Statism in Capitalist's Clothing
Mark Wilson ·
September 22, 2011 at 2:17pm
It's obviously an attempt to justify soaking the rich.
It's missing something huge and important, but in my exasperation I can't express clearly what that is. A little help?
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Comments:
Aug '10
Re: Statism in Capitalist's Clothing
The first part is a pack of lies. Yes, the factory owner DID pay for the roads, as much or more than anyone else. The factory owner DID pay to educate the workers, as much or more than anyone else.
But even if we grant these premises, there is a whopping switcheroo in the second part: the increase in wealth that comes from culture, society, institutions, and government belongs to... this administration. You owe somebody, and that somebody is Elizabeth Warren!
All your cultural inheritance are belong to us!
Re: Statism in Capitalist's Clothing
OK, NSFW, but check out how someone at Reddit "fixed" Warren's comments.
Aug '11
Re: Statism in Capitalist's Clothing
"Pay it back" is understood by most people as charity, not coercion.
Mar '11
Re: Statism in Capitalist's Clothing
Let's she. She cited infrastructure, education and law enforcement as those functions of government from which the factory builder benefits.. That about covers most of the legit functions of the government. If it would stick to just that, it would not need a bigger "hunk".
Mar '11
Re: Statism in Capitalist's Clothing
hmm. Posted twice
Edited on September 22, 2011 at 6:02pmJan '11
Re: Statism in Capitalist's Clothing
A veritable "Elizabeth Warren Buffet" of thoughts that need careful scrutiny and dissection. One at a time they can be dissembled.
Dec '10
Re: Statism in Capitalist's Clothing
Warren's logic suffers from the fallacy of the parasite that believes it is vital to the health of the host. The roads and police forces didn't originate out of nothing: they developed because of the interplay of the needs of employers and employees.
The Kelo decision illustrates the parasite fallacy taken to its illogical conclusion: government planned to create a tailor-made opportunity for business to build factories, so why didn't business follow Warren's model and rush to fill the empty space left by razing the neighborhood?
Aug '11
Re: Statism in Capitalist's Clothing
She's using Rousseau's Social Contract instead of Locke's.
Jul '11
Re: Statism in Capitalist's Clothing
From Mark Hemingway's excellent take:
Why doesn't Elizabeth Warren ask Gibson Guitars about how the "marauding bands [who] come and seize everything at your factory" are, in fact, the federal government?
Read the whole thing.
Aug '11
Re: Statism in Capitalist's Clothing
So many have stated my sentiments so spiritedly I'm hesitant to try. Still, it's fun, so I'll express a bit of exasperation at what is most certainly a lady who is going to try and give gov't unlimited power to take what it wants under some guise. I think private property, and the necessary right to exclude, is a really good thing and helps "pay it forward" better than outright socialism or progressivism (which is socialism, just not outright).
But I can't really strike a major blow to her argument in that I'm not an anarcho-capitalist. We need some taxation. Isn't that what she's saying? I'm not for the "us vs them" dichotomy, and her statement is full of that.
Is the statement on its face that bad? I'd say something similar to Walter Block.
Of course, I'm deeply concerned she means more than "we need taxes to have a gov't," and that is what makes her saying this so repugnant to me, that and the "us vs them" thing.
May '10
Re: Statism in Capitalist's Clothing
Is now the wrong time to compare the risk-averse tenured Ivy League background of a Law Professor; with that of the individual or group who take their own capital, mortgage their house against loans, and then compete in the marketplace by building a factory? No?
Neither President Obama nor fellow Faculty lounge habitue Warren (perhaps I am too harsh, as Warren has done some real estate work), have any real hands-on experience of life outside of the comfortable East Coast Law establishment, or political party dealing rooms. When they do, they can compare notes with the factory owner who is now moving business offshore, or to low tax states of the Union in their pursuit of happiness.
Risk versus Return seems to be missing from the liberal politico mindset; and why not? We have facilitated and bailed out banks, insurers, car companies, to ensure failure is rewarded, and risk is socialised.
Edited on September 22, 2011 at 7:14pmAug '11
Re: Statism in Capitalist's Clothing
What's missing? The words 'you and' immediately before every 'the rest of us'.
May '10
Re: Statism in Capitalist's Clothing
Which one of the founding documents of our country [USA] contains the 'Social Contract' Ms. Warren is rhetorically waving to inflame the masses?
Sep '10
Re: Statism in Capitalist's Clothing
And with all her certainty about the rules of the 'social contract,' Ms. Warren simply cannot understand why a prospective factory owner might choose to build that factory in some other country - which respects property rights and has a reliable rule of law. Once she learns that jobs cannot be created by legislation, she will undoubtedly get around to creating them by court order. Good luck creating jobs at the tip of a bayonet.
Jun '10
Re: Statism in Capitalist's Clothing
When I started a business, I don't remember "society" offering it's house and all its assets as loan collateral.
Jan '11
Re: Statism in Capitalist's Clothing
Goldgeller: We need some taxation. Isn't that what she's saying? ...
Is the statement on its face that bad? I'd say something similar to Walter Block.
Well, she crafts her argument to appeal to that very reasonable assumption. Yes we need taxes, and there are government services that we're all willing to pay for.
But she's making this appeal in the context of seeking more taxes, and the connotation is that the rich aren't paying their "fair share." Couple that with the realization that the government sees no restraints in their spending, and you discover a different story.
Warren belongs to an administration and political party that adamantly refuses to restrain their spending, and then desperately tries to shame rich people into funding their political gluttony. Let's face it, the Democrat party and Obama-style liberals are beginning to sense that their credit card is about to be turned off, and they're desperately trying to prevent it.
Mar '11
Re: Statism in Capitalist's Clothing
We need some eliter elites. This Harvard prof. sounds like a third grader.
Mar '11
Re: Statism in Capitalist's Clothing
We need some eliter elites. This Harvard prof. sounds like a third grader.
Mar '11
Re: Statism in Capitalist's Clothing
We need some eliter elites. This Harvard prof. sounds like a third grader.
Mar '11
Re: Statism in Capitalist's Clothing
At least the voters of Massachusetts will have a clear choice!