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The problem is monopoly corporations in control of government


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2022 Oct 28, 6:33pm   1,549 views  23 comments

by Patrick   ➕follow (61)   💰tip   ignore  

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 monopoly state are systematically eliminated. The fascist state also likes slavery because that increases their wealth and the perverse pleasure that they take from domination.

6. The paradox though is that the remedy for this catastrophic outcome appears to be... political liberalism (just starting this cycle all over again)? Many of the greatest defenders of the people over the last three years were libertarians (Brownstone Institute) — people who champion political and economic liberalism. By contrast Progressives went all in for fascism, thus completely discrediting that century-long line of thought.

However, it seems Sisyphean to just keep repeating this cycle every 80 years until the monopolists finally finish us off (technology makes that easier and easier).

Is there any way to step off this roller coaster without ending up with something worse?

Is there any way to interrupt this cycle and preserve the good while blocking the eventual formation of fascism? (Antitrust was an attempt to do that but the robber barons are always able to use their wealth to buy the political system and remove obstacles to concentrated market power).

It seems to me that solving this riddle is the urgent task before us. Figuring this out is essential if we hope to transcend this crisis and emerge into a better future.

Questions for you:

1.) Have I characterized the problem correctly? If not, how do you see it?

2.) How do we interrupt this cycle, step off the hamster wheel, and transcend the failed ideologies that led us into this valley of death?

3.) Are we staring at failed ideology (that can be fixed) or simply the human condition (always broken, always flawed, always lusting after things that make us miserable in the end)?

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3   gabbar   2022 Oct 31, 10:38am  

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.
4   fdhfoiehfeoi   2022 Oct 31, 1:38pm  

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.
5   Patrick   2022 Nov 4, 2:18pm  


 _galileo

The Catholic Church was a corporation with a monopoly on religion in Italy.
7   gabbar   2022 Nov 5, 4:44am  

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.
8   GNL   2022 Nov 5, 5:53am  

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.
9   Patrick   2022 Nov 27, 4:59pm  

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.
10   fdhfoiehfeoi   2022 Nov 27, 6:27pm  

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.
11   richwicks   2022 Nov 27, 6:40pm  

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.
12   GNL   2022 Nov 27, 7:14pm  

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?
13   tomtomtom   2022 Nov 27, 7:50pm  

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...
14   Patrick   2022 Nov 27, 9:32pm  

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.
15   tomtomtom   2022 Nov 28, 8:01am  

@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.
19   HeadSet   2024 Jan 1, 7:38pm  

Patrick says





Actually, that logo is a dick and the public is on the receiving end.
21   AmericanKulak   2024 Mar 4, 2:07pm  

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!
22   Patrick   2024 Mar 4, 2:51pm  

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

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