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Actually, we live in a Republic. What has made America great is free enterprise, and yes, limited government. As a lifelong Californian, I am glad to be moving to a State that is still business friendly, family friendly, and more conservative. This is very, very attractive to some....even many of us...moving to the State.
Actually what made America great was the reaction against free enterprise during the labor struggles before and after the Great Depression and WWII. Free enterprise didn't give us an eight hour day, higher pay, a minimum wage, the weekend, no child labor laws, social security, unemployment insurance, paid holidays, occupational safety laws, etc. None of the stuff that gave us a higher standard of living came from gifts showered to us from above. None came from politicians or big businessmen. Workers pulled it out from the teeth of barons. Most of the dynamic high tech innovations were made in the public sector then thrown out into the market. A huge chunk of research and development, procurement and testing is still done by the government. Defense contractors, the pharma industry, agricultural giants, and heck now it seems like finance wouldn't survive without the government.
This whole libertarian/small government thing is a fantasy that never existed and probably never will outside the textbooks of Econ 101 or in the pages of libertarian/Austrian books by gurus like Von Mises.
And do not go ga-ga over Houston's boom just yet. The boom, because of the lack of the city officials effort to do anything beyond lick corporate boots, will be completely uneven. It's already looking that way as a lot of the county looks like a lawless wasteland. Crime is pretty rampant due to the fact that the development hasn't reached all and for the lowest sectors of the city, the jobs increase is really an increase in more low wage work. I don't care how much of a boom the city has, you still can't live off of eight bucks an hour. So there are problems associated with the overall positive boom.
Actually what made America great was the reaction against free enterprise during the labor struggles before and after the Great Depression and WWII. Free enterprise didn't give us an eight hour day, higher pay, a minimum wage, the weekend, no child labor laws, social security, unemployment insurance, paid holidays, occupational safety laws, etc. None of the stuff that gave us a higher standard of living came from gifts showered to us from above. None came from politicians or big businessmen. Workers pulled it out from the teeth of barons. Most of the dynamic high tech innovations were made in the public sector then thrown out into the market. A huge chunk of research and development, procurement and testing is still done by the government. Defense contractors, the pharma industry, agricultural giants, and heck now it seems like finance wouldn't survive without the government.
This whole libertarian/small government thing is a fantasy that never existed and probably never will outside the textbooks of Econ 101 or in the pages of libertarian/Austrian books by gurus like Von Mises.
And do not go ga-ga over Houston's boom just yet. The boom, because of the lack of the city officials effort to do anything beyond lick corporate boots, will be completely uneven. It's already looking that way as a lot of the county looks like a lawless wasteland. Crime is pretty rampant due to the fact that the development hasn't reached all and for the lowest sectors of the city, the jobs increase is really an increase in more low wage work. I don't care how much of a boom the city has, you still can't live off of eight bucks an hour. So there are problems associated with the overall positive boom.
I'll say this much for you, you have been well-indoctrinated! .
It sounds more like libertarian propaganda. No world class city in the world works like this, even the ones in boom times. Houston's economy is diverse, which means if one takes a hit the other ones hold it up. Oil, Energy, construction, medical, real estate, etc. It's not so much because of limited government. If government invests in the things I said, it's not going to kill the boom. I don't know how you think that might happen?
Why do libertarians think of government as some abstract entity that just wraps around a free market sucking it dry? You and I are supposed to be the government, we live in democracy. We vote on where we want the city to spend. You speak as though the government is dictatorship, with some bureaucrat stealing money from the hard workers and doing what he wants with it. That's comic bookish.
Once again you missed the fairly basic point and question. You say the gov will "invest". My question is where do they get the money to invest......they are spending all the tax money they get today so that wont give them extra money to invest you insist is so wise.....so tell me what tax should they raise to have the money to invest. Once you tell me the tax, we will know whose money the gov is investing.... The money doesnt appear out of thin air...it comes from the efforts of tax payers and if the gov is going to invest money they dont have today then the person who pays the tax to give them the investment funds, wont be spending or saving or what ever they would have done with the money.
This isnt libertarian thinking this is capitalism and a democracy at work... to raise taxes someone needs to vote for it and someone needs to not spend it so they can pay the tax...
To be honest, thinking or lack there of like yours is why some state's and their gov are in financial difficulties and running jobs off to lower tax locations. There is an impact... no matter how many times you say there isnt a negative impact for this additional gov spending.....that doesnt make it so.
Show me a gov which invests as you propose and which has low unemployment rates and residents living a decent living standard.... I will repeat I dont think you are cut out to live in Tx... you will be much happier in Ca.
But, people like this guy despise Capitalism. They reap the benefits from it, but like an insolent child, despise it just the same. he sounds like everyone else I know in L.A. It's group think/ propaganda, just like they accuse conservatives of spouting. Not an original thought there, just goose-stepping in lock step with the "progressive" indoctrination machine.
John, you're not even sounding like a logical person here, but more like an anarcho-capitalist type of guy that's against all taxes. One of the initiatives that the HUD is planning is to create homes for the homeless. That's a measure that I would support considering the homeless problem in the inner city. I would hope the city comes up with more initiatives like this. Should they stop because it's using "other people's money for some marignal purpose" ?
During the eighties several cities around the world went neo-liberal (which is the foreign term for more free enterprise outside of the US), this was followed in the nineties by a slew of social democratic politicians who kept the business growth but also publicly invested in the city to make it more balanced. I am talking about cities like Santiago, Chile and even Dublin, Ireland (before it put all it's eggs into the real estate boom).
I am asking you why can't it be both? Why is it a zero sum game to you? We pay taxes, busineses should pay taxes for setting up shop and using our land, labor and resources. And the city should use that money and invest back into the city. What is wrong with that? You're pretty much talking like an anti-Tax nut job from West TX.
Relying on the private sector to fuel all growth is beyond ridiculous because there is a limit on what they will spend if it doesn't meet their bottom dollar. Development will not benefit all and usually city governments step in to fill that void. This is normal for most cities otherwise an uneven development will form. It's happening in Houston now, yet people like you excuse this away as it being a bunch of no gumption having leeches, not a problem of uneven economic development.
But, people like this guy despise Capitalism. They reap the benefits from it, but like an insolent child, despise it just the same. he sounds like everyone else I know in L.A. It's group think/ propaganda, just like they accuse conservatives of spouting. Not an original thought there, just goose-stepping in lock step with the "progressive" indoctrination machine.
Has political discourse shifted so right wing that a pretty center left person is not considered a Bolshevik who absolutely abhors capitalism?
Actually what made America great was the reaction against free enterprise during the labor struggles before and after the Great Depression and WWII. Free enterprise didn't give us an eight hour day, higher pay, a minimum wage, the weekend, no child labor laws, social security, unemployment insurance, paid holidays, occupational safety laws, etc. None of the stuff that gave us a higher standard of living came from gifts showered to us from above. None came from politicians or big businessmen. Workers pulled it out from the teeth of barons. Most of the dynamic high tech innovations were made in the public sector then thrown out into the market. A huge chunk of research and development, procurement and testing is still done by the government. Defense contractors, the pharma industry, agricultural giants, and heck now it seems like finance wouldn't survive without the government.
This whole libertarian/small government thing is a fantasy that never existed and probably never will outside the textbooks of Econ 101 or in the pages of libertarian/Austrian books by gurus like Von Mises.
And do not go ga-ga over Houston's boom just yet. The boom, because of the lack of the city officials effort to do anything beyond lick corporate boots, will be completely uneven. It's already looking that way as a lot of the county looks like a lawless wasteland. Crime is pretty rampant due to the fact that the development hasn't reached all and for the lowest sectors of the city, the jobs increase is really an increase in more low wage work. I don't care how much of a boom the city has, you still can't live off of eight bucks an hour. So there are problems associated with the overall positive boom.
Re- read what you wrote above....especially the part where you say that what made us great as a Nation was not free-enterprise, but government programs, and please tell me how I am not supposed to draw the conclusion that you are pretty hard-core left-wing. I am a centrist , actually. To me, yes, you do resemble a young zealous Bolshevik. At least from what you have posted here.
Re- read what you wrote above....especially the part where you say that what made us great as a Nation was not free-enterprise, but government programs, and please tell me how I am not supposed to draw the conclusion that you are pretty hard-core left-wing. I am a centrist , actually. To me, yes, you do resemble a young zealous Bolshevik. At least from what you have posted here.
Aren't the golden years of America you baby boomers drool about one of the most regulated periods in American history? It was a period rife with government initiatives to spur economic development. I bet you're going to tell me FDR, Truman and Eisenhower were "Bolsheviks" considering the public spending they initiated to keep grow the economy. It was called the Keynesian period.
And I did re-read what I said. I said that the benefits that we all enjoy and your generation especially enjoyed as kids, were due to the labor struggles, not politicians. The government programs came afterward as a result of mass labor disputes to get a piece of that pie that they helped to build. I said the strength of union collective barganing power helped raise wages in this country (even if you were not in a union).
Public spending in research, development, high tech, education, infrastructure, etc.
What about specifically about free enterprise made this country so great? What I meant by that is what about an unregulated market, limited government made this country great?
I also think that it speaks volumes about the political discourse in this country that one has to assume free enterprise as a staple in order to not be red baited.
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