patrick.net

is that a threat? lol. who the fuck are you?

do you have data that says traffic is down, or is down due to the political leaning of the website owner? This is his site, he can do what he wants with it.

he doesn't censor our opinions, you have no right to tell him how to run his site.

Welcome back again Larry! Didn't you swear you'd never read my site again several times now?

I'm flattered you think my super-leftist powers are capable of changing the world! If not, why keep protesting?

My dirty secret (shhhh) is that I'm actually quite the little capitalist, but little capitalists like me and you have no chance against the big ones who defeat the free market every day and get bailouts when they fail in their rigged market anyway. Their secret? Lobbyists!

You don't have a lobbyist for yourself, do you? Didn't think so. HTF are you going to get anywhere on a playing field that's tilted about 89 degrees?

To quote myself from another thread:

There is no fact that will be acceptable to him unless it also allows him to join the ruling class. His reality will be instantly sorted into acceptable facts which promote his tiny but non-zero chance of being dominant, and unacceptable facts which threaten it.

The American Dream is to join that ruling class, and so the ruling class is admired, and seen as worthy of imitation, especially their refrain about the "liberty" to join.

But the ugly fact is that the ruling class is IN THE WAY of anyone else joining. They already have that position, and they're not about to give it up.

America has the highest wealth inequality and lowest social mobility of any industrialized country. Most wealth in America is inherited, not earned. Look it up. The ruling class is permanent, with few exceptions. But those exceptions are critical for gaining the near-religious support of their servants.

The reasoning goes something like "I must protect the ruling class, because I intend to join them one day." But in protecting them from the free market, fair taxation, and labor laws, he makes it nearly impossible for himself to join.

BTW the site is doing fine. Email subscriptions and forum traffic are way up.

Some good background reading and viewing:

http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html

http://www.kotlikoff.net/sites/default/files/The%20Role%20of%20Intergenerational%20Transfers%20in%20Aggregate%20Capital%20Formation.pdf

http://www.youtube.com/watch?source=patrick.net&v=rsL6mKxtOlQ#watch-headline

Patrick,

I read a posting you made, about why you are left.

The problem is, your premise is wrong. The ruling class of our country is not the Republicans, or the right, it is the left.

All those bail outs when to Obama supporters, and financial institutions that bribe Washington (yes Lobbyists ) to pass and bias laws for themselves.

Like Michael Moore, your anger is justified, but it's just misdirected.

The true populist road, leads back to the constitution, and people like Ron Paul.

Many of your views are shared by people like me, and other Tea Party members, but you have fallen prey to the massive lies the left has spewed upon the minds of American thought for three generations.

Oh no! The left is spewing all over our minds.

I check Patrick.net every day and I send a lot of traffic your way. Wink, wink via ZeroHedge. Keep up the good work.

I was attracted to your site because of my interest in RE, but became captivated by the political articles. However, as one who also comes from a "capitalist" persuasion, I might have dismissed your site as noise had I seen the left-leaning links ahead of RE news, as has been the case a few times. IMHO, today's (10/13/11) layout of links strikes a perfect balance for engaging a new visitor interested in RE, while at the same time giving us veterans some interesting "left-leaning political rhetoric." Thank you!

larrypatrickmaloney says

I have seen a tragic downturn in the quantity, and quality of real estate postings over the past few months.

Every day, it's 70-80% of left leaning, political rhetoric.

You could always build larry.net. There you could decide all the links and control all the forum topics.

(Exactly) what pianist said.

BD

Interesting thread. The way I see it, this thread mirrors the reality on the ground. Huge chunks of the 99% have been manipulated over the last 30 years to believe that they too can join the 1% if they play by the rules that they have cemented in. Problem is, the rules as they currently stand have warped beyond recognition what capitalism is all about. Now you simply have a system that rewards those who have with minimal to zero tax liability, no enforcement or watering down of financial laws and ethics, and public financial subsidization of the powerful when things go wrong but minimal wealth sharing when things go right. The body politic is finally waking up to the reality that they have helped create. They have consistently voted against their own self interests for 3 decades and the results are finally in. For full disclosure, and by any objective measure, I am in the 90-95% and I have never supported the likes of Larry or the right. I have never supported the corruption that exists on the right and to a lesser degree on the left or bs trickle down theories, etc. Follow the money and you will always receive the truth in return. The bottom 90% are 'doomed' unless they can turn this around quickly. It will not be pretty or easy trying to do so. This site may help lead the way back to rational and equitable playing fields. Keep on Patrick and site posters.

People have to be deprogrammed in this country. The left-right battle is a distraction - promoted by politicians and media, but counter-productive to almost everyone else. When it comes to crony capitalism, real conservatives are as offended as anyone. This is a fight that we all should be engaging in - on the same team (unless you happen to be on the Bush-Obama team).

http://www.capitalismwithoutfailure.com/2011/10/dear-occupy-wall-street-focus-on-people.html

Actually, I read it much less since Patrick turned into another Huffington Post knock-off. And I don't think he can stop this degradation... you gotta think for yourself, not parroting lefties.
I hope your business will take off, and also I hope they will over-tax you - maybe you'll finally wise up.

Sorry Patrick, but you off my bookmarks list - it was really good and original, but this site quickly turned into worthless propaganda megaphone...

Don't give in Patrick, I'm about as Left as one can get and I don't see this as a Lefty page by a long shot. All of us citizens who are educated and rational must bear the brunt of the Idiocracy....

Oh, and Krugman 2012!

Patrick - you could be on your way to having the same type of fan base/similar site as drudgereport, or similar high traffic news sites where people come for certain types of news.

What makes your site way better is that you have the link submission section. Not to mention, you can't stand realtards.

Bunny Pumpkin says

Sorry Patrick, but you off my bookmarks list - it was really good and original, but this site quickly turned into worthless propaganda megaphone...

Well, with your two comments you really contributed a lot. You will be sorely missed.

Patrick links to articles without any bias and lets people talk about whatever they want on the forums. What more do you want from him? Ban people for speaking their mind? If you're mad that the site is too "left", then go find a "right" site.

To me, it's just a housing site where the majority of people are annoyed about how the economy has tanked the past few years and how realtor business practices have been less than great. I don't look at it politically. We're all in this boat together.

It is about time to start not left leaning http://larrypatrickmaloney.net

This sites political discourse attracts the Stew pot for a hat crowd.

Actually I feel like there is a fair amount of political back and forth on here, which makes sense because real estate is a point of interest for everybody. People of differing political opinion are always going to debate and that debate is what keeps the traffic flowing. It all boils down to everyone trying to exert their opinion.

San Diego Renter says

When it comes to crony capitalism, real conservatives are as offended as anyone.

Reminds me of a great quote I saw recently: "Conservatism is a political philosophy; the farce currently performing under that marquee is an inferiority complex in political philosophy drag."

larrypatrickmaloney says

All those bail outs when to Obama supporters, and financial institutions that bribe Washington (yes Lobbyists ) to pass and bias laws for themselves.

You can see the biggest bribers right here:

http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/list.php?source=patrick.net&order=A

I admit that list is more blue than red. So you'd be ahead if you agree to a ban on all private campaign money and have publicly funded campaigns instead:

http://www.getmoneyout.com/