patrick.net

Competition is the antithesis of monopolies and crony capitalism. Further, the entire cycle outlined above leaves out the vastly important role of ethics and morality. Left on it's own, free markets never turn into monopolies. The lack of moral consideration means a failure to recognize evil. Evil does not give a shit about anything other than control, at any cost. Through lies and a lazy and gullible public, it seeps into systems, corrupting them, and centralizing power, not for financial gain, but for control. This evil uses greed, the promise of wealth without labor. It is the central bank. And though it's mechanations and lies, it wrests control of the money supply, then prints everyone else out of business.

This type of shit thinking that seeks to compartmentalize, rather than seeing the whole for what it is, is exactly why most people have no idea who their real enemy is until it's too late.

Or just don't shop there. This is where reality puts a halt on most socialists. They'll spout all kinds of nonsense, but they won't actually do it themselves. I find libertarians are much more active in living our their beliefs.

NuttBoxer says

Further, the entire cycle outlined above leaves out the vastly important role of ethics and morality.

What morality? If morality was a factor in business, there would no businesses.

gabbar says

What morality? If morality was a factor in business, there would no businesses.

A perfect summary of where things are at today, and where they're headed. I deal with many moral and ethical business's, but they're small and local. I myself strive to do the best for the company I'm at, even when others seem to be fine with a lower standard.

The Catholic Church was a corporation with a monopoly on religion in Italy.

NuttBoxer says

A perfect summary of where things are at today, and where they're headed. I deal with many moral and ethical business's, but they're small and local. I myself strive to do the best for the company I'm at, even when others seem to be fine with a lower standard.

This is what I imagined an American would be like when I moved to the US as a young man. I am too old now and most of the irrational and surreal thinking is gone. Not only is morality is not a factor in business but immorality is considered moral in business. We are a shitty species because other species don't have these pretenses.

gabbar says

NuttBoxer says

A perfect summary of where things are at today, and where they're headed. I deal with many moral and ethical business's, but they're small and local. I myself strive to do the best for the company I'm at, even when others seem to be fine with a lower standard.

This is what I imagined an American would be like when I moved to the US as a young man. I am too old now and most of the irrational and surreal thinking is gone. Not only is morality is not a factor in business but immorality is considered moral in business. We are a shitty species because other species don't have these pretenses.

You'd think blacks would hold this guy up as a thought leader for blacks. Or, really, for the country as a whole. Race doesn't matter. Just seems blacks are easily led by hate and victimization.

https://tobyrogers.substack.com/p/thinking-points-november-27-2022

Ideology is a killer

The Covid response failed because the gatekeepers had (and still have) the wrong theory of government, knowledge production, and health. Their theory:

• Centralize everything in the hands of a few bureaucrats.
• Suppress speech, give orders, flood the public square with propaganda, and tell the peasants what to do.
• If this doesn't work, then just do it again, but more fervently this time.

In response to a pandemic, what one should actually do is:

• Decentralize everything so that 1 million doctors and 330 million citizens can use their best judgement to discover what works in practice.
• Encourage debate, listen to others, practice humility.
• Hold all conclusions tentatively, course-correct as often as needed.

If one follows the mainstream approach, one will never exit the era of pandemics.

If one follows the second approach, life would return to normal in 30 days.

GNL says

Just seems blacks are easily led by hate and victimization.

The only black person I know who's ever given into that shit was really pissed about something unrelated, and got used. And that can happen to whites just as easily(see Antifa). Users are everywhere, and they don't give a shit about ethnicity, just about using you.

GNL says

You'd think blacks would hold this guy up as a thought leader for blacks. Or, really, for the country as a whole. Race doesn't matter. Just seems blacks are easily led by hate and victimization.

That's the AVERAGE person. I could argue you are unwittingly do this with what you just said.

There's a few good people, but most of them, are mindless drones. It's really rare to find somebody that is wealthy, powerful, and moral. I don't know how wealthy Sowell is, but I bet he doesn't do badly.

richwicks says

GNL says

You'd think blacks would hold this guy up as a thought leader for blacks. Or, really, for the country as a whole. Race doesn't matter. Just seems blacks are easily led by hate and victimization.

That's the AVERAGE person. I could argue you are unwittingly do this with what you just said.

There's a few good people, but most of them, are mindless drones. It's really rare to find somebody that is wealthy, powerful, and moral. I don't know how wealthy Sowell is, but I bet he doesn't do badly.

I want to understand you. How am I doing the same?

What is "democratic elections"? How can you tell/measure if elections are democratic? Are elections required for democracy?

Patrick says

https://tobyrogers.substack.com/p/heres-the-riddle-that-we-have-to

Toby Rogers
5 hr ago
1. Political liberalism (free speech, democratic elections, let people make their own decisions) is an unalloyed good.

2. Political liberalism usually leads to economic liberalism (markets, free trade, laissez-faire). People want to use their talents and ingenuity to increase their own well-being.

3. Economic liberalism usually leads to monopolies as some industries come to dominate the competition.

4. Monopoly power leads to fascism as monopolies take over the state and weaponize it to serve their own purposes. Most of the carnage of the last few years is the direct result of Pharma seizing the state throughout the developed world and using it to increase their wealth and power.

5. Fascism leads to genocide as opponents of the...

tomtomtom says

What is "democratic elections"? How can you tell/measure if elections are democratic? Are elections required for democracy?

@tomtomtom

I assume he means elections by the people, as opposed to elections by the elite. The pope, for example, is elected by the College of Cardinals, kind of like Biden was elected by the oligarchy.

How to tell that voting is fair is pretty easy if we were just to follow the Israeli system:
- everyone votes in person, with ID, at their local school, on paper, no machines
- votes are counted by representatives of each party until the tallies agree
- each local school reports its number to the public, and anyone can add up all the schools

How would you have Democracy without elections? I suppose there is direct democracy (everyone votes on all laws) but the US was founded as a representative republic specifically to avoid that, if I understand right. The guys who wrote the Constitution were worried about "mob rule" and the subsequent suppression of rights.

@Patrick

There is a confusion that "democratic election" will somehow lead to "democracy". There is no guaranty that one will lead to another because of lobbing, poor decision making of the electorate (regular voters), and other factors.

How can you ultimately tell if there is a democratic rule in a given country? You just need to look at the legislature (laws) and determine if the laws are passed to protect interests of the citizens. This will tell you if the people (demos) have ruling power (cratos) and can influence the legislative process in their interests. For example, in the US the majority of laws are not passed to help regular people. The corporate media keeps the people ignorant and happy; they do not need to know how much they are screwed.

Mr. Rogers does not clearly define what he means by "democracy" and "liberalism". The thing is that they are unrelated. You do not have to have completely uncontrolled "free" markets under democratic rule. All this idea of "free markets" is mostly idealistic propaganda anyway.

The bottom line is that you can ignore all that nonsense from Mr. Rogers. He does not understand what he is talking about. Also, we do not have democracy in the US. We have textbook oligarchy. Make elections "democratic" and fair will not solve anything. People's opinions will be largely influences by the corporate media and all kinds of propaganda. The majority of people are idiots (no mater how educated they are) and that is the key reason why democracy is just a dream.

Patrick says

Actually, that logo is a dick and the public is on the receiving end.

Patrick says

And the problem isn't even that. It's that the psychopaths have formed syndicates that get the government to insulate them from competition and rig the market for them.

Now we have the corporatists working with the socialists to give their corporatism a veneer of ideobabble legitimacy in the form of LGBTQ+CIA123, UBI, Lifestyle support, etc.

Decentralization and a big fat all-American tariff!

Tariffs require strong borders to stop smuggling. Another good reason to build the wall.