tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post7733153750948950756..comments2024-03-29T00:39:31.629-07:00Comments on CONTRARY BRIN: Can Libertarian Conservatism Find Its Way?David Brinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comBlogger138125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-47415556473730847432010-06-20T06:45:36.432-07:002010-06-20T06:45:36.432-07:00I was just 'stirring the possum', David. I...I was just 'stirring the possum', David. I think your advice is sound, and wish I'd taken it thirty years ago! (I've never really done 'fierce', though)<br /><br />For the record, Melbourne University has started re-structuring its curriculum on the broader American model.<br /><br />toppie: a young, formerly upward mobile professional.Tony Fiskhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14578160528746657971noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-81363056449267849432010-06-20T03:16:21.120-07:002010-06-20T03:16:21.120-07:00Anonymous, I am sorry that two thoughts seemed to ...<i>Anonymous, I am sorry that two thoughts seemed to mix in your reading of my remarks. I spoke only of France re retirement age and hating work. Re Europe I ONLY said "don't ask professions at parties." That is a separate matter.</i><br /><br />Thanks for the clarification. Guess i misread. Blame it on my poor English skills :(<br /><br /><i>And perhaps it doesn't apply in Scandinavia. But in much of Europe, it is considered rude to bring up work at parties - a genuine cultural difference with americans.</i><br /><br />Hmmm, let me think about that, maybe make a list :) Might be a protestant work ethic vs catholicism tradition distribution thing.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-89587946759370253432010-06-19T22:34:17.501-07:002010-06-19T22:34:17.501-07:00Tony, my advice to new college students is obvious...Tony, my advice to new college students is obviously a very American attitude. That is not to say that curiosity is absent in Europe, or that students there should not take my advice - they should! But the European Baucalaureate degree takes 3 years instead of 4 precisely because it is a specialized regime of study, without the full year of breadth requirements of a US bachelor's degree. That regimen clearly is based upon a value system that is very different.<br /><br />Anonymous, I am sorry that two thoughts seemed to mix in your reading of my remarks. I spoke only of France re retirement age and hating work. Re Europe I ONLY said "don't ask professions at parties." That is a separate matter. And perhaps it doesn't apply in Scandinavia. But in much of Europe, it is considered rude to bring up work at parties - a genuine cultural difference with americans.<br /><br />"(Sowell) says that the reason for anti-intellectualism is based in the fact that humans are limited. No one (other than god) can understand all the factors involved in the complex world and therefore shouldn't be trusted to make decisions. The same goes for Judicial Activism (A form of intellectual decision making)."<br /><br />Sorry, this is an example of right-wing intellectuals saying obvious things and then using them to entice unwarranted extrapolations. <br /><br />The new Know Nothings are waging an anti-intellectual war against expertise only one of whose branches is the Great Big Denialism Campaign. Indeed, I very much doubt that Climate Change has anything to do with the actual agenda. The Denialist movement is so profoundly illogical... its core aim is to prevent "precipitate" public policies whose overall effects would be desirable, even if global warming turned out to be entirely false!<br /><br />No, the clear aim is to create a populist rage against one set of social elites -- ranging from civil servants to scientists to military officers -- in order to distract public ire from another set of elites.<br /><br />The logical justification chain is very simple. <br /><br />(1) We all know that intellect does not always translate into wisdom. We have all known smart and knowledgeable people who were nevertheless unwise. One can fairly say "Mere knowledge and intellect do not necessarily make you wise."<br /><br />It is a simple - if utterly fallacious - step to <i>imply</i> (without ever saying it explicitly) that:<br /><br />(2) <i>Intellect and knowledge make a person unwise.</i> Hence we need pay no heed to the people who know the most stuff.<br /><br />Members of this movement will furiously deny making this fallacious logical step, but it is redolent in the neocon movement, from top to bottom. <br /><br />It was there when the Bush-Rumsfeld team over-ruled all advice from the US Officer Corps and ran roughshod over them until they had to rebel. <br /><br />It is seen in the fact that (according to a poll last year) only 5% of scientists still consider themselves Republican... a staggering indictment, that is met only with shrugs and snarling dismissals of the relevance of pointy-headed intellectuals.<br /><br />It is seen in the way Fox News reporters who graduated from Ivy League schools Summa Cum Laude nevertheless pretend not to understand the meaning of three syllable words - and it's inherent in the charming but insidious humor of the Red Neck Comedy Tour guys, who relentlessly imply that there is something earthier, more manly and real about being flat-out, bone-dumb stupid.<br /><br />It is precisely the populist trick that worked in 1861, getting hundreds of thousands of poor southern whites to march and die to protect the interests of their feudal lords. It worked before. David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-22992026803102724712010-06-19T18:21:52.364-07:002010-06-19T18:21:52.364-07:00Excuse me, what do you do here?
(The worst thing ...<i>Excuse me, what do you do here?</i><br /><br /><i>(The worst thing you can to at a party, in Europe, is to ask another person his profession!)</i><br /><br />These two remarks wouldn't be related, would they?Tony Fiskhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14578160528746657971noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-18159641085972732682010-06-19T12:18:49.533-07:002010-06-19T12:18:49.533-07:00Hi Rob H.
If you are interested in Republican Ant...Hi Rob H.<br /><br />If you are interested in Republican Anti-Intellectualism I suggest you read A Conflict of Visions by Thomas Sowell. He is a conservative who works for the Hoover Institution. I thought it was a great book for understanding the right.<br /><br />He says that the reason for anti-intellectualism is based in the fact that humans are limited. No one (other than god) can understand all the factors involved in the complex world and therefore shouldn't be trusted to make decisions. The same goes for Judicial Activism (A form of intellectual decision making).<br /><br />The book is great and I understand where they are coming from now. I still disagree because they came to the wrong conclusion. Namely that Intellectuals are no more likely to be correct than any other common man. Rather they should be trying to set systems in which informed individuals are watching each other for failings of hubris, group think, etc.<br /><br />Btw, I don't recommend his book Intellectuals and Society. Every single section starts out "Intellectuals are wrong/dangerous/mistaken because...".<br /><br />Regards,<br />JacobJacobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03773076186367856200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-37454564661136078372010-06-19T11:38:57.997-07:002010-06-19T11:38:57.997-07:00As for Europe, we Americans find it bemusing for t...<i>As for Europe, we Americans find it bemusing for the French to feel so-o-o-o daring, by raising the retirement age to 62!<br /><br />I lived there a couple of years. What I found most pathetic is the dismal, nationwide attitude toward work. They find it bizarre that Americans actually LIKE their jobs (often) and identify with them. (The worst thing you can to at a party, in Europe, is to ask another person his profession!)<br />david b<br /></i><br /><br />Dear Dr. Brin. Please do not use <i>europe</i> if you actually mean a single european country and your experience there. I noticed this in an earlier post in which you made a similar statement about retirement and work ethic on the old continent. Retirement age is quite different in the members of the EU, for example 67 here in Germany. Also asking about your profession is actually always the first thing you are asked on any party (at least on the parties ive been :). Job identification (usually) is high, maybe <i>too</i> high and clinical depression after loss of it is not uncommon (which is also fostered by a notorious lack of optimism in this nation).<br /><br />Enjoying your blog very much...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-19480080505627183172010-06-19T10:03:25.285-07:002010-06-19T10:03:25.285-07:00"Go help my "advice to new graduates&quo...<i>"Go help my "advice to new graduates" video go viral"</i><br /><br />Is this the preferred link:<br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJTo9qXAcnc" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJTo9qXAcnc</a> ?rewinnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14008105385364113371noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-33140220358571595022010-06-19T08:33:29.090-07:002010-06-19T08:33:29.090-07:00Just had a look at drdemento.com, and the broadcas...Just had a look at drdemento.com, and the broadcast show is over. He plans to do streaming shows for $2 each over the net instead. The show was down to 5 stations at the end, I wonder if it didn't have something to do with him not allowing the show on 'net radio? <br />It would seem to be a small matter, but it's an ugly world out there sometimes.Tim H.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-45523888914038183032010-06-18T20:43:20.242-07:002010-06-18T20:43:20.242-07:00Just sent this to my conservative but smart and no...Just sent this to my conservative but smart and non-neocon investment guru friend:<br /><br /><i><br />You said "Keynes argued that governments should run surpluses in good times, which is conveniently forgotten by most government spending types."<br /><br />I agree! The true measure of democratic party rule is not whether Obama is currently running deficits during a recession. That is being true to his Keynsian roots. No, the test is whether Democrats will sincerely attempt to buy down debt during good times.<br /><br />Here, there is a huge datum on their side of the ledger. The 1990s. While some earnest pre-neocon Republicans in Congress helped, it is certainly a credit to Bill Clinton and his party that they set in course a serious buy-down plan.<br /><br />This willingness to modify policy based upon conditions must be seen as credibility-building. Moreover, failure to vary doctrine is one of the biggest flaws in the other party's Supply Side theory. When the sole objective in good times is the very same as in bad times - to dispense largesse upon a top clade "in order to stimulate capital formation," you've got to worry. <br /><br />(If for no other reason than the fact that it is - at root - an incredibly MARXIAN theory! I have yet to see that bare fact pointed out, when addressing neoconservatism, but it is consistent with the Trotskyite roots of many of its members.)<br /><br />Note, this flaw is separate from the more systematic problem of supply side theory - its failure of prediction. In fact the enriched top clades did NOT invest in productive capacity or research, which was the main justification for Supply Side. Oh, some did. But most engaged in manipulative rent-seeking, precisely the complaint of Adam Smith. (And again, falling into Marxist patterns. Not a sign of a good theory!)<br /><br />Look, I am an equal-opportunity critic and I lay into the left, as well! In particular, I am not contending the Keynsians are perfect!<br /><br /> Only that their behavior seems consistent and sincere.<br /><br />---------------------<br />As for Europe, we Americans find it bemusing for the French to feel so-o-o-o daring, by raising the retirement age to 62! <br /><br />I lived there a couple of years. What I found most pathetic is the dismal, nationwide attitude toward work. They find it bizarre that Americans actually LIKE their jobs (often) and identify with them. (The worst thing you can to at a party, in Europe, is to ask another person his profession!)<br /><br />Well, we're going to Paris and Rome, so I guess the low Euro is good for us.<br /><br />All best!<br /><br />david b</i>David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-48698317768187678562010-06-18T20:42:06.366-07:002010-06-18T20:42:06.366-07:00Thanks. Folks! Go help my "advice to new gr...Thanks. Folks! Go help my "advice to new graduates" video go viral!<br /><br />"I suspect many of them would see feudalism itself as simply an example of the lords' proper use of their own property"<br /><br />Sure. That is why I START with a DARE to explain who were the oppressors in (roll dice) 560 BCE Europe or 1340 CE Japan, etc. WHo PREVENTED MARKETS from functioning and acted in all ways to repress any possible competition from below?<br /><br />We need it to be clear... private property worship and belief in the market benefits of competition are NOT the same thing! Indeed, in most historical contexts, they were in frequent conflict.<br /><br />Libertarians need to fish or cut bait. Their current hypocrisy and dullard refusal to read or think has rendered them useless in the fight for EITHER competition or freedom.David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-61836924546342199522010-06-18T12:51:35.724-07:002010-06-18T12:51:35.724-07:00David
That horrid right wing site Instapundit link...David<br />That horrid right wing site Instapundit linked to your admonitionary video on going off to college!<br /><br />Nice work!<br /><br />errr...time to update the photo on the official David Brin site?<br /><br />Naaahhh.<br /><br />Congrats<br /><br />Tacitus2Tacitus2noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-79594333354637864182010-06-18T10:07:01.654-07:002010-06-18T10:07:01.654-07:00Tacitus, I agree with you on Obama as far as futur...Tacitus, I agree with you on Obama as far as future policies with taxation goes, but I would also add that it would seem to be the action he would take.<br /><br />Obama is much more of a moderate than many people credit him with. As David Brooks is fond of saying, he's not the man that partisans on either side make him out to be, and for the very reasons that I expect him to do the right thing when needed. If he doesn't, then I'll be looking for someone else to win the Democratic primary in 2012.Coreyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06487646409063141004noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-8095505593591007422010-06-18T09:17:08.661-07:002010-06-18T09:17:08.661-07:00Passing along from Bill Maher's "New Rule...Passing along from Bill Maher's "New Rules" segment:<br /><br /><i><br />Which brings me to this: I don't care if it takes steel domes and robots with saws. I don't care how much cement, mud and garbage has to be shoved down the hole, something has to be done to plug up Louisiana Senator David Vitter. David Vitter is a "values Republican" who a few years ago got caught "valuing" hookers more than his wife. And this week, he finally found a place to draw a line in the now s**t-brown, flammable sand of his home state. He told President Obama, "You must not stop drilling because it will hurt growth.'"<br /><br />Yes, David Vitter says a moratorium on more drilling could potentially be devestating for Louisiana. Only a Republican can look at a dead ocean and say, "Boy, I sure hope big government doesn't turn this into something bad."<br />...<br /></i>LarryHartnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-45233206010579287342010-06-18T08:57:03.562-07:002010-06-18T08:57:03.562-07:00Dr Brin says of Libertarians:
...they will see th...Dr Brin says of Libertarians:<br /><i><br />...they will see their role as QUESTIONING big government (which is fine! welcome to the negotiating table)... instead of railing at it as some demonic, manichean monster to be screeched-at, at all costs and under all circumstances. (Thus helping the aristos enfeeble the only real obstacle to their resumed feudal power.)<br /></i><br /><br />Unfortunately, the Randroid wing of libertarianism is perfectly fine with aristocratic barriers to freedom because arsitocrats are private individuals, and thus just as deserving of the freedom to do what THEY want with THEIR property as anyone else is. Thus, Rand Paul is able to accuse the government of infringing on BP's right to risk despoiling the Gulf of Mexico. Perversely, the despoiling of the enviornment is part of the company's "freedom", whereas any attempt to protect the environment is improper "force".<br /><br />I suspect many of them would see feudalism itself as simply an example of the lords' proper use of their own property, and the "contract" between lords and serfs as being free trade.LarryHartnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-31064019813651583992010-06-18T06:49:07.581-07:002010-06-18T06:49:07.581-07:00(computer may have eaten my prev. post, maybe not....(computer may have eaten my prev. post, maybe not. sorry if double posted)<br />Ian<br />I hope you are correct.<br />We could use a few best case scenarios breaking our way.<br />And for the record, I support expiration of the Bush tax cuts.<br />Really, if you believe the nation is in fiscal peril, pony up. At least these are open, transparent taxes, not stealth ones.<br />It will say much about Obama's character, the way he rules on this contentious issue. But if you are gonna get crap either way, take it for doing the right thing.<br />Tacitus2Tacitus2noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-63219708049967874442010-06-18T06:43:30.818-07:002010-06-18T06:43:30.818-07:00Ian,
I can say with total sincerity, I hope you ar...Ian,<br />I can say with total sincerity, I hope you are correct.<br />And for the record, I think the Bush tax cuts should expire. When your nation needs you to chip in.....do it. <br />Will Obama have the guts to say and do this? Failure to do so will, imho, show him to be a Chicago wardheeler more interested in re-election than the national good.<br />Although it must be said, he will get heat either way.<br />Better to get heat for doing the right thing.<br />Its the kind of act that moderates and independents can respect.<br />Tacitus2Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-6300455976692716242010-06-17T23:50:48.254-07:002010-06-17T23:50:48.254-07:00"But really those who say Obama will lay on t..."But really those who say Obama will lay on the tax mojo are just doing the math. You can't spend forever, and the promises to "bend the health care costs down" is looking increasingly risible.<br /><br />The serious tax increases lie safely beyond the 2012 election, some suspect. A more reasonable fear than David's dark cabals."<br /><br />The expiry of the Bush tax cuts and the rising revenue and lower welfare spending resulting from economic recovery are unlikely to make further major tax increases necessary.Ianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01739671401151990700noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-59057030607582195122010-06-17T19:55:47.539-07:002010-06-17T19:55:47.539-07:00I think I've figured out the Republican anti-i...I think I've figured out the Republican anti-intellectualism bit here. <a href="http://girlamatic.com/gypsy/2007/08/19/0801/" rel="nofollow">If knowledge is power, but power corrupts, does that not mean that knowledge corrupts?</a> Which of course means ignorance <i>is</i> bliss!<br /><br />Rob H.Acacia H.https://www.blogger.com/profile/07678539067303911329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-44121526922837374932010-06-17T14:52:24.231-07:002010-06-17T14:52:24.231-07:00And here's an interesting article about sea li...And <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gEsS5h6C_l_Ndr7VMsRzKLN9qNdgD9GD0JG00" rel="nofollow">here's an interesting article about sea life fleeing the oil slick zone</a> and going into the coastal regions. One of the concerns is that all of the oxygen could be used up in the water, leading to fish asphyxiating. And once again, I have to ask this: is anyone considering using compressors to pump air into the ocean water to oxygenate said water (both in oiled regions where bacteria may be devouring oxygen while working on oil and in coastal regions)? It's the same basic principle as used in fish tanks across the world. While it's not exactly viable on a huge scale, doing it in several regions (especially those with a lot of sealife in them) may help.<br /><br />Rob H.Acacia H.https://www.blogger.com/profile/07678539067303911329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-4824368101365154432010-06-17T12:56:34.267-07:002010-06-17T12:56:34.267-07:00Libertarianism would do an instant turnaround, if ...Libertarianism would do an instant turnaround, if enough members of the movement actually read Adam Smith and bothered to study a little history...<br /><br />...and ask themselves who were the oppressors of freedom and the ruiners of markets, in every human civilization till 1900.<br /><br />If they face the fact that conspiratorial/aristocratic oligarchism is the standard failure mode (it even applied to the USSR!), then they would have to ask themselves: "am I really as much anti-government as I am pro-freedom?"<br /><br />If it is the latter, then they will see their role as QUESTIONING big government (which is fine! welcome to the negotiating table)... instead of railing at it as some demonic, manichean monster to be screeched-at, at all costs and under all circumstances. (Thus helping the aristos enfeeble the only real obstacle to their resumed feudal power.)<br /><br />When they admit (grudgingly) that this mixed economy that FDR designed is the one that outproduced all others and produced more libertarians than any other society, then maybe some of them will admit that incrementalism and tweaking and pushing for market-based solutions and joyfully embracing progress is a better approach than raging solipsistic sanctimony.<br /><br />Ah, but the latter provides an unparalleled drug high of righteous indignation. And THAT HIGH is what most of them are in it for, Reason be damned.David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-81050899049983874982010-06-17T12:32:49.514-07:002010-06-17T12:32:49.514-07:00Mark said:
should not those who understand that m...Mark said:<br /><i><br />should not those who understand that markets are inefficient and that investors can be irrational, and still strive for the "dream of maximized individual opportunity and freedom" just go off and start their own movement/party?<br /></i><br /><br />I think there's something to be said for the "dream of maximized individual opportunity and freedom" as an intrinsic good, regardless of reprecussions. It's one of the founding American myths, and I have a lot of respect for libertarians who favor that ideal.<br /><br />But I think the notion that "maximized individual opportunity and freedom" somehow guarantees the best socio-economic outcomes for all is a discredited theory.LarryHartnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-80038002817932958622010-06-17T12:25:19.290-07:002010-06-17T12:25:19.290-07:00Dr Brin said (of the Bush tax cuts):
What was the...Dr Brin said (of the Bush tax cuts):<br /><i><br />What was the concession wrung by democrats? That the cuts would all expire in 2010. The neocons shrugged. They assumed that Supply Side Paradise would arrive by then. <br />... <br />and the Bush Cuts would be made permanent and extended much farther, by acclamation.<br /></i><br /><br />Although I do remember the facts as you present them, my recollection of the reasoning behind the 2010 expiration is a bit more cynical.<br /><br />I seem to recall that the GAO estimates the cost of legislation over the next ten years. The Bush tax cuts cost the treasury so much revenue that they would not have been supportable. So they did a trick...having the tax cuts expire after the NINTH year, so that the estimated revenues in the TENTH year (fiscal 2011) would be at the pre-Bush tax rates. That reduced the estimated effect of the legislation, even though everybody (wink, wink) "knew" that by 2010, for the reasons you describe, public pressure would force Congress to extend the tax cuts.<br /><br />It just didn't work out that way. So the cynical neocon trick turned out to be on them, because the tax cuts now expire this year (before the midterms) UNLESS affirmative action is taken by both houses of Congress. A filibuster doesn't do the GOP any good.<br /><br />The tea-partiers and those right-wingers who like to portray Obama as evil for "cutting" taxes now when they will have to go up later to pay for health-care...they might pause to recall whether they opposed this cynical strategy when employed by Republicans in 2001.LarryHartnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-24495443809262376862010-06-17T11:37:43.397-07:002010-06-17T11:37:43.397-07:00wow, what a great post. often times i find myself ...wow, what a great post. often times i find myself sympathetic to the libertarian philosophy, but find their dogmatic rhetoric and alliance with "fiscally conservative" republicans and neocons distasteful and hypocritical. and now i can see some of the logical fallacies and false premises taken to the extreme that has lead to such hypocrises.<br /><br />my question then is: is a conservative reformation of the libertarian movement even viable? what's in a name? should not those who understand that markets are inefficient and that investors can be irrational, and still strive for the "dream of maximized individual opportunity and freedom" just go off and start their own movement/party? i mean, it seems to me that the libertarian movement just really doesn't WANT a reformation.Mark Pantojahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11254658373521194466noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-54802121918189860192010-06-17T11:36:05.384-07:002010-06-17T11:36:05.384-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.Mark Pantojahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11254658373521194466noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-3747398137027978352010-06-17T11:12:23.555-07:002010-06-17T11:12:23.555-07:00Tacitus has a point. Obama is both a tax-cutter a...Tacitus has a point. Obama is both a tax-cutter and a tx-raiser, depending on your polemic.<br /><br />The key is the expiration of the Bush tax cuts. Somehow, back in 2001 or so, a few heroic Democrats managed to stand in the Neocon Tsunami and wring one concession. Aside: That was the THIRD giant tax-gift to the rich that the gop passed under Supply Side Theory - the assumption that the money would then be invested in plants and equipment and new "supplies" of goods and services, an assumption that proved to be devastatingly and diametrically wrong, in every possible way. (The result of the gift was simply to make the rich obscenely richer. They "invested" the money into real estate and bank speculation and Ponzi schemes - very little went to factories or R&D.)<br /><br />What was the concession wrung by democrats? That the cuts would all expire in 2010. The neocons shrugged. They assumed that Supply Side Paradise would arrive by then. There are quotes of goppers predicting the Dow at 25,000 by now and poverty virtually eliminated. And Democrats would be extinct and God would be in the classroom and Social Security privatized and the IRS curbed and the civil service cut in half and peace would reign worldwide after total victory in the War on Terror... and the Bush Cuts would be made permanent and extended much farther, by acclamation.<br /> <br />But soft. None of that happened. The 2010 expiration left the dems in the enviable position of not having to vote to raise taxes. In fact, they voted to CUT some aspects of the expiration. Mostly for the middle class. But since most of the Bush cuts had been for the rich, the dems even cut some of the expiration for THEM. Hence, the GOP claims BHO presided over a tax increase and the Dems claim a decrease. Where's the truth?<br /><br />It's a decrease for us, a net increase for the aristocracy. <br /><br />-----<br />Actually, you guys know that I am strange for a liberal (and strange for a libertarian). For one thing, I don't mind military spending much. I mind what these furshluginer WARS have done to us! But the Pax Americana umbrella enabled the whole world (most of it) to relax and develop in peace. Also, the military is where we've maintained a hard R&D push, while letting it slacken everywhere else. Indeed, for those two reasons, the F22 had to go. It advanced neither aim.<br /><br />---<br /><br />Rob H, I don't think it matters that the anti-particle annihilate when it re-enters the Black Hole. The point is that the proton left. It departed, taking with it some mass-energy.David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.com