Inventor wrote:
Objectivism is the only system that ever worked.
Before that Lords had to direct labor, to produce enough to feed labor. It was hard to gather enough extra labor to build a castle for defense, and make a few weapons. No one got rich, at least they ate.
Crown Monopolies made the King rich, but took the profit from labor.
The Guilds did manage to hold on to some of their wealth through production, and Skill plus Capital produced Industry, making better use of labor.
When Government runs the economy we are at a state of constant war, where taxes go to support the war machine. The American government spends half of income plus on war production.
There are more useful things government can spend money on, like repairing and modernizing our infrastructure. The problem is money is not spent on things that are not deemed profitable in the short term. The national highway system and even the railroad system developed in the 19th century wouldn't have happened without government. On a certain scale cooperation has to happen or nothing gets done.
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The downside of this system is the 1% who make all the money, have to pay all of the taxes.
Once nobody else has any money beyond subsistence there's no other option. There's no way to have a capitalist society without taxes.
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Objectivism is better, because the way to avoid the tax system is to pay wages, buy machines, and grow, based on an idea, that can mature into a new industry. It's only direction is the self interest of the founder.
That works well when technology is constantly advancing. If the advance of technology slows down growth becomes an unsustainable ponsi scheme. I don't think it's a coincidence that most economic crashes in this country followed a decade or two after a major technological breakthrough lead to an explosion in new industry. The initial exuberance leads to an overshoot bubble that collapses once an industry matures and leans itself down through the process of competition and economies of scale.
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Capitalism is Creative Destruction. Most major industries are not very old. Apple and Microsoft did not just take a chunk from IBM, DEC, they expanded the market into new areas.
This growing is what keeps it working, and it never happens with State Run Systems. Their first view is protectionist.
And because growth can't continue unabated for all eternity we have to accept that the system may collapse at some point. I'd prefer to have a political system that allows adaptation to changing conditions than one that forces a lid on a boiling cauldron until it explodes. All states that have attempted to run on rigid adherence to a single ideology have failed or caused upheaval that lead to massive implementation of state force. What happened with communism will also happen with a country founded on "objectivism". The people who don't like that system will have to be forcibly repressed and excluded from the political process, not unlike any other totalitarian state.
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As for the Public Welfare, there seems to be a decline of the value of the public. They think they should be given a life, when they will do nothing useful to support it, and they will work for a chance to sue their employer.
Compared to what? Our labor force is more productive than it has ever been in the past due to increased efficiency and automation. Some people are becoming poorer but nobody is becoming lazier.
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The worst only produce babies and fill prisons. Social Welfare is supporting a lot that do nothing but add to the cost of living, through taxes and theft. They litter the sidewalks that cannot be used by those who paid for them.
Every city now has Red Zones, where by location, or time of day, are places to avoid.
And that is what the beginning of the collapse of civil society looks like. If everyone decides to throw their arms in the air and do nothing the future will be pretty grim. Too grim to justify having children. Even if you happen to be one of the wealthy your offspring will not necessarily be able to escape.
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The lowest class is the fastest growing,
The next class, useless workers, who think they are entitled to a job, now make up 10% of the population who will never work again.
Next up, useless but working, who have been getting declining wages for 40 years.
What do you advocate, euthanasia? Seriously! There is plenty of work people could be doing. The problem is a lack of profitable work.
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With employer paid health care for working 32 hours, they are being cut to 24. Someone does have to run the cash register, but anyone can do it.
Which is why employer provided healthcare should be ditched completely. There are other systems that actually work. The problem is politics and special interests demanded reform that is a slow continuous change to a broken system rather than a complete reworking from the ground up. The latter would have been better but unfortunately the political will was missing.
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Lesser Public Officials went into debt, Bond Issues, gave themselves raises, fat retirements, but did not fund it. Now house values and sales are down, they are laying off public workers, and still have a huge unfunded Pension Liability.
Local business is broke, those who can quit, those with a lease are just running out the clock.
The Objectivist has to see this as an oppertunity, to avoid all the hopeless people and do something that gives a better deal to their customers, without paying for all the failures.
That's fine as a personal philosophy but an entire country can't be run on pure self interest unless you're itching for Mad Max.
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I do not exist for their needs, just mine.
I would not walk over their bodies to do what I do, I would hire a sidewalk scraper to clean it up.
How are you going to get business in such a lovely world? Why would I want to have to walk over dead bodies or risk being mugged to be your customer?
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The Lords of old just killed the non productive, The King was known for hanging the useless, or sending them to war, or the colonies, and everytime has done something to get them off the streets, so some commerce can transpire.
Today I think we have turned a corner. People are generally literate and this makes them less accepting of barbarism. Expect the "non productive" to fight back and kill you if you try to kill them. It's not inconsistent with their own self interest to do anything in the name of survival, including violence or disregard of the law. This is why objectivism won't work.
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We have prisons, an expensive answer.
The main economy is protected by the government. Nothing is done for the new economy.
I am trying to improve the world, but it is my sworn enemy.
So my Objective is more important to me than all of everyones needs.
It's a good thing no single person is required to deal with everyone's needs. We work together and create systems that deal with the problem. The alternative is Mad Max where not even the elite are able to thrive.
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I would support some way of them dying faster, and disposing of the bodies.
Good luck with that.
29 Mar 2013, 1:51 pm
