

So far the government is taking equity in financial institutions. Very different than what Mitterand did in the 80′s. The model we are following now might be closer to Sweden in the 90′s.

WHY ARE THEY GETTING AWAY WITH ANYTHING??????????????????????????????? what about this video of the undercover guy in the Weather Underground who asked Ayers and his other PhD chronies what they would do with the die-hard capitalists? KILL THEM. The estimate was about 20000 American people. WHY IS THIS NOT GETTING PRESS AT ALL??????????????