tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9612609.post2978182948132342027..comments2023-09-29T06:58:20.125-07:00Comments on Badtux the Snarky Penguin: The Deflationary BluesBadTuxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345749557330760251noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9612609.post-32298779151414834212010-02-23T18:34:50.242-08:002010-02-23T18:34:50.242-08:00i had more, but there was a 4000 character cap.<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axCXhEhU4wM" rel="nofollow">i had more, but there was a 4000 character cap. </a>Ghost Dansinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15216056025402469120noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9612609.post-46565954218090099912010-02-23T18:32:57.144-08:002010-02-23T18:32:57.144-08:00capitalism is neither a system of morality nor a s...capitalism is neither a system of morality nor a system of governance. it is a system of production and distribution. capitalism has no conscience.<br /><br />capitalism is actuated by profit and greed.<br /><br />capitalism can be grafted onto any form of government; democratic or totalitarian.<br /><br />China is the most recent example of capitalist endeavor grafted onto a Communist totalitarian government.<br /><br />capitalism, of course has been nurtured by the U.S. for a long time in nations where governance has been right wing totalitarian, i.e. fascist.... and certainly was no stranger to the monarchist imperial colonialism which existed as late as the early 20th Century.<br /><br />being a Liberal, i believe capitalism is a good thing. however there can be too much of a good thing.<br /><br />capitalism, as an economic engine, has tragic flaws when allowed to operate laissez faire, it operates as you might imagine a gasoline engine possessing an ineffective regulator.... that is, it operates, but somewhat erratically, revving wildly, sputtering, choking and sometimes stopping all together.... simply consuming fuel.Ghost Dansinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15216056025402469120noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9612609.post-222861477886004342010-02-23T17:27:18.707-08:002010-02-23T17:27:18.707-08:00Well, in those days, there was no income tax, only...Well, in those days, there was no income tax, only tariffs.<br /><br />The other bad thing about deflation is <b>high</b> real interest rates, so the wheels of the economy don't (can't) get greased.<br /><br />I'm delighted you brought up Paris Hilton, but vaguely disappointed at then lack of a Lada Gaga Reference.<br /><br />Cheer!<br />JzB the high real interest trombonistJazzbumpahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07337490817307473659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9612609.post-22632200422282668882010-02-23T17:16:16.127-08:002010-02-23T17:16:16.127-08:00From Thomas Jefferson -
"The rich alone use ...From Thomas Jefferson -<br /><br />"The rich alone use imported<br />articles, and on these alone the whole taxes of the General Government are levied.<br />The poor man, who uses nothing but what is made in his own farm or family, or within his own country, pays not a farthing of tax<br />to the General Government,.... Our revenues liberated by the discharge of the public debt, and its surplus applied to canals,<br />roads, schools, &c., the farmer will see his government supported, his children educated, and the face of his country made a paradise<br />by the contributions of the rich alone, without his being called on to spend a cent from his<br />earnings." * —<br />To General Kosciusko. Washington ed. v, 586. <br />(M. 1811)<br /><br /><br />Now depending on your bias, you can construe that TJ would be on this side or that in the economic system we live in - so different from anything he could have imagined. But from the quote above, there's little doubt where he would lay the yoke of taxation.TampaDoughttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12927689342520971279noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9612609.post-20204273242857572002010-02-23T16:50:56.868-08:002010-02-23T16:50:56.868-08:00And they inflated the prices to begin with.And they inflated the prices to begin with.nunyahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08833886980442919570noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9612609.post-58771370465500116872010-02-23T10:32:21.062-08:002010-02-23T10:32:21.062-08:00Thomas Jefferson had the right idea of curse. But...Thomas Jefferson had the right idea of curse. But bring up our founding fathers emphasizing the freedom of being self-sufficient, and there's a crowd of people who flunked history who think the problem is the founding fathers were commies, divorced the country from religion, whathaveyou.<br /><br />I am actually of the mind that the small yeoman farmers and tradespeople are what will save us ultimately, but that would probably take a revolution. Until then, I'll be an urban farmer in eastern Contra Costa County.Sarahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05592584406221528110noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9612609.post-61308015336234499692010-02-23T08:57:31.778-08:002010-02-23T08:57:31.778-08:00Sator, that commie Thomas Jefferson envisioned a n...Sator, that commie Thomas Jefferson envisioned a nation of small yeoman farmers and self-employed tradesmen. Unfortunately that vision proved incompatible with the scale needed to do things like a railroad network or a $5 billion semiconductor foundary, so we developed an "owner class" like Paris Hilton that does no work, but sits at the top of the heap accepting welfare payments from those of us who *do* work (but they call those welfare payments "profits" so that makes it okay, alrighty then). And we developed an executive class that is little different from the owner class in its sense of entitlement, which produces no real wealth (all it does is move around wealth created by the worker class -- you and me) but which somehow feels entitled to use its power at the top of the hierarchy to enrich itself far beyond its contribution to the success of the company. Indeed, the bankers whose failed speculative policies almost destroyed the world economy? Bonuses. Duuuuuude!<br /><br />Unfortunately my conclusion is that the majority of the hairless monkeys who infest this planet actually feel this is a *desirable* situation, because it gives them an alpha male to look up to and adore, just as if they were a troop of hairy monkeys out in the wild. Thus why every attempt at a distribution of wealth that gave wealth predominantly to those who create it, rather than to those who manage or "own" it, has eventually failed. Stupid-ass monkeys. Grrr! But WTF, 2 million years of evolution can't get wiped out by 40,000 years of language and civilization, I suppose...<br /><br />Sara, it is clear to people like you and me that if prices are lower, someone, somewhere, is getting paid less money than they were being paid when prices were higher. But we understand that goods don't just come out of the ether. Somebody, somewhere, makes them. Yet somehow the Joe the Plumber dumbasses of the world can't figure out that *they* are going to be one of the people being paid less if prices go down. What a bunch of morons... they make Sarah's Trig look like a genius by comparison, at least *he* has an excuse for not thinking too clearly, but Joe and his ilk have a perfectly good bunch of grey stuff up between their ears -- that, apparently, they have no desire to ever use.<br /><br />- Badtux the Grumpy PenguinBadTuxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01345749557330760251noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9612609.post-53422857640822579322010-02-23T07:20:09.123-08:002010-02-23T07:20:09.123-08:00Yes indeed, sing it!
Lower prices are not at all ...Yes indeed, sing it!<br /><br />Lower prices are not at all low when all of the things which make them possible (for a time; this cannot be indefinite) are taken into account. But Joe the Plumber doesn't have the attention span to read further than see the word 'deflation' and think his prayers are being answered. I guess because he's sold (no pun intended) on consumerism being the solution to a shit economy.<br /><br />For starters.Sarahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05592584406221528110noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9612609.post-25546569116604743822010-02-23T00:22:47.542-08:002010-02-23T00:22:47.542-08:00So (spammers notwithstanding):
It seems like you&...So (spammers notwithstanding):<br /><br />It seems like you're saying that (to coin a phrase) the Means of Production must Belong to the Worker. Otherwise we're just de facto using Our Blood to grease the Wheels of Capitalism.<br /><br />Sing it, 'Tux.Sator Arepohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00006808744513156317noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9612609.post-46793418961644322502010-02-23T00:14:43.694-08:002010-02-23T00:14:43.694-08:00Fuck you, spammer, and fuck your mother, and your ...Fuck you, spammer, and fuck your mother, and your father, and every motherfucking bastard relative offspring of yours. You are scum, a ratbastard stealing *MY* blog for your commercial advertising, trespassing on MY property. You are a criminal, a thief, and should be ashamed of yourself, but I doubt that you are because that would, like, require that you have an actual <i>conscience</i>. SO it goes.<br /><br />- Badtux the Pissed PenguinBadTuxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01345749557330760251noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9612609.post-84859195999056706222010-02-23T00:11:05.977-08:002010-02-23T00:11:05.977-08:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17755120413135719279noreply@blogger.com