Droopy wrote:Intellectually vacancy of this kind deserves no response. Suffice it to say, any monetary system, or economic organization of society, or structure of economic relations, will not work. Some will work better than others, others worse, and others, such as may be found in fully socialized societies, or where the attempt has been made to deeply socialize them, will destroy the economy and crush the human spirit. We know what happens when this is attempted at length, from the spiritual, moral and intellectual infantalization that has overtaken much of Western Europe (and major pockets of the American population), to the economic and human devastation wreaked within the communist world during the 20th century.
Thus spoke Droopy.
It's now up to us (mere mortals) to decipher the meaning. It's a good, long paragraph with what I'm sure is vital information. I just haven't figured out what that is yet.
I'm going to start with the word "infantalization". Obviously, it's intentionally misspelled. I know that there must be a hidden meaning in there somewhere.
This, or any other post that I have made or will make in the future, is strictly my own opinion and consequently of little or no value.
"Faith is believing something you know ain't true" Twain.
by the way, since welfare constitutes only 11% of our country's budget, and defense constitutes 23%, maybe we should be asking how we feel about spending money on this instead:
Entitlement spending, including SNAP, EBT, WIC, various housing subsidies, Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP, and Social Security, now constitutes almost 62% of all federal spending, and if present trends continue, will consume virtually all tax revenue by 2048.
Learn to read.
We hate to seem like we don’t trust every nut with a story, but there’s evidence we can point to, and dance while shouting taunting phrases.
beastie wrote:The gap between the rich and everyone else has widened exponentially since the years of Ronald Reagan. If I recall correctly, that was around the time that greed was enshrined as noble.
I think this has nothing to do with Reagan.
A worldwide symptom, and Reagan happened to be president the same time.
- Whenever a poet or preacher, chief or wizard spouts gibberish, the human race spends centuries deciphering the message. - Umberto Eco - To assert that the earth revolves around the sun is as erroneous as to claim that Jesus was not born of a virgin. - Cardinal Bellarmine at the trial of Galilei
As soon as you concern yourself with the 'good' and 'bad' of your fellows, you create an opening in your heart for maliciousness to enter. Testing, competing with, and criticizing others weaken and defeat you. - O'Sensei
Kittens_and_Jesus wrote:The USSR was not communist, neither is present day China or North Korea.
These countries are socialist societies grounded in the theory of Marxism-Leninism, with the term "communist" used interchangeably with the term "socialist" throughout the 20th century.
Actual communism can never be "tried" because it is a purely theoretical utopian state that can never exist among real human beings. Socialism, in various forms, has been attempted, time and again, and the results are a matter of history.
Define communism and socialism. I doubt you can.
As soon as you concern yourself with the 'good' and 'bad' of your fellows, you create an opening in your heart for maliciousness to enter. Testing, competing with, and criticizing others weaken and defeat you. - O'Sensei
Would You pay $ 70000 to own a license plate with two digit number?
These are actual Dubai license plate numbers from an auction held earlier this year by the Roads and Transport Authority of Government of the Dubai (http://www.rta.ae). The prices next to the number plates up for auction are the reserve prices in Emirati dirhams (AED) – that’s what the bidding starts at.
The Price of Vanity
So how much did the chap who purchased the Q 63 plate pay? Unless he’s willing to come forward, there’s no way to know for certain. One thing is for sure — he paid a lot more than he did for his Mercedes. And definitely a heck of a lot more than the guy in the lane next to him.
( 1 AED = 0.27 USD )
- Whenever a poet or preacher, chief or wizard spouts gibberish, the human race spends centuries deciphering the message. - Umberto Eco - To assert that the earth revolves around the sun is as erroneous as to claim that Jesus was not born of a virgin. - Cardinal Bellarmine at the trial of Galilei
Anchored in the USA! Model girlfriend of Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich gives birth in New York after parking his $1.5bn yacht on the Hudson for two months
Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich is celebrating the birth of his seventh child after his girlfriend Dasha Zhukova gave birth a daughter called Leah Lou in New York.
The little girl was born in Manhattan after the Chelsea owner, 46, kept his $1.5 billion yacht moored on the West Side docks for the past two months.
Stunning brunette Dasha - real name Daria - gave birth to Leah at the city's Presbyterian hospital.The couple's son Aaron Alexander, now three, was born in Los Angeles.
Leah's US birth, confirmed by a source close to Abromovich to MailOnline today, means that she automatically qualifies as an American citizen. Her mother already has a US passport after growing up in Los Angeles.
New American citizens are welcomed! No IQ demanded! Money only!
- Whenever a poet or preacher, chief or wizard spouts gibberish, the human race spends centuries deciphering the message. - Umberto Eco - To assert that the earth revolves around the sun is as erroneous as to claim that Jesus was not born of a virgin. - Cardinal Bellarmine at the trial of Galilei
You have the option to save your own money in a bank account instead of paying premiums on health insurance. Do you do that?
I don't really have that option the way you put it. If I don't buy health insurance, it's not like the company I work for is just going to pay me the part of the premium they currently pay and allow me to deposit it. Secondly, the government isn't going to allow me to claim money put in a medical savings account on my taxes, yet it allows me to pay my health insurance premium pretax.
The health insurance company that my work uses pays me to not use their coverage. I deposit it.
Being a Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction -Pope Benedict XVI
Quasimodo wrote: Most rednecks don't seem to grasp the difference between Communism and Socialism. It's similar to the difference between Fascists and Republicans.
I'm not sure about the rednecks, but communism is a future theoretical fantasy state that has no basis in reality and which Marx himself ever worked out in any detail. The theory and ideology that Marx taught, wrote, and agitated for all his life was socialism (scientific socialism, in his and his disciple's formulation) and was the transitional phase between capitalism and communism. Other forms of socialism have and have always existed, and all of them, despite nuances of doctrine, are and must be authoritarian and finally, totalitarian in nature to achieve the ends desired regarding the human condition.
Marx used the term "communism" as a term of political activism for more polemical effect (as in the Communist Manifesto) and its use in this sense survives to this day as interchangeable with "socialism," which is the way it was always used within the socialist/communist world (and in communist nations) itself throughout the 20th century.
Communism and socialism are "different" only on the blackboard, where idealistic, abstract academic theorizing covers a multitude of sins.
Where does the united order fit? Seriously, I've wondered how the ultra conservative mindset of U.S. Mormons sees Smith's attempt at a utopian society and Young's furthering that idea under Deseret and the cooperatives.
Being a Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction -Pope Benedict XVI
It has become so difficult to find a place to park in the busy US city that one female driver decided to splash out $560,000 (£350,000) for two spaces near her home.
Situated in Boston’s exclusive Back Bay neighbourhood, Lisa Blumenthal stumped up the six-figure sum during an online auction on Thursday.
The parking spaces were seized by the Internal Revenue Service from the previous owner who owed back taxes.
Ms Blumenthal, who lives in a multimillion-dollar home near the spots, told The Boston Globe: ‘It was a little more heated than I thought it would have been.’
After shelling out more for each space than the price of an average single-family home in Massachusetts, the millionaire said the spaces would come in handy for guests and workers.
‘It’s hard for most of us to get our brains around this,’ said Steven Cohen, a Boston-based broker. ‘But this is a portal into the world of people who are playing by different rules than most of us.’
- Whenever a poet or preacher, chief or wizard spouts gibberish, the human race spends centuries deciphering the message. - Umberto Eco - To assert that the earth revolves around the sun is as erroneous as to claim that Jesus was not born of a virgin. - Cardinal Bellarmine at the trial of Galilei
