Answering billburns2 on A Critique of Edgar the Exploiter

I answer billburns2 on a question after being blocked from the video.

To cite:

"According to a bunch of techy websites, the USA leads the world in the fields of medical, military and telecom technology yet it also has some of the most stringent regulatory requirements - much moreso than, say China.
Care to explain?"

My answer in short - there was great growth in the 1800s leading to the civil war (massive wealth creation). What we are experiencing now is actually a stunted version of growth and the leftovers. Technology advances have also allowed for some growth despite government waste and constriction. (But, as it stands, the dollar is dead and business is dying as the $14 trillion in debt is greater than GDP).

[njanovic]

There's also been quite a bit of labor unrest in Indonesia over the last few years. Labor unrest in Hong Kong as well which has resulted in the creation of - gasp - a minimum wage law being passed.

[njanovic]

Charity existed 120 years ago along side huge numbers of desperately poor. They did little to alleviate the situation. Theodore Roosevelt saw exactly what the greed of the robber barons was leading too and said it at the time that if reforms were not enacted the people would revolt.

[crazypants]

rofl He asks you to explain something but then blocks you after posting the comment?
The pinnacle of intellectual honesty

[Red-Brick-Dream]

iPod in 1975? This is just breathtakingly stupid. Unbelievable.

[njanovic]

Sweden and Norway both have a great deal of immigration, a more humane drug policy and more degrees of personal freedom in many aspects of people's lives. I value what creates a decent society, not untested theories. All individuals live together in this thing called society. We all have to make compromises, at times make concessions and get along. What you call individual liberty is useless when it would in all probability lead to the majority of indviduals living crappy lives.

[njanovic]

Consomer good and their price are irrelevant when you are just struggling to feed your family. Indonesia has much less regulation but is desperately poor across the vast majority of the population. Sweden and Norway are both more heavily regulated and both have two of the highest standards of living in the world.

[njanovic]

Ha. You should go visit Indonesia. What's called poverty in the US and in Indonesia are quite different. You would end up turning us into one of those places where the majority of the people earn $1 an hour and work over 80 hours per week, multiple generations of the same family crammed into one house just trying to survive.

[njanovic]

Abortion? Rothbard also supported that without any limitation at all. I do not support elective abortion past the point of viability. Abortions have always happened - even when it was illegal. Democracy simply allows the people to determine what type of society they want and what policies they want their public officials to undertake. It doesn't mean each and every person is going to get their way at all times. Living together in a society involves things like compromising and making concessions

[njanovic]

"I do not like minimum wage laws for economic reasons" You mean the economic interests of protecting monied interests. Australia has a minimum wage near twice that of the US and they aren't in recession, Ausrtalian businesses are profitable, lower unemployment (they have a great need for skilled workers - quite easy to immigrate there if one has the needed skills). Do you think minimum wage laws came into existence b/c people had great lives before they existed?

[Red-Brick-Dream]

I think you ought to go and see a doctor and see if Paxil is right for you.

[njanovic]

LOL Some once told me this joke, I won't name them here, but it was this: "How many libertarians does it take to change a light bulb? None. The darkness will command itself to go away."

[njanovic]

Oh pointing out that you can point to no real world historical examples of your theories is a red herring? The onus is on you to prove that they work in the real world.

[njanovic]

Can you point to any society in history working according to your "ideals"? No you can't. Yet you are oh so sure your theories would work in the real world just like they do on paper. Similar to the Bolsheviks on the eve of the Russian revolution. They couldn't point to a single historical example but were oh so sure their theories would work in real life just like they did on paper.

[njanovic]

Not looks but rather the glazed look on your face like you've been hit over the head one time too many.

[Red-Brick-Dream]

Legal research, eh? Tell me, kid - do you have a profound familiarity with and expertise in law, particularly U.S. customs law, or did you find this particular link on a website somewhere which was expounding the same point you are? Because that's called confirmation bias, and confirmation bias and intellectual integrity go together like shit and strawberry shortcake.

[njanovic]

I actually feel a bit sorry for you. You have that same glazed look on your face that I've seen on the faces of Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons who've come knocking on my door.