tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post4083545608657217433..comments2024-03-18T21:52:45.757-07:00Comments on CONTRARY BRIN: "Class War" and the Lessons of HistoryDavid Brinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comBlogger136125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-66913759077508597652016-05-20T02:49:26.286-07:002016-05-20T02:49:26.286-07:00As silly as '300' could be made to seem, g...As silly as '300' could be made to seem, going off on it is still nothing but a very involved ad-hom. Friv 3http://www.juegosfrivroki.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-14959861782660574682011-12-27T11:38:11.881-08:002011-12-27T11:38:11.881-08:00"How did we get into a situation where FDR is..."How did we get into a situation where FDR is portrayed as Satan Incarnate?"<br /><br />I'm not sure either. Seems like he's pretty <a href="http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/fdr-seizes-control-of-montgomery-ward" rel="nofollow">pro-market</a> to me.<br /><br />--Posted Dec 27J Fanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11861942264776816685noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-29366372556994245652011-12-25T10:44:51.481-08:002011-12-25T10:44:51.481-08:00http://pages.simonandschuster.com/greaterjourney
...http://pages.simonandschuster.com/greaterjourney<br /><br />as noted.. our iGen IS the french...<br /><br />and will react accordingly..<br />i think we waisted our FDR years so far... our genxers-Obama, etc. are just too impotent to the machines funded by the boomers... if the rich in france had robots...they poor would have been fodder... same goes for washington and roosevelt... if the british had google and hilter the ufo/ a bombs, then well... well edith keeler would be alive...<br /><br />cube3Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-56986919296779225702011-12-25T09:59:35.796-08:002011-12-25T09:59:35.796-08:00sorry david, tech has given rise to the gen y er u...sorry david, tech has given rise to the gen y er under the baby boomers spell..... and its means a violence to come... a binary reactionary millennial group that when they reach 35, wont be "great diplomats and levelers" but only " great dictators" and tools users.... yes. millennials are now french...they gave up being american for being googles this last decade.<br /><br />c3<br /><br />gonna be bloody.. not happy.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-66290880859133702242011-11-09T18:06:57.042-08:002011-11-09T18:06:57.042-08:00Did the 20th century kill Star Trek technology?
L...Did the 20th century kill Star Trek technology?<br /><br />LOL Consider what replicator technology would do to an economy? How many people would need to work? But when Henry Ford created assembly lines to produce Model-Ts didn't he give us replicator technology? But what did we do with it? We invented planned obsolescence.<br /><br />Our concept of economics is keeping the lower classes running on a treadmill, not everybody having enough wealth so most people do not have to work much. We are supposed to want useless variations in cars just to play status games with each other. Most of the variations make no technological sense.<br /><br />But double-entry accounting was old when Adam Smith was born. So with cheap computers everywhere why hasn't it been mandatory in our schools for years. When do capitalists or communists or socialists or libertarians suggest something that simple?<br /><br />One thing has not changed despite the technology. The system depends on keeping the lower classes appropriately ignorant. So don't these computers and the Internet present the possibility of blowing that out of the water?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-72767273468067411192011-11-04T09:49:31.076-07:002011-11-04T09:49:31.076-07:00Good post David.
How does the world stage fit int...Good post David.<br /><br />How does the world stage fit into this?<br /><br />From inside the US, we may be moving back to a pyramid shaped wealth distribution. <br /><br />However, one could argue to the rest of the world, the US is at the top of the pyramid and there is a great leveling occurring with emerging markets and countries.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-36399243893898271902011-10-12T17:13:26.147-07:002011-10-12T17:13:26.147-07:00Thanks folks. I just realized this post has had a...Thanks folks. I just realized this post has had a huge amount of re-interest. If you really want to discuss these matters, please come to the vigorous and smart blogmunity we have under comments... in the LATEST posting of Contrary Brin. You'll find really bright folks willing to discuss anything.<br /><br />Sterling, the big mistake of Marx was to fail to understand the lesson of Darwin, that competition is the great creative force. The mistake of Laissez Faire mystics is to think that competition can maintain itself in the face of human propensity to CHEAT... especially when they become rich and powerful.<br /><br />But Smith wasn't fooled. He says it clearly. The engine must be TUNED! Tended and watched and modified.<br /><br />Those preaching that we should rage against civil servants and scientists are precisely the ones who will benefit if the engine sputters and fails.David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-45512866672569136522011-10-06T16:05:07.373-07:002011-10-06T16:05:07.373-07:00One of the best articles I've read refuting th...One of the best articles I've read refuting the fundamental principles that are the basis to any opposition to the "death tax" and not taxing the rich.<br /><br />Just subscribed to your blog!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-67167416194757058792011-10-05T05:56:23.849-07:002011-10-05T05:56:23.849-07:00"Instead of tax-free consumption, how about e..."Instead of tax-free consumption, how about extending the property tax to include all wealth that just sits" - this wealth was already taxed, Dumbo. Tax consumption - too hard to get it?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-32720347473564557592011-10-04T21:06:58.964-07:002011-10-04T21:06:58.964-07:00What Brin is skirting across are the different wea...What Brin is skirting across are the different weaknesses of Marxism/Command Economies versus Capitalism/Free Markets:<br /><br />The first fails on its face due to an incorrect characterization of human behavior basing socialism on the willingness of people to:<br /><br />Value things the same way and<br />Be willing to work for little or now personal incentive.<br /><br />The second fails on its rear end due to the unwillingness to recognize the ultimate result of the expected unequalness of success in a free market system:<br /><br />Unequal concentration of wealth into the hands of the few and the capacity to translate wealth into legislative, judicial, and police power to protect and extend the wealth that has been concentrated.<br /><br />Therefore we need to develop a better way of blocking the consequences of free markets to maximize the benefits to society in general while minimizing the fallout of unequal accumulation of wealth.Sterling Toonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-15033915128776464872011-10-04T21:03:22.712-07:002011-10-04T21:03:22.712-07:00David please look at this chart on Credit Writedow...David please look at this chart on Credit Writedowns<br /><br /><a href="http://www.creditwritedowns.com/2011/08/private-debt-deflation.html" rel="nofollow">Debt is the Problem and Private Debt is Even More of a Problem</a><br /><br />From the 1980s until the housing peak in 2006 nominal tax rates didn't matter. We borrowed so much money into the economy that no amount of taxation would have slowed us down.<br /><br />And don't forget <b>money borrowed against home equity is 100% tax free!</b> By comparison money earned through work is heavily taxed.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-85238066838746311592011-10-04T19:57:46.072-07:002011-10-04T19:57:46.072-07:00Neither @Anon 12:55 nor @Bernadette actually addre...Neither @Anon 12:55 nor @Bernadette actually addressed the subject matter of this post, so I don't see any reason to reply.<br /><br />As for the Class War et cetera, it seems a wee bit prescient with respect to the Occupy Wall Street movement. Who knows if this will persist, or will flicker out, but the evidence that there really is a lot of displeasure which is not being addressed by the Koch-financed Tea Party would seem beyond question. <br /><br />What may be really really different from the times of the French Revolution is communications technology; we don't have to be individually smarter than we are, if we can share each other's brains.rewinnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14008105385364113371noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-61404258388938177922011-10-04T13:39:17.283-07:002011-10-04T13:39:17.283-07:00Tax rates during the 1990s weren't particularl...Tax rates during the 1990s weren't particularly relevant to economic growth in the 1st world. We have been living off of a massive credit bubble since the 1980s. In reality the USA has had an uncompetitive economy for decades.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-69645417121898885012011-10-04T09:16:39.733-07:002011-10-04T09:16:39.733-07:00David Brin said: I spend a lot of time around lib...<i>David Brin said: I spend a lot of time around libertarians and I know that their current version is all about hating government. No other agenda or priority.</i><br /><br />When you make a lazily sweeping and grossly inaccurate statement like this...<br /><br />...it becomes very easy to ignore the rest of your message.Bernadette Wilsonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-2977902729911269092011-10-04T00:55:13.685-07:002011-10-04T00:55:13.685-07:00Gee Dave: You seem not to understand the salient ...Gee Dave: You seem not to understand the salient fact here. Obama IS trying to create only one thing -- and that is VOTES. And he has nothing to run on so he offers up the political-tax-the-rich mantra. And it's a scheme Dave -- because it won't even significantly put a dent in the $1.5T annual deficit. Spending reductions are necessary, but alas that is 1) anathema to Democrats and 2) won't get them votes -- actually 1 is the same as 2, for Democrats.<br />And Dave, taxing the 'rich' won't create jobs will it? And in 1993, the increased tax rates on 'rich' from 28% to 39% was clearly not the cause of the job-creation in the '90s, now was it? Of course not. In other words, the economy improved and created jobs IN SPITE OF those tax increases.<br />You see Dave, federal govt (and state & local) taxing and spending has become much too large. 40% total taxes on people who seemingly have good incomes, is a disgrace. Do you know what the marginal tax rate is for a self-employed person who tries to work harder and get their revenue from $80,000 to $100,000? In many states, factoring in ALL taxes, it's around 60%. That's right, if they bust their butt to make that extra $20k, they'll only keep $8,000. Adam Smith was NOT in favor of taxes that large. He was in favor of taxes that were just large enough to pay for the basic necessities of a frugal, small govt. Dave, that's not what we have now. And Obama's class-warfare is NOT designed to help the deficit or create jobs -- it's ONE PURPOSE. Get votes from people like you. You like the sound of "Clinton-era" tax rates. But that would only make matters worse now. I hope you're actually smart enough to realize that. Actually I don't care how smart you are. You're voting for Obama, again, obviously, ergo his scheme is working with you. Sad tho. -SBourgAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-59964495817108829452011-10-03T23:02:46.969-07:002011-10-03T23:02:46.969-07:00"Hegel remarks somewhere[*] that all great wo..."Hegel remarks somewhere[*] that all great world-historic facts and personages appear, so to speak, twice. He forgot to add: the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce. Caussidière for Danton, Louis Blanc for Robespierre, the Montagne of 1848 to 1851[66] for the Montagne of 1793 to 1795, the nephew for the uncle. And the same caricature occurs in the circumstances of the second edition of the Eighteenth Brumaire.<br /><br />"Men make their own history, but they do not make it as they please; they do not make it under self-selected circumstances, but under circumstances existing already, given and transmitted from the past. The tradition of all dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the brains of the living. And just as they seem to be occupied with revolutionizing themselves and things, creating something that did not exist before, precisely in such epochs of revolutionary crisis they anxiously conjure up the spirits of the past to their service, borrowing from them names, battle slogans, and costumes in order to present this new scene in world history in time-honored disguise and borrowed language. Thus Luther put on the mask of the Apostle Paul, the Revolution of 1789-1814 draped itself alternately in the guise of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, and the Revolution of 1848 knew nothing better to do than to parody, now 1789, now the revolutionary tradition of 1793-95. In like manner, the beginner who has learned a new language always translates it back into his mother tongue, but he assimilates the spirit of the new language and expresses himself freely in it only when he moves in it without recalling the old and when he forgets his native tongue."<br /><br />--Karl Marx<br /><br />The comparisons you make with the past are, I feel, entirely too facile. While the wealth disparity we have is disturbing, the situation we're in cannot be strictly paralleled with the past for a number of reasons (e.g., computers). The comparisons to the French Revolution are especially tenuous. Every era deserves to be treated on its own terms.<br /><br />That said, you are correct that things are obviously not going well, and that wealth inequality has a big role in that. But I fear we are headed toward some new, fresh hell, rather than an old, familiar one.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04187006532072534740noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-38816848185013251842011-10-03T19:21:59.974-07:002011-10-03T19:21:59.974-07:00So, exactly how are the Gen-X and Gen-Y -ers going...So, exactly how are the Gen-X and Gen-Y -ers going to save the U.S.? I'd like to hear that one! And, by the way, if they are going to actually do that - they'd better hurry - because it looks like social security, medicare, etc. will be gone before the year 2020, maybe even 2015.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-86058680515245188482011-10-03T16:35:19.134-07:002011-10-03T16:35:19.134-07:00"So don't fret, Boomers. Your children wi..."So don't fret, Boomers. Your children will rescue America. Not with violent class war... what are we, French? But with the kind of tweaking we saw from Washington and Lincoln and Carnegie and Teddy Roosevelt and FDR. (Three of them Republicans.) The kind that restores that flattened diamond... while continuing the miracle of competitive markets and freedom."<br /><br /><br />Sadly, I'm not sure that is possible anymore. There may already be too many wealthy entrenched interests who can & will block even moderate & commonsense reforms which ought to be no-brainers. <br /><br /> How can you fix things incrementally, and through the political process, when a minority of bought politicians can hold up almost all congressional action on almost any subject? <br /><br /><br /><br /><br />In fact, the fall of the Roman Republic had many of the elements we see in America today. An explosion in the gap between rich and poor, massive increase in debt by the middle class that lead to a a radical reduction in their numbers, and a political system which had become too beholden to the new uber-rich to make even the kind of basic non-radical reforms obviously needed to keep society stable let alone prosperous. <br /><br />They could have reversed this early with some relatively minor reforms.<br />Tiberius Gracchus just wanted to enforce an age-old law that was already on the books. His short-sighted wealthy opponents just kept buying politicians to block him politically. Finally, when he eventually managed to outflank them and get in a position to have his program passed, they just decided to skip the political process altogether and have him beaten to death.The Libarbarianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05120590525344216046noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-40490728466802935472011-10-03T12:35:28.736-07:002011-10-03T12:35:28.736-07:00Very good post. I am so amazed that Marx is mentio...Very good post. I am so amazed that Marx is mentioned and Henry George isn't. He showed already in 1879 that the people who have the powers over the land are wealthy and keep the rest on marginal living standards. That was in 1793 true and it is true in 2011. He also gave us the solution, but it seems everybody forgot that solution... http://bit.ly/bDGsIzMichielhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06347902068742354197noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-64432680478327666132011-10-03T10:25:35.398-07:002011-10-03T10:25:35.398-07:00I was just noticing this one and thinking about th...I was just noticing this one and thinking about the level of economic illiteracy it implied:<br /><br />Let's see: people going hungry in the cities, and farmers going broke. Solution: increase transportation costs!"<br /><br />Why is this so stupid? You have farmers who can't sell their crops at a decent price, and people in cities who can't get the food they need. So you create the conditions for profitable investment and rapid growth of the industry needed to get food from the farmers to the cities, while excluding unreliable low-ball operators. What a terrible idea.paulhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14797761477457158490noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-40923295619252282112011-10-02T21:09:40.414-07:002011-10-02T21:09:40.414-07:00Us Gen Xers will just charge the Boomers A LOT OF ...Us Gen Xers will just charge the Boomers A LOT OF MONEY for their retirement care. Or maybe we just won't share the technological advancements we come up with and we'll leave the Boomers behind; code always precedes politics.mik3caphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15984405049127015221noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-72734798804386603962011-10-02T21:08:51.663-07:002011-10-02T21:08:51.663-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.mik3caphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15984405049127015221noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-43864475288427420612011-10-01T17:10:29.321-07:002011-10-01T17:10:29.321-07:00Interesting article:
Two points:
1) Survey (week a...Interesting article:<br />Two points:<br />1) Survey (week after article posted) in Australia had most people favouring the middle ground, both main parties fought over it, not party represented it, the extremes a minority.<br /><br />2) The government of the day whatever flavour is faced with the hard reality of making financial ends meet, that have to get practical somewhere, and this can consume them more than policy or doctrine.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-31356406250818667262011-09-28T12:37:01.672-07:002011-09-28T12:37:01.672-07:00onward... next blog...onward... next blog...David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-1204907423638974622011-09-28T12:17:00.439-07:002011-09-28T12:17:00.439-07:00Some bio info on our "trader"
http://t...Some bio info on our "trader" <br /><br />http://tinyurl.com/6efo363<br /><br /><br />JackJackhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14692451488555574105noreply@blogger.com