Captain Ginyu
Member
Yeah, let's start with Capitol Hill, & the White House!
The Deception of freedom
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Yeah, let's start with Capitol Hill, & the White House!
budlover123
Member
And meanwhile insurance companies, banks, and wall street continue doing whatever they want practically regulation free.
You get kicked out of town for feeding the homeless, but if you make people homeless than you can stay as long as you like.
M
Marathanman
Am I my brothers keeper?
Epiphyte
Member
People have power, but people don't choose to exercise it. I think America is as free as a society needs too be.
Of course, there should be more freedom like marijuana legalization. However, there should be more gun control specifically clip sizes and similar regulations that protect large numbers of people. Also, there needs to be more pharmaceutical, environmental, and financial regulation. This does not equal freedom, but it does create a better society.
America is definitely on the wrong track, but it is hard to place blame... The examples of repression in America are ingrained in our history. Today's representations should not be a sign that we are going backwards, but a sign that we have not come far enough.
I am a lazy motherfucker that bitches about what track America is on...I don't do shit to change it most of the time. What do you all here do to contribute to a better society? Not saying that everyone here doesn't do their part, I'm just wondering what people do to give back to our society.
Evil corporations and big brother....shit, that's not new and that's not the problem. I know I just need to look in the mirror to know why America is not on the right track. I don't contribute much to any sort of social good. Most people don't contribute much either. Who is going to give us freedom?
Peace
Phyte
Of course, there should be more freedom like marijuana legalization. However, there should be more gun control specifically clip sizes and similar regulations that protect large numbers of people. Also, there needs to be more pharmaceutical, environmental, and financial regulation. This does not equal freedom, but it does create a better society.
America is definitely on the wrong track, but it is hard to place blame... The examples of repression in America are ingrained in our history. Today's representations should not be a sign that we are going backwards, but a sign that we have not come far enough.
I am a lazy motherfucker that bitches about what track America is on...I don't do shit to change it most of the time. What do you all here do to contribute to a better society? Not saying that everyone here doesn't do their part, I'm just wondering what people do to give back to our society.
Evil corporations and big brother....shit, that's not new and that's not the problem. I know I just need to look in the mirror to know why America is not on the right track. I don't contribute much to any sort of social good. Most people don't contribute much either. Who is going to give us freedom?
Peace
Phyte
I disagree about corporate influence.
corporate lobbies are more powerful than the individual and have less liabilities and restrictions than individuals
if a the fraud of the last couple of decades from Enron to Countrywide was committed by private individuals instead of corporations these individuals would be doing time like Madoff
corporate law is a veil that allows for the exploitation the government and the public for the benefit of a inhuman non-living entity
corporations physically and financially devastate lives and do not pay the same price a human entity would for the same crimes
the people who run them simply skim the money in bonus, options and dividends
the shelter from tax liability alone favors corporate entity over US citizen
this is why america has lost her favor, because we allowed our greed to trump our integrity
middle class america empowered by the capacity to own their own small business and create their own relative opportunity in this country is waining
legislation that allows for in corporation for the benefit of paying less taxes, reducing legal culpability in turn growing an imbalance powerful entities and promoting a culture of greed
the profit margins of big corporations have not been marginalized like the income of middle class america
this is why the state is privatizing, because its more business for big business, more good business to have the government give our taxes to the corporations too
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budlover123
Member
I agree Wierd, very true. I like how you mention the relative opportunity of the small business, which I equate to table scraps that fat cats let the small businesses fight over.
While we are on the topic of freedom, and at the risk of offending anyone, I would like to say that if slavery still exists today, pain killers are the new whip. As in slave owners used whip cracks to motivate workers to do their job, in America I think many of us enslave ourselves, instead of taking time for rest, we crack the whip and get moving.
While we are on the topic of freedom, and at the risk of offending anyone, I would like to say that if slavery still exists today, pain killers are the new whip. As in slave owners used whip cracks to motivate workers to do their job, in America I think many of us enslave ourselves, instead of taking time for rest, we crack the whip and get moving.
If you accept the social contract in this country? Yes. If you don't like it do your best to change it. If that isn't good enough, I hear Yemen has no social safety net.
Fairly sure that trickle down economics was always a pyramid scheme. If not, it certainly turned into a pyramid scheme the moment we started letting American companies export jobs.
TEX
Member
I agree, but it all starts somewhere bro..
IMO, trickle down is a distraction and a myth. Whittle away is much closer to what's taking place.
I think its efficacy is a myth. The fact that we have in general operated under trickle down economic policy since the Regan administration and that this time has seen the stifling of middle and lower class advancement and that we are indeed seeing a retraction of well-being for those groups is evidence that the espoused goals and actual effects of trickle down economics couldn't be further apart in reality. Simply put trickle down economics does the exact opposite of what it claims to do. It does not enrich the working classes through job creation and potential advancement, rather is lines the pockets of the richest Americans with the profits pilfered through the legal system from the poor. It creates increasing rates of disparity between the rich and poor and enables the uber rich corporations who should be paying taxes to pay no taxes at all. In all practical terms it is a colossal failure as a pragmatic economic strategy. I always liked what Lyndon Johnson said about trickle down economics, he said, "Republicans [...] simply don't know how to manage the economy. They're so busy operating the trickle-down theory, giving the richest corporations the biggest break, that the whole thing goes to hell in a handbasket." So decrease the amount corporations pay in taxes, remove regulatory law and effectively cripple regulatory apparatuses, let the middle class bear the brunt of the tax burden, and systematically destroy the middle class via shipping their jobs overseas, sounds like what has happened in America since the mid-late 70s. But hell America is on the way up right? We need to have a serious soul searching moment here in the US before we are completely behind in education, economic production, and quality of life.
S
Señor Chang
Soul searching will never happen.
The great equalizer will be environmental change.
The great equalizer will be environmental change.
looks like belgium is the land of the free then
http://english.pravda.ru/world/europe/18-02-2011/116939-belgium_anarchy-0/
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America is still the best place to live in the world. hands down. Some true patriots over here invading other countries under the cloak of terrorism to take whatever the fuck we want. whooo hoooo!! who we gettin next boys? land of the free and home of the brave! FUCKING RIGHT and proud of it
Epiphyte
Member
Weird, I completely agree with you that corporations hold more power than ever. Furthermore, this power does not contribute to a better, more productive society. However, the problems with our society is not completely or even mostly due to corporate influence. It is due to the lack of public influence...This was my point.
Corporations suck, but most people choose to support them...I know plenty of people who mostly ride bikes and buy local, but they are a fraction of a percent in American society...But I don't think corporations are responsible for the "buy local" suppression.
People can bitch and bitch some more....But until there is more participation in our civil society, corporation will always hold more power than the individual...Nevertheless, individuals joining together, expressing a common purpose, can yield more power than the faceless business suit...just look at large cities with lots of small business owners (ie SF and NYC). These cities have large numbers of individuals fighting against corporations. In most cases, these active individuals and groups prevent "big box" stores from entering their neighborhood. Even though everyone wants a MAC store in their hood, don't they?
Like I said earlier, we all love to bitch, but who actually does something...lobby representatives, vote, participate in campaigns, make your kids read Plato and not play dough. There are plenty of organizations that could yield more power if they have more participants...Because participants are in such short supply, the next best thing is money. And that how it begins, and it is really up to individuals to determine if that is where it will end....
Corporations aren't actively taking rights from us. We are passively giving rights away.
Corporations suck, but most people choose to support them...I know plenty of people who mostly ride bikes and buy local, but they are a fraction of a percent in American society...But I don't think corporations are responsible for the "buy local" suppression.
People can bitch and bitch some more....But until there is more participation in our civil society, corporation will always hold more power than the individual...Nevertheless, individuals joining together, expressing a common purpose, can yield more power than the faceless business suit...just look at large cities with lots of small business owners (ie SF and NYC). These cities have large numbers of individuals fighting against corporations. In most cases, these active individuals and groups prevent "big box" stores from entering their neighborhood. Even though everyone wants a MAC store in their hood, don't they?
Like I said earlier, we all love to bitch, but who actually does something...lobby representatives, vote, participate in campaigns, make your kids read Plato and not play dough. There are plenty of organizations that could yield more power if they have more participants...Because participants are in such short supply, the next best thing is money. And that how it begins, and it is really up to individuals to determine if that is where it will end....
Corporations aren't actively taking rights from us. We are passively giving rights away.
Thats a matter of perspective. Corporations took our right to distill spirits away. One of a great many examples of big business lobbying for the destruction of personal rights.
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