civilized ku # 100 ~ small town values
Wednesday, September 10, 2008 at 12:04PM 
Electric "car" • click to embiggenOne of the advantages of living in a small village and/or an area dominated by small villages is that transportation vehicles like this one are a real viable option. There are no expressways and no congestion that are part of daily life or the driving experience. But, of course, since vehicles like this are not Big Oil friendly, our friends for change on the Right don't really talk about this as a "small town value".
My thanks to Paul Maxim, Clarence ... er, I mean Jimmi Nuffin, and the wife for speaking up on behalf of people, not statics and figures - those things that free-market absolutists like to hide behind because ... well ... figures and statistics don't go to bed hungry at night or live in substandard housing in neighborhoods that have been abandoned by the business class.
Despite what some might think, I am not an anti free-market zealot. The free market has been berry berry good to me and mine. BUT, while that system of economics can and does create prosperity and wealth for some, the manner in which that system is employed by many in this country causes it to create a lot of "losers" as opposed to "winners". What bothers me the most about this situation is that the free-market zealots adamantly refuse to deal with and/or recognize that fact as it applies to real people as opposed to economic "theory".
Instead, as was put forth by Reagan and his tinkle-down economics pals and adopted as a natural law of economics ever since - if you're a loser, it's your own damn fault. You deserve what you get (or don't get) because you obviously simply have not availed yourself of your opportunity to ... well ... become president or a high-roller CEO or a rock star, or even a hardworking well paid worker - oh wait, those jobs are all disappearing or being shipped overseas so that the American business class can remain "competitive" and "profitable".
So, Trevor, give us all a break from your insipid and pointless notions about how well the poor have it in the US of A as opposed to some third world country. The facts of real life, not statics or figures, in these here United States - the richest nation in the world - is that it is a national shame and disgrace that so many of us deal with so many forms of deprivation - food, healthcare, education, safety, and opportunity - on a daily basis.
gravitas et nugalis
Featured Comment: Mark M wrote: "...Clearly the choice is not between all government and no government that the polarizing pundits make it out to be."
My response: exactly right. Any moron who thinks that "our free market system would work better if our government would get out of the way" obviously doesn't stay informed about what's really going on today much less have any sense whatsoever of the early history of the unregulated free market system in this country.
Reader Comments (6)
With all due respect neither of you are talking about real people in the sense you are implying. You are offering a mix of anecdotal evidence mixed with statistics, while Trevor is countering your statistics with some of his own. If I missed the name and story of an actual person here maybe you can point him or her out. Trevor's statistics, incidentally do clear up an incorrect conclusion easily drawn from yours, namely that falling family incomes over time do not represent falling incomes of individuals when the definition of families changes over the same time period.
I'm not sure I understand you problem here...your first post on this topic makes arguments based entirely on statistics. You then end this post with, "The facts of real life, not statics or figures." Which facts are you talking about other than the statistics you offered? How else do you suggest drawing conclusions about a large population of people and measuring the effectiveness of our policies on a national scale without statistics?
A silence fell upon the masses......now can we get back to photography, I am 3 credits short of passing this class
I think you should stick to photography. You clearly don't understand the right and never will. We have a lot more "winners" than "losers" compared to most of the other countries in the world. What's going to happen when we are all "losers" and expect the government to give us everything. Who's going to pay the bill. No thanks. I will keep our capitalist system and say no to your liberal socialist future.
Our free market system would work better if our government would get out of the way. It screw up everything it touches. Fanny May, Freddy Mac, do we really want our government to run our healthcare system? National shame would be the destruction of the greatest nation on the planet due to an over spending Fedzilla. Also, you can have all the little toy cars. I want a big roomy cruiser.
Fannie & Freddie *were* private corporations! A humungous Bwaahahahaha to anyone who did not know that.
How is it that America thinks everyone else lives in poverty, screaming for freedom? How is it there is no middle way... beyond "winner" and "loser" there is "enough", and most of the world has enough.
Do you simply declare a nation unfree and poor to justify invading it? Who is the terrorist?
Fannie & Freddie may have been private corporations, but they were run with the understanding that there would always be a government bailout. That's not quite the same thing as being a truly private corporation.
People who maintain that government is always bad and screw everything up could use some temperance of opinion. Do we really prefer the laissez-faire policies of the past? Was it better when we had child labor in factories and coal mines? When we polluted rivers and lakes? When you couldn't get a decent job if you weren't a white male? When the very wealthy could artificially manipulate markets through monopolies? We've been there. Clearly the choice is not between all government and no government that the polarizing pundits make it out to be.
"WORD" Mark M. (For those who do not know the slang, "WORD" translate to "I agree"). I could write a long thing about Freddie and Fannie, but I'll limit it to this. The more people who own homes creates a larger market to fill and maintain those homes.
The same thing is true for food programs.