Philosophy Now Forum

uwot wrote:Reverend Bob, how will they pay?

They can't and won't. Technically the US is bankrupt because its total liabilities exceeds its total assets. When this happens to a company in a free-market economy it is not longer permitted to trade or conduct any business within such an economy. If all the international bankers, who are currently propping up the staggering dinosaur which the US economy has become were to decide to call in their loans then the US is toast. Meanwhile the Chinese, who have been doing business for millennia, wait quietly in the wings and snap up the spoils at bargain basement prices.

I suspect what will actually happen is that the fat cats will grease enough palms to persuade the Chinese power brokers that deregulation will be good for them too. Hey presto, China will be in hock for decades too. Marx may even have been right and there will be a global revolution. But it would be great to hear from a genuine prophet: Reverend Bob, what is the world coming to?

uwot wrote:I suspect what will actually happen is that the fat cats will grease enough palms to persuade the Chinese power brokers that deregulation will be good for them too. Hey presto, China will be in hock for decades too.

This already seems to be happening but the Chinese seem to be managing to internalise their debt in the same way that the Japanese have. In other words Chinese and Japanese debt is largely financed by Chinese and Japanese fat cats, which theoretically should make them less vulnerable to the financial whims of international arbitrage. By contrast the US fat cats seem to prefer stashing their ill-gotten gains into offshore tax havens rather than re-investing them back into their own economy. This leads us into the rather bizarre scenario of the biggest economy in the world struggling to keep itself afloat in a world awash with cash.

Whether this leads to a socialist revolution in the Marxian sense is something which I would doubt but I remain optimistic that the tide must eventually turn back the other way. The economic evidence from countries like Denmark and others is compelling and the need for a new social and economic contract designed along similar lines is openly discussed in countries like mine, where the myth of trickle-down economic theory has been tried and has demonstrably failed. I suspect that the US might be the last country to pull its head out of its own ideological arse and face the blindly obvious but ultimately it is foolhardy to fuck around with the inevitable. History will judge the baby boomer generation harshly, and we have much to blame ourselves for, but with any luck our grandchildren will be able to learn from our mistakes. I don't reckon the plutocracy will prevail.

Hobbes' Choice wrote:
http://usuncut.com/world/here-are-9-rea ... -the-dust/

Who comes up with this kind of bullshit? Oh, yeah, people are flooding to get into Denmark, made up of lazy motherfuckers who expect others to pay their expenses via exorbitant taxes levied on people who don't complain about working and paying their own fucking expenses.

uwot wrote:Reverend Bob, are you sure the free market is such a good idea? After all, deregulation has resulted in the US being over $20 trillion in debt to financiers. That means that if you ever get a job, you will spend a portion of your working week just to earn the taxes to pay back the people who have exploited the free market. If you ever have children, so will they. And their children. And their children. And their children. And their children. And their children........... We haven't asked our descendants whether they can afford the free market. You're a prophet, Reverend Bob, how will they pay?

Let's see, first of all we'll stop spending all our fucking money to protect backstabbing bastards like yourself. Nobody exploits the free market, it's the government that prevents the free market from operating properly. Quit worrying about the fucking future and concentrate on the free-market principles that will make any economy great.

Obvious Leo wrote:

uwot wrote:Reverend Bob, how will they pay?

They can't and won't. Technically the US is bankrupt because its total liabilities exceeds its total assets. When this happens to a company in a free-market economy it is not longer permitted to trade or conduct any business within such an economy. If all the international bankers, who are currently propping up the staggering dinosaur which the US economy has become were to decide to call in their loans then the US is toast. Meanwhile the Chinese, who have been doing business for millennia, wait quietly in the wings and snap up the spoils at bargain basement prices.

You know, for a guy who doesn't know shit about America, you talk like the biggest asshole in the world. The U.S. is the only military and economic superpower on Earth. It didn't establish this preeminence by hewing to the archaic principles you identify with.

bobevenson wrote:Quit worrying about the fucking future and concentrate on the free-market principles that will make any economy great.

Reverend Bob, why is being $20 trillion dollars in debt "great"?

uwot wrote:

bobevenson wrote:Quit worrying about the fucking future and concentrate on the free-market principles that will make any economy great.

Reverend Bob, why is being $20 trillion dollars in debt "great"?

Who said anything about being in debt being great? You're trying to tie debt to free market economics, which just shows you're a fucking loser who can't come up with a viable economic argument.

Reverend Bob, where do you think the debt came from?

uwot wrote:Reverend Bob, where do you think the debt came from?

Jesus Christ, how stupid can you be? I just told you there is no relationship between free-market economics and debt. It's the fucking government, my friend, it's the fucking government! Can't you get that through your head?

So what have the government done with the money?

uwot wrote:So what have the government done with the money?

Protecting your fucking ass, how's that for a start? And under the AEP, that would come to a screeching halt!

So who do they owe the money to?

uwot wrote:So who do they owe the money to?

Beats the fuck out of me. What are you suggesting, that free-market economics explains government mismanagement?

bobevenson wrote:

Hobbes' Choice wrote:
http://usuncut.com/world/here-are-9-rea ... -the-dust/

Who comes up with this kind of bullshit? Oh, yeah, people are flooding to get into Denmark, made up of lazy motherfuckers who expect others to pay their expenses via exorbitant taxes levied on people who don't complain about working and paying their own fucking expenses.

The people that move to Denmark find that they are valued for the work they do, and their families are supported by a grateful state with excellent education and social care.
As adulthood arrives they find themselves part of a community in which they are pleased to contribute.

Government spending guarantees the ability to raise taxation. If you do not spend you cannot tax.