tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7821345570811107481.post6327308741366145676..comments2024-03-17T00:13:44.599-07:00Comments on Marty Nemko: A Case for Near-Libertarian GovernmentMarty Nemkohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14850388752934193821noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7821345570811107481.post-74704612869286565282011-01-24T23:31:21.009-08:002011-01-24T23:31:21.009-08:00Doug, those are largely apriori arguments made by ...Doug, those are largely apriori arguments made by someone who admittedly has a pro-government bias. I've seen MONUMENTAL waste in government. The most visible was when I went into the mammoth palatial (100-foot rotunda ceiling with massive skylights, marble and inlaid mosaic floor) twin federal office buildings in Oakland, went upstairs, where desk after desk were compleely clean, with people sitting at them, literally filing their nails, listening to mp3 players, etc.Marty Nemkohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14850388752934193821noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7821345570811107481.post-33245816940598496822011-01-23T13:19:43.182-08:002011-01-23T13:19:43.182-08:00Government is not as inefficient as you think it i...<a href="http://www.governmentisgood.com/articles.php?aid=20" rel="nofollow">Government is not as inefficient as you think it is.</a>Doug S.https://www.blogger.com/profile/11918949543315280580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7821345570811107481.post-89930204045260815882011-01-06T21:19:27.843-08:002011-01-06T21:19:27.843-08:00oh, bugger. I forgot why I was here, which was to...oh, bugger. I forgot why I was here, which was to ask: <br /><br />Why is the case for a near libertarian society cast so negatively? It focus on attacking one thinly drawn view of something else, rather than making a positive case for the benefits to the average person (average luck, skill and motivation) of living in the libertarian society.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7821345570811107481.post-4410472884012914032011-01-06T20:59:08.627-08:002011-01-06T20:59:08.627-08:00The Soviet Union was neither communist nor sociali...The Soviet Union was neither communist nor socialist but followed a model known as state capitalism. Did the workers own the means of production? Of course not - the state did, as Basil remembers, I'm sure. The state was also the primary market driver, rather than the individual. <br /><br />In the US, we see this model applied only to our most heavily subsidized, expensive and wasteful industry - defense. The energy and food sectors are also dramatically distorted, but not as far along the lines of state capitalism. <br /><br />For many years I drove used Volvos exclusively, and I was quite happy with the product of a fairly competitive and relatively socialist state. I don't believe that Volvo employees owned the factory, but I do recall that until the company was bought, managers could be demoted by the vote of their employees.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7821345570811107481.post-77956729916501174972011-01-06T08:44:44.561-08:002011-01-06T08:44:44.561-08:00You forgot two other famous Russian cars, which, b...You forgot two other famous Russian cars, which, by the way, weren't as crappy as the others: the Chaika and ZIL. At the risk of stating the obvious, those cars were built to ferry apparatchicks around and therefore rivaled the luxury cars of the West. The ZILs were specially hand-built and could run with Mercedes-Benz, Rolls-Royce, and Cadillac limos of their time.<br /><br />Which leads me to this concern about socialism: The "apparatchiks" will take the best for themselves and leave everyone else with the rest.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7821345570811107481.post-90757333812472405752011-01-05T16:10:56.669-08:002011-01-05T16:10:56.669-08:00What do I think? I wish there were people like yo...What do I think? I wish there were people like you running for office.<br /><br />Regarding the safety net: YES. I have a family member who is mentally ill; he has been unemployed for most of his adult life. <br /><br />Mental illness is a tragedy, no doubt. But the greater tragedy, me thinks, is the dependency that is cultivated. <br /><br />(This is one of those "don't get me started" topics. When you watch the behaviors of 50-year-old toddlers you get this way.) I'm confident our mentally ill would have much to gain by giving back...in whatever measure they are able to do so. <br /><br />I have often wondered about what would happen with paranoid schizophrenics in particular if they spent some time toiling in a garden and eating a wholesome diet. (Versus a diet of gov't subsidized crap and watching cable television all day long.)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7821345570811107481.post-73594415397445805792011-01-05T13:24:10.168-08:002011-01-05T13:24:10.168-08:00Marty,
I agree with keeping the modest safety net...Marty,<br /><br />I agree with keeping the modest safety net and having a near Milton Friedman view of cutting programs and giving the cash saved as grants to those poor. Personally, I think we have to cut the cord on any of the inter-generational welfare recipients first. 'Cash grant, here you go now go get a job, any job. Your ingenuity should serve you well since you managed to game the system for so long.' Also provide higher cash grants for voluntary sterilizations and/or highly effective birth control. I'm not kidding. These are the last people (read: trailer park, drug addicted, pot smoking, negligent parenting etc.) who should be breeding. They damage another human being that didn't ask to be brought into the world.<br /><br />The only people who I think need to be on "public dole" are: service men and their dependent families. They are often so damaged that they need all the help they can get. And the indigent elderly and developmentally challenged and the mentally ill.<br /><br />The only thing we have to consider is this: this will cause mass rioting in certain communities. Others will further descend into chaos.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7821345570811107481.post-80130812466878290962011-01-05T09:28:17.090-08:002011-01-05T09:28:17.090-08:00Dave, if the best example of how socialism could c...Dave, if the best example of how socialism could compete with capitalism is the Skoda car, which rivals the bottom tier of U.S. cars,, it isn't the strongest argument. Perhaps if it rivaled the Toyota Prius. Or if Czechoslovakia created Google, the TV, cured cancer...Marty Nemkohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14850388752934193821noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7821345570811107481.post-300140889740850202011-01-05T08:34:18.447-08:002011-01-05T08:34:18.447-08:00On the failed Soviet socialist experiment:
I thin...On the failed Soviet socialist experiment:<br /><br />I think that had more to do with the backwardness of Russian society, not socialism itself. All previous attempts to modernize Russia also failed. Despite its impressive space program and global political and military reach, the Soviet era was a continuation of Russian decline. Little has changed in the post-Soviet era.<br /><br />Czechoslovakia built the Skoda Favorit, which rivaled the Volkswagen Golf/Rabbit and Dodge Omni/Plymouth Horizon twins.Davenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7821345570811107481.post-2504832203114530952011-01-05T06:44:04.804-08:002011-01-05T06:44:04.804-08:00I vividly remember those coupons - I lived in Leni...I vividly remember those coupons - I lived in Leningrad, Russia in 1989. The one in the picture is for SOAP. It makes me cringe. <br /><br />I am afraid you are right, Marty. Any society without meritocracy will stagnate and collapse, like the USSR has demonstrated. <br /><br />It seems that meritocracy is not working anymore here in the US. And the social contract is being violated by the authorities. My 401k for the last decade illustrates that.Andrew Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04793784582673904618noreply@blogger.com